June 2020 MA Thesis Abstract Ever since the Second World War men began to see a decline in their patriarchal roles from the societal shift such as equal rights and the role of women in the workplace. One of the problematic results of this is the increasing rates of suicide in males as a warning signal of a deep cultural problem in contemporary Western society. Males lack a script to deal with the masculinity crisis that they are currently experiencing. Through examples of popular culture, the portrayal of men struggling to find new ways to regain lost masculinity is examined from a neoliberal perspective exhibited in the TV-series Breaking Bad and the Marvel Cinematic Universe Deadpool films. These texts provoke a neoliberal reconstruction of masculinity that enforces the patriarchal hierarchy for men to regain a sense of purpose. However, this neoliberal reconstruction also persuades men to abandon a set of familial ideals that include positive and feminine attributes and replace it with hegemonic and violent tendencies. Through the analysis of Breaking Bad and Deadpool, it becomes apparent that modern television offers a unique insight into how contemporary culture deals with the crisis in masculinity and it also offers a critique of the same value system that it promotes. The crisis is seen through the extremes that men are willing to go to in order to portray themselves as being a capable patriarch. Breaking Bad exemplifies the domination and violence needed to reach the top of the male hierarchy through the emasculated Walter White who overtakes the illegal drug industry. The crisis is further shown through a meta-analysis of the Deadpool movies, and how deeply connected the actor is with the character. Wade Wilson from Deadpool enforces the same traditional ideals of masculinity as Walter does, however from the other end of the spectrum. While Walter White is trying to establish himself as a dominating patriarch, Wade Wilson is able to embody more feminine traits due to his interrelation with the highly masculine actor, Ryan Reynolds. While the Deadpool films attempt to patronise the traditional masculine traits, it is also founded in the same patriarchal ideals. Thereby stating that men has to establish themselves through a traditional hierarchy before they can adopt positive attributes. The TV-show and films thus present a script for men in which they must embody the contradictory ideals of masculinity in order to regain a sense of purpose in society. Therefore, the thesis proves itself relevant, as it highlights the devastating effects of the toxic traits of masculinity, where being a neoliberal winner overshadows the familial values. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Existing Research ........................................................................................................................................... 7 The Antihero Genre ................................................................................................................................... 7 Breaking Bad .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2: Neoliberalism ................................................................................................................................. 10 Introducing Neoliberalism ........................................................................................................................... 10 Neoliberalism in Breaking Bad .................................................................................................................... 12 The Dichotomy of Walter White and Gustavo Fring ................................................................................... 17 Winning or Losing Neoliberalism ................................................................................................................. 20 Chapter 3: Masculinity and Hegemony ........................................................................................................... 23 The Emasculated Walter White ................................................................................................................... 27 Embracing Violence ..................................................................................................................................... 35 Being a Provider, Father, and Husband ....................................................................................................... 39 Being a Provider........................................................................................................................................... 40 Being a Father .............................................................................................................................................. 42 Walter and Jesse .......................................................................................................................................... 44 The Nuclear Father ...................................................................................................................................... 48 It Can’t All Be For Nothing ........................................................................................................................... 50 The Real Father Figure of Breaking Bad ...................................................................................................... 51 The Nuances of the Crisis in Masculinity ..................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 4: The Cultural Influence of Films and TV-Series ............................................................................... 58 Chapter 5: Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 61 References ....................................................................................................................................................... 64 Appendix A – Suicide Death Rates in Females ................................................................................................ 70 Appendix B – Suicide Death Rates in Males .................................................................................................... 70 Appendix C – Suicide in Males and Females by Region ................................................................................... 71 3 Chapter 1: Introduction The popular clothing company, Dockers, released a campaign called “Wear the Pants” in 2009. One of the images used in the campaign is the silhouette of a male figure wearing a pair of Dockers with a message across the torso (Figure 1). The message states: “Behold the Second Dawn of Man” (LaVelle, Desmond, 2009). The campaign suggests that men are supposed to wear the pants, that men have somehow lost their place as the provider, and that patriarchy has been violated. This provokes two questions: Why did men stop wearing the pants? And who wore the pants in their place? The Dockers company do have an interesting point that is also apparent in modern television. Neoliberal ideals are used to reconstruct masculinity which enforces the toxic traits associated with traditional Figure 1 (Lavelle, Desmond, patriarchal masculinity. Male role models are challenged in 2009) contemporary popular television as they reflect the crisis that is apparent in masculinity. There has been a fundamental change in the legitimate expectations, motivations, and justifications that inform the representation of masculinity in late-twentieth- century Hollywood cinema (Harman, 2013). Patriarchal masculinity depends on the subjugation of women, yet women do not want to be objectified anymore and white women even started working outside the house. Thus, masculinity found itself in a crisis where men are unable to figure out how to construct masculinity. Instead of the classic hypermasculine characters such as Superman or Captain American, who never had their masculinity questioned as they are superhuman ideals of what it means to be a man, television is now filled with men incapable of finding meaning with their existence and resorting to either nihilism or neoliberalism to regain a position of power. According to the American Psychological Association, cultural changes appear to affect men in uniquely troubling ways. William Liu, PhD and professor at the University of Iowa states that: “Society is changing, but we don’t talk to white men and ask them what they are struggling with. There’s a tendency to minimize it, yet the distress and disconnection are very real” (Weir, 2017). Men feel that their masculinity ideology is under attack because it was built on a set of gender norms that endorse specific features, yet the societal shifts such as the role of women in the workplace or the acceptance of same-sex relationships increases the rates of mental health problems in males who conform to traditional masculine norms (Weir, 2017). Suicide statistics from the 4 World Health