25th Hour - Do You Think This Movie Represents Men in a Way That Is Typical of Hollywood Film?

Do you think this movie represents men in a way that is typical of Hollywood film?

25th Hour does not really change the way men are represented in the typical Hollywood films. In those films, men have to suppress their emotions and endure hardship without complaint. They ignore signs of illness and suffer silently. There is also a lot of aggressive competition between them. Men have to represents beauty, sexuality, class, and wealth in order to be successful. They also have to have a certain amount of dominance over woman. 25th Hour represents men as they were represented in “film noir”. In this type of film, men want to give protection to the women, there is an emotional attitude going on without showing directly their emotions, and they are trapped by a social situation. In 25th Hour, Monty does a lot of the narration and has a lot of flashbacks just like it will be in a “film noir”. We often go into his head, and we find out what he is thinking. Monty is trapped, and we can see it through the mise-en-scÐ"Ёne where we see at the beginning Monty through bars. This obviously is a foreshadow of the fact that he will be trapped in jail later on. He also wants to give protection to the dog he finds and to Naturelle. Monty suppresses his feelings and endures everything without complaining. When he asks Frank to hit him, he does not show emotions and suffers silently. Even though he has to go in prison, he represents beauty, sexuality, class, and wealth, because women like him. Monty also shows that he has a kind of power over Naturelle, a sort of dominance, which makes the representation of men like the typical Hollywood films. There also is a lot of competition going on this film. For example, there is a scene where Jake and Frank are discussing about who is more successful. Frank is shot in a low shot, which make him look superior. He has money, class, and virility. On the other hand, Jake is shot in a low shot, which makes him inferior. He has money, but does not have an attitude of virility. In that scene, Frank is discussing that women like him better, because of his status and his virility, while Jake stays quiet. There obviously is a competition going on between them. Even though this film improves the way of showing men, they still are represented as tough guys who have to take it all as a “man”.

Discuss the representation of women in film.

In 25th Hour, women are presented as “femme fatale” like were women in “film noir”. They are presented with a low shot, and they emphasize a lot their bodies. Women in this film are seen as temptation and the main woman character, actress Rosario Dawson, is seen as traitor at the beginning. All of Monty’s friends believe that she sold him out to the police, but of course we find out that she did not do it at the end. Rosario Dawson interprets a character that is a temptation for men. For example, Monty’s best friend Frank is in some kind of way attracted to her. The fact that she is represented as a woman whit sexual needs, as we can see in a scene where she wants to have sexual relationship with Monty’s, increases the perception of temptation that she is. They emphasize her body very much. For example, there is a scene where the cops are in her apartment and she is asked to be only with a thin cloth on or a scene where she wears a tight dress to a party. There are a lot of women showing bodies in this film. The young student for example wears a lot of make-up and dresses with very revealing clothes. They emphasize that she is a source or temptation to Jake by dressing her in red while all the other students are dressed with dark colors. Her belly button can be seen, and also that the tattoo she has. There is also a scene where