Tough Guise –
critique by the
Icelandic group The documentary movie Tough Guise is about how men feel like they have to put up a front or a mask to fit into society. It portrays the connection between violence and masculinity in society and violence and mail dominance in the media. The movie begins by showing a clip from The wizard of Oz as a metaphor for how men have a mask similar to the one the wizard has, pretending to be something they are not, for example strong, powerful and scary. The movie also talks about how most murders are committed by men. Men commit 85% of murders and 95% of domestic violence. The Movie discusses how children are shot by their fellow students in American schools, which is a big issue and is happening repeatedly. According to the Movie, the media, when reporting the shooting incidences, talk about children shooting other children. Jackson Katz argues that this is not true rather that these are boys shooting their fellow students and that it is related to masculinity or the lack of it. By choosing the word
hildre
i stead of boys the media is
deliberately avoiding addressing the issue of the violence of boys. (Massacres like these do not happen nearly as often in other countries as they do in America so maybe it is the gun culture or easy access to guns that are one of the main causes for these murders.)