The document discusses how the male body image changed in American cinema in the 1980s due to the influence of the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron. Before Pumping Iron popularized bodybuilding, male heroes like Rocky and Superman were lean and trimmed, but after the film, which featured Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, action movie stars like those in Rocky III and Commando began portraying extremely muscular physiques. While these hypermasculine characters were strong and intelligent, the document notes they were curiously devoid of sexuality, highlighting tensions between physical prowess and intimacy.

1. JuanCarlos Padilla
PUMPING IRON & AND HYPERMASCULINTY
IN 80’S

2. THE HERO BEFORE 1979
• Rocky (1976)
• We have a very lean and trimmed Stallone.
• Superman The Movie (1978)
• Again tall, lean, and trimmed Christopher Reeve.
• Both these men are what hero’s of the late 70’s.

3. THE HERO AFTER 1979
Rocky III (1982)
Commando
(1985)

4. THE CAUSE
• That is a dramatic shift of body image in just a few short years.
• One film was responsible for this change on how we view the male body and what it means to
be strong.
• PUMPING IRON (1979)
• “We all saw the movie and bought the book. We got into lifting weights and gaining muscle
mass.” John Padilla. Reaction to seeing the film with his high school football team.
• Pumping Iron follows around the men of the body building world. It mainly features the feud
between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. As they both compete for the Mr. Olympia
title.
• Before the release of the film body building was considered a taboo.
• After the release of the film and book of the same name, gym membership soared and made
Schwarzenegger a movie star.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56yBcc9vGs8

5. THE NEW MALE BODY
In 1980’s US cinema was given a shot in the arm, literally.
The men of the action films began to have muscles upon muscles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNVmXyZUerg (3:07)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s28vNyjOlbc (2:28)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItzslynRhwg
The tight shots and close up of muscles are common place in all these films.
What is also important to note is that all of these men are common men with uncommon
strength. Not only are they strong but they have minds and are quite intelligent. They have
shaken that stereotype of the hulking brute. They are sometimes family men that are pushed
to the limit in order to bring order to chaos.

6. REAL WORLD CAUSE
• The world was going through major changes in the 1980’s.
• Regan was president and the USSR was losing the power it once had.
• The movies and the new hero’s that populated them, had all the characteristics of the
President himself.
• Toughness
• Strength and good old Americanism. (Jeffords, Hard Bodies)
• We had a new optimism, the 70’s had been a decade of mistrust of the government and
mistrust of authority figures,
• Vietnam
• Watergate
• The Iranian Revolution

7. THE SEXUALITY OF THIS NEW MALE
• These men are the epitome of Male manliness. The have everything from muscles to
looks
• The one thing that is absent from all these power action films of the 80’s is. Sex.
• In the many films of this era that contain these muscle men, the act of sex is absent. The
female gaze is present, but it is never full filled.
• In the film Twins (1988) Arnold Schwarzenegger is a test tube baby. He just genetically
altered to be the perfect human male. He has muscles, intelligence, and many other
attributes.
• In this scene he is confronted with the idea of losing his virginity and he is terrified of the
idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69vn_WxKBUs
• He has no idea what to do, I see this as a critique of these powers of masculinity. They
have all these muscles and looks but have no idea how to use them, outside of action.

8. CONCLUSION
• The Male hero was redefined for an era of new masculinity.
• He had muscles and he used them to solve all the world’s problems in two hours.
• The physical look changed because of this one Film (Pumping Iron). Men started to care
how their bodies looked and began to change it.
• The Regan Era played a major role of this change in Hollywood action films. With the
moral and physical toughness that echoed the president himself.
• Sexually however they were never seen have that great sex scene that the body guy was
so used to having. They were clumsy with that area and it was even nonexistent.