REPRESENTATIONS OF HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY IN SELECTED KENYAN FEATURE FILMS BY WOMEN FILMMAKERS

Abstract

This study was premised on the notion that feature films by Kenyan women filmmakers are an important part of cultural discourses about hegemonic masculinity, and has a bearing on the ways in which practices of hegemonic masculinity are understood in society. In this regard, it interrogated feature films as sites for negotiating and reconstructing norms, ideals, and practices of hegemonic masculinity in Kenya today. Using three selected feature films by Kenyan women filmmakers, the study examined representations of hegemonic masculinity and how practices of hegemonic masculinity are reconstructed in the contemporary society. It also analysed aesthetic and technical filmmaking techniques used in the representation of hegemonic masculinity and ways in which the female filmmakers reconstructed hegemonic practices thereby providing alternative modes of being in society. Connell’s (2005) theorisation of hegemonic masculinity offered useful critical tools for analysing representations of hegemonic masculinity in the selected feature films, and a social framework that enabled the study to place feature films within a larger context of history and culture. In this regard, forms of hegemonic masculinity such as dominant, complicit, marginalised and subordinate were analysed. Filmmaking techniques such as casting and directing, mise-en-scene, lighting, cinematography, spectator orientation through editing and sound were examined. Findings from the study showed the contradictory and declining practices of hegemonic masculinity in the contemporary society. It is evident from the study that the female filmmakers relied on context and characterisation to spur social consciousness, advocate for social change and reconfigure alternative modes of being in society which foster selffulfillment and satisfaction. In this regard, the feature films function as engaging and informative avenues of discussing social agency as they provide alternative pathways to emerging issues in society.