Plodding through various texts in the library today, I took time out to read an article about masculinity in film (which happens to be written by a friend). Anyway, bits of it were interesting in the light of recent discussion about sexism, patriarchy, yadda yadda, so I thought I'd quote from it (the article is about 'Spartacus', BTW):
'From Robin Hood to Rambo, captive or outlawed men revolt because the powerful subject positions within their societies have been usurped by male oppressors who don't qualify for them... Usurpers often display characteristics not marked as signifiers of masculinity in codes of film at the time... [they may be] effete, overweight, short, foreign-accented, or disabled.'
The article then goes on to argue that the narrative trajectory often 'traces the male star protagonist's liberation from his subjugated position to effect the restoration of appropriate patriarchal authority and the removal of the male impersonator from power'.
Anyway, I thought this was all very interesting from the POV of B7. Not only do we have Travis coded as a usurper (according to these conventions) on account of being disabled, but the main oppressor is a woman. Is Blake's cause thus a disguised attempt to legitimize and restore patriarchal authority? Discuss.
Una