What is "masculinity"? What are "masculinities"? What defines these concepts? Use examples from Orwell's 1984 as well as those drawn from popular culture, literature, advertising, and so forth to furnish your response.
Masculine: Like a man; manly; strong; vigorous.
Masculinity: A masculine quality or condition.
Using the definitions above, it can be assumed that masculinities are perhaps qualities of being masculine. So what defines these concepts most in my opinion? Is it culture? Is it media? I personally believe the media plays a huge role in defining what exactly masculinity is. Over the decades, the idea of masculinity has generally remained unchanged: manly, strong, assertive, etc. Although, there are small features that come and go; being a cowboy was at one point in time seen as very masculine, perhaps not so much now. Media has a very significant role in portraying what the new idea of what a real ‘man’ is or what traits a man should posses in order to be considered masculine. Television, print ads, commercials, and even in novels, we are constantly being bombarded with images of the ideal man and therefore, what is manly. One year it might be Johnny Depp in a leather jacket, but several years later it’s Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen or Justin Bieber in a cardigan (please refrain from comments, he was the only teenybopper kid I could think of. I am aware however that him being masculine is debatable but for arguments sake lets say he is).
In the last 50 years, I believe it’s fair to say that it has been assumed by many that one of the most masculine features of a male physically was to be strong and muscular. It seems to me however that this idea has been changing. It is becoming more and more common to see “skinny”, maybe even scrawny males being considered masculine. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh would be considered the most predominantly masculine character. He goes around and shows his dominance by having sex with the wives of newly married men, travels to the Ceder Forest just to kill the beast and show he is capable of such tasks, and truly seems to believe he is the best man on earth both appearance-wise and overall. But now, so many of the celebrities in the world that are considered the best of the best are nothing like that. They may workout at the gym but at first glance they do not appear to be overly strong at all.
Masculinity is not all about appearance however. It is also possible to have masculinities in other form, such as control. The clear example of a masculine character that can probably withstand the changes of what is and is not considered masculine from Orwell’s 1984, is the character of Big Brother. Big Brother is a very masculine character in the sense that it is a strong, powerful figure in Oceania. People fear it and it holds a great amount of influence over the population. What Big Brother and the Party say goes and they even have the ability to read peoples thoughts as well as monitor them while inside their own house. This is not to say however that masculinity means being feared but it is a possible trait.
No matter what being masculine is thought to mean, whether physical, presence, or an attitude, it is greatly defined and influenced by the media. The media is able to manipulate and control what our preferences are through many of its outlets.
