Senior Capstone: Male-Bonding in Buddy Films

            After just finishing the script for my film, I’ve really given a lot of thought into the relationship between the two main characters, Tom Alpha and Marty McCoy. The idea was to make a badass buddy cop movie about these two guys who are essentially Tango and Cash. I focused so much on the fact that they’re fighters, I forgot to write in a love interest. After giving it some major thought about the purpose of a love interest, I concluded that it was unnecessary, and furthermore, a waste of time.

The Damsel in Distress

            My interpretation of a woman in this kind of film is this: She can be a wife who worries too much about her man being out in the field (in this case, the character of Alpha), but I felt like that sort of character would have no change throughout the film. Another option would be to make her equal to our heroes, making her just as badass as them. This I liked, but I’ve noticed that this type of character shows up in sequels in this particular genre, and since I’m trying to emulate the genre, than that wouldn’t work either. Lastly, I could write in the basic female role of: girl meets boy, girl doesn’t like boy, boy woos girl to sleep with him (making her his only weakness), girl gets captured by villain, boy confronts villain, kills him, and wins the girl. This would be the only logical option, but frankly, I hate this formula. It is seen over and over in these types of movies, and it makes me sick. So, for this film I decided to change it up a bit.

            While putting together this script, I found an article about homoeroticism in Hollywood films. There’s a chapter about what it means to make a “buddy film” and what it means to be “masculine”. When reading, I found a quote made by Vincent Canby stating that it’s male filmmakers “shattering our egos, making us uncertain about our identities and persuading us to question something called ‘male-bonding’, which used to be known simply as friendship” (Lang, p. 181).  It made me wonder about the evolution of the genre from the 60’s all the way to now. This genre itself seems to have undergone a crisis of self-consciousness. I question whether the main heroes (mostly men) are in a love story with female interests or with each other. It really made me think about my two protagonists and (maybe) reinvent their personas.

Is this sociably appropriate?

            After much thought, I decided that these two characters are not directly homosexual, but they’re not completely heterosexual either. I tried to build in a lot of character development between the two; lots of male bonding. These guys are truly themselves when they’re just by themselves, and it’s very noticeable in some scenes. In fact, I purposefully wrote one scene where Alpha gets captured, and McCoy has to save him. I would have avoided a capture if possible, but I figured that, in order for the hero to confront the villain for the last time, he needs to for a reason, with that reason being 99% of the time, saving the damsel in distress. In this example, we can assume that McCoy sees Alpha as his damsel in distress. So, basically, I want my audience to decide whether these guys are secretly in love or not.

Resource:

Masculine Interests: Homoerotics in Hollywood Films