La persona de Matthew McConaughey au début des années 2010 : masculinité, hétérosexualité et blanchité liquides

This paper deals with the ambivalences contained within actor Matthew McConaughey’s persona in an intersectional perspective. Using the tools of gender studies, star studies and critical white studies, it looks at four parameters – gender, sexual orientation, class and race – in four of McConaughey’...

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Main Author: Maureen Lepers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française des Enseignants et Chercheurs en Cinéma et Audiovisuel 2023-01-01
Series:Mise au Point
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/map/6144
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author Maureen Lepers
author_facet Maureen Lepers
author_sort Maureen Lepers
collection DOAJ
description This paper deals with the ambivalences contained within actor Matthew McConaughey’s persona in an intersectional perspective. Using the tools of gender studies, star studies and critical white studies, it looks at four parameters – gender, sexual orientation, class and race – in four of McConaughey’s characters of the last decade: Magic Mike’s stripper Dallas (Steven Soderbergh, 2012), Killer Joe’s killer Ward (William Friedkin, 2012), the lonesome Mud in the movie of the same name (Jeff Nichols, 2012), and Rust, True Detective’s tortured but brilliant detective. Released over a short period of time, these movies show how diverse McConaughey’s career has always been (from labelled independent films to Hollywood blockbusters and quality TV) and enable us to understand how masculinity, heterosexuality and whiteness work as interlocked systems. This paper first analyzes how McConaughey’s gender performance in Magic Mike works to shatter the sedimented heterosexual icon he used to embody in the romantic comedies of the 2000s. It then moves on to an examination of the way the actor’s body is constantly spectacled and eroticized, resulting in a confusing and unsteady representation of heterosexual masculinity. Finally, it shows how the questioning of McConaughey’s heterosexuality “makes his whiteness strange”, as Richard Dyer would put it.
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spelling doaj-art-116eb46fcfb940afab171253bc40dd6d2025-08-20T02:21:59ZengAssociation Française des Enseignants et Chercheurs en Cinéma et AudiovisuelMise au Point2261-96232023-01-011610.4000/map.6144La persona de Matthew McConaughey au début des années 2010 : masculinité, hétérosexualité et blanchité liquidesMaureen LepersThis paper deals with the ambivalences contained within actor Matthew McConaughey’s persona in an intersectional perspective. Using the tools of gender studies, star studies and critical white studies, it looks at four parameters – gender, sexual orientation, class and race – in four of McConaughey’s characters of the last decade: Magic Mike’s stripper Dallas (Steven Soderbergh, 2012), Killer Joe’s killer Ward (William Friedkin, 2012), the lonesome Mud in the movie of the same name (Jeff Nichols, 2012), and Rust, True Detective’s tortured but brilliant detective. Released over a short period of time, these movies show how diverse McConaughey’s career has always been (from labelled independent films to Hollywood blockbusters and quality TV) and enable us to understand how masculinity, heterosexuality and whiteness work as interlocked systems. This paper first analyzes how McConaughey’s gender performance in Magic Mike works to shatter the sedimented heterosexual icon he used to embody in the romantic comedies of the 2000s. It then moves on to an examination of the way the actor’s body is constantly spectacled and eroticized, resulting in a confusing and unsteady representation of heterosexual masculinity. Finally, it shows how the questioning of McConaughey’s heterosexuality “makes his whiteness strange”, as Richard Dyer would put it.https://journals.openedition.org/map/6144HollywoodmasculinityactorTV serieintersectionalitywhiteness
spellingShingle Maureen Lepers
La persona de Matthew McConaughey au début des années 2010 : masculinité, hétérosexualité et blanchité liquides
Mise au Point
Hollywood
masculinity
actor
TV serie
intersectionality
whiteness
title La persona de Matthew McConaughey au début des années 2010 : masculinité, hétérosexualité et blanchité liquides
title_full La persona de Matthew McConaughey au début des années 2010 : masculinité, hétérosexualité et blanchité liquides
title_fullStr La persona de Matthew McConaughey au début des années 2010 : masculinité, hétérosexualité et blanchité liquides
title_full_unstemmed La persona de Matthew McConaughey au début des années 2010 : masculinité, hétérosexualité et blanchité liquides
title_short La persona de Matthew McConaughey au début des années 2010 : masculinité, hétérosexualité et blanchité liquides
title_sort la persona de matthew mcconaughey au debut des annees 2010 masculinite heterosexualite et blanchite liquides
topic Hollywood
masculinity
actor
TV serie
intersectionality
whiteness
url https://journals.openedition.org/map/6144
work_keys_str_mv AT maureenlepers lapersonadematthewmcconaugheyaudebutdesannees2010masculiniteheterosexualiteetblanchiteliquides