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I was up really late last night to watch LA Confidential. The film raised some questions about male-bonding and how it is infrequently portrayed in films.
While tossing and turning I only came up with a few others, The Crying Game, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, and The Deer Hunter where some form of tenderness is displayed between or as in the case of LA Confidential among the male featured players. We often sense bravura, but tenderness often seems missing in many of the portrayals--a certain understanding that is shared by the characters that has either been aroused by pain, commonality, empathy or sympathy.
Can you think of other films that share this trait?
women dont seem to like male bonding.
they will make negative comments about it.
i think it scares them.
Doesn't scare me at all. It is an important part of a guy's life. (A good friend is hard to find for either gender. )
Any deprecating remarks made about male bonding are not all that different from the patronizing but harmless remarks made by guys when women march off to the restroom in two's and threes.
Male bonding often occurs when guys are united against something.
Male bonding can also take place when commonality is found. But finding that common ground is trickier for guys than women; sometimes it is difficult to let one's guard down because most guys are not about to voluntarily expose their vulnerable side, it goes against their nature.
A few faves and comments:
Bang the Drum Slowly is basically a male weeper movie, maybe the first one (Two baseball players a thrown together in a boy gets friend boy loses friend tale.)
There are a million other sports movies which depict male bonding more superficially. We've seen 'em all, they often involve large football players towel-slapping each other's butts to the tune of a Motown golden oldie soundtrack.
All of the Godfather movies involve mens' relationships of one sort or another (in the case of Fredo, it became a *dissolution* of a male bond, this also happens in Goodfellas)
The Bridge on the River Kwai, Braveheart,Saving Private RyanBand of Brothers,Glory and the LOTR films involve guys banding together in fellowship to collectively face evil tyranny. These guys all have to take care of each other; sometimes it seems as if their "brotherhood" supercedes their mission.
Superbad is a great coming-of-age male bonding flick; there are plenty of crude yucks but it's sweet when the guys finally manage to articulate their affection for each other. Diner was similar in that these guys, who dearly love each other and the life they have, realize they have to grow up.
Fight Club is probably the ultimate male bonding movie, the guy bonds with himself
Bucket List looks like another male bonding movie but I have not seen it.
It is "These guys all have to take care of each other; sometimes it seems as if their "brotherhood" supercedes their mission" quoted by BWP (aka cil) that I was looking for not just "mano mano" that is frequently seen in movies that depict adversary.
Brotherhood is what impressed me in LA Confidential, and in particular, the gentleness that existed between the two main male characters. There appeared to be a certain recognition of their own vulnerability, but the acknowledgment was supportive not derisive.
Any more films you can think of that reveal this quality in the male protagonists?
In some sense, Fat Freddy, but not what I was thinking about or trying to discover.
Other movies come to mind for the bonding expressed in Brokeback, including one that was actually made in the 60s about the 60s in Britain: The Servant.
What I am struggling with is how men are portrayed in friendship and companionship expressed in a sensitive, meaningful way without sex or violence.
The tender farewell in LA Confidential is what provoked this question, if that makes it clearer what I am after.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Freddy
I suppose the ultimate male bonding film would be Brokeback Mountain.
Thanks for the input. I'm not familiar with this film or several others mentioned, so I'll have to put these on my list of must see, and discover more about how male bonding is depicted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedSoxFanGoingWest
How about Good Will Hunting? Bonding between Will (Damon) and Chuck (Affleck) as well as Will and Sean (R. Williams)...
The scene with Will and Sean in Sean's office: "It's not your fault, it's not your fault..."
Any military movie that's authentic, like The Guardian or Memphis Belle.
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