Masked Men: Masculinity and the Movies in the Fifties

by Steven Cohan

The fifties marks the moment when a heterosexual/homosexual dualism came to dominate U.S. culture's thinking about masculinity. The films of this era record how gender and sexuality did not easily come together in a normative manhood common to American men. Instead these films demonstrate the widely held perception of a crises of masculinity. Masked Men documents how movies of the fifties represented masculinity as a multiple masquerade. Hollywood's star system positioned the male actor as a professional performer and as a body intended to solicit the erotic interest of male and female viewers alike. Drawing on publicity, poster art, fan magazines, and the popular press as a means of following the links between fifties stars, their films, and the social tensions of the period, Cohan juxtaposes Hollywood's narratives of masculinity against the personae of leading men like Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, William Holden, Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, and Rock Hudson. Masked Men focuses on the gender and sexual masquerades that organized their performances of masculinity on and off screen.

376 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Steven Cohan is Dean’s Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Syracuse University.

Reviews

[Richard Cytowic · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thoughtful analysis on post-war masculinity as seen through films of the fifties. I glossed over the academic parts, especially readings seen through the gender and queer-theories so popular with the ivory tower set (yawn!) to get to the meat of it, which takes care in exploring just how heterogenous and conflicted this period of Americana was. Good book.