"Men behaving badly"? Representations of masculinity in post-global financial crisis cinema. Issue 5 (20th October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brassett, James; Heine, Frederic
• Is Part Of: International feminist journal of politics. Volume 23:Issue 5(2021)
• Page Start: 763
• Page End: 784
• Publication Date: 2021-10-20
• Subjects: Finance -- film -- masculinities -- humor -- feminist international political economy; Feminist theory -- Periodicals; Political science -- Periodicals; Gender identity -- Periodicals; Sex role -- Periodicals; Women -- Periodicals; 305.42
• DOI: 10.1080/14616742.2020.1808502
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-6742

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Films about finance often deploy masculinity as a key locus of critique, most recently in post-global financial crisis (GFC) cinema. While feminist international political economy (IPE) can direct attention to certain heteronormative limitations in the gendered critique of finance – in other words, it can portray stereotypes of "reckless" risky men who need to be reined in by "responsible, " "prudent" women – this article discerns important nuances in the representation of masculinity in post-GFC cinema. Beyond moralizing binaries of stable, responsible husbands versus greedy, predatory bankers, we argue that post-GFC cinema has expanded the gendered critique of crisis by focusing on "multiple masculinities, " the "outsiders" and the "weirdos, " as well as the working-class "gangs" of finance in films like Inside Job, Margin Call, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Big Short . Instead of turning to women as the naturalized redeemers of "testosterone capitalism, " these films use humor and irony to create a reflexive distance, while celebrating the potential of emotional and geeky masculinities. Gone is the "redemptive woman" of embedded liberal finance, to reveal a vision of adaptable financial man that both naturalizes complexity and constricts the scope of financial critique to a moral valorization of resilience.