Toxic Masculinity in the Films of Stanley Kubrick Anonymous College

Masculinity is one of the most prevalent themes in the films of Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick’s films can be viewed as misogynistic, as there is often brutal violence towards women and a considerable lack of prominent or dynamic female characters at all. However, when one views a Kubrick film more carefully, the so-called misogyny seems to be more a critique on the savagery and failures of humanity, but more specifically, males. It is almost as if Kubrick is trying to show his audiences that mankind, even with our technology and innovations, has not really evolved from the violent ways of our apelike ancestors (as seen in the “Dawn of Man” scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)). However, the war and senseless violence shown often in Kubrick films all seem to have the same root: masculinity and its anxieties. There are three Kubrick films that best illustrate this toxic masculinity in action, and these are A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon(1975), and The Shining(1980).

In A Clockwork Orange, masculinity is portrayed as being excessively violent as an exaggerated reassurance of male dominance, with excessive phallic imagery and scenes of rape and brute force. (DeRosia 61) Kubrick’s commentary on masculinity in Barry Lyndon takes...