Abstract
Schein investigates the appropriation of Irishness in current discourses on masculinity. In discussing recent television and movie productions such as Rescue Me or The Departed, she argues that stereotyping connects Irish-American masculinity to the working class, conservatism, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia. Their reactionary manhood makes Irish-American men ideal examples to negotiate an alleged crisis of masculinity, for which the narratives offer various solutions, ranging from obliteration to redemption. The discussion retraces the ways in which ethnic male characters function as projections of a wider anxiety around masculinity in US culture and thus demonstrate the continuing appeal of Irish-American identity and of the tenacity of essentialist constructions of both gender and ethnicity.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
This link is affirmed by movies about female Irish-Americans like P.S. I Love You (2007) or Leap Year (2010). As part of an aspiring middle class, the female protagonists, who do not identify as ethnic at first, are marked by their aspiration to move up socio-economically. However, through their contact with Ireland, Irish men, and a distinctly less capitalist and more frugal community, they forsake their ambitions and become more ethnic, less middle class, and more eligible for romance (cf. Schein 2011).
- 3.
Nevertheless, Sullivan feels the need to authenticate his identity performance by allusions to his less privileged background.
- 4.
The fact that Danny in Blue Bloods criticizes his sister for using “big words” highlights the distinction between male and female identity constructions and class implications.
- 5.
- 6.
Many of the protagonists have issues with their faith and their Catholic upbringing. The unsettling effect of their crumbling spirituality often adds to the state of crisis in their lives. Tommy, who in the second season of Rescue Me can be seen arguing with Jesus and Mary Magdalene about faith and religion, exemplifies such quarrels. Other examples of protagonists questioning beliefs include Costello in The Departed, Barry in The Brothers McMullen (1995), or Declan in Brotherhood.
- 7.
In Rescue Me, Tommy’s son dies in a car accident and his second male heir might have been fathered by his brother. Furthermore, Tommy and his wife are unable to care for him and consider killing the child or giving him up for adoption (4.7). Either Sullivan or Costigan in The Departed may have fathered Madolyn’s (Vera Farmiga) child, but both die before it is born.
- 8.
Rescue Me, The Job, Brotherhood, The Brothers McMullen (1995), and She’s the One are but a few examples.
- 9.
Once more, Blue Bloods is a notable exception to this narrative pattern as the series sticks to the notion of the functioning, close-knit Irish family clan—including regular Sunday church attendance, family dinners, and the patriarch carving turkeys and serving “proper” Irish coffee (2.16).
- 10.
Hamilton Carroll also discusses the reclaiming of agency by the male hero after the 9/11 attacks in his chapter on graphic novels (cf. 72).
- 11.
See also Negra’s discussion of Love and Money (2001, 233).
- 12.
Note that the division into different classes does not necessarily comply with sociological criteria but is based on the Irish-American men’s self-fashioning as working-class men and their stigmatization of others.
- 13.
Other examples for such a distinction between righteous working-class heroes and a corrupt and effeminate upper class include: Gangs of New York (2002), Titanic (1997), She’s the One, and Good Will Hunting (1997).
- 14.
The narrative overlooks the political and economic power of the family despite the fact that the paterfamilias acts as Police Commissioner, like his father before him. Instead, Danny’s and Jamie’s socio-economic situations as detective and police rookie are foregrounded and the family is fashioned as one entrenched in the police service rather than the elite.
- 15.
Bill O’Reilly, a FOX News talk show host and self-identified Irish-American, reiterated such rhetoric when he complained about (other) people who feel “entitled to things” and declared that “the white establishment is now the minority” (“Bill O’Reilly” 2012).
- 16.
- 17.
See also Negra 2001, 230.
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Schein, A. (2017). “Guys Like Me Are a Dying Breed”: The Politics of Irish-American Masculinity in Recent Movies and TV Series . In: Horlacher, S., Floyd, K. (eds) Contemporary Masculinities in the UK and the US. Global Masculinities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50820-7_9
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