Blokes and cars : the construction of masculinities in Australian film / Rebecca Jane Johinke.

Abstract

This thesis examines the construction of masculinities in the genre of Australian film known as 'car crash' films. A number of film texts are used to examine how representations of vehicular masculinity are validated and how heroism is often associated with mastery of a motor vehicle. It contends that gender-technology relation constructs technology as masculine culture, the automobile often pivotal in rites of passage and manifestations of masculinity because other means to perform adulthood and gender are frequently unattainable. Membership of the masculine hegemony can appear within reach when behind the wheel of a 'hot' automobile that signifies power, freedom, escape, conspicuous consumption and control. The male characters in car crash films look to the streets and to the screen to enact blatent constructions of an overt mechanical masculinity, and the performative journey is mapped.