Teen comedy films: patriarchal privilege and the white, middle-class male



Infantile manhood of the privileged white male: the boys from American Pie

Film, like most media, not only constructs particular youth identities, it shapes the audience's understanding of them (Mallan & Pearce, 2003).  Representations of youth, particularly young males, foster a certain "patriarchal privilege" (Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1998) that provides a basis for exploration of masculine identity.  This is specifically observed in vulgar teen comedy films, where youth identities are defined through conflict with the world around them.  Moreover, this conflict reflects the social and economic context of youth at the time of the film's production.  This entry responds to Speed (2010), whose article, 'Loose Cannons: White Masculinity and the Vulgar Teen Comedy Film', explores how social forces influence the type of male youth on screen and his heroic qualities.  The article tracks the progression of teen comedies from the 1970s to the late 1990s, focusing on gender identity formation and, specifically in relation to the male characters, the pursuit of sexual mastery.  Ultimately, it will be shown that such representations of (young) men are limited, but educators can use such films as valuable teaching resources.

While there are some marked differences in contemporary vulgar teen comedies, some elements have remained unchanged.  Speed (2010, p. 821) identifies three specific 'cycles', each with their own characteristics.  Teen comedies of the 1970s, largely influenced by the social movements of the 1960s, foreground the "defiance of institutional authority" (ibid.), usually by young men rather than teenagers.  In the 1980s, films such as Porky's portrayed teenagers engaging in more sexual activity with less focus on resisting social institutions; there was an "absence of belief in youth's capacity to expand social and cultural boundaries" (p. 824).  By the 1990s, vulgar teen comedies, such as American Pie or Road Trip, privileged the "pursuit of sex over subversive acts" (ibid.) with an increasing "suburbanization" of teenage sexuality.  Furthermore, the chief problem to resolve in such films was the "failure of the male sexual quest" (ibid., p. 825).  Despite differences in social contexts, two assumptions about youth masculinity remain constant through the cycles.  Firstly, teen boys have a cultural space of their own in which they can revel and rebel, seemingly immune from any consequence.  Greven (2002, p. 15) explains that teen comedies "exploit this special zone of identity" for male characters.  Secondly, the type of masculinity that is privileged in all films is one that is dominant and "terrorizes those who are weak and/or different" (Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1998, p. 125).  Given their popularity, vulgar teen comedies are worthy of critique, particularly with respect to the repeated messages consumed by generations of young male viewers.

A regular moral panic is that popular culture is responsible for the disappearance of childhood; in other words, it is corrupting our youth (Brooks, 2008).  It could be argued that teen comedies shape this perception as the world of the film is often represented in a similar way.  At the core of teen comedies is the crisis of youth masculinity for the comfortable, middle-class white male.  Being so intent on "proving maleness" (Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1998, p. 112), there is a decline in social advancement and an "absence of social perspective" (Speed, 2010, p. 828).  Unlike earlier cycles, teen comedies from the 1990s onwards project characters whose purpose is detached from any social or political agenda.  Characters are launched on a quest for sex, often as a road trip, as a means of transitioning into adulthood.  Such representations can easily be blamed for contributing to the "toxic effect" (Brooks, 2008, p. 3) of popular culture on youth.

Speed (2010) asserts that for male characters in vulgar teen comedies social freedom is derived from the hedonistic adventures of the road trip.  These white, middle-class young men can be understood as the archetypal "maverick heroes" (Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1998) who do things their own way and exist outside regular social boundaries.  While they elicit sympathy at first, viewers often end up repulsed by the attitude that, as privileged males, they are "entitled to misbehave" and have the capacity to "recreate chaos and destruction" (ibid., p. 109) without any ramifications.  Such depictions work to "imprint a hatred and fear of youth" (ibid., p. 111) beyond the film, which is counterproductive and fuels unease about the place of media in the lives of young people. 

As well as being a privileged, white, middle-class male, it is the favourable representation of a patriarchal order that is also of concern in vulgar teen comedies.  Conflict is often linked to encounters with differences in class or gender, in that those who live and behave outside the familiar territory of the protagonist suffer (Speed, 2010, p. 831).  For example, in pursuit of their manliness, women are violated and exploited without any consequence for the male character: "women ultimately exist as sexual objects to 'service' male needs" (Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1998, p. 114).  Indeed, some female characters, such as in American Pie, educate their male friends to help them on their sexual quest.  Likened to sitcoms featuring mismatched couples, such representations of gender "encourage viewers to accept patriarchy as a 'natural' male trait and trivialize sexism as a laughing matter" (Walsh, Fursich & Jefferson, 2008, p. 123).  As one of the recurring depictions of male characters, it is also one of the most confronting.

Vulgar teen comedies repeat messages of masculinity that serve to perpetuate attitudes and beliefs about being a 'real man'.  In an exploration of cultivation theory, Shanahan and Morgan (1999, p. 15) expose "media's role in social control" as it defines our assumptions and nurtures particular worldviews.  For youth, who are the receivers of countless messages about gender at a time when they are searching for their own expression of identity, the adult world seems strange and dull (Greven, 2002, p. 15).  The final destination of the road trip is the metaphoric adult world; however, the behaviour of men in the adult sphere is hardly different from the immaturity of younger generations.  Indeed, the rise in vulgarity and juvenile humour has been ascribed to teen comedies as they continually represent an "infantile stage in...manhood" (ibid., p. 21), particularly in recent decades.  With the repetition of such identities, young viewers' understanding of gender identity becomes devoid of any "insight into its social positioning" (Speed, 2010, p. 837) and consumed with individual rather than group priorities.

The main point to take from Speed (2010) is that youth masculinity is still in crisis.  Each cycle of films embeds specific social and political concerns of the day into the characters' actions and attitudes.  The notion of privilege within white middle-class is something of which we should be critical, as it carries assumed entitlements that are unjust, insensitive and often immoral.  Being aware of these issues would help educators see such films as opportunities to connect with students and engage in meaningful discussion about cultural assumptions and gender constructs.  Some claim that most men are "more insecure with their masculinity than they let their peers, parents and teachers know" (Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1998, p. 124).  As such, a deliberate exploration of masculine identity beyond the narrow representations in comedy films is needed.  Alternatively, a study of how humour is used to construct characters and social scenarios would be worthwhile.  Moreover, the texts need to be viewed with a goal for greater understanding of difference, diversity and justice.

Greg

REFERENCES

Brooks, K. (2008). Consuming innocence: popular culture and our children. St Lucia, QLD: UQP.

Greven, D. (2002). Dude, where's my gender? Contemporary teen comedies and new forms of American masculinity. Cineaste, 27(3), 14-21.

Mallan, K., & Pearce, S. (2003). Introduction: tales of youth in a postmodern culture. In K. Mallan & S. Pearce (Eds.), Youth cultures: texts, images, and identities (pp. ix-xix). Westport: Praeger.

Shanahan, J., & Morgan, M. (1999). Television and the viewers: cultivation theory and research. Cambridge: Oxford University Press Cambridge.

Speed, L. (2010). Loose cannons: white masculinity and the vulgar teen comedy film. The journal of popular culture, 43(4), 820-841.

Steinberg, S., & Kincheloe, J. (1998). Privileged and getting away with it: the cultural studies of white, middle-class youth.  Studies in the literary imagination, 31(1), 103-126.

Walsh, K., Fursich, E., & Jefferson, B. (2008). Beauty and the patriarchal beast: gender role portrayals in sitcoms featuring mismatched couples. Journal of popular film and television, 36(3), 123-132.