Newt Scamander : Redefining Masculinity on Screen
I love Fantastic Beast movie, it has proven to us that not only a spin-off can be a cash machine but also that you don’t need to count on the nostalgia feel of Harry Potter franchise to enjoy it as a movie, but for me it has a deeper philosophical thing to be addressed on : the lead character himself is a uniquely written character out of the masculine archetype of our lead roles in movies and also real life. Here we will see how Newt Scamander’s character in the movie reflects a resistance to the gender stereotype of masculinity.
So just like there are feminine quality that the society embrace and expect their female members obey, there is also masculine qualities that are being thrusted to men such as being confident, have strong sense of leadership, invulnerable, courageous and more i believe you can name it. Even in my everyday life i often be questioned by my siblings or elders in the family or my friends that “You are scared?? So you feel sad?? How girly you are!” everytime i as a boy or a grown up show weakness or emotion that doesn’t reflect strong and tough masculinity, most of the time in Indonesia whenever boys are being “dare-d” or challenged to do things they often being asked “Cowo ga lu?” (are you men enough boy?) which also reflects their expectation to what male should behave. This values and expectations are invested in arts and movies, that’s why we often see male leads in films have these masculine or macho qualities. Just take a look at Thor or Captain America which is super strong or the confident and swag Star Lord and Iron Man, another example is the cool-ish and brooding Batman or Daredevil who are independent and work alone or how brave Harry Potter was when he beat Lord Voldemort in many epic duels. Now compare it to Newt Scamander, he’s vulnerable and humble, he doesn’t have this macho mannerisms such as being a shinning leader that knows it all and also very courageous and can reach everyone to pursue his goal, from what i see he is smart, and awkward in terms of his relationship with his mates, and also he’s quiet but not brooding, and he’s calculating not bravely charging into a fight, my favourite part of the movie is the climax which many people found “anti-climatic” because it is not loud or grand and instead it’s Newt try to use diplomacy to lure the antagonist back into his human form and when it fails (because the ministry of magic kills the antagonist) the ending is framed as melancholic and not full of celebration, this brought me to think that Newt is sad because his attempts is negated by violence used by others. For me this is another quality that makes him unique and in in turn makes this film unique, that it doesn’t ended with the protaognist yelling “whoo hooo” or “Oh yeaah!” while the antagonist blasted into ashes instead after courageously “giving all they got” to kill the antagonist.
I am not against those portrayals in movies, then again if Ultron or giant mindless monster wants to destroy earth we don’t need diplomacy because we know that it won’t work but my point is Newt has good values in his portrayal, he is responsible, cool-headed, nurturing, and he can;t move on from his ex (let’s say he;s loyal shall we?) this is as good as contemporary machoism depicted in screens and expected in life such as courage and bravery but why can’t we see it on par with the contemporaries? We teach our kids to be strong-willed like a “true men” yet we don’t bother to teach them be responsible like a “true men” should be.
Also i like to point out that altough he act as a leader, he is not the brawler or tough boy type of character, Newt as i mentioned before triied dipomacy and negotiation by talking to the antagonist instead of assault. It reminds me that many people embrace the idea that a leader sshould be the funniest, the smartest, the perfect guy with no weakness, as a leader Newt also need his friends to help him connect the dots of his trail to find the lost beasts, and he’s start off as an awkward man that is unconvincing and has no wit or charisma, but he manage the team well and solve the mystery in time with his team.
The truth is many people and critics don’tlike his portrayal, some said that he is boring and uncharismatic because he’s not acting like a real hero or he’s too awkward and so on, but i love to see his uniqueness shine, i like to see a different lead rather than the conventional ones especially those who can brought up the many different positive perspectives of being a human.