Cowboys on Wheels. 'Sons of Anarchy' and the Depiction of (Hyper)Masculinity

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,0, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, language: English, abstract: 'Sons of Anarchy' has been the most successful TV programme of the cable network channel FX since its premiere in September 2008. Having attracted a lot of viewers, the drama series about an imaginary motorcycle club can certainly be regarded as another example of what Nussbaum calls 'television's most esteemed category: the sophisticated cable drama about a patriarchal subculture'. Due to its success, it can be assumed that the series also has a certain amount of cultural impact. One of the most remarkable and characterising features in 'Sons of Anarchy' is certainly its representation of gender roles, especially of hypermasculinity, which undoubtedly has become rather unusual in contemporary TV series. Since masculinity and its depictions can never be looked at in isolation, but only by comparing or contrasting it to depictions of femininity, there will be an analysis of both gender roles in this paper. However, since the series is about a motorcycle club whose members are male, the main focus will be on the representation of masculinity in SOA. This paper argues that SOA portrays hypermasculinity in a way which, although on the one hand being very old-fashioned, if not outdated, on the other hand still is very likeable and even attractive for its audience. The main question that will addressed is thus the following: How are gender roles represented in SOA and by which means is that achieved?