From a movie, "I Love You, Man"

I recently watched the movie, “I Love You, Man” for short assignment from my writing course. This movie features two comparable male characters who possess totally different types of masculinity. In fact, it almost seems like the movie does not view Peter, the main character who hangs out better with women, as a man who supposedly needs to have masculinity. Peter does not feel uncomfortable with the fact that he does not really have “guy friends” until he hears what his fiancé’s friends talk about how men without guy friends can really be clingy and not cool. He decides to hang out with guy friends, but it is very challenging for him as he neither does like drinking or playing games nor does like talking about sex life or women. He sort of lacks “mainstream” masculinity which is normatively perceived in a society when people immediately think about what it is defined to be masculine. In contrast, he meets a guy called Sidney who is cool to hang out with, and he is the one who possesses “positive” masculinity from the audience’s point of view.

This movie illustrates different types of masculinity. The main character seems to have no masculine characteristic from the majority of people’s view, but he just loves spending his time with family in a little more romantic or moody way. His fiancé loves him for that, and I think he is masculine in that way; he is a romantic and emotional man to his fiancé. In fact, his female colleagues say that he will be the perfect husband. The reason he encounters conflict is because majority of people have one image or thought about what it is to be masculine. However, it is not very pleasant to see (from a woman’s point of view) married men talking about how sexy other women are or playing poker with friends overnight, yet this is what is described to be masculine or required to have guy friends in the movie. Sydney, on the other hand, pulls other masculine side from Peter, sharing other hobbies (obsessed with band music) or encouraging him for fencing very well. This implies that the definition of masculinity is not just one what is mostly perceived by others but can vary among people, group, and community.