From lonesome cowboys to geek masculinities: A study of documentary films on the financial crisis

Space is a vantage point from which masculinity can be critiqued and understood. Documentary film-makers employ specific mode(s) to relate space to masculinity by positioning themselves vis-à-vis the interviewees, and the interviewees vis-à-vis the viewers. A financial crisis may threaten the hegemonic masculinity embodied by Wall Street’s lonesome cowboys and provide a chance for film-makers to critique this type of masculinity. This article analyses three documentary films, I.O.U.S.A., Capitalism: A Love Story and Floored, which were released after the 2008 economic crisis in the United States. The films contain three prototypes: the lonesome cowboy; white, working-class masculinity; and hypermasculinity. These films may portend a new masculinity that prioritizes intellectual bravado, geek masculinity.