Quote:
Originally Posted by riseagainstrocks
I don't like when someone posts a YT video as an argument. But I'm going to because Dan Olsen is excellent at this:
Toxic masculinity is not a judgment on manhood, masculine attributes, etc. The video essay is fantastic and as someone who hasn't watched Fight Club since high school, I realize I had the conception of the film ass-backwards.
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I watched a little bit of the video, and might finish it in a bit, but I just wanted to say that it sounds like I agree with it. Obviously there are societal influences on masculinity (and femininity) that are negative, but I think certain segments of people criticizing masculinity, men, the patriarchy, or whatever, are also demonizing masculinity as a whole whether they realize it or not. That I do not agree with.
I'm totally open to change in the concept of masculinity, but not a one-sided castigation of the entire concept that strips it of anything meaningful to men (and women too).
And as someone who read Fight Club as a mid-twenty-something, I seem to have interpreted it the same as the video. I don't know just how deep Chuck Palahniuk's philosophy was when he wrote it, but it's definitely first and foremost an expression of frustration with being a male in the 21st century that doesn't really try to tell you how you "should" act, so much as just expressing that frustration. Though I suspect it's even more about the author being gay and how that plays into his role as a male in society.
I wonder what all the cretins who watch the movie for the fight scenes would think if they knew the author was gay lol?