'Tell me all about your new man': (Re)Constructing Masculinity in Contemporary Chick Texts

Abstract

This article examines the representation of masculinity in contemporary ‘chick’ texts, with particular reference to "The Holiday" (2007). Chick texts encourage both female characters in the texts and the female audience to ‘look at’ and evaluate the male subject and they establish a specific formula of ‘acceptable masculinity’ for the hero, constructed of up to six facets: ‘attractiveness’, ‘success’,mystery, broken-heartedness, domesticity and being hopelessly devoted to the heroine. These facets suggest a utilising of Beynon’s ‘new man-ism’ (2002) and imply that the archetypal ‘new man’ is what contemporary women ‘want’.