Examples Of Masculinity In School Ties

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Masculinity in Film Assignment – School Ties (David Greene) Although masculinity can be portrayed in many different ways through the media, perhaps the most traditional way is the alpha male aspect. The alpha male is illustrated as a strong, smart and assertive man who stands up for what he believes in. In the movie School Ties (1992), Robert Mandel depicts David Greene (Brendan Fraser) as the perfect example of an alpha male through the use of several narrative, technical and symbolic elements of the film. These techniques are also used to demonstrate his easy-going personality, his loyalty and his imminent display of being an alpha male. Through David’s appearance and the music played throughout the film, Mandel makes prominent the fact that…show more content…
Mandel establishes this through the use of David’s characterisation and dialogue. At the beginning of the film, David is found to be mainly be in the brawn alpha male stereotype as he gets in and wins a fight with a biker. This changes throughout the duration of the movie as the director focuses more on the loyalty David displays. At the end of the film, all of David’s former friends accuse him of cheating simply based off of the fact that he is Jewish. David stays loyal to his faith and goes to the headmaster and lies, showing that he cares more about his faith and staying loyal than keeping his place at St Matthews. This act of loyalty positions the viewer, yet again to see David as your stereotypical alpha male. Along with the character development of David, he has important dialogue which plays a key role in the positioning of the audience. David’s dialogue consists of his tone and wording choice. David has a very consistent vocabulary which mainly composed of simple words you would expect your everyday jock to speak. This is a deliberate choice made by Mandel to see the brawnier side of David and the brawnier side of the alpha

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