Millennial masculinity: conflict and denial in contemporary visual culture

In this article, I return to the work on masculinity in cinema I began in earlier essays, but here I move far beyond a discussion of cinema, and argue that the only way to comprehend the complexities of the ‘masculine’ today is through interdisciplinary work. I therefore locate the highly problematic and extremely successful Hollywood film 300 (US, Zack Snyder, 2007) in the context of contemporary visual culture in its entirety, looking here at cinema, advertising, magazines and fashion imagery.

This film is arguably not merely just one more epic in the new cycle that began with GLADIATOR (US, Ridley Scott, 2000); it is, I suggest, both reactionary and homophobic. The implicit ‘reaction‘ is against the increasingly erotic, androgynous or even feminized images of young men which dominate so many contemporary fashion campaigns; the new and implicitly anti-fashion men’s magazines that have appeared are also part of this recent backlash which is, I argue, a new phenomenon. Fashion scholars have tended to ignore the part played by popular cinema in the revolution around male dress and self-presentation which began in the early 1980s, and which soon prompted the suggestion of a ‘crisis in masculinity‘ within cultural studies. Perceptions were both promoted and shattered by Hollywood cinema - but recently, the very ’conflict‘ I describe has led to a visible rift within popular culture. Mainstream Hollywood cinema and the ‘lad’s magazines‘ have adopted a disturbing and negative stance on fashion; some leading fashion houses have, on the other hand, presented images of young men that have become increasingly transgressive. With the sequel to 300 now ready for release in 2013, it seems timely to look again at the relationship between popular cinema and fashion. In this article, I have charted the changes chronologically – and have suggested ways forward for interdisciplinary enquiry.