Hot take: Hollywood needs to stop making war movies that send harmful messages of masculinity

World War II epic “Dunkirk” will be returning to movie theaters after nabbing eight Oscar nominations, and that’s potentially problematic, at least to Peter Maass over at The Intercept. Maass, you see, is trying to make the case that it’s time for Hollywood to stop making war movies like “12 Strong” that project an outdated image of masculinity “that does violence to us all.”

The time has come for Hollywood to turn away from war movies that, while satisfying to both a studio’s bottom line and a flag-waving concept of patriotism, perpetuate a model of masculinity that does violence to us all. https://t.co/GAjWB5e2KP

— The Intercept (@theintercept) January 27, 2018

"Well into the second decade of our forever war, the combat movies that populate our multiplexes and our minds are devoted to a martial narrative of men-as-terminators that should have been strangled at its birth a long time ago." https://t.co/uvRNcZFmQn

— Peter Maass (@maassp) January 27, 2018

Maass writes of “12 Strong”:

During the movie’s pivotal scene, the leader of the Green Berets, played by Chris Hemsworth (the grievously handsome star of the Thor franchise), decimates a hive of Taliban fighters with his rifle ablaze as he gallops ahead on his fearless horse (yes, he’s riding a horse). In the same way that Hemsworth’s assault weapon goes rat-tat-tat and the bad guys fall like bulleted dominoes, the scene itself checks off one born-in-Hollywood cliché after another: of the rugged gunslinger, the warrior in camo, good versus evil, the modern vanquishing the profane, a man at his fullest.

We’re so old, we remember having this same conversation back during the Reagan era when “Rambo” was in theaters.

Maass continues:

Don’t get me wrong, soldiers often do brave things and shouldn’t be denied credit for it. I’ve reported on the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Bosnia, so I’ve seen heroism from soldiers of many nationalities, as well as cowardice and abuse. That’s not the issue. What matters is that well into the second decade of our forever war, the combat movies that populate our multiplexes and our minds are devoted to a martial narrative of men-as-terminators that should have been strangled at its birth a long time ago.

Masculinity isn't outdated. There are all kinds of men. Masculinity is essential to the HUMAN RACE.

We don't need to wage war against traditional masculinity. We need to accept that men are FREE to be the kind of men they're born to be.

https://t.co/emByHK0pUc

— Anna's World ?? (@AnnasWorld3) January 27, 2018

Stupid men — & their stupid bravery & sacrifice — who won two World Wars, liberated Europe & Pacific, defeated Nazism, liberated South Korea, stood against Communism, took down USSR, and continue to protect the innocent & battle terrorism around the globe.https://t.co/KbXlOJBUJl pic.twitter.com/M3HEdRBHfY

— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) January 27, 2018

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Orwell

— Howard Carter ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@hacarter44) January 27, 2018

Damn men risking their lives in war to protect their country are so outdated. We need more movies about woke male feminists like Aziz Ansari https://t.co/ouIl7V6VWQ pic.twitter.com/9Hvr3rY2g5

— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) January 27, 2018

Just a thought. The “model of masculinity” that needs to be fixed in Hollywood centers around the low liife millionaires/billionaires forcing women to do things they don’t want to do just because they can. Why not we fix that? Your focus is way off.

— FSU2Times (@FSU2Times) January 27, 2018

https://twitter.com/RobProvince/status/957357432468066304

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