DEATH RACE

Recently in class we have been discussing how masculinity is defined in movies. After class one evening I went back home to an excited brother who wanted to watch this awesome movie called Death Race. Watching this movie completely shocked me that a fourteen year old boy thought felons, and super cars, bombs, fires, and women was awesome to watch.
In this movie there is an island where these criminals live and because there is so many of them the leader of the prison who is a woman makes some of the men race to the death and even sometimes for their freedom. Although movies like this don’t interest me much I saw the glee my little brother had for it and wondered if that’s what he thought a man was supposed to do fight to the death. Not only in the movie did the men race a lot with their cars but their cars could blow up other people and crush them. But, the woman who was in charge of the prison was able to control whatever she wanted. This gives a new spin on masculinity because a woman is controlling what these men can achieve, she can push a button and it all be over for these hunky guys. Another interesting factor was that these men had women in the cars with them who were wearing scandalous clothing, meaning pretty much nothing, and navigating these men through the course. I feel that the woman in this movie gave a new spin on masculinity it showed that men need women to control them and put them in the right direction. In the end though the men come on top and escape the prison by blowing the place up with the women helping to take the fall so the men can escape. This movie although confusing to me shows men that it is okay to have a woman there for help and to crack the whip but in the end we rule and make the final decision. Especially our youth watching these things gives them the idea that it is okay to be rebellious and dangerous because in the end the women take the fall. Let’s hope that this Death Race isn’t our reality.