Transformations of hegemonic masculinity and functions of female images in contemporary western films

The controversy about modern transformations of consumer society typically is not related to gender studies. At the same time, the spread of mass culture in the consumer society has had a significant impact on the redistribution of gender roles. Gender studies have long been dominated by the study of women’s history through criticism of hegemonic masculinity as a system for the distribution of social roles, and economic inequality was only their derivative. Moreover, starting from the first decade of the XXI century, many researchers appear (M. Kimmel, S. Bordeaux, S. Robinson) striving to move away from the established tradition. Thus, according to modern researchers, the concept of “hegemonic masculinity” is controversial. However, it is generally well established in gender studies to describe the power of middle-class white men, their everyday behavior, and normative representations in culture. The purpose of this article is to identify the feedback - the growing influence of the consumption laws, as well as the consumer culture formed on their basis, on the distribution of gender roles in popular Western cinema, which is both a representation and a reinforcement of normative models of social behavior. In modern cinema, the image of a man belonging to the hegemonic type of masculinity undergoes several stylistic changes that allow preserving the former normative ideal. Male images are mimicking in the new social space that has developed in the post-industrial economy, imitating changes in the dominant type of masculinity, which, however, does not lose its power positions. At the same time, the female heroine in popular cinema fails to fundamentally change the established model of normativity: she tries on traditional male roles and becomes a consumer of established stereotypes, refusing to try to change the very system of hegemony.