So, I've just got round to watching the 3rd episode of the Grayson Perry: All Man documentary.
I think this one was my favourite so far as it did actually try to look at the different shades of 'men' and 'masculinity'. And what better to represent it in the world of bankers that a bloody great ceramic cock. I did enjoy that he likened all the skyscrapers to giant phalluses and questioned the men who build them. (Are they over-compensating?...) The work he produced this episode, to me, felt significantly more aggressive than the others despite those looking at physical violence (cage fighting and wielding sharp implements) in masculinity. The first chap's reaction to the work was great, I love that he immediately went on the defensive when compared to the posher, richer gentlemen who seemed to like it and agree with him. While I still feel the series as a whole wasn't so clear on it's focus - was it men? Was it masculinity? Was it the people who were affected by these notions? Or perhaps all at once? If you are going to look at a subject like this, you need more than 3 episodes to make it feel more than a novelty or an excuse for Channel 4 to wheel him out and try to win another BAFTA. Why was the other end of the man/masculinity spectrum not shown at least to lend contrast? Perhaps he feels that other side is not as interesting or that he maybe already knows too much about it and would now like the chance to explore this machismo for a change, from the safe distance of 'transvestite potter' of course, making him quite unthreatening to it. Although I'm sure the Channel 4 camera crew helped with that somewhat too. An interesting thing happened during my viewing though. After they had interviewed the women who had experienced and were affected by the white male domination of the financial sector, I got to the ad break and an advert for the new Melissa McCarthy film The Boss came on, with her portraying a woman displaying the masculine aggressive behavior that had just been discussed and even condemned. Interesting may not be the right word to use for that, but the placement of that was certainly something.
0 Comments
|
BlogHere is where I write about art and about life. Archives
July 2019
|