Dissidence and market
Masculinity in pop-rock biopics
Homosexual and women’s liberation in the sixties helped reshape established masculinity, although the alleged alternative maleness is still currently under discussion. Since we live in a consumer society, some scholars label this new masculinity commercial; they regard it as a mixture of two previous prototypes that emerged from counterculture: the nurturer and the narcissistic man. Music stars remain one of the best examples of how traditional male identity is hit by a historic crisis. Rock-pop biopics basically reproduce the same prototypes about male music stars that the media have developed over the years: the rebellious sensitive young man. They actually show how hegemonic masculinity has broken down but not reached a stable definition yet.
