Blog Post #12

Grazian's article and The Hangover truly display what Grazian has called "the power of collective rituals of homosociallity to perform heterosexual competence and masculine identity" (333). What Grazian means by that is that men engage in ritual activities restricted to men only in order to first prove their masculinity, and second to (paradoxically) get involved with more women (in this context the involvement with women is not to seek sexual encounters but much more to "show off" a set of skills in front of other men that can eventually lead to sexual encounters. In Grazian's article that phenomenon is translated by men going to bars, nightclubs (or other places related to the urban night life) in order to girl hunt. In The Hangover, it is translated by men enjoying the urban nightlife through the mean of a bachelor party organized for one of their friends. The similarities between both medium doesn't end here. In his article Grazian talks about how men align themselves with similarly oriented accomplices to convince themselves of the importance and efficacity of their [acts] (322). We see that happening as well in The Hangover. They are all accomplices in a sense that first they cover up for Stu who clearly lies to his wife about the whole trip to Vegas, then Alan (Tracy's brother) try to make the others do the wolf pact in order to seal their fraternity and overall they help each other out throughout the whole movie. While doing that we can see that they are all convinced of the importance and efficacity of their acts (ie. It was important to do the bachelor party at Vegas, they are convinced that everything is to be fine and fantastic at Vegas).

The Hangover. Dir. Todd Phillips. Perf. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zack Galifianakis. Warner Bros, 2009. DVD.

Grazian, David. “The Hunt Girl: Urban Nightlife and The Performance of Masculinity as Collective Activity”. Men’s Lives. 8th ed. Michael S. Kimmel and Michael Messner, Ed. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. 320-337. Print.