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Toxic Masculinity and the Revolutionary Anti-Hero

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Toxic Masculinity and the Revolutionary Anti-Hero FIGHTING HACKING AND STALKING: TOXIC MASCULINITY AND THE REVOLUTIONARY ANTI-HERO A thesis submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University A In partial fulfillment of 3^ the requirements for the Degree kJQ Masters of Arts *0 4S In Women and Gender Studies by Robyn Michelle Ollodort San Francisco, California May 2017 Copyright by Robyn Michelle Ollodort 2017 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read Fighting, Hacking, and Stalking: Toxic Masculinity and the Revolutionary Anti-Hero by Robyn Michelle Ollodort, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in Women and Gender Studies at San Francisco State University. Martha Kenney; Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Women and Gender Studies Professor, History FIGHTING, HACKING, AND STALKING: TOXIC MASCULINITY AND THE REVOLUTIONARY ANTI-HERO Robyn Michelle Ollodort San Francisco, California 2017 Through my analyses of the films Taxi Driver (1976) and Fight Club (1999), and the television series Mr. Robot (2105), I will unpack the ways each text represents masculinity and mental illness through the trope of revolutionary psychosis, the ways these representations reflect contemporaneous political and social anxieties, and how critical analyses of each text can account for the ways that this trope fails to accurately represent the lived experiences of men and those with mental illnesses. In recognizing the harmful nature of each of these representations’ depictions of both masculinity and mental illness, we can understand why such bad tropes circulate, and how to recognize and refuse them, or make them better. I certify that the Abstract is a correct representation of the content of this thesis. O b / n J l 7- Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the guidance, care, and support of several key individuals. First and foremost, I would like to express gratitude for my committee chair, Professor Martha Kenney, who provided diligent support, incisive feedback, and academic inspiration over the course of this project. I would also like to thank Professor Catherine Kudlick and Emily Beitiks of the Longmore Institute on Disability for investing in the next generation of disability scholars. I would like to thank all of the students and professors who trusted me while I was their TA, especially Leece Lee-Oliver. I want to thank Alex Locust, for his unwavering companionship (#disabiliteam). I am deeply indebted to the judges, organizers, and filmmakers who participated in Superfest International Disability Film Festival in 2016 and 2017, for broadening the horizons of diversity in film. I would also like to thank the team of expert healthcare providers I have seen while living in San Francisco, particularly Lianne Gensler and her staff, for ensuring my quality of life as I manage (now multiple) chronic illnesses. Finally, I would like to thank my parents and my dog, Alona, for always loving and supporting me. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction................................................................................................................................1 Fighting, Hacking, and Stalking.................................................................................. 5 Tropes and Terms......................................................................................................... 6 Chapter Outline...........................................................................................................12 Chapter 1 - Taxi Driver. Veterans, Violence, and Vigilantism.......................................... 15 Post-Vietnam War America: Masculinity in Crisis..................................................23 PTSD and Revolutionary Psychosis..........................................................................28 Psychosis, Violence, and Pursuant Masculinity.......................................................32 Conclusion: Taxi Driver as Template........................................................................34 Chapter 2 - Fight Club: Mayhem, Masculinity, and Multiple Personalities....................... 37 Psychosis and Anti-Capitalism.................................................................................. 43 Fucking and Fighting: Virility, Homoeroticism, and Hypermasculinity...............50 White-Guys and the White Man’s Bruce Lee: Race in Fight Club......................... 56 Conclusion...................................................................................................................60 Chapter 3 - Mr. Robot: Blood and Disc Drives................................................................... 61 Elliot’s revolutionary Psychosis................................................................................ 65 Sympathetic Reading of Elliot and fsociety............................................................. 77 Conclusion...................................................................................................................83 Afterword.................................................................................................................................85 Works Cited 89 1 INTRODUCTION “I draw the line at 7 unreturned phone calls” - Lloyd Daubler, Say Anything (1989) Growing up, I was equally perplexed and captivated by the figure of Lloyd Daubler, John Cusack’s character in the film Say Anything (1989), a popular coming-of-age drama directed by Cameron Crowe. Standing out on the lawn of the girl he likes, holding a boom box, he serenades her with a song by Peter Gabriel significant to their relationship. Lloyd is an average guy in love with the overachieving girl from a lower income family, and their romance is a story of love overcoming the odds. But, the events that lead Lloyd to make that grand gesture, now ubiquitous in American popular culture, are not what one would expect; faced with the mounting pressure of her ambitious future, lone Skye’s character, Diane, rejects Lloyd, leaving him heartbroken and apoplectic. Though Diane has expressed her disinterest in continuing their relationship, Lloyd, convinced that a bold gesture will win her over, defies her wishes to be left alone. Instead, he shows up at her house, under her window, at dawn; waking the neighbors and causing a scene, Lloyd’s actions completely disregard Diane’s wishes and invade her personal space. I do not find this gesture to be romantic; in fact, narratives depicting men aggressively pursuing women who have expressed their disinterest or 2 unavailability (or both) are equally common in romance as they are in the horror genre The major differentiating factor of this trope in horror and romance seems to be the framing of the moral status of the male lead: in romance, he is the main character, the story is generally told from his perspective, and his actions and motivations are just (if not misguided); whereas, in horror, this pursuant male character tends to be a villain, competing with another, virtuous male lead, who ultimately prevails, for the affections of the female character. Both iterations of this trope assume heterosexuality as the norm, figuring the female character as a mere object, a conquest, or a vehicle for male character development. In juxtaposing the pursuant male figure in horror and romantic genres, intent and framing emerge as the fine line along which this character is meant to be repulsive or attractive, respectively, but practically, this line is constantly and consistently blurred, resulting in the conflation of pursuant masculinity and the attractive ‘good’ guy, as demonstrated in Say Anything, among numerous other examples throughout the history of cinema and television . Lloyd’s intent blurs the line between consensual romantic pursuit and a violation of personal boundaries; repeatedly calling Diane’s home and showing up at her window unannounced, specifically after she has expressed disinterest, are actions that do 1 See Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom o f the Opera (1910), etc. for examples of this trope in literature 2For example in film, see: Pretty in Pink (1986), Eternal Sunshine o f the Spotless Mind (2004), 500 Days o f Summer (2009), Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010); for example in television, see Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) Spike’s failed courtship of Buffy in seasons 5 and 6. 3 not convey respect. Whether or not Lloyd’s actions could be construed as stalking lies expressly in Diane’s reception of Lloyd’s advances, but this is not what the film aims to address at all; indeed, the female love interest character in Say Anything has next to nothing in terms of character development, serving merely to advance the male lead’s narrative. That Lloyd’s gesture is framed as positive at all is concerning, revealing a cultural misconception that this kind of behavior is ‘normal’, even desirable. Focusing on white, straight, male characters and their actions, to the detriment of female characters, characters of color, etc., is a pattern rampant in Hollywood and often includes violence3, which becomes normalized in real life situations. According to Title IX, a code employed by institutions receiving federal funding - like public high schools, attended by students like Lloyd and Diane - with the intent of providing safe and equal access to all individuals, stalking is defined as any persistent, unwanted behavior, including following, leaving gifts, showing up at places of employment, and generally giving unwanted
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