Blog 1: Exploring Masculinity Through Youth

By Vasia Nagarajah

In the text “Guys Club: No Faggots; Bitches; or Pussies Allowed” by Carlos Andres Gomez and the short film “Invincible” by Vincent René-Lortie, the theme of masculinity is explored through the expectation that the society have toward both young men. Both works are about the young boys navigating in their world and about how they are struggling with masculinity internally, how they express it externally and how the society that they are surrounded by see them.

To start off, we acquire our concept of gender roles, behaviour, and norms from a very young age which the central character from the text never understood. For instance, in the very beginning of the story, Carlos was interested by his sister and aunt painting their nails and the topic was brushed off when he wanted to paint his nails too and the reason why was because it was “only for girls”. Later, the aunt finally gave in and said you will just have to learn it the hard way and painted his nails. When Carlos showed his friends his fingernails, they called him “faggot” and we can clearly see that Carlos was very confused about the whole situation. Internally, in both works, the main characters struggle with their own emotions and what they long for. While reading Gomez’s text, we can see how often the main character, Carlos, is conflicted with his personal values and the gender norms that are inflicted on men and women. In the short film “Invincible”, the central character struggles with his fear and insecurities. He wants to be stay strong for the people he cares for, and he finds comfort in water, we can see how he grapple with expressing himself whether it is with his family or at the centre de jeunesse.

Externally, in the film, we can see how “masculinity” is expressed through the main character’s interaction with the authority figures and his friends. The difference between the way they communicate to each other and the way they feel. For example, when Marc, the protagonist in the movie, came back to the youth center after spending the weekend with his family, he never answered and only nodded to the questions of Luc, the authority figure at the center. In addition, after Marc started the fire alarm, Luc talked to him about trust and the main character did tear up, but he was still hesitant about exposing himself to an adult. The protagonist’s contact with his surrounding can be described simply by “lack of communication” and his timidity to show vulnerability. The only time we get to see the part of him that’s vulnerable are when he is in his thoughts and when he interacts with his little sister. However, in the text, Carlos wanted to be open minded, appreciate everyone around him without judgment and be vulnerable but he realized how being close to another guy made him uncomfortable because of the internalized homophobia. I personally think that the part where Carlos accidently kissed his friend Brent while dreaming was very important to the story because Brent was not judging Carlos and tried to understand him, which probably made the protagonist trust his friend more and helped change the homophobia that was established since his childhood. In the film and the text, the central character struggle with showing vulnerability and above all, we can see how harmful this can be on a young person.

To conclude, “Guys Club: No Faggots, Bitches, or Pussies Allowed” and “Invincible” are about exploring masculinity through the eyes of young men and to focus on their internal feeling and the external pressure that they must face and how much the nature of masculinity impacts their development. These works give us different perspective on the nature of masculinity. Through each protagonist and their stories, we get to understand the complexity of masculinity, which inspire the audience to be more empathetic and try to relate to the narratives.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gómez, Carlos Andrés “Guys Club: No Faggots, Bitches, or Pussies Allowed.” Man up: Cracking the Code of Modern Manhood, Gotham Books, 2012, pp. 65–83.

René-Lortie, Vincent, director. Invincible, TV5 Unis, 2022, https://www.tv5unis.ca/invincible.