Last Updated on May 27, 2024 by Karl Thompson
A man in full is a 2024 Netflix limited series which has some good examples of negative representations of traditional masculinity.
The programme follows the demise of Charlie Croker, a real estate mogul in Atlanta, Georgia. Just turned 60, Croker is an extreme alpha male character who lives a lavish lifestyle. He has a mansion, hunting lodge and estate, private jet and a wife half his age. He has also spent the last ten years building a massive skyscraper: the concourse.
The character of Croker is stereotypically hegemonically masculine. He was the star of the college football team when he was younger. He ‘lives life on his own terms’, he puts himself first, he enjoys hunting. In one scene we see him loving watching horses breed: ‘ah this is life’ he states.
Croker is a very physical man, but at 60 he’s starting to deteriorate. He has a replacement knee put in which is state of the art, robotic. This enables him to be walking within two days because ‘it’s not OK for a man to be weak’.
The series starts with Croker’s lavish 60th birthday party, in which Shania Twain sings for him. It’s all about him and he loves the attention. The day after this his bank calls him in for a meeting and tells him he needs to repay the $800 million he owes them.
There are two key characters at the bank who want Croker to repay the $800, Harry Zale and Rayomnd Peepgrass. They not only want him to repay the money, they also want to crush him financially. They want to destroy him, to ruin his reputation.
Raymond Peepgrass has been working with Croker for years. He has been the main liaison between Croker and the bank. He hates Croker as croker has made him feel like a nobody. He also envies him and wishes he could be him. He is obsessed with bringing Croker down. He is a bit of a weasley character who has always lived a servile life working at the bank. So he starts out NOT being hegemonically masculine. However, as the plot progresses, we see Peepgrass becoming more ‘masculine’ as he obsesses more and more with destroying Croker.
Peepgrass’s boss is Harry Zale who is also keen to bring Croker down, but for him it’s not a personal vendetta. He just seems to relish the masculine accomplishment of destroying another alpha male. He was an ex-wrestler in college and keeps wondering if he could ‘take’ Croker in a fight.
Hegemonic masculinity ends in tears and death….
The main plot line for the series is Croker’s attempts to avoid bankruptcy with the assistance of his lawyer, Roger White. White is not a hegemonically masculine character, he is much more balanced. He is a brilliant lawyer, working for a ‘bad man’ (Croker) because the work is interesting and pays well. However he does have a conscience and wishes he could be doing more good.
Over the course of the six episodes we see that hegemonically masculine all lead to disaster. Traits such as violence, competition, the urge to control and manipulate, eventually lead to misery and even death.
On the other hand, those who admit to the failings of these traits have a happier ending.
The most damning critique of hegemonic masculinity is in the interplay between Croker and Peepgrass.
Peepgrass’s descent into traditional masculinity has a comic end. Towards the end of the movie he and Zale are ordered to leave Croker alone by their boss (Croker struck a deal with the mayor who did him a favour). Zale accepts this but Peepgrass can’t leave it alone. He seduces Croker’s ex-wife and ends up sleeping with her. He also sets up a company with the intention of buying a majority share in Croker’s concourse (the skyscraper). Peepgrass has convinced Croker’s ex-wife to transfer over her and her son’s shares in the concourse.
Croker gets wind of this and sets off to confront his ex-wife, he finds her sleeping with Peepgrass. Peepgrass taunts him about having stolen his company AND his wife. Croker throttles Peepgrass, his hand locks up and he can’t release his grip and Peepgrass dies, then Croker has a heart attack and dies himself. The last scene we see is Croker dead, his robotic knee still twitching.
So here we have two men going at each other and both dying in a farcical situation. Both have been brought down by their aggressive hatred of the other. However, neither intended to kill the other or die, so they’ve lost control at the end of the day.
The critique of Croker’s alpha male character is the most obvious. He has made many enemies throughout his life by stamping on people and it’s clear no one is going to come to his aid in his time of need. He has bankrupted himself through going into deep debt to build a skyscraper. The phallic imagery here should be obvious.
The major sub-plot in the series is Roger White helping out another character, Wes Jordan. Wes hit a police officer over an incident involving a parking ticket. Wes’ car had been nudged into a parking zone by another vehicle and was being towed. He objected to this, the police were called and he lashed out after one officer used force to cuff him.
This ended him up in a high security prison because he refused to accept a plea deal. Roger White manages to get the case thrown out eventually. He argues that Wes was in fact just scared when faced with both the police officer and parking official. It was this fear that led to violence. The message here seems obvious: hegemonic masculine traits get you in trouble. However if you accept the failings of your hegemonic masculinity there is redemption.
Further, while in jail, Wes has to turn on violence, here it helps him survive. So the only place this character trait works: it’s jail, where all the losers are.
Characters who are less hegemonically masculine do much better
Croker tries to get another local billionaire, Herb, to bail him out of bankruptcy. Herb is a very quiet man who lives his life in the background. He is calm, collected, rational, not aggressive or overtly masculine. He stands in contrast to the ostentatious masculinity on display by Croker.
The characters are mostly painfully black and white but there is a tiny amount of nuance. Croker has a moment towards the end when he ‘does the right (not traditionally masculine) thing’ because of his son.
Also the character of the Mayor is ambiguous in terms of his gender traits.
NB the women in the series are generally portrayed much more positively, but I wanted to focus on men here.
Links to A-level sociology
This is mostly relevant to anyone studying the media option in the second year.
This is a good example of traditional masculinity being represented in a very negative way!
Sources
IMDB – A Man in Full