ABSTRACT
Fatherhood has become the dominant paradigm of masculinity across the spectrum of mainstream U.S. cinema, a move that has taken place in tandem with the cultural normalization of postfeminist discourse. Popular cinema is abundant with paternally signified characters, as ideal masculinity in postfeminism has increasingly tended toward fatherhood. Some argue that the legibility of postfeminist masculinity in popular culture is obfuscated by its plurality and that this signals a shift away from the possibility of a universal normative ideal and from the notion of ‘hegemonic masculinity.’ 1 For example, Margaret Ervin argues that formations of postfeminist masculinity, such as the ‘metrosexual,’ enable the furtherance of “plural male identities.” 2 Stéphanie Genz and Benjamin Brabon similarly view the “postfeminist man” as a “hybrid” configuration of a multiplicity of current cultural formations of masculinity, likewise at odds with the notion of a hegemonic ideal. 3 Paternity is a universalizing discourse of masculinity (notwithstanding the variety of modes through which it is articulated), with a high degree of cultural purchase that enables hegemonic commonality across a plurality of postfeminist masculinities. Therein lies its powerful appeal, as it negotiates a range of masculine identities through a culturally apposite discursive anchor germane to the mores of contemporary culture. Hence, as illustrated throughout this book, postfeminist fatherhood is the new hegemonic masculinity. 4 The case study example explicated hereafter is highly symptomatic of the cultural logic and gender politics of the contemporary fatherhood film and indicative of the pervasiveness of paternity as the dominant paradigm of movie masculinity, manifesting as it does in the unlikely context of a documentary about penguins.
