"Frozen Tears" : A Study of Representaions of Masculinity in Three Egyptian Movies

Abstract: This thesis examines representations of masculinity in the following Egyptian movies: El Badla (2018), Welad Rizk 2 (2019) and Taymour w Shafika (2007). Each movie is from a different genre to further explore how this may influence the constructed representation of masculinity. The genres are comedy, action and romance. Additionally, both El Badla and Welad Rizk 2 are among the top ten highest grossing movies in the history of Egyptian cinema. Whilst Taymour w Shafika is considered one of the most iconic romance movies in its era. Thus, it is inevitable that all these movies have been watched (and will be watched) by a large audience, hence it is crucial to study the constructed values within them as arguably they influence the society. The thesis studies Egyptian masculinity using two different methods: film analysis and interviews with Egyptian men. The main theories this paper applies are: active audience encoding/decoding theory, social role theory and social identity and self- categorization theories. All three movies were found to represent masculinity through traditional traits e.g. emotionless, family provider. Egyptian men reflected on some of the scenes and had varied perspectives on the matter. Men who did not agree with certain values in those representations did mention that they still have to follow them as it is the way they have been brought up. The results of this study cannot be generalized but it is a step forward in the research on representation of masculinities in Egyptian cinema, which is extremely under researched in comparison to the size of the film industry in Egypt.