Kingsman (2014) - Matthew Vaughn - Action/Adventure/Comedy
Skyfall (2012) - Sam Mendes - Action/Adventure
While Kingsman and Skyfall both represent masculinity through their male protagonists such as Harry Hart and James Bond who both wear expensive suits and have strength, wealth, skills and good manners. Such traits represent the dominant ideology of white, heterosexual, middle-aged and middle-class men. However the protagonists in the movie Weekend do not fit into any of these categories as they are homosexual and seem to be from the working-class judging by their style of living, dress code and use of language. The movie is largely about their homosexuality and the issues it brings forward, this might immediately portray the protagonists as emasculate to the audience since the typical stereotype of masculinity is deeply ingrained within society.
Weekend (2011) - Andrew Haigh - Drama/Romance
While Kingsman and Skyfall both represent masculinity through their male protagonists such as Harry Hart and James Bond who both wear expensive suits and have strength, wealth, skills and good manners. Such traits represent the dominant ideology of white, heterosexual, middle-aged and middle-class men. However the protagonists in the movie Weekend do not fit into any of these categories as they are homosexual and seem to be from the working-class judging by their style of living, dress code and use of language. The movie is largely about their homosexuality and the issues it brings forward, this might immediately portray the protagonists as emasculate to the audience since the typical stereotype of masculinity is deeply ingrained within society.
The genres of Kingsman and Skyfall immediately contrast with Weekend, which doesn't consist of any gadgets or weapons instead it is centrally focused on the relationship between the protagonists Russell and Glen. Although Weekend doesn't include any action scenes, the large use of dialogue makes the film a lot more realistic to the audience since it's a lot more relaxed and informal, which doesn't give off the impression that it was scripted beforehand. When looking at Kingsman and Skyfall which consist of many action scenes throughout, it is very clear that they both had a much higher film budget compared to Weekend. Kingsman had a budget of an estimated $81 million, Skyfall had an estimated $200 million and Weekend only £120,000.
Another feature of masculinity is often having sexual relationships with women, this is clearly seen in Skyfall where a majority of the female characters come across as sexual objects, this is particularly seen when Eve Moneypenny is shown shaving Bond's face and he starts to unbutton her blouse. Similarly, towards the end of Kingsman, the captured princess promises to sexually satisfy Eggsy as long as he saves the world. However, Weekend was unable to represent masculinity in this way as the protagonists are homosexual. Russell's character seems to be uncomfortable with showing he's homosexual out in public, one of the reasons for this is because he's worried about how people will react and will have a negative impact on his masculinity. However, by the end of the movie, we see that his interactions with Glen over the weekend have changed this as he kisses him in public at the train station multiple times, even after we hear someone mockingly whistling at them. This shows that masculinity and your sexuality should be two separate things.
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