Masculinity and the Man Who Drinks
Masculinity and the Man Who Drinks
Cukor’s most developed alcoholics are white men of privileged class who are portrayed as failing to live up to gendered social expectations. Within romantic comedies, the cause and effects of alcoholism in male characters are downplayed, as seen in the films Susan and God (1940) and The Philadelphia Story (1940). Then the chapter explores the specific figure of the Hollywood alcoholic in What Price Hollywood? (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), and A Star is Born (1954). These performances show the cost of success for male celebrities and the impact of social demands on the individual. Maintaining youthfulness, audience favor, and masculine virility depletes the men in focus in these films, and their failure after high accomplishment leads them to desperation and self-destruction.
Keywords: alcoholism, masculinity, romantic comedy, Cary Grant, John Barrymore
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