ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the films of Canadian director David Cronenberg in the context of contemporary feminist and cultural studies debates about masculinity. Cronenberg's work is particularly well suited for study as a "minority discourse" within the critical theoretical context. The iconic status of David Cronenberg as a "horror director with a difference" in North American commercial cinema is well known. Since the late 1980s, a critical academic interest in David Cronenberg has developed that places his work within contemporary debates about representations of masculinity. As Cronenberg's films attest, there is really no need to claim omnipotence or to attempt to guarantee it through violent means, unless impotence threatens. The violence of the monsters, however, is intimately linked to desired female and male figures in each film, and this is highly significant. The "cathartic" thread that Martin Scorsese experiences when he finally musters the courage to see the films.
