Masculinity in the Movies | Movies & TV

Home > Movies > Commentaries > 2012

Masculinity in the Movies
On the big screen, Christian men are rougher and tougher than ever.

Mark Moring | posted 1/25/2012 02:10AM

Comments (6)

1 of 3

John Eldredge didn't start the discussion on what it means to be a "real man," but his 2001 book Wild at Heart certainly ramped up the conversation in Christian circles. In the decade-plus since, pastors, scholars, pundits, and regular shmoes like me have all weighed in on what manhood really means in the context of Christian faith.

Eldredge wrote that for a boy to "become truly masculine," he ultimately needs "a battle to fight" and "a place for the warrior in him to come alive." Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll, fond of cage fighting and occasional cussing, believes in an "Ultimate Fighting Jesus," lamenting that the church has produced "nice, soft, tender, chickified church boys." Paul Coughlin, author of No More Christian Nice Guy, writes that "a meek and mild Jesus is a bore. He doesn't inspire us." Even Christianity Today senior managing editor Mark Galli joined the fray with the 2006 book Jesus Mean and Wild.

However such notions go down in the annals of scholarship on Christian masculinity, this is certain: Men of faith—studly, manly men—were everywhere on the big screen in 2011, ready to kick some butt and spill some blood. They were Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Norris all at once.

The cops in 'Courageous' were brave but also broken

The trend even trickled down to Sherwood Pictures—the church production company behind Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and, now on DVD, Courageous—whose films are typically more "meek and mild" than "mean and wild." Leading men—a football coach, a fireman, cops—have always carried Sherwood's movies. But the coach in Giants was too whiny, and Fireproof's Kirk Cameron was too much of a pretty boy. Maybe we could relate to their issues, but not to a guy whose name is oft preceded by the phrase "former teen idol." Not until Courageous could most guys say, "Now there's a dude I could look up to."

And yet the cops in Courageous were also what I would call "attainable." Guys don't watch Rambo or Commando and think, Yeah, I could do that! But we can watch Courageous and think that way; these cops are tough, but no tougher than we could be in similar situations. They also looked like us—middle aged, a little paunchy, in need of a fashion makeover. Even their faith looked like ours—guys trying to be promise keepers but screwing up along the way. Courageous captured that vibe right from the start with an exciting cops-and-robbers chase scene, followed minutes later by scenes showing them as regular guys with real struggles: forgetting a daughter's recital, getting into an argument with the wife, and so on.

Courageous had plenty of company in 2011 as several films depicted Christian men who were not only rugged and brave but also struggling sinners just like me. We didn't get Mark Ruffalo as the hardnosed police investigator in Zodiac or the suave leading man in Just Like Heaven. Instead, we got the conflicted priest who trips over his own selfish ways in Sympathy for Delicious. We didn't get Gerard Butler as the godlike warrior in 300 or the debonair stud in P.S. I Love You, but rather a hot-tempered mercenary in Machine Gun Preacher. We didn't get Anthony Hopkins as the dignified butler in Remains of the Day, but rather an aging priest grappling with demons and doubts in The Rite.

The trend applied to Hollywood movies as well as those produced independently by Christians—everything from big budget blockbusters like Cowboys & Aliens ($163 million) to church-produced and on-the-cheap projects like Courageous ($2 million) and The Grace Card ($200,000). No matter the cost, the faith-based protagonists were similar: manly, but broken.

Masculinity, Even Among Monks

Depicting flawed characters—even Christian ones—in film is nothing new. But 2011's lineup included men of faith with an extra dose of bravado and machismo. Some were stereotypes: the cops in Courageous and The Grace Card, a racecar driver in Senna, a rugged former pro-golfer-turned-cowboy in Seven Days in Utopia. But it also included priests and preachers willing to put up a fight—against homelessness (Sympathy for Delicious), African warlords (Machine Gun Preacher), demons (The Rite, Priest), and extraterrestrials (Cowboys & Aliens).

next page... |

1 of 3

| last page

Comments (6)

Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.

Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.

If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.

Click here for international orders

2-for-1 Gifts!

[Reader Reviews]

Displaying 1–3 of 6 comments

See all comments

Fritz S

January 28, 2012 7:54am

Too often Christ is said to be empathetic, compassionate, and forgiving above all else with the exclusion of all else. While this may be close to true it is a misrepresentation. He also was also at war with the religious of his day. They lay traps for Him; He laid his own for them with His own agenda. He picked out one man, though not asking for healing, and healed him. That man, when questioned by the religious authorities did not know who healed him. It is too convenient to suggest that Christ just happened upon him later to challenge him to clean up his act. It is too convenient to suggest that Jesus had just forgotten to tell him to clean up his act earlier. Low and behold upon meeting Jesus again he fellow found the name and reported him. (Luke 5:5-16) This is not a nurturing Jesus that we see here. It is not a nurturing Jesus that condemned Jerusalem to destruction. But this is also Jesus who is not a pacifist but more like the OT than most scholars wish to approach. He came to b

K. M.

January 26, 2012 10:12am

Grace, the Bible says that we are all to submit to one another. Outside of the work place, submit doesn't mean to follow a person's order, but to put your self-centeredness aside and do for others. Both men and women, husbands and wives, are called to do that for each other. As for the super, hyper masculinity in movies, this is an example of the church following the culture.

charity jill

January 25, 2012 10:47pm

My husband is my masculine ideal. He takes care of me in the ways only he can, and I, being his feminine ideal, take care of him in the ways only I can. He listens to my needs and does all he can to meet - and on could even say *gasp* to SUBMIT to - my needs, out of reverence for Christ (sound familiar?). He is my masculine ideal, and a pacifist, to boot! I fear that Grace and perhaps other readers of this article misunderstand the final point of this article - that it is a man's attitude of love toward others that make him masculine in the way God requires, NOT his dominance over others. A man does not need to be forceful, emotionally incompetent, or able to "kick butt and take names" in order to be a woman's - or for that matter, God's - masculine ideal. For proof, look at Jesus. Look at Jesus. Seriously. LOOK at JESUS.