SEXTANT: masculinities, sexualities & decolonialities

ABSTRACT

This essay critically examines the representation of men and masculinity in the second season of the HBO dramedy, The White Lotus. This topic merits scholarly attention because the show consciously foregrounds issues of masculinity; it dissects and satirises the social values, expectations, and commands associated with “proper” masculinity. Theories of the hegemonic man, the manosphere, homosociality, fatherhood, and the ‘new man’ are relevant to this discussion and inform its observations. This essay focuses specifically on a set of characters and their interactions to interpret and explore how they represent sociocultural (corrupted) conceptions of masculinity. This analysis most closely draws from the events of a single episode – the third of the season, titled “Bull Elephants” – but also refers to plot lines that stretch across multiple episodes. Through juxtaposition and irony, the show satirises the hegemonic man and demonstrates the sociocultural web that entwines masculinity, power, sex and status.

KEY WOrDS

Masculinity; The White Lotus; Hegemonic man; Manosphere; ‘New man’

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