Flugel talks about a shift in masculinity as the Great Masculine Renunciation: "the assertion that at the end of the eighteenth century men rejected fashionable dress, which became thereafter exclusively feminine" (Flugel, 1930:110). It is tied in with the rise of industrial capitalism. Sumptuous garments and ostentatious self-presentation became gender specific in the late eighteenth century.
The consumer has a continuing fascination with archetypal role models in Hollywood. Different masculine identities have been portrayed overtime beginning with classic Hollywood. Polarised archetypes include heroes, attractive villains, fathers, sons, smoothly suave, and down-home blue-collar guys. These characters dominate contemporary Hollywood. They are complex trajectories of the modern man. This modern man is now concerned with his own looks.
The Brad Pitt look (white, muscly, strong jaw-line, toned stomach) was reinforced - if not created - within the menswear revolution in the 1980s (Mort 1996, Nixon 1998, Simpson 1996) through the world of advertising.
The George Clooney look (more relevant today) represents the "variation" - debonhair Lotharios - smooth men - undeniable appeal for women. He is the suited hero - the antithesis to the rugged, bare-chested action man. This harks back to classic Hollywood. He is not a fetishised spectacle. He is the eternal bachelor.
Brando's sartorial style was the trademark 'slob look' associated with agricultural labour, heavy industry and military service.
The 3-piece suit has remained similar over the last 200 years. It is a static and utilitarian form of dress.
Anne Hollander refers to the suit as controlled, sexy and stylish. It hints at the body underneath by highlighting the contours. It forms the basis of our understanding of the "antique male hero" (Hollander, 1994)
1950s - the antiheroes. James Dean was in touch with his feminine side (Rebel without a cause & Giant 1956). Brando and Dean adopted blue-collar images to reflect their oppositional stance. Whereas, Steve Mcqueen (1960s) possessed authentic proletarian origins.
1960s - the decade of social mobility & youth cultures. The new macho, new cool. Authenticity. Real blue-collar (from the roots outside of film). Steve Mcqueen - the real life action man who did his own stunts, real life garage mechanic. His clothes were of the moment - "dateless". The trends he set in the 1960s continue today - on and off the screen. He is vitally influential in the world of consumption.
The new man in Thelma and Louise presents a new man. Brad Pitt is a mix of Dean and Mcqueen. He is an erotic object, a greek statue, his body is fetishised in every way - be it for "sexual pleasure or demure appreciation" (Pamela Church Gibson p72). Arguably, the first time cinema introduced the "homospectorial gaze" (Nixon, 1998:38)
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