Comparing Masculinities – True Grit (1968, 1969, 2010)

• Autores: Walter Erhart
• Localización: Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur, ISSN 0340-4528, Vol. 43, Nº. 2, 2018, págs. 440-461
• Idioma: alemán
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• Resumen

  • By studying three different versions of an American Western narrative, the novel True Grit and its cinematographic adaptations, the essay starts with the plurality of masculinities embodied within the genre to outline the specific reference points, frames, and tertia comparationis that organize and structure these and other male narratives in the 20th and 21st century. While the narrative of True Grit is all about comparing men, each version centers upon a different concept these comparisons are directed toward: a nostalgic imagination of a noble masculine society gone by; a family narrative where men evolve as children, fathers, and potential husbands; a threatening masculinity representing the dark ‘other’ side of civilization. While taking a plurality of masculinities for granted, this essay aims to identify common frames and narratives of masculinities that allow for structuring the future field of comparative masculinity studies.

    Parts of this essay were inspired by the Collaborative Research Center “Practices of Comparing. Ordering and Changing the World” (SFB 1288) at the University of Bielefeld.

    Looking at recent publications and attending conferences on men and masculinities, you may notice a certain gap between two versions and two options for describing and analyzing masculinity. There is, on the one hand, a quite traditional framework: a tendency to define masculinity, in what could be coined a 19th century version that is still highly relevant (as it is always emphasized), a masculinity associated with power, oppression, force and strength, with a patriarchal society and paternal narratives. It is a notion that is often the only one at hand and may quite easily be connected to the theories of Robert/Rawyn Connell and Pierre Bourdieu as well as with the term ‘hegemonic’ masculinity whenever this term is applied (and it is applied very often)