LE3 .A278 2003

2003

Powers, Ann Marie

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

Sociology

Sociology

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relatively recent concept of "male objectification". The emphasis in the media on the male body with its pressures to look muscular and therefore "manly", is juxtaposed to the well-documented concept of "female objectification" in the media. By looking at comedy films from the 80's through to the present, I discover that men, regardless of their looks or portrayed "manliness" (or lack thereof), are shown to "succeed" in these films. For example, even if the man is unattractive, he is be able to attract the beautiful girls; yet, by way of comparison, the woman in these films is only able to get the attractive man if she is beautiful or has transformed herself into the "ideal", as defined by the literature. It is overwhelmingly evident that it is a man's sensitivity, or caring personality, that enables his "success". Since my research is qualitative, using the interpretive approach, my interpretation searched for "implicit meaning"--meaning that is found through the identification of themes, problems, issues, or questions--as identified by Bordwell (1989, p. 9) and examined the ways in which "social reality" is represented.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3022