Assessment

David Gauntlett has argued against the idea that masculinity is 'in crisis’. To what extent do you believe masculinity is 'in crisis'?
In your response you should refer to your Advertising and Marketing Close Study Products: the Score hair cream advert (1967) and the Maybelline ‘That Boss Life’ YouTube advert (2017).

I disagree with Gauntlett, as representations of masculinity in the modern media are shifting towards something more traditionally seen and portrayed as feminine, masculinity has never had a static definition.

The Score hair cream advert is a strong example of traditional masculine ideals. The man is portrayed as dominant, He holds a gun in his hand, and is surrounded by women who are wearing revealing clothing and reaching out for him. The man is seated above the women, putting him on a raised pedestal, reinforcing traditional gender roles and stereotypes for both genders. This highlights that the representation of men in the 1960’s was for them to be dominant, controlling and sought after by women.

The ways men and masculinity are portrayed in modern media strongly suggest that masculinity is in crisis, especially when you compare them to portrayals of men in the 60’s. In the Maybelline advert, men in the modern world are presented in a largely different light than in the 1960’s. Manny MUA, the male figurehead in the Maybelline advert, breaks traditional (perhaps even old-fashioned) stereotypes of what a man is supposed to be. Manny is a male vlogger and wears makeup in his day to day life and in this advert (something that would not have even been thought of before the rise of the punk/alternative rock in the 1980’s and 90’s... which later died out in the early 2000s) As a modern consumer, this has become normal as a representation, but if looked at by a consumer in the 1960s, they would think that the mindset of men and masculinity has become abstract and distorted from traditional values and representations. Gauntlett's ideas that "The mass media is a force for change... a reflection of changing attitudes" now becomes relevant when applied to modern advertising; the media simply reflects an altered definition of masculinity, instead of threatening the basic and traditional values of masculine ideals.

Whilst analysing Gauntlett's theory we can see that "Views of gender and sexuality, masculinity and femininity, identity and selfhood, are all in slow but steady processes of change and transformation".  Masculinity is created and defined by society's ever changing views and expectations; the media just reflects this. You can argue that men now have more freedom, men are no longer expected to be dominant, Instead they are now allowed to do what they want, even if it is traditionally feminine.  

In conclusion, masculinity is not and cannot be  'in crisis', as it has never had a static descriptor in the first place. Definitions of masculinity have always simply been based on the changing opinions of society. As a society changes, the media reflects it. Adverts are a vehicle to show how men really are and do not push a false narrative that some people may say is happening.