Man 'o War: Collisions of Masculinity and Patriotism in American Sniper

Cannon, Taylor Margaret

Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

Man 'o War: Collisions of Masculinity and Patriotism in American Sniper Public Deposited

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Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/fj236247h

Abstract

Historically, dominant masculinity has occupied a crucial position within the construction of American military and patriotic culture. The relationship between these ideologies runs deep, and evidence is found in popular culture representations of war films. American war heroes depicted in mainstream media are consistently dominating men whose identity as such is a prevalent component of their identity and efficacy as soldiers. This thesis utilizes the 2014 Clint Eastwood film American Sniper as a case study to examine the portrayed connectivity of dominant manhood and American militaristic patriotism through the text’s protagonist, Chris Kyle. Kyle is widely credited as the most deadly sniper in United States military history, and thus was a renowned public figure prior to the premiere of this film. However, his notoriety was thoroughly debated in mainstream media, particularly after the publication of his autobiography, due to possible exaggerations and fallacies about his past contained within the book. Kyle is famous for being a lethal killer, so it is natural that his fame would face some public derision, but the tales he told about himself also constructed him as an indestructible, dominating man who demonstrates remarkable nobility while remaining completely unyielding. This thesis argues that he is depicted similarly in American Sniper, and is portrayed as a man who fulfilled modern American notions of both a true patriot and a “real” man, and consequentially, even Chris Kyle himself was unable to live up to such a public image.

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