Paper Title (use style: paper title)



Yüklə 79,47 Kb.
tarix20.09.2017
ölçüsü79,47 Kb.
#987

Metrosexual Masculinity Performance in Jordan Belfort’s The Wolf of Wall Street


Metrosexual Masculinity Performance in Jordan Belfort’s

The Wolf of Wall Street

Anindya Kusuma Wardani

English Literature, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Surabaya



Anindyakusuma40@gmail.com

Abstrak

Berdiskusi mengenai gender akan selalu menemukan topik menarik, baik mengenai pria maupun wanita. Topik yang tak terbatas ini dikarenakan isu mengenai gender selalu berkembang dari waktu ke waktu. Seperti yang didiskusikan pada penelitian dengan judul Metrosexual Masculinity Performance in Jordan Belfort’s The Wolf of Wall Street, maskuliniti pria juga berkembang dari waktu ke waktu. Dari awal bab pada penelitian ini, topik yang diangkat ialah mengenai maskuliniti pria pada abad ke-20 yang disebut metroseksualiti. Tipe maskuliniti yang ditemukan merupakan hasil dari perkembangan maskuliniti. Isu lainnya yang ditemukan dan dibahas pada novel ini ialah perilaku maskulinitas dari pria metroseks. Tujuan utama dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menunjukkan bagaimana pria metroseksual menunjukkan perilaku metroseksual dan maskuliniti mereka. Mengambil teori dari studi gender dan dekonstruksi, penelitian ini memilih menggunakan teori metroseksualiti dan maskuliniti. Sebagai hasil dari penggunaan kedua teori diatas, penelitian ini menemukan hasil jika pria pada abad ke-20 atau pada tahun 90-an berperilaku selayaknya pria metroseksual. Hal ini dipraktikkan melalui sikap sehari-hari pada diri sendiri maupun orang lain, seperti memperhatikan penampilan, mengetahui dunia fashion dengan baik, dan memiliki sisi feminim. Selain itu, ia juga menikmati kebersamaannya dengan pria dan memiliki kekuatan sebagai bentuk dari sisi maskulinitasnya.



Kata Kunci: metroseksualiti, maskuliniti, studi gender.

Abstract

Discussing about gender will lead finding interesting topics, whether it is about man or women. The never ending topics about gender are mainly because of the gender’s issues always developed from time to time. Similar to what is discussed in this study entitled Metrosexual Masculinity Performance in Jordan Belfort’s The Wolf of Wall Street, man’s masculinity also develops from time to time. From the very beginning of the chapter, this study is bringing the issue about man’s masculinity in the 20th century is called Metrosexuality. This type is the product of masculinity development. While discussing about metrosexuality, there is another issue which is found and discussed in this study, that is the Metrosexual man’s masculinity performance. The purpose of this study is mainly to reveal how metrosexual man performs his metrosexuality and masculinity. Taking the product of gender studies and deconstruction, this study takes metrosexuality and masculinity theory as its theory. As the result, through combining these two methods and theories, this study found that the 20th century or 90s men perform the newest type of masculinity through his daily behavior towards himself and others, such as paying attention to his appearance, knowing fashion better, and having feminine sense, that is called metrosexual masculinity. Besides that, the character also enjoying man company and having power as his action to show his masculinity.



Keywords: metrosexuality, masculinity, gender studies.

INTRODUCTION


Gender is an interesting topic to be developed into a discussion. The main reason that gender is interesting is that gender is the society’s product that always develops from time to time. It means that every year there is a new issue that rising. Similar to the topic which will be discussed in this study. This study mainly discusses about metrosexuality. Similar to what has been written in the previous paragraph, metrosexuality is the new shape of masculinity for man in the 20th or popularly called nineties man.

Before heading to the main discussion, it will be very useful if the root of metrosexuality is understood. Its root is masculinity. On the book 50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies, Pilcher and Whelehan explain that masculinity is the representation of being a man which usually performed based on culture and historically affected (Pilcher & Whelehan, 2004). Underlining the words historically affected, it is really usual if masculinity will have a new product every year.

The newest type of masculinity is metrosexuality, which is the main point of this study. Metrosexuality has been spread through the whole society over the world, even if some of them may unconsciously already affected by metrosexuality. For example, beauty product nowadays is not only used for a woman but also a man and there is a case that a man does plastic surgery to make himself look better. These phenomena are included in metrosexuality issue. The person who does this is called metrosexual man.

Seeing how metrosexuality has been growing this far will make people wonder who is the person behind this term. Turning back to the time when metrosexuality starts rising, around the year 1990, there is a person whom for the first time introducing this term to the public through his article. Mark Simpson is the person behind this. He writes,

Nineties man, it almost goes without saying, exhibits no bashfulness about gazing at his own reflection –... He is to be seen parading in front of mirrors in High Street clothes shops and examining his new haircut in the salon mirror (Hall, 2015, 19).

His statement triggers the society’s perspective of the new man in the 20th century. It explains that the new phenomenon among man is they look at himself as if checking their appearances. From his statement, he concludes that the new man is found in ninety eras and it is called metrosexuality. Beside that what Mark has said lead to the conclusion that metrosexual man has a different style to express his masculinity. He does what the usual or traditional man does not do.

This popular phenomenon also can be found in literary works. One example is an American non-fiction novel by Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street. In this novel, the male main character whose name is Jordan Belfort shows activities that can be included into metrosexual activity. He always concerns on the way he dresses and looks. This novel also takes the era of Wall Street, in the 20th century, which is in the same year with the rising of metrosexuality.

From the paragraph above, there will be two questions which can be risen as topics for discussion. The first is the phenomenon of metrosexuality, how is metrosexuality performed by the main character, Jordan Belfort? The second question will be, how does Jordan Belfort also perform his masculinity side? Basically, these two questions have aim to reveal man masculinity in nineties era.

The suitable theory for the first question is metrosexuality theory. After Mark Simpson introduce this term, there are a lot of statements related to the explanation about metrosexuality and how the characteristics are. The explanation about the theory of metrosexuality will be the explanation of the terms from a various theorist, the construction, and also the characteristics.

Metrosexuality is simply constructed through three steps. At the beginning, in society, a person should define himself as a man. Then, he has to be a masculine man first through showing his masculinity sides. The last, he has to have most of the characteristic of metrosexual man. After these three, that person can be defined as a metrosexual man.

As it is stated before, that metrosexual man is the man who pays attention to his appearance. Then Mark Simpson also mention that metrosexual man also has beauty products and some equipment which can help him to have a perfect appearance. He also adds that those products belong to men because it has written “for men (Hall, 2015, 19).” His idea over metrosexual man is even he has the personality to reach a perfect looking man, he also pays attention to which product for men and only use it when it is for men.

Still on Mark Simpson’s article Here Come the Mirror Me, he also specifies the others typical of the metrosexual man. He writes,

A young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis – ... He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, ... (Hall, 2015, 32).

The statement above gives another clue related to who the metrosexual man is. He is defined as a rich man because he likes to spend money for his look, who live in a city and he can be gay, straight, and bisexual. He also works in particular areas such as modeling, entertainment field, and even sport.

Contrary, there is a theorist who defines that metrosexual man is a heterosexual person, he is T. Edwards. He defines a metrosexual man is a male who has interest with their beauty and also appearances and they define themselves as a heterosexual man (Piayura, 2013, 218). T. Edwards agrees to Mark’s statement that metrosexual man is a male with a concern for his appearances and beauty but he is a heterosexual which means he likes the opposite gender as his couple.

The last but not least, the definition of metrosexual man by Flocker also important to support the previous two theorists. She says that metrosexual man in four points, that are he is the 21st-century trendsetter, a young male urban straight guy who has high aesthetic sense, loving to spend his money for appearance and shopping, and the man who has a feminine side (Harris, 2013, 43). Her points over metrosexual man are similar to the previous theorists. She believes that metrosexual man is a rich young man who lives in the urban area or near the city that pays attention a lot on his appearances that similar to women. She also adds that metrosexual man is straight even tough he does like women and he also has a feminine side.

From all of the theorists, they are agree that metrosexual man is a straight man who lives in a city area and they pays attention a lot on his appearance to pursue his dream as a perfect man. He also lives in wealth and likes to spend his time to see his reflection in the mirror. What he does is similar to what usually women do, but do not be confused because the metrosexual man was born as a masculine man.

Besides saying who the metrosexual man is, Mark Simpson also states some characteristics of metrosexual man. Those are



  1. In the good condition of the economy (wealthy), intelligent, and have a good skill to socialize.

  2. Sensitive and self-revealing to the opposite gender

  3. Love to be with women

  4. Heterosexual relationship is considered as one of the sources of support

  5. Believe that marriage is based on love

  6. Agree to equal relationship

  7. Having less on gender inequality

  8. Consider women as an individual (Piayura, 2013, 219).

If a man performs almost or all of the characteristics above and similar to what the theorist states, he can be defined as a metrosexual man.

Move to the second question, it is about metrosexuality performance. The most suitable theory for the second question is metrosexuality construction. The thing which is going to explain about this theory is similar to the metrosexuality part. Masculinity theory will explain how the traditional masculine man should behave.

The first thing that has to be known is the meaning of masculinity. Based on Kimmel on his book, Men and Masculinities: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia, he explains that masculinity is masculinity is a social gender role which young males have to embrace (Bozkurta, Tartanoglub dan Dawesc, 2015, 255). His idea of masculinity is about what men’s role in society that they have to do to prove them that they are a masculine man.

Not only Kimmel, there are other theorists who state the same idea. One of them is Connel. He has the idea that masculinity is made for differentiating between man and women through their body, behavior, and attitude. There is also mcinnes who gives similar points about masculinity that is an ideas how a man should be (Pilcher dan Whelehan, 2004, 83). These two experts give a new perspective that masculinity is an idea of what men should be in society, he can show it through his behavior, personality, body, and attitude in order to differentiate him from women. Combining with the first expert, it can be felt that masculinity is an act of being a man in society through showing them a behavior, personality, body, and attitude which can be used as the points to differentiate with women.

In masculinity there is also some characteristics of being a man, he has to show some of the masculine characteristics through his behavior. If he does that, it means he is masculine. The characteristic of being masculine are various. Once, Peter Lehman says that power, courage, heroism side, and leadership are the characteristics of being a masculine man (Lehman, 2001, 7-14). These four essentials have to be inside every man’s act. But, different with Piayura, on his research journal she expands these four characteristics into several points, those are


  1. Using physic more and more aggressive

  2. Not sensitive or expressive

  3. Loving to gather with men

  4. Without being intimate, having strong connection to men

  5. Marriage is considered as a need, without romanticism

  6. Thinking that women are dominating Having gender inequality side

  7. Believe that women are something bad and good (Piayura, 2013, 218).

The characteristics above, both from Lehman and Piayura are the characteristic of how to be a masculine man which is based on the traditional masculine man’s behavior.
METHOD

This study is discussing gender issue in 20th-century man. The focus will be directed to metrosexuality and masculinity performance in the novel The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort. The data is taken from the main character’s performance only whose name is Jordan Belfort. The method of this study begins with the data collection from the novel.

Then, it is continued with the data analyzation. In this step, the data will meet with the theories which are metrosexuality and masculinity. The first theory is the product of gender studies and deconstruction. The stake of metrosexuality theory is actually masculinity theory which belongs to gender studies, then it is being deconstructed to break down the old perception and get a new theory. This theory is produced due to the new phenomenon. The metrosexuality theory is used to answer the first research question. While the second research questions will be answered by masculinity theory. This basic masculinity theory will help to reveal the main character’s performance to be a man. After the meeting of data and theories, the result will appear.
DISCUSSION
In The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort’s performance as a metrosexual man is clearly shown from the beginning of the novel. He shows it through various ways.The first performance is showing that he concerns on his appearance. The quotation below shows that Jordan is that kind of person

Later that evening I went into my bedroom closet and picked out my jail outfit. I chose a pair of faded Levi’s, a simple gray T-shirt with long sleeves (just in case it got cold inside the jail cell), and some old beat-up Reebok sneakers, which would reduce the chances of any seven-foot black men named Bubba or Jamal taking them from me. I had seen this happen in the movies, and they always took your sneakers before they raped you (Belfort, 2008, 336).

The scene which is captured above is when Jordan Belfort is about to go to jail because of his crime. Before he heads to the jail, he enjoying his time to choose perfect clothes to wear. He simply chooses to wear jeans by Levi, long sleeve T-shirt, and Reebok sneakers. Normally, if someone will go to jail, he will not do that thing. The scene will be simple and will not be explained that much. But for Jordan’s case is different, he explains how he dresses and enjoying his time, besides that he also choose the product with the brand and it is popular. That thing happens because he does not want to look basic, he really wants to pursue a good looking man or a praise through concerning on what he will wear on a day. This is the reason why Jordan is a metrosexual man.

Paying attention to appearance is not only in the clothes but also on the other supporting accessories. Jordan also does it, the following quotation will show it.

On my left wrist I wore an $18,000 gold Bulgari watch that was thin and understated. In the olden days, before the Duchess came to town, I had worn a solid gold Rolex that was thick and chunky But the Duchess, being the self-proclaimed arbiter of taste, grace, and gentility, had immediately discarded it, explaining to me that it was gauche. ... Nevertheless, she seemed to have a knack for these things, so I usually listened to her (Belfort, 2008, 36).

The quotation above explains that Jordan used to have a high price Bulgari watch, but he changes that watch and starts to wear gold Rolex watch because of his wife suggestion. The sign of being a metrosexual man can be seen from here, his purpose of wearing a watch is not only for telling him time but for his appearances supporter. It is detected from the reason he changes the watch from Bulgari to Rolex. Jordan believes that his old watch is not good for him and might make him look awful. In order to make him look great, he needs to change his watch. This act can be considered as metrosexual man activity because he will do anything to make him looks great.

Besides the model that makes him look great, he also chooses the product with good quality, popular, and even will lead into getting praise from others. Look at how he mentions the brand of his watch including its price. Bulgari and Rolex are very popular and having a high price. This makes others who see him give him some praise about it. The act of choosing certain product actually can be included in the act of being a metrosexual man. This is also done by Jordan who likes to do it. He simply does not want to wear basic accessories because he thinks that choosing a product with the brand will help his appearance better and he will get praise from it.

The next thing that Jordan does to make his appearance great is he does body treatment. Body treatment is used to support his appearance naturally from his body. In the novel The Wolf of Wall Street he does sauna. It appears on lines, Having worked things out in my mind for the second time in less than five minutes, I forced myself to smile at my own reflection and then headed for the sauna. Once there, I would sweat out the evil spirits and start my day anew (Belfort, 2008, 35).” The picked lines above is explaining that Jordan does his routine to look at himself in the mirror. He feels that he can not smile naturally, it can be because of stress or something. Because of that, he thinks that the best way to remove that and repair his look is to do sauna.

Sauna is one kind of body treatment which uses for health and beauty. A sauna can help someone to freshen his body, relaxing, burning calories, detoxing, and cleaning skins. Looking to those function, it seems Jordan choose sauna as his body treatment to help him look fresh, healthy, and also clean. It is normal for a metrosexual man doing sauna because the impact is great for the body especially for his appearance.

The second main point of being a metrosexual man knows the fashion, anything about the fashion world. In The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort is captured as someone who understands about the fashion world. It is pictured in various ways, the first performance is understood about the certain product from the brand, material, and the price. The following quotation will show that, “...With that, the soon-to-be starving Swiss Bombshell—along with her $40,000 Patek Philippe watch, her $25,000 diamond-and-ruby necklace, and her $5,000 clothing ensemble—sat down in a black leather chair. Then she put her head in her hands and began to shake her head back and forth (Belfort, 2008, 345).”

The quotation above shows the scene when Jordan meets with his colleague, accidentally his colleague wears accessories. In his mind, Jordan thinks about all of her accessories. Starts from the materials, brand, and also the price. Mentioning the price, material, and brand is the sign of someone who understands about fashion because only first glance he can conclude all of them easily. This activity can be done only by fashion devotee, like Jordan. He seems very familiar with fashion products. It is normal for a metrosexual man because of he also such someone who knows fashion because he needs to think which product is original and good quality. But, it will be ver hard for a normal man to do that. From that explanation, Jordan’s performance can show that he is a metrosexual man.

Knowing fashion better also can be analyzed through giving a score to someone’s fashion style. This performance also was done by Jordan Belfort. The evidence below will show that activity.

... He was wearing a wrinkled navy blazer, which hung on his thin frame like a piece of cheap boat canvas. The rest of his ensemble was no better. He wore a ripped gray T-shirt and white peg-legged Levi’s jeans, both of which had stains on them.

But it was his shoes that were the greatest insult. ...; he had on a pair of cheap brown leather penny loafers that hadn’t seen a high-shine rag since the day the calf was slaughtered. And, of course, his trademark royal-blue baseball cap covered his few remaining strands of wispy strawberry-blond hair, which, in typical downtown fashion, had been pulled back into a ponytail and tied with a rubber band (Belfort, 2008, 88).

When Jordan meets with one of his colleague, Steve Madden, the shoe's designer. On his mind, he thinks that Steve’s style is not good. On the first paragraph, he says that there is a wrinkle on Steve’s jacket and it makes his look bad. Then, the third paragraph he explains that Steve’s shoes are not better he even explains the bad condition of his shoes. Then he states how is the good shoe look alike. His action from that scene simply because he knows fashion. It is very easy for a metrosexual man whom also has an interest in fashion. He learns it from his daily habit and from that he can decide which product is good and not good to wear. Similar to the comment on Steve’s accessories, Jordan also knows which style belongs to the city. All of his action is a proof that he is a metrosexual man.

The last point of being a metrosexual man is through fulfilling the other supporting characteristics which can be included in a little bit feminine sense. The first characteristic is sensitive.

“No, of course I want to talk to you! There’s nothing in the world I want more than to talk to you. I just didn’t think you wanted to talk to me.”

Kindly: “No, that’s not true. I do want to talk to you. For better or worse, you’re still my husband. I guess this is the worse part, right?”

I felt tears coming to my eyes, but I fought them down. “I don’t know what to say, Nae. I…I’m so sorry for what happened…. I…I— (Belfort, 2008, 476).”

The setting of the conversation above is on the phone when Jordan is in rehabilitation place. He calls his wife secretly from the rehabilitation place. He goes to rehabilitation place because of his drug addiction.

His sensitiveness can be seen from the way he thinks that his wife does not want to talk to him after he goes to rehabilitation place. The act of reacting certain action is considered as sensitive. For Jordan case, at the beginning, he thinks that his wife does not want to answer his phone and talk to him. But unexpectedly his wife answer it, then Jordan reacts like that. This short action can be considered as sensitive. The other point that shows sensitiveness is crying. On the last paragraph, Jordan crying because of his feeling. Crying is considered as a reaction for a sensitive person. For people who are not sensitive, especially when he is a man, crying is hard to do especially by simple words. From this, Jordan is considered as a sensitive man.

The other supporting characteristic is seeing marriage as a romantic. It appears on lines,

The Duchess rolled onto her side to face me, and she put her arm across my chest and hugged me gently. Then she told me that she loved me. I kissed her on the top of her blond head and took a deep breath to relish her scent. Then I told her that I loved her back and that I was sorry. I promised her that nothing like this would ever happen again. I would be right about that (Belfort, 2008, 296).

The scene above is taken when Jordan meets again with his wife after a long time. From this scene, Jordan does not want to upset his wife. At the beginning, Jordan is silent but then he promises to be better and kisses his wife. This scene gives clue that Jordan and his wife are loving each other. Their love is stated and also shown by action. The romantic thing comes when two person shows their love to each other. Just like Jordan did, he shows his feeling to his wife though give promise, saying love and kiss her.

The next point which can show that Jordan is a metrosexual man is he sees heterosexual as a source of support. It is shown in the following lines, “... Christ! If Suzanne got in trouble—well, Nadine would crucify me! She might even leave me and take Chandler. That was an impossibility! I couldn’t live without them! Not in— (Belfort, 2008, 207). The lines above show that Jordan can not live without his wife and daughter. A man usually will be okay if he lives by himself. But different with Jordan, he can not do that. Jordan statement gives clue that his wife and daughter are his other half and also a supporter. It can be expressive but for Jordan case, even sometimes they fall out but, his wife always loves and helps him to be a better person, with those things Jordan gets the support. It is clear when Jordan loses his wife, he might be crippled and has an unstable life. That is the reason why Jordan says that because he sees his wife not only as his soulmate but also his support giver.

The last but not least, Jordan’s supporting characteristic to be a metrosexual man is he lives in wealth. Similar to what is captured on lines,

I was sitting in my office with Danny, and the Ludes were just kicking in, at which point I got a bug up my yass to start spending money. I called my exotic-car dealer and bought Danny a black Rolls- Royce Corniche convertible, for $200,000, and then I bought myself a racing-green Aston Martin Virage, for $250,000. ... And I still felt like I needed to spend more money. So my exotic-car dealer offered to turn my Aston Martin into a true James Bond car ... The cost: $100,000. Anyway, I went for the full monty, which had the effect of drawing so much power from the car’s battery that the car hadn’t worked right ever since. In fact, every time I took the car out for a drive, it would conk out on me. Now it just sat in my garage, looking nice (Belfort, 2008, 243).

The scene above captures that Jordan spends his money to buy two expensive cars. On that day, he also modified his car to make it look like James Bond’s. Those cars are bought not only for him but also for his friend, Danny.

Seeing his action of buying two cars in a day shows that Jordan has a lot of money. He even chooses the car with a high price. For normal people, buying two cars in a day is not important especially when it is expensive. But for the person who has a lot of money, it is possible. This is a similar condition to Jordan, he can do that without regret because he is wealthy. The other point that shows Jordan is a wealthy person is how he buys a car for his friend. That car also has a high price and popular brand. This situation will not happen for normal people. Besides that, choosing the brand also can be the sign of a wealthy person. Roll Royce and Aston Martin are two cars with popularity and high price. If a normal person wants to buy that car, the possibility will be very small. Since the beginning, Jordan urges to buy that and it proves that Jordan has a lot of money.

From the beginning of the discussion, the topic which is discussed is about metrosexuality performance by Jordan Belfort. It is true that Jordan can be considered as a metrosexual man because he fills most of the characteristic. He shows through various ways, the first is paying attention to his appearance, understand fashion better, and has the supporting characteristic that is mostly feminine.

The other topic which is discussed from the novel The Wolf of Wall Street is Jordan Belfort’s masculinity performance. Even if the performance is not as many as the metrosexual performance, but still it is very important to see the masculinity performance of the metrosexual man. Similar to metrosexuality, masculinity can be performed through various ways. In this discussion, a number of performances are five. All of them are showing how to be manly.

The first point is aggressive. Jordan has this side, and sometimes he let it out in front of people. This characteristic is shown in the lines below.

Stop!” She screamed. “Please, stop! It’s your daughter! Put her down!” And she kept wriggling her way up my leg, trying to get a grip on my torso. I looked at the Duchess, and at that very instant I wanted her dead. In all the years we’d been married I had never raised a hand to her—until now. I placed the sole of my sneaker firmly on her stomach, and with one mighty thrust I kicked out—and just like that I watched my wife go flying down the stairs and land on her right side with tremendous force (Belfort, 2008, 433).

This scene is appearing when Jordan and Nadine, his wife are falling out. When Jordan is angry he can not control his aggressiveness, he accidentally kicks his wife until she falls from stairs. Aggressiveness is someone action which is related to the feeling of anger and using the physical thing to express that.

There is a relation between the meaning and also Jordan’s action. From that, someone who is aggressive always uses that concept. If Jordan is not the aggressive man he will not follow that concept. But, even if it looks really hard for women, but this is the natural expression of being a man.

The next point that shows how Jordan performs his masculinity is enjoying man’s company. It can be seen from the following evidence,

At five p.m., Danny and I were playing pool in my basement, waiting impatiently for Alan Chemicaltob. The game was eight ball, and Danny had been kicking my ass for almost thirty minutes. As the balls clicked and clacked, Danny bashed the Chinaman: “I’m a hundred percent sure the stock is coming from the Chinaman. No one else has that much (Belfort, 2008, 282).”

The scene that there is him and Danny are everywhere, it captures their togetherness in the home or even in the office. Similar to the scene above, it is the scene when Jordan and Danny are hanging out in Jordan’s house and playing a pool. They have been like this for almost a day. That is mean Jordan like to have a company with his male friends. As a man he will think that talking with man and women are different from the topic, the feels, and the situation. When Jordan talks with men he will have man’s activity and men’s talk, such as talking about business and playing pool. That reasons are the possibility why this kind of scene appears in the novel, it is the representation of the man’s company.

The next masculinity performance in the novel The Wolf of Wall Street is having status. Status in here is one of the identities which Jordan has. His status might be well-known by a certain group in his environment. The following evidence will show Jordan’s status.

“Contrary to what you might think, Jordan, I don’t need all this. I just want to live a nice, quiet life, away from Stratton and away from all this madness. I think we should move before something bad happens.” She paused. “But you’ll never do it. You’re addicted to all the power—and to all those idiots who call you the King and the Wolf! Christ, the Wolf! What a fucking joke that is!” I could hear the disgust oozing through the keyhole. “My husband, the Wolf of Wall Street! It’s almost too ridiculous for words. But you can’t see that. All you care about is yourself. You’re a selfish little bastard. You really are (Belfort, 2008, 209).”

The quotation above is coming from Nadine’s, Jordans’s wife, point of view. The tension in that scene can be felt. She tries to explain how is his status among society. As a wife, she really understands how his husband’s life. From that quotation, there are clues that show Jordan has status, the first is the word power and the second are the Wolf and the King. These three words are explaining Jordan’s status, he is powerful, he is the king among certain groups, and he is also the wolf for them. Usually, someone who has status will have a symbol for him as his status. King is related to power because the king has special permission to ask people whatever he wants them to do and no one will refuse it. The other status which Jordan has is The Wolf of Wall Street. This is the main status he has. He is very rich, popular, powerful, and sort of Wall Street ruler. This relation has lead into conclusion that Jordan fulfills on of the characteristic of being a masculine man.

The next point of being a masculine man is, he has a power. This point is similar to the previous point but this will focus on the power that a masculine man has. Someone who is masculine has this side over certain people, race, or community, “... Huh? Could it be that simple? Had the Swiss bankers bailed me out already? Just to speculate! The Wolf of Wall Street—bulletproof, once more (Belfort, 2008, 124)!”

The evidence which is brought into this part of discussion shows how Jordan Belfort has power. He says how bulletproof he is and mentions the symbol of him. Paying attention more on the word bulletproof, bulletproof means that he can do anything and everything without making his life ruined. He is free from doing anything. This is happening because of he can control his society which can help him to cover everything up from the public and make him safe. He uses his power to control people in his society.

The last but not least, how Jordan performs his masculinity is showing his heroism side. Heroism is the act of showing a bravery. As a masculine man, Jordan has to show this side.

Rogue wave? What the fuck was that? I found out a second later when I looked out the window— and everyone on the bridge screamed at once: “Holy shit! Rogue wave!”

It had to be sixty feet high, and it was closing fast.

“Hold on!” Screamed Captain Marc. With my right hand, I grabbed the Duchess around her tiny waist and pulled her close to my body. She smelled good, the Duchess, even now (Belfort, 2008, 400).

It is the scene when Jordan has a trip with his wife, Nadine using a boat. Suddenly, his ship is crashed by a big wave and make the fall into the sea. Starting from this his heroism side appears. Heroism is the act like a hero and saves people. In this scene, the person who is saved by Jordan is his wife. He automatically holds onto his wife’s waist to save her from falling. His action can be categorized into heroic action, he tries to save his wife and brave. It is like saving his wife is a priority for him. This characteristic of what hero usually has, he will do anything t save other people even if he is in danger. Even if the attempt of saving his wife is failed, but Jordan never fails to show his heroism side. This characteristic fulfills what Peter Lehman says.


CLOSING

Conclusion

In the novel, The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort as the main character has performed his masculinity sides. He follows the newest masculinity type that is metrosexual masculinity. He clearly performs it through several ways. The first performance is through showing his concern for his appearance. What he does are mentioning what he wears from the clothes, shoes, and then accessories. It is clear that he tries to match all of them in order to show that he has a good appearance. Despite that, he also chooses the product with the brand and he does body treatment. The second performance is he knows fashion. He shows it through some points, that are mentioning the product brand, the material of the certain product, and even the price. The other action that he does is scoring to his colleague appearance and knowing the recent fashion style. The last performance is fulfilling the other supporting characteristics that is a little bit feminine sense. Those are sensitive, seeing marriage as romantic, the heterosexual relationship is the source of support, and wealthy. These performances are proof that Jordan Belfort is a metrosexual man.

Besides metrosexuality, Jordan also still perform traditional masculine man’s behavior. It is shown through some points, that are aggressive, enjoying man’s company, having status, having power, and has heroism side. These five characteristics are normal for masculine man even though metrosexual man has different characteristics. This statement happens because metrosexuality is part of masculinity and masculinity action sometimes appear naturally.
Suggestions

While finishing this study about metrosexual masculinity performance in novel The Wolf of Wall Street, there are some points which are already good and not perfect, have not been discussed, or even can be developed in the future. Because of that findings, there are some suggestions



  1. The Wolf of Wall Street is one of good book which shows how metrosexual man perform his side. Using this book for studying about that is a good choice.

  2. This study is explaining how the condition of masculinity nowadays. It is important to study about metrosexuality to gain a new perspective about the metrosexual man.

  3. This novel only studying about men in nineties era, to make the study goes deeper about this topic, it will be perfect if the future researchers can expand the analysis through changing the novel which has a different setting or still using this novel but expanding the analysis such as adding the characters.

  4. In The Wolf of Wall Street, there is another interesting topic to be discussed, that is manpower. It will be very good if that topic is used to be developed into new research.


DAFTAR PUSTAKA

Belfort, J. (2008). The Wolf of Wall Street. London: Hodder.

Bozkurta, V., Tartanoglub, S., & Dawesc, G. (2015). Masculinity and Violence: Sex Roles and Violence Endorsement among University. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 254 – 260.

Hall, M. (2015). Metrosexual Masculinities. London: PALGRAVE MCMILLAN.

Harris, F. (2013). An Investigation into the Social Acceptance of Metrosexuality in Irish Society.

Lehman, P. (2001). Masculinity: Bodies, Movies, and Culture. New York: Routledge.

Piayura, O. (2013). Metrosexual Men in Thai Classical Literature. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity.

Pilcher, J., & Whelehan, I. (2004). 50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies. London: SAGE Publications.




Yüklə 79,47 Kb.

Dostları ilə paylaş:




Verilənlər bazası müəlliflik hüququ ilə müdafiə olunur ©genderi.org 2024
rəhbərliyinə müraciət

    Ana səhifə