I think you’re onto something important – that the choices established culturally for developments of the masculine psyche are limited. I sometimes think of it as limited to two stereotypes: Macho jerk or sensitive flow-boy. In my mind, the hero/villain metaphor is interesting and pointing to very real dynamics in society. But I don’t think that the hero archetype is very present culturally these days. Would-be heroes are treated with scorn, pulled down from their high aspirations of creating change to the suffocating conformity of the general population.

That being said, the Hero archetype is not, according to the system that I have come to know, a mature man. The Hero is focused on his own greatness, he sees himself – that is his ego – as the source of the power that is coming through him. A true man will see himself only as a vessel. In the KWML system, the Hero is the last rung on the ladder of boyhood, giving way to the King archetype. That means, as long as the Hero archetype – as I claim – is not very present in society anymore (other than in films and the computergames of young would-be heroic boys), most men remain boys chained to dependance on the feminine Mother. This is at the root of the problem of unhealthy feminism, which can be perpetuated due to a lack of strong masculine energy being channeled through MEN (due to the energetic laws of polarity, the women must do it for us).

As I said, I see mainly King in Maximus, with strong Warrior inclinations, and also a smaller, yet significant presence of Lover and lastly Magician (I see the latter two as being present, but not channeled due to the circumstances).

In other words, Maximus is not a Hero, archetypically. That’s just my opinion of course. And just like Batman in your example, he doesn’t expect to be praised for his actions. A true man, as I have come to see it, is not addicted to positive feedback (the part of me that is, is a boyhood energy). Also, Maximus is not hypermasculine in a narrow-minded way. There is an extremely well developed feminine side to him as well. The Hero doesn’t have that, because being on the last stage of boyhood, he is busy freeing himself from the immature dependance on Mother. The nurturing side of the feminine is dangerous to the hero, as he must free himself from it before he can re-embrace it, lets he feels emasculated.

As for those films you mention, great ideas! I love The Bucked List. Made me cry at the end! I want to see it with my father one day. I will soon implement a “suggest a film” feature, and I hope you will post those there.

I think the review I’m working on now for “Sideways” will go some way to satisfy your desire for a more balanced presentation of the masculine, or at least – of men.

Thanks again. Really! I hope to see you around here for a long time.

Best regards,
Eivind

In my mind, the batman movie “The Dark Knight” is the perfect mirror of society today.
Harvey Dent, the outward hero, Batman the true heroe (sacrificing everything and are repayed but nothing but scorn) and Joker, the Villain.

Harvey Dent: “Okay, fine. you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” As man you do not get to enjoy hero-status. You will be cut down quickly.

Unless you are a BATMAN, beeing a hero silently and never request any kind of reward for it.

Or you can be the villain, the Joker. An evil that does not need to be explained. You are the Joker.

These are the limited choices for men today. Used in the right way, im sure some movies can help us find that inner hero, strength you are talking about, yet, I believe that movies, and other cultural bearers are the greatest reason that men have become limitied to hypermasculinity (as in gladiator), stereotypical heroism or villains.

True masculinity are so much more. What we need, first and foremost, are the right to be humans. I would look at movies such as “the bucketlist” and “Lars and the realgirl” to find good rolemodels for men, as a complement to the usual stereotype, not as a replacement.

Anyways, felt my english and the time I had avaiable was not good enough to make myself perfectly clear, but im very fascinated in this project, Id love to discuss these kinds of issues in greater depth if you are interested. Youve got my mail.

Cheers