Seven and the 1990's

1. Masculinity in Crisis

2. History
 During the 1990’s the concept of ‘masculinity’ was
said to be in a crisis
 Men were unsure what it meant to be ‘masculine’
 Gender representations were changing and what
was once deemed masculine was no longer
available in society

3. todays sons to enter a completely
different world than the one they ended
up in”
 During the 1990’s there was a vast economic expansion
in America, however some of the methods that were used
to achieve this expansion resulted in the ‘crisis in
masculinity’
 New jobs were created, coming at the expense of blue
collar (manual labour) jobs
 These jobs moved away from the traditional jobs of men
(steel workers etc…) and placed men within the service
industry. A job area generally reserved for women.

4. Shifting Cultures
 Masculine spaces once filled with miners were
converted to penthouse homes for the white
collar workers
 These men had no honourable war to fight, he
didn’t have a job for life (offered by industry) and
he couldn’t count on being a useful member of
the family (women were gaining more power in
the employment market)
 Men could no longer find their place in the world

5. The Ornamental Man
 Traditional Masculine elements were becoming
commercial commodities
 Muscular physique
 Strength
 Independence
 Power
 Sexual Prowess
 These were marketed back to men and became part of the
consumer culture of the 1990’s
 Rather than achieve masculinity through their social status
or job instead it became something to be bought through
brands and products

6. Mills and Somerset
 How could this apply to these two characters?

7. Masculinity and Seven
 Mills is the ‘new man’ confused in his new role,
attempting to live the outdated and failing
‘American Dream’
 He attempts to fill traditional gender roles by
being the breadwinner of the house and starting a
family
 However he is found wanting in this role being
unable to protect his family from harm

8. Masculinity and Seven
 Somerset is as equally as confused by the world
as Mills, playing the role of the elder being unable
to comprehend the changes in society
 He rejects consumer culture, taking it as apathy
and attempts to remove himself from it
 In doing so he leaves Mill’s guideless/fatherless in
a culture that has no place for traditional values.

9. With reference to your chosen
American films, compare the extent
to which their messages and values
reflect the times in which they are
made.
Create a plan for this question comparing The Big
Combo and Seven.