Justin Orndorff
Soc 360
Film Review #3
“Tough Guise”
1. The
thesis of “Tough Guise” is how men gain respect through signifying violence
through the means of aggression, body size, and gun size. Signifying to society that you’re a “real
man” is to be considered tough, masculine, and not put up with anything. Fag, sissy, wimp, and wuss are insults that
are often used to keep you boxed in as a man.
Where do boys learn this? The
media. The media constructs violence as
a cultural norm; especially American men who are usually abused as children and
continue the cycle throughout life. Most
men hurt other men, but on the other hand 99.8% of men in prison are in prison
because of rape. (2).
2. Some
of the main arguments that support the thesis of this film were the statistics
that were shown about men hurting men, or hurting women, or even children. School shootings shown in the film Tough
Guise, which are usually committed by men or boys was another argument that
supports the thesis of the film Tough Guise. Another example that supports the
thesis is men bodies. Over the past twenty
years men’s bodies have gotten bigger and more masculine. Guns are yet another example how size for
some reason is better when bigger. The
bigger the gun the more masculine the man holding it is. Binge drinking is another way the film gives
a good example of a male’s way to be masculine or to prove their manhood to
their peers and society. The more you
can drink the more masculine you are, this occurs mostly in College.
3. The
film “Tough Guise” relates to our course by stepping outside the cultural norms
through violence is unacceptable and labeled deviant. As a man if your not considered tough or
masculine by society you’re labeled a wimp or a pussy. The Labeling Theory by Howard S. Becker
defines deviance as the infraction of some agreed-upon rule. (1). Society
according to Becker “creates deviance by making the rules whose infraction
constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and
labeling them as outsiders.” (1).
4. Society
has taken the poor lower class African American men’s respect away by providing
them with less educational opportunity, and lowering their access to a good
career. The idea that men of color need to gain respect by the dominate white
middle class culture is ridicules. Men
of color shouldn’t have to become violent to be seen as masculine. The normalization of violence through
pornography is another problem the film discusses. Portraying violence through pornography is a
crude way young teen boys are seeing violent acts for the first time in their
lives, almost to say that it’s ok to hurt women.
5. What I
found least convincing about the film “Tough Guise” is the statistics the media
provides us with. We need to read
between the lines. There are plenty of
violent women in society as well as men.
We not need just focus on the lower-class and African American men but
we should focus on normal middle class American men, hence, the Columbine High School
6. Reducing
violence through the media would be a great area to start. Unfortunately we get most of our information
through the media. We could study
prisons across America
Reference:
1.) Becker,
Howard S. "Chapter 7: Labeling Theory." Readings Boston
