Blog Post #3 assignment

 

When speaking about power and influence in the current age, the two most commonly viewed aspects of an individual would be race and gender. As these are two of the factors that are out of our control from birth, depending on the place or community we were brought up in, this could mean either a harder or easier time getting around. As the Amazon Prime show The Boys mirrors our real world quite closely, I will be using it to talk about modes of perpetuation and specifically how it handles depictions of masculinity. 

The Boys is a show that will not shy away from showing darker topics as its main premise is a darkly satirical take on the superhero genre made popular in recent years with Disney's Marvel universe at the forefront of the industry. As a result of this, characters are shown to be more cynical and arrogant as a superpowered individual in real life probably would be with the heroes being shown to be people with god complexes. The embodiment of every toxic trait of a stereotypical American as viewed by foreigners is personified in the character of Homelander. His design and attitude were heavily inspired by and mock the characters of Captain America and Superman as he is viewed as a righteous boy scout patriot who defends his motherland from terrorists. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and buff, he is the perfect model of a white American in the eyes of the public at large. When the cameras stop rolling, his true character shows as he is shown being arrogant and views himself as a god among men. His treatment of people and particularly women throughout the series is less than stellar as he uses and abuses them until they have outlived their use. In terms of masculinity tropes, I would describe him as being a jerk jock with much of his actions reflecting that of one. The hegemony within the world of The Boys will enforce and reward his behavior as he himself will justify his actions by labeling anyone he hates a terrorist or traitor to the country. In this show, look no further than to Homelander as the biggest superpowered jerk who exudes masculinity and power. 

Looking further into the setting and story of The Boys will also show how much masculinity will have power and influence over others. A mode of perpetuation most commonly seen would be exoticism as the female characters are often seen as eye candy and nothing more. An example I would reuse from the second blog on The Boys would be the character of Starlight who has her entire wardrobe changed to be more sexual by Vought as to appeal to a male audience and to sell merchandise to impressional young female fans. Her contributions and talents go unnoticed as she is harassed by those higher up than her and is even sexually assaulted by The Deep in the first episode of the show. Tying another mode of perpetuation into this, tokenism also fits into this most notably in the group of The Seven, the female characters are only brought out by the group to advertise "girl power" and create an illusion of systemic problems having been solved whilst profiting from false social justice. 

The dominant culture, in this case, being Homelander (America and the hegemony) can be seen being challenged by our ragtag group of the boys (rebels) who seek to challenge and expose him for his true colors as his hypocritical actions throughout the series slowly show how Homelander's personality really is as an arrogant and power-hungry individual with no concern for others than himself. The treatment of women in the show can directly correlate to what many others have felt in the workforce as these actions have become normalized or even ignored.