Lennart Soberon<\/a> questions the sustainability of the pumped-up male body in action movies. His analysis begins as reflection on working out to overcome burnout: \u2018as I trudged along on the treadmill, I began to wonder if I was actually just running in circles. Something about my new routine was beginning to take on revanchist tendencies \u2013 as if I was going to teach my body who was really in charge.\u2019 With his doubt in overt self-discipline established, Soberon turns to his \u2018ambiguous fascination\u2019 for filmic body-building prowess: \u2018Just as action heroes do not look back at explosions, they do not care about physical limits. The fact that such acts are presented as heroic speaks both to the fantasies of cinema and to the social fabric in which we are made human.\u2019<\/p>\nSoberon asserts: \u2018We never see a body in repose, recovering and waiting.\u2019 I can think of at least one exception: Brad Pitt\u2019s Achilles in Troy<\/em> (2004) undresses and tends his wounds post-battle in an unusually self-compassionate moment for an action movie. But eroticism based on tender masculinity hasn\u2019t become the norm, as Soberon notes in our correspondence: \u2018it\u2019s a bit of a hybrid blockbuster, focussing as much on inter-relational drama as on action. Different times, I guess. Compare it with Gladiator 2<\/em> (2024) and you\u2019re in a different world.\u2019 If anything, the trend of on-screen masochism has increased in its attempt to repress alternative readings of the male body, especially that of homoerotism, over the past twenty years.<\/p>\nInstead, the ever-ready action hero who \u2018never has to refuel or reload his weapon\u2019 in films that \u2018present us with a fantasy of eternal growth, mobility and self-optimization\u2019 epitomes the body as tool. Soberon, who himself sees his body \u2018as a business partner\u2019 that he works with every day but secretly mistrusts, recognizes the subtext of tireless one-upman<\/em>ship with the productive self. Action movies and the self-improvement market both bought into the myth of inexhaustible, heroic male achievement. \u2018It shows how deep the neoliberal worldview has burrowed into our bodies,\u2019 writes Soberon, \u2018like a parasite that believes itself to be the host.\u2019<\/p>\nJoy in diversity<\/h2>\n
M. \u0160poljar, writing on transgender gay man Lou Sullivan, though focused on the other end of the masculinity spectrum, also grapples with the limitation of discourse on the body. Critiquing responses to a new edit of Sullivan\u2019s posthumously published diaries, \u0160poljar notes, \u2018we live in a society obsessed with genitalia when discussing transgender\u2019.<\/p>\n
Photographs of Sullivan\u2019s mastectomy from the 1980s intriguingly show his fresh, post-op stitches. Having studied photographic theory, I know full well to check against overindulging the voyeuristic gaze; these photos after all come from Sullivan\u2019s private collection and obviously depict what was once an intimate moment. Was my fascination attached to the lure of a phalloplasty pic?<\/p>\n
Or was it the joyous expression of liberation on Sullivan\u2019s face that had captured my interest? Even though a photo can\u2019t be deemed evidence of happiness \u2013 just think of all the times you\u2019ve been asked to smile for the camera \u2013 the intimacy of these shots suggests genuine elation. I was taken by Sullivan\u2019s glee at realizing a key stage of his transition.<\/p>\n
\u0160poljar mentions the gender dysphoria that trans people need to prove to gain access to medication and surgery yet refreshingly focuses more on its \u2018lesser-known twin\u2019. \u2018Each step brought Sullivan closer to complete happiness: he describes his flat chest, his muscles, his hairy legs and penis, and finally both testicles \u2026 with palpable gender euphoria\u2019. Sullivan\u2019s images are an unabashed celebration of being male.<\/p>\n
No male body is the same. And everyone could take pleasure in their uniqueness. If only diversity were embraced with open arms rather than bludgeoned with a tight fist.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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