Reading Response #3 - Week 5

The representation of masculinity in films has always been something that I’ve taken notice of.  Ever since freshman year when I wrote a paper on John Wayne’s The Searchers, its been something I’ve consciously recognized.  When I saw the titles for this week’s readings, I knew I would be interested.  I started with Wills’ essay on John Wayne, because I’ve studied his presence and characters in films in depth and was curious to see what kind of status he held in star or celebrity terms.  I have to admit, even after studying many of films, I had no idea of the magnitude of his celebrity status.  I agreed with many of the points Wills made about how pop icons are generally “young, rebellious, or deviant,” and how many idols die young, like Valentino and Monroe.  To learn that John Wayne was people’s favorite star in a year as recent as 1995 was a complete surprise.  I could have imagined this to be true back in the day when Wayne was all over the screen, but it seems he is one of the few that has made a lasting impact on cinema audiences.

Wayne’s influence on Americans was and still is incredible.  He played a part in movies, usually the hero, and because of that people saw his real life self as a hero.  Even though he never even served in the military, he was thought of as the model of an American soldier.  He received medals and awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Marines.  Because the majority of his films were Westerns, a particularly masculine genre, he was usually hyper-masculinized in these roles.  Even though I can think of a number of modern actors, such as Clint Eastwood, who is similarly portrayed and cast as John Wayne was in such masculine roles, he still is not as strong an image as Wayne was.  Was there something more powerful about an actor’s presence back then? Are we so “used” to movies now that they aren’t as fascinating and captivating as they used to be?  People said that Wayne was their war hero, but he never even went to war.  I feel like now we are so accustomed to films that we don’t think they are real, whereas in the earlier days people believed what they saw on screen to be a real event.