Masculinity in modern day society is widely regarded as a general set of characteristics. To be masculine is to possess these characteristics. Modern day society is obsessed with how genders are represented, and people are often ostracised for blurring the lines. For example, GQ magazine often features famous male models that are staple faces for what is currently believed to be masculine. They're often conveyed as powerful, sexy, rich, proud, looking down on the audience or straight at it.
This trend is continued among many of the 'James Bond' films. This series is one of the longest running cinema spectacles in history and has featured 24 films, even more books, spin off comic series and independent movies. One of the most recent additions is 'Skyfall' (2012), which was directed by Sam Mendes. James Bond is simple a male sex symbol. The pinnacle of masculinity. He's suave, capable, independent, tough, and is perhaps one of the most famous 'lady-killer' characters in media history. The character rarely deviates from these characteristics, if at all. However, in Skyfall, a certain scene teases a less masculine side of the character. In an interaction between himself and the antagonist, Raoul Silva strokes Bond's upper legs and teases 'Well, first time for everything.', to which Bond smiles, prompting a questioning 'Yes?' from Silva. And perhaps it's a simple back and forth to try and remain confident and in control of the situation but Bond says 'What makes you think this is my first time?'. What's striking about this scene is that nobody really noticed or picked up on it. There was no uproar in the media about Bond's character being ruined or his masculinity being tarnished because Bond made it cool. Even though this interaction connotes a less-traditionally masculine side of Bond, he still remains his normal confident, cocky and capable self.
'Kingsman: The Secret Service' (2014) is similar to Skyfall in it's representation of masculinity. Towards the beginning of the film; directed by Matthew Vaughn, 'Eggsy' is presented as a childish, immature, trouble-making teen/young adult. While he's still somewhat masculine, he's far from the powerful, masculine icon that Bond is. He's still missing linguistic flair, expensive clothing and lots of money. However, as the film continues, Eggsy meets 'Galahad', a man much more in tune with the stereotypical man. By the end of the film, Eggsy has nearly completely evolved into a fully capable, suave and well-dressed hero who saves the world, gets the girl and pays for his mother's new home. This conveys that if you do not have the same characteristics as Bond or Eggsy (at the end of the film), you're incapable of being a real man. A specific scene that more explicitly conveys this is Arthur's death scene, where Eggsy outsmarts him and poisons him. Throughout the entire movie, Arthur's been a symbol for what the Kingsman should be, apart from his age affecting the physical aspects. He's well spoken, logical, well mannered. But upon discovering his immenent death and being bested, his speech devolves into cursing Eggsy with a much less proper tone than we're used to him conversing with. The instant that Arthur lost his power, lost control of the situation, lost his masculinity, he also lost the other traits we've been taught are associated with masculinity. He'd been completely stripped of his masculine traits. So it's pretty clear how explicit Kingsman's view of masculinity is and what it takes to be a powerful male.
But in quite the comparison to both the previous movies is 'Moonlight' (2016), which features a male protagonist, made by a male director. The main difference between this film and it's counterparts, is the protagonist is gay. And while, James Bond is hinted at being possibly bisexual, it's a very avid plot point in this film. In fact, it's the primary cause for all of 'Chiron's issues. Chiron's character arc is broken into 3 portions of the film, titled 'Act 1: Little', 'Act 2: Chiron' and 'Act 3: Black'. These acts follow his childhood, teenage hood and adulthood in that order. In act 1, Chiron is nicknamed Little, and is often bullied and plagued with abuse from his mother, the other kids in the neighbourhood and himself (as evident when he begins to wonder if he's a 'faggot'). He's much too shy and quiet to stand up for himself, which has connotations of his lack of masculinity. Yet, we see at the beginning that somewhere inside, he actually does have some common masculine traits, such as aggression, when he fights with his friend. In act 2, more of this side shines through, when, after he is brutally punished with the betrayal of the first person he ever revealed his homosexuality to, and the first person he'd ever had a romantic experience with, Chiron breaks a chair over the back of one of his bullies. Chiron is then incarcerated and we move onto act 3. Chiron has now nearly completely transformed. His new nickname is 'Black' and he is a hardened criminal and drug dealer. He's not exactly the masculine sex symbol that James Bond is, but he follows a different masculine stereotype; the thug. He also reveals that he'd still had no romantic experiences apart from the one that led to his arrest. By the end, it appears he's accepted his homosexuality, but is still the hardened criminal that prison moulded him into.
In conclusion this contrast completely defies the expectations derived from the other two films and shows you don't need to be a super-suave, lady-killing, rich gentleman to be powerful, in control and a dominant male. It's also worth noting that Moonlight is the only indie film, that wasn't expected to have such a high profit and was made by a director with little to no other famous work. On the other hand, they were all based off of some kind of literature, James Bond originally being a book series, Kingsman being a comic book series and Moonlight being co-written by a playwright based on a play by the same writer under the same name, further proving that all forms of media are obsessed with masculinity and how to present it, not just film.
