This week in class we watched Murderball. This film documents a group of quadriplegic men who play a totally different game of rugby. We talked a little bit about the issues of masculinity and disability and how these two intersect in the film, but I thought I might share and try to expand these ideas a bit more.
One of the things that stuck out to me was that throughout the movie there seemed to be this sense of hyper-masculinity. The game itself was very physical, violent and exerted a large amount of aggression. Also, due to there accidents, nearly all of the men seemed to play on the team to demonstrate to themselves that they had not lost any part of their masculinity.
As the film progresses we are introduced to many different men. Each individual but yet each exuding one certain trait. This idea that athleticism demonstrates masculinity is very dominant in the film. Joe, the Canadian coach, said he would have preferred his son play a sport rather then music. American sports are dominated by males, like most of the other aspects of our culture and present competition to be rewarded and yearned for no matter the cost. When asked about the competition between Canada and the US, one of the players states that it's all out war, this alone is an example of how serious their competitiveness is.
Another interesting thing I noticed was how few of women their were in the film. Not one player on the team is female. Nor do they interview any quadriplegic females and let them speak their mind or their points of view, which I'm sure might have differed quite a bit. Why did they choose not to interview any females anyway? Maybe there are no girls interested in quad rugby. Maybe the presence of the female would take away from the "macho-male factor, not sure but it's definitely something to think about.
I personally enjoyed this movie greatly, and thought that it had an inspiring feel to it. Something that all of us, as humans, can relate to no matter our sex.
Sources: Image taken from: http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/images/documentaries/murderballl.jpg
Frank -
ReplyDeleteGood point. There is only one disabled woman interested in playing quad rugby (in the film) and she is at the veteran's hospital.
You could have expanded this blog a little more and gone a little more in depth with your analysis of the film Aside from the discussion of the lack of women players, there isn't much that adds to our class discussion.
- Ruth