A$Ap Rocky is clearly the most “masculine” video. The video doesn’t really fit with a very “attractive” concept of masculinity, (“attractive masculinity is exemplified by Ryan Gosling for example.) This video is excessive masculinity, throwing it in the faces of viewers and objectifying women. We talked about the nature of women in the video in class, there wasn’t even an interaction between women and men, they weren’t on the same level. It clearly plays to the “objectify women” ideal that modern masculinity has been (rather unfortunately) attached to. The video exudes a sleezyness that has been associated with the modern male gaze.
Next in line is Macklemore. His video does some silly things with masculinity, initially I would assume he is wholeheartedly challenging the warped view of masculinity in A$AP Rocky, and he to a certain extent does, but he also shows off some very masculine qualities. At first we hear Macklemore say “Walk into the club like what up I got a big cock, nahh I’m just pumped bout some shit from the thrift shop.” That line makes us think that Mack is separating himself from masculinity all together, but he is just embracing a secondary style, one that I will dub “goofball fratstar.” He’s silly, but not a boyish silly, but a fratty one. He’s the goofball, the guy who makes you laugh and dresses in hilarious fur coats. John Belushie is a masculine figure, but he is entirely making fun of the world in which he lives in. Futhermore, Macklemore still has bitties!!!! They might not be in bikinis, and they might be hipsters, but they are still attractive, especially in the sphere that Macklemore travels in.
The K-Pop video comes next. It does exude a lot of “American” masculinity, tons of cars, and metallic colors. But there is a fair bit of other stuff mixed in there, like flowing layered hair. Purely by appearance it is pretty feminine, and if I understood the words it might change, but all in all, the K-Pop video has a very extreme undertone of wealth and power, which is very in line with the classical American masculinity, they just miss a few beats.
The One Direction video plays on a very young version of masculinity. In terms of the intense hyper masculinity that I have been judging these videos on, One Direction is the least masculine, but if I were to talk about general American masculinity, K-pop would be last. In any case, the one direction video plays on this very young very pre-pubescent idea of masculinity. There are these young Beiber-like stars that never come into interactions with women. Additionally, they were very touchy feelly, and not in a “bro” sort of way. In terms of “American” masculinity, the way in which men interact with eachother is very important, and One Direction did not interact in a “masculine” way.
Gender/Sex/Media 