Modeling Manhood: - Adam Sandler's Portrayals of Masculinity and Manhood

MASCULINITY, FATHERHOOD, AND FILM

Several late twentieth century films added to the national discussion of masculine identities and fatherhood. Films such as Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Mr. Mom (1983), and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) highlighted the changing attitudes of American society regarding masculinity, fatherhood, marriage, divorce, child care, and child custody. All three of the films’ fathers exhibit traditional heterosexual behavior through marriage and reproduction, but as life-altering experiences occur, the men adapt to the circumstances, and rethink their masculine role and identity by negotiating with their (ex) wives and with other females. Mr. Mom conveys the identity crisis and day-to-day struggles the husband/father must negotiate before reaching the model with which both he and his wife are comfortable. All three were clear attempts to change America’s attitudes regarding fatherhood through popular culture and the medium of film.

Recently, academics have begun to examine Adam Sandler and his generation of filmmakers. Particularly relevant to this discussion is film scholar Timothy Shary’s recent book, Millennial Masculinity: Men in Contemporary American Cinema (2013), in which he argues that movies are an excellent medium to help better comprehend the ways American men conceptualize masculinity and the ways men, and the various perceptions of them, have been evolving in contemporary America. According to Shary, films are ideal due to the wide variety of themes and their dependence on box office success, which enables analysis of ticket sales and the sales and rentals of DVDs.36 He argues that there has been a significant change in the ways men are being depicted in American cinema since the 1990s. The new portrayals show complex and thoughtful masculine roles and ideals, but also “challenge perceived norms about sexuality and sexual preference, social identities and expectations, power and strength, and the very essence of what ‘being a man’ means.”37 This is of particular importance because the constructions of masculinities in popular films help American males define manhood and shape their own individual forms of masculinity.38 Films also present a variety of fatherhood styles to help men determine how they want to parent. Masculinities scholar Michael Kimmel agrees; “Images of gender in the media become texts on normative behavior, one of many cultural shards we use to construct notions of masculinity.”39 The problem with this is that no one can predict in what manner, or even if, an individual audience member will receive the filmmakers’ intended message. Nonetheless, Sandler’s portrayals of masculinity paint pictures that males can see and choose to either emulate or avoid.

Adam Sandler’s films appeared several years after the Hollywood model scholar Susan Jeffords calls “hard-body,” which she describes as the “re-articulation of masculine strength and power.”40 These films, such as Top Gun (1986),41 were indicative of the highly politicized re-militarization and generally conservative trend in America during the Ronald Reagan presidency in the 1980s. Film scholar Peter Alilunas credits Adam Sandler’s film, Happy Gilmore (1996), with the shift that revised Hollywood’s hard-body, to the new “internalized masculine dimension” in which men explore their moral dilemmas, emotional upsets, and psychological aims.42 However, Alilunas is mistaken in his assessment on this score. In fact, Al Yankovic’s UHF, (1989) began the comedic destruction of the hyper-masculinized version of manhood prevalent in 1980s films, and showed the vulnerable side of a young man seeking his way in life. The film spoofed Rambo and used a daydreaming, ne’er-do-well, weakling played by Yankovic, and a mentally challenged janitor, played by Michael Richards (Kramer on Seinfeld) to overcome the evil establishment. The audience is able to see the absurdity in the hyper-masculine hero and laugh at his own inability to achieve hard-body status. thus opening the door for Sandler’s rejection of a masculinity defined by muscularity. Sandler often focuses on the negative aspects of the hyper-masculine body builder through humor in an effort to address steroid use by young males (50 First Dates is the most obvious).

To give the reader a better understanding of the comedic genres Sandler and his generation of filmmakers employ, a quick review of the comic film categories is necessary. There are a number of comic film genres according to scholar Steve Vineberg, and Sandler employs most of them with deftness. First, there is high comedy, also known as comedy of manners, which pits aristocratic behaviors against those of the lower classes. Romantic comedy, also known as screwball comedy, is America’s favorite, and usually begins with a male and a female in adversarial positions; the bromance is a homosocial rendition of the same theme. Situation comedy is motivated by the difficulty of the situation or event, such as trying to engineer a wedding in Father of the Bride (1991). Sentimental comedy, also known as dramedy, combines comedy and melodrama. Parody consists of benign spoof; satire, the tougher version of parody, is founded on the idea “that its target is malignant and deserves to be exposed: nuclear armament (Dr. Strangelove, 1964), ... anti-communist hysteria (The Manchurian Candidate, 1964), ... and later, anti-terrorist hysteria in its re-make (2004), Reagan-era family values (The Stepfather, 1987).”43

Documentary filmmaker Mark Cousins interviewed screen writer Edward Neumeier about the history of film. In the interview, Neumeier stated that films of the late 1980s and the 1990s were full of Reagan Era satire. “The point of being openly satirical was to reach the widest possible audience, all over the world, regardless of the culture.”44 He also noted that humor allows filmmakers to address difficult political subjects, but because the subject is skewed, the filmmakers can get away with the remarks, even though the subject might be controversial. Sandler’s You Don’t Mess With the Zohan is a perfect example of humor addressing a difficult political issue – does it get longer or messier than the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Black comedy invites the audience to laugh at dark subjects, such as The War of the Roses (1989)45 or Sandler’s Little Nicky (2000). Burlesque is traditionally considered low comedy, relying on physical comedy such as pratfalls; in today’s vernacular the animal comedy and the dude-flick are burlesque.46 The animal comedy is a film genre in which foul language, anti-social behavior, drug use, and poor life choices abound and sometimes serves to inform viewers that these constitute acceptable behavior. While some of Sandler’s characters begin here, they almost always progress to adopting the feminist ideal of masculine behavior. According to Vineberg, “the boundaries that separate these comic genres are extremely fluid, and often movie comedy thrives on combinations of several different genres;”47 this is the case for most of Sandler’s films.

Sandler often uses a convention in filmmaking known as the buddy film which consists of two men, from substantially divergent personalities and/or backgrounds, who are forced to undertake a journey or accomplish a task. At first the differences cause frustrations, but as the story progresses the men embark on a friendship that helps them in their quest. According to scholar Philippa Gates, two cultural changes brought about overlapping shifts in buddy films. First, feminist gains and an incipient men’s movement prompted more dramatic and sometimes tragic, explorations of male friendship. Second, a widespread questioning of social institutions, a celebration of youthful and rebellious individualism, and Hollywood’s attempt to attract young audiences spawned films focusing on outlaws whose adventures reflected a desire for freedom from the domestic restraints imposed by women and society.48

Buddy films were brought into the realm of law enforcement during the politically conservative climate of the Reagan presidency during the 1980s. It was an era of action heroes, with hyper-masculinized bodies and violent propensities that blended patriotism, heroism, and masculinity, into an ideal of manhood which few could attain. The advent of the 1990s brought buddy films into far more realistic portrayals of masculinity that included the new sensitive male. Although buddy films have altered to adapt to ever-changing American social and cultural concerns, the personality and background differences always manage to fall away, and the protagonists’ shared masculine identity prevails in the face of threats to that masculinity.49 The Bucket List (2007) is an example of concerns of aging baby-boomers in a buddy film. According to scholar Maria San Filippo, “In surveying the genre’s path of transformation from its 1970s tragic mode to its current comic mode, these readings remain telling for the way the buddy film continues to display sexual ambiguity and nostalgia for adolescence.”50 This transformation also took on an updated designation: the bromance. At its most conventional the bromance promotes marriage, but also attempts to limit the institution in order to prevent the loss of the...