Analysis Of The Film Jarhead - 1645 Words

The 2005 film, Jarhead focuses on the life of the protagonist Marine, Anthony Swafford. The viewer watches as Swofford endures the vicious training to be a US Marine, which eventually leads to his deployment in Kuwait in to fight the 1990 Gulf War. Undoubtedly, many aspects of the film link back to Gender, however for the purpose of this critical review, I will be focusing on the way in masculinity in Jarhead serves to highlight key ideas about hierarchy and freedom. Although broadly defined, I have interpreted ‘masculinity’ as men being expected to behave with particular characteristics, such as being strong, heroic, protective, and rational. This review will argue that through the focus on Gender, particularly masculinity, Jarhead provides a critique of the military’s dependence on masculinity as a means of shaping the ‘worth’ of men, an aspect which often leads to emotional and mentally isolation and entrapment, as well as raising questions about t he masculinity of the state. Moreover, Jarhead criticises how the repression of aggressive masculinity, as fuelled and promoted military training, can have consequences, as the men do not have an outlet for this aggressive masculinity, for example, combat. One can assert that Gender functions in Jarhead to exemplify that masculinity establishes hierarchy in the military. Godfrey et al. (2012, pg. 549) notes that masculinity and the military are closely interlinked, indeed this link is clear in Jarhead. Military masculinity is