Owen R Horton | Indiana University (original) (raw)
Papers by Owen R Horton
Indiana University Press eBooks, May 3, 2022
The Worlds of <em>John Wick</em>, May 3, 2022
OF DISSERTATION REBOOTING MASCULINITY AFTER 9/11: MALE HEROISM ON FILM FROM BUSH TO TRUMP Concept... more OF DISSERTATION REBOOTING MASCULINITY AFTER 9/11: MALE HEROISM ON FILM FROM BUSH TO TRUMP Conceptions of masculinity on film shifted after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from representations of male heroism as invulnerable, powerful, and safe to representations of male heroism as resilient, vengeful, and vulnerable. At the same time, the antagonists of these films shifted towards representations as shadowy, unknowable, and disembodied. These changing representations, I argue, are windows into the anxieties Americans faced in the aftermath of the attacks. The continuing presentation of power as linked to violence, however, illustrates the ways in which conceptions of masculinity have stayed the same.
In the hours, weeks, and months following the 9/11 terror attacks, the Bush administration pushed... more In the hours, weeks, and months following the 9/11 terror attacks, the Bush administration pushed for retributive justice as a means of healing a deep national trauma. This push replicated what Christina Cavedon notes was a larger shift in rhetoric away from passive terms such as bereaved and toward active terms such as survivors to describe family members of those killed. In both cases, action as a healing mechanism became the central thesis for Americans during the War on Terror. In the following years, narratives about severe trauma and masculine heroism became linked—in order for the hero’s triumph to be righteous, audiences first had to see him suffer. This paper examines the origin stories from two post-9/11 superhero film trilogies—Christpher Nolan’s Batman films and Jon Favreau’s Iron Man films—as a way of understanding how these shifts in nationalist and masculine rhetoric manifested in popular culture. At the same time, this paper advances the idea that this new, fragile, broken, and vulnerable masculinity that emerges during the War on Terror is not reflective of a progressive turn toward what R.W. Connell calls masculinities, but instead replicates a regressive masculinity that uses violence and aggression to reclaim “lost” patriarchal power.
In The Unclaimed Experience, Cathy Caruth describes the experience of severe trauma, particularly... more In The Unclaimed Experience, Cathy Caruth describes the experience of severe trauma, particularly trauma which results in Post-Traumatic Stress, as the “Unclaimed Experience.” Using Freud’s concepts of latency and Thanatos, Caruth argues that trauma survivors never fully experience their initial trauma, and are thus compelled to return to the site of their pain and relive it over and over again through nightmares and hallucinations. The psychoanalytic approach suggests that by returning to the site of trauma, the survivors will eventually master it through repetition. Mastery, in this sense, equals healing and working through. Although PTSD is found in all forms of trauma, cultural conceptions of this experience frequently center on soldiers and veterans. Two recent films, Source Code and The Edge of Tomorrow present the soldier’s experience as he tries to work his way through a Groundhog Day- style “time loop” narrative. In each film, the soldier attempts to stop a tragedy, only to fail and die. At the moment of his death, he wakes up at the beginning of the day and repeats this cycle. A primary source of tension in each film is this compulsion to return and repeat—in both cases the hero does this against his will. Ultimately, both men escape their time loops by mastering their situation and perfecting their responses. My presentation will argue that these time loop films present PTSD as the survivor experiences it: through endless returns to the scene of horror. Simultaneously, each film also provides a cathartic conclusion: the soldier successfully “masters” the scene. I believe these presentations are problematic, as they present PTSD as a momentary “weakness” to be overcome through masculine mastery.
Books by Owen R Horton
Conceptions of masculinity on film shifted after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from re... more Conceptions of masculinity on film shifted after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from representations of male heroism as invulnerable, powerful, and safe to representations of male heroism as resilient, vengeful, and vulnerable. At the same time, the antagonists of these films shifted towards representations as shadowy, unknowable, and disembodied. These changing representations, I argue, are windows into the anxieties Americans faced in the aftermath of the attacks. The continuing presentation of power as linked to violence, however, illustrates the ways in which conceptions of masculinity have stayed the same.
Indiana University Press eBooks, May 3, 2022
The Worlds of <em>John Wick</em>, May 3, 2022
OF DISSERTATION REBOOTING MASCULINITY AFTER 9/11: MALE HEROISM ON FILM FROM BUSH TO TRUMP Concept... more OF DISSERTATION REBOOTING MASCULINITY AFTER 9/11: MALE HEROISM ON FILM FROM BUSH TO TRUMP Conceptions of masculinity on film shifted after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from representations of male heroism as invulnerable, powerful, and safe to representations of male heroism as resilient, vengeful, and vulnerable. At the same time, the antagonists of these films shifted towards representations as shadowy, unknowable, and disembodied. These changing representations, I argue, are windows into the anxieties Americans faced in the aftermath of the attacks. The continuing presentation of power as linked to violence, however, illustrates the ways in which conceptions of masculinity have stayed the same.
In the hours, weeks, and months following the 9/11 terror attacks, the Bush administration pushed... more In the hours, weeks, and months following the 9/11 terror attacks, the Bush administration pushed for retributive justice as a means of healing a deep national trauma. This push replicated what Christina Cavedon notes was a larger shift in rhetoric away from passive terms such as bereaved and toward active terms such as survivors to describe family members of those killed. In both cases, action as a healing mechanism became the central thesis for Americans during the War on Terror. In the following years, narratives about severe trauma and masculine heroism became linked—in order for the hero’s triumph to be righteous, audiences first had to see him suffer. This paper examines the origin stories from two post-9/11 superhero film trilogies—Christpher Nolan’s Batman films and Jon Favreau’s Iron Man films—as a way of understanding how these shifts in nationalist and masculine rhetoric manifested in popular culture. At the same time, this paper advances the idea that this new, fragile, broken, and vulnerable masculinity that emerges during the War on Terror is not reflective of a progressive turn toward what R.W. Connell calls masculinities, but instead replicates a regressive masculinity that uses violence and aggression to reclaim “lost” patriarchal power.
In The Unclaimed Experience, Cathy Caruth describes the experience of severe trauma, particularly... more In The Unclaimed Experience, Cathy Caruth describes the experience of severe trauma, particularly trauma which results in Post-Traumatic Stress, as the “Unclaimed Experience.” Using Freud’s concepts of latency and Thanatos, Caruth argues that trauma survivors never fully experience their initial trauma, and are thus compelled to return to the site of their pain and relive it over and over again through nightmares and hallucinations. The psychoanalytic approach suggests that by returning to the site of trauma, the survivors will eventually master it through repetition. Mastery, in this sense, equals healing and working through. Although PTSD is found in all forms of trauma, cultural conceptions of this experience frequently center on soldiers and veterans. Two recent films, Source Code and The Edge of Tomorrow present the soldier’s experience as he tries to work his way through a Groundhog Day- style “time loop” narrative. In each film, the soldier attempts to stop a tragedy, only to fail and die. At the moment of his death, he wakes up at the beginning of the day and repeats this cycle. A primary source of tension in each film is this compulsion to return and repeat—in both cases the hero does this against his will. Ultimately, both men escape their time loops by mastering their situation and perfecting their responses. My presentation will argue that these time loop films present PTSD as the survivor experiences it: through endless returns to the scene of horror. Simultaneously, each film also provides a cathartic conclusion: the soldier successfully “masters” the scene. I believe these presentations are problematic, as they present PTSD as a momentary “weakness” to be overcome through masculine mastery.
Conceptions of masculinity on film shifted after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from re... more Conceptions of masculinity on film shifted after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from representations of male heroism as invulnerable, powerful, and safe to representations of male heroism as resilient, vengeful, and vulnerable. At the same time, the antagonists of these films shifted towards representations as shadowy, unknowable, and disembodied. These changing representations, I argue, are windows into the anxieties Americans faced in the aftermath of the attacks. The continuing presentation of power as linked to violence, however, illustrates the ways in which conceptions of masculinity have stayed the same.