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9 October 2014
How have masculinity and Tom Hardy’s own personal experiences been represented in his films?
To play a succession of hypermasculine characters has
Tom Hardy had to draw from his own personal experiences? Hardy stated that his
“father came from an intellectual and studious avenue” and “was ashamed of not
having any relevance” so was forced to go further afield and battled both
alcohol and drug addiction as well as having one night stands and participating
in criminal activities, making him the epitome of Andrew Spicer’s “Angry Young
Man” which Richard Hoggart, a British academic who specialises in British
popular culture, characterised as “the scholarship boy…exhibiting a deep sense
of being lost, without purpose and with the will sapped”. While not all of
these issues are addressed directly in his films, Bronson (2008), Warrior
(2011) and The Dark Knight Rises
(2012) all deal with the idea of masculinity in crisis; the root of Hardy’s
past misdeeds.
Hardy’s
character of Bane in The Dark Knight
Rises is, essentially, a terrorist that is motivated by the woman he loves.
I see this as an exaggeration of Hardy’s personal experiences, like the need he
felt to prove himself to his father and the other male figures in his life at
the time, which he viewed as threatening to his masculinity. As Hardy stated
“It would be ‘I’ll strangle the biggest guy in the bar and then no one will
fuck with me. I’ll get tattoos and people will know I’m not afraid to hurt
myself and they’ll be like warning signs.” The relationship, or lack thereof,
between Hardy and these anonymous men is reflective of that between Bane and
Batman, where both Bane and Hardy are fighting to eliminate the competition
over what they think is being threatened, in Bane’s case, his woman (who Bruce
Wayne had developed a romantic attachment to) and in Hardy’s case his ego and
masculine pride.
The
villainous character of Bane was said to be the catalyst for the shooting in
Colorado, where a heavily armed gunman, James Holmes, entered a midnight
screening of The Dark Knight Rises
and gunned down 12 people and injured another 58. A report in the Daily Mail
stated that “there were suggestions that the gunman was influenced by Bane, a
character in the film which wears a dark mask covering his face” similar to the
one worn by Holmes. Even though there is no direct link between the shooting
and Bane’s influence, it is interesting to see the impact that this
hypermasculine character has on audiences to make them come to that conclusion.
AMC Theatres even went as far as not permitting guests in costumes “that make
others uncomfortable”, nor will they allow face covering masks or fake weapons.
Violence
has always been considered a predestined aspect of masculinity, as well as
dominance and forcefulness, however, as there is no definitive biological
evidence that supports this, it can be argued that violence is a by-product of
masculinity in crisis. The 70s and 80s saw the introduction of ‘hard body’ films,
which showcase the extreme male form that, therefore, led to the birth of the
fight movie, which glorified violent sports and seemingly created an ideal that
men felt compelled to aspire to.
Paradoxically,
film academic Richard Dyer identifies that the male pin-ups of the hard body
films has been associated with “a narcissism considered culturally
inappropriate for men, betraying a supposedly feminised concern with
appearance” despite “the way in which muscles can function as both a naturalisation
of male power and dominance.” Even though Tom Hardy’s physique in these three
films adhere to this statement, his large muscles are appropriate for the
characters he is portraying in relation to their professions and lifestyles and
not exaggerated like the steroid pumped muscles of Arnold Schwarzenegger or
Sylvester Stallone.
Hardy’s
depiction of former marine Tommy Conlon in the sports drama Warrior is aggressive with inherently
male swagger and seething rage, which stems from his tortured past, and
physically is much stronger than his onscreen brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton).
Both brothers though, have pretty, boyish features and do not possess the
broken noses and mangled ears of seasoned fighters. Also, the last shot of the
film, showing Brendan with his arm around Tommy, sees the two looking like
young boys and reminding the spectator that there is still something very
vulnerable and childlike behind the masculine persona. Despite Tommy’s
aggressiveness in the ring, letting out the anger from his father’s abuse and
brother’s abandonment as a child, he immediately tapped out of the fight as
soon as his brother apologised and told him he loved him, as if that was all he
wanted to hear, and was willing to shelve his masculine pride as a result,
proving that hypermasculinity is not a more powerful motivator than love.
Masculinity
in Warrior is also addressed
differently in both Brendan and the father, Paddy’s (Nick Nolte), subplots. The
main protagonist, Brendan, is the most relatable character in the film, being a
family man with an average job. When the spectator is introduced to Brendan he
is at a birthday party, wearing a bonnet and having his face painted “becoming
a princess”; this, along with his slighter build and job as a physics teacher,
he is depicted as less than manly. His seemingly effeminate nature is also
shown through the use of Beethoven’s Ode
to Joy as his entrance music and the repetitive use of midshots to make him
appear smaller onscreen.
Brendan
must win the Mixed Martial Arts competition, Sparta, to collect the prize money
to pay his mortgage and his daughter’s hospital bills. It addresses that the
patriarch provides and protects the family and the profession he chooses to
pursue is very unlike the fatherly figure we had become familiar with. It goes
to show that male aggression varies from individual to individual depending on
their motivation. Brendan’s motivation is to protect his family, which
immediately makes him a likeable character, whereas Tommy is using MMA to
release the anger that has been seething since his childhood.
Paddy
Conlon is introduced as a sober, unmarried, religious man and very little else.
It is soon revealed that Paddy drank heavily and subjected both his sons and
wife to physical abuse. He is the representation of extreme masculinity in
crisis and the warped side of patriarchal authority. It is obvious that Paddy
feels he has failed his sons and we as spectators feel obliged to agree as “he
did not nurture and rather encouraged the kind of violence which has continued
to encroach upon Brendan and Tommy’s lives in one form or another” as stated in
Boys Will Be Boys: Violent Masculinities and Warrior. While Brendan is the more
secure brother Tommy, despite his protestations, is the one who needs his
father the most and is the son who is most like him. Tommy goes to Paddy for
coaching, whereas Brendan wins his place in Sparta without Paddy’s assistance
alerting the audience to the fact that Brendan has moved on and forgiven Paddy
while Tommy has not. This is later rectified when Paddy begins drinking again
as he realises the true extent of the damage he has inflicted upon his youngest
son and is cradled, childlike, in Tommy’s arms mourning the lost opportunity to
be loved by his children.
The
rage Tommy feels from his troubled childhood is similar to that of Tom Hardy’s.
His fear of not having any relevance meant he was prone to lashing out as well
as having addiction to alcohol and drugs. He addressed this when asked if the
emotionally demanding scenes were harder than “the physical stuff”. He
responded with “no, because that’s where I came from. That was me doing the bit
I’ve done years of training on already. The whole addiction, abuse storyline
was not a shock, and not far from home. Living with addiction isn’t something
that’s difficult for me to access”. I believe all Hardy wanted during those
rebellious years was to be truly appreciated by his high-achieving father and,
as a result, found unorthodox ways to gain recognition and vent out his pent up
anger, very similarly to Tommy.
Born
Michael Peterson, Charles Bronson is the United Kingdom’s most violent criminal
who had spent 34 years in prison by the time the film was made, most spent in
solitary confinement. His original sentence was seven years for armed robbery
of a post office but due to violent outbursts, such as getting into fights with
both inmates and prison guards and taking hostages and demanding ridiculous
ransoms, subsequent years were added to his sentence. Peterson changed his name
to Charles Bronson to better suit his reputation as a fighter.
Masculinity
in Bronson is a more complicated
issue than the black and white representations in Warrior and The Dark Knight
Rises. Even though Bronson is a hypermasculine character there are certain
aspects of his conveyed personality that do not comply with male stereotypes.
Director Nicolas Winding Refn has chosen to focus primarily on Bronson’s
relationship to art, a subject that the majority of people see as feminine.
Where fighting was the way in which Tommy relieved himself of his anger in Warrior, Bronson used the medium of art.
One of the most poignant scenes in the film showed Bronson tying up a man who
had irritated him previously and making him into a likeness of René Magritte’s The Son of Man.
What
is particularly interesting about Bronson
is the ambiguity of who the intended audience is. As stated in Bronson
(2008): At the Intersection of Art and Violence “it’s a very feminine film
about a very masculine topic.” There is a definite sense throughout of sexual
ambiguity, which is not an inherently masculine trait. From the very feminine
aesthetic and melancholic music used throughout to the very blunt statement of
“Let’s fuck” from Bronson’s boxing leader and his response of “That’s what I’m
here to do”, it is clear that masculinity is a much more complex subject in Bronson than my other focus texts.
Despite
the link between violence and masculinity being seemingly anecdotal and
stereotypical, from these studies, it appears that in modern cinema this is the
case. Even though each of these characters has some form of motivation their
only emotional outlet seems to be through violence; translating accurately into
reality when studying Tom Hardy’s misguided youth.
Some spectators can laugh, others cry at the same sequence. How true is this in relation to Drive (2011) and Revolutionary Road (2008)?
Each film
has been made to make the spectator react in a particular way, whether it is
through characters, themes or filmmaking techniques. For example, Revolutionary
Road (Sam Mendez) creates a melancholic feel through the dialogue and character
driven narrative whereas Drive (Nicholas Winding Refn) creates tension through
visual style.
Spectator
responses can vary from person to person depending on different factors present
in the individuals’ life. Differences in age and religion can dictate the way a
person reacts to a film as well as their own personal experiences. For example,
a World War II veteran may have a more extreme reaction to a film like Saving
Private Ryan than somebody who has never seen war. Audiences are also forced to
feel a certain way through the Hypodermic Needle Theory, where all the elements
of a film have been carefully crafted to tell the audience what to feel.
However, this can be quite alienating as the filmmakers treat the audience as a
whole and not as individual spectators. This also removes the spectator’s
ability to form his or her own response.
The visual
style of Drive, particularly in the ‘Oasis’ sequence, could be seen as
extremely artificial and unrealistic to some, especially if the spectator is
watching passively, however, the true connotations of the elements used can be
understood if analysed in detail. For example, the sunny, warm evening creates
a nostalgic sepia tone and covers the location in a
golden light, which emphasises the dreamlike, romantic quality of the scene and
is used to give the audience a feeling of tranquillity. Also, the song chosen
to accompany the scene contains the words “a real human being and a real hero”
which reflects the good side of Driver that we as an audience have not seen yet
but will only be picked up on if searched for thoroughly.
Thomas
Newman’s score for Revolutionary Road is also a very important signifier of
events as well as visual style, despite being much more subtle and more focused
on dialogue and character. The main theme is played before and after the main
events in the film, like when Kate Winslet’s character, April Wheeler, decides
to give herself an abortion. As abortion is such a controversial issue, it is
not surprising that many people will have such an extreme reaction to it,
although some people might react more strongly to it than others, like mothers
or women who have miscarried or just women in general might have a different
reaction than men. The way the abortion scene was shot is an effective way of
manipulating the audience as the act itself is not seen, but we are made
uncomfortably aware of it through the use of the sad music as well as through
the cinematography. The audience sees April’s feet walking shakily down the
stairs, alerting the audience that it has already happened, and the camera
zooms out from where she is stood at the window to see the pool of blood
between her feet.
In conclusion,
spectators can react differently to films in general or may only be affected by
particular scenes, characters or dialogue that relates to them via things like
their personal experiences, religion, age or gender, but only when the audience
are treated as individuals and not as one.
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