THE MASK YOU LIVE IN: Masculinity Under The Microscope

A fatal flaw runs through many conversations about gender issues: they narrowly focus on women. The problem largely stems from comfort, as that is how the battle has been framed for decades. In the same way that intelligent, sensitive people can find themselves talking about race issues in terms of black and white, gender topics are often framed as either pro or con women, ignoring the very real and potent affects a culture has on men, as well.

Let me ask you this: how often have you sat in a movie theater wondering how the latest scantily-clad, family-yearning female superhero affects the little girl sitting next to you? And how often have you thought about the boy a row over taking in their beefed-up, rage-fueled male counterparts? In all likelihood, the latter only got a fleeting thought while you’ve read countless think pieces on the former. What a disservice we do when we don’t think about the formative elements for half the human population.

Equalizing the conversations is one of the main goals of The Mask You Live In, a documentary that explores the way masculinity is taught and performed by men in American society. It’s a large topic for one film to take on, and while The Mask You Live In covers a lot of ground, it almost inevitably feels like there’s something missing.

Quick, Effective Hits

When you dig into the construction of masculinity and its long-term effects, you open up a can of worms that would take years to sift through. Condensing this down into a clear message is one of the biggest hurdles that The Mask You Live In must overcome, and writer/director Jennifer Siebel Newsom utilizes some effective approaches to set up the topic and present the facts.

Newsom has previously produced the Kirby Dick documentaries The Invisible War and The Hunting Ground, and the way those films throw statistics, personal stories, and expert commentary at the audience in quick succession is replicated in The Mask You Live In. As soon as you take in one point, the film moves on to a story or observation that builds on that idea, and the audience is swept along with the film’s narrative.

These quick punches not only allow Newsom to get through a slew of ideas, they also don’t give audiences much time to disagree. Careful evaluation of supporting evidence isn’t really possible when you’re being bombarded, so if you’re not already familiar with a talking point, you’ll likely take the film at face value. As the whole movie is structured to build on itself, it’s imperative that Newsom keeps you on her side, and by constantly hitting you with facts or stories, The Mask You Live In doesn’t leave you much time to stray.

Missing The Deep Cuts

While this cascading presentation is effective, it can rightly be criticized for being one-sided. If you’re one of those people that feel alarmed when an argument is too clean, then The Mask You Live In will trigger sirens in your head. Any topic this big will have complexities, but this film doesn’t take the time to address different sides of the issue. While its quick hits covers this flaw for a while, the short-sightedness becomes apparent when the film steers you towards more familiar topics.

Even if you’ve never explored the construct of masculinity before, simply being aware of American culture would make you familiar with the effects of violence in media and the glamorization of athletic prowess. The Mask You Live In rightly brings up these topics, but they’re presented so matter-of-factly that their brief arguments are noticeably lacking. By the time the film brings up violence in video games, which is the shakiest of its arguments and requires much more time to construct than the film gives it, you’ll already be primed to outright disagree.

As the film relies heavily on momentum to build up its points, it all crumbles when the audience begins to question even the small things. During the back half of the film, when the more glaring problems show up, its momentum grinds to a halt. This hurts not only its individual arguments, but the ability of the film to wrap around an effective resolution.

Achieving Goals

As much as The Mask You Live In wants to provide American culture with a way of changing its image of masculinity, there’s also a sense that it first needs to make everyone aware that there’s even a problem. If the film can get more people thinking critically about the messages a culture feeds to its boys and men, then its people would likely be able to police it for themselves. As the film points out, it’s not just the media or fathers that are teaching these detrimental things to our boys, but everything around them.

On the task of awareness, the film succeeds with flying colors. There are enough solid points and alarming statistics to get you really thinking, and even its missteps will encourage viewers to examine why it fell short. I know having these ideas in my head killed any chance of enjoying Deadpool (not that it was geared towards me in the first place, but man does it tick off a lot of the boxes this film talks about), and once the detrimental messages start popping out at you, it’s hard not to get a little pissed about how ubiquitous they are.

Conclusion

While not fully achieving its goals, The Mask You Live In presents enough thought-provoking material in a digestible manner to get people interested. As the traits of masculinity are rarely challenged by American society, just pointing people to the things that should be challenged is a fire-starter in and of itself.

A deeper dive will need to be done, though, to really correct the problem. It’s quite possible that Newsom will deliver this herself, as The Mask You Live In is a product of The Representation Project (click here to check out their website), which she founded to inspire individuals and communities to overcome stereotypes through film. Whether Newsom and her organization continue to confront gender or move on to other topics, their mission is certainly one worth following.

Are you interested in documentaries that change your preconceived notions? What are some of your favorite films that have altered your thinking? Let us know in the comments!

The Mask You Live In is available for community, corporate, and school screenings now. The digital release date is not currently known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc45-ptHMxo