Gangstas, Thugs, Vikings and Drivers

Depictions of Masculinity and the Search for Manhood in the Films of Nicolas Winding Refn

Christopher John OlsonDePaul UniversitySpring 2013

Crisis of Masculinity

“In the late 1960s, in the wake of the civil rights movement, and with the rise of women’s liberation, gay liberation, and the increasing visibility of ethnic and racial diversity on the American scene, white men begin to be decentered.” – Sally Robinson, Marked Men: White Masculinity in Crisis (2000)

Three Types of MasculinityDominant (Kahn, 2009): “the idealized

and socially expected ways of being male”

Complicit (Kahn, 2009): “conform to dominant masculine norms in hopes of receiving rewards for being like the dominant group”

Mythical: primal, archetypal, transcendent

Pusher (1996)Frank (Kim

Bodnia)

Tonny (Mads Mikkelson)

Boyhood

Frank, Tonny, and Complicit Masculinity

Bronson (2008)Michael Peterson

aka Charlie Bronson (Tom Hardy)

Teenager/Adolescence

“More of the Charles Bronson type”: Bronson and Dominant Masculinity

Valhalla Rising (2009)One Eye (Mads

Mikkleson)

Young adulthood/ Fatherhood

Man and Nature: One Eye and Mythical Masculinity

Drive (2011)The Driver (Ryan

Gosling)

Shannon (Bryan Cranston)

Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks)

Nino (Ron Perlman)

Family man

The Driver: Real Hero, Real Human Being?

Mythical Masculinity, Complex Individual

Conclusions“Tough guise”

Culture of violence

Unsustainable masculinity

Transformation of traditional gender norms