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The Mask You Live In

2016 • 91 minutes
4.4
27 reviews
67%
Tomatometer
Eligible

About this movie

The Mask You Live In follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America's limited definition of masculinity. Pressured by the media, their peer groups, and even the adults in their lives, our protagonists confront messages encouraging them to disconnect from their emotions, devalue authentic friendships, objectify women, and resolve conflicts through violence. These gender stereotypes interconnect with race, class, and circumstance, creating a maze of identity issues boys and young men must navigate to become "real" men.
Experts in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, sports, education, and media also weigh in, offering empirical evidence of the "boy crisis" and tactics to combat it.
The Mask You Live In ultimately illustrates how we, as a society, can raise a healthier generation of boys and young men.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
27 reviews
Pete Gomez
April 21, 2016
Propaganda film. Masculinity is not a rejection of everything that is feminine. Masculinity is masculinity. This seems written to a female audience to pull on their heart-strings and see how 'terrible' boys are raised in this era and that all society's ills would fall away if we just brought them up non-masculine. Search the internet and you'll find a lot of criticism amongst the 5-star fluff ratings. Some of this documentary is just inaccurate and not written at all from the experience of boys/men -- but from the experience from how *women* would feel if growing up as men. Also I'd say emotionally little boys and girls are the same until puberty. That's when the testosterone rises in little boys and the emotions fall to the back. It's not social conditioning, it's what that hormone does to us. This documentary wants the reasoning to be social, not biological. Sorry, nice try at re-engineering masculinity. Some of these interviews are scripted and some are from the heart. Can you pick out which ones? Tread lightly on this 'documentary'.
9 people found this review helpful
Hassan Maqsood
May 17, 2019
Okay'ish documentary, the main take-away's I agree with: 1. Boys need healthy role models and need to choose being vulnerable with their friends. A sense of connectedness, and emotional release is healthy for confidence. 2. Men that are growing up in a reality with poor self esteem, poor outlook on life and themselves... Leads them to heinous acts. Where it falls short. It is a feminine view on masculinity. Stop using extreme examples (#MeToo and Shootings and Rape) to pain a broad picture on the effect of masculinity. Point the finger, instead, at societal values, media portrayals, and school systems. These are more culprit than you'd think. Do you see the far east (Russia, China, Japan), complaining about 'masculinity'? They're fine. In fact, they want men to step up even more! Men need to learn to master their emotions and 'sense of self' and approach life with authenticity and realness. Period.
Nancy Christian
February 1, 2017
This movie is spot-on and should be watched by every man, woman, mother, and father. This story needs to be heard by society so that we can have more compassion in people. Love harder and seek the support from those that love you to work through the mask and pain.