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By public, we should clarify, we mean the ‘viewing public’, i.e. In particular, we focus on Jack and Alex’s budding bromance and the condemning of this relationship by the public amid Alex’s termination of a romantic relationship with female contestant, former make-up artist, Alexandra Cane.
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Through a textual analysis of episodes forming the fourth series of Love Island and analysis of content on social media and popular press, we use the notion of gender performativity (Butler, 1988 1990) to explore how Jack and Alex perform both hegemonic and threatened masculinity (a gender identity that goes against societal norms dictating that men should be masculine and powerful).
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By doing so we increase the scope of this paper to address the effects on all characters and not just on those who are male. It is for this reason, in this paper we focus also on the couplings between Jack and Dani, and, Alex and Alexandra, rather than solely on Jack and Alex themselves. Notably, there is a marginalization of women within the study of bromance (Thompson, 2015). Davis ( 2014) states film-based bromances often carry greater narrative and emotional weight than the relations presented between a man and his girlfriend or wife. Indeed, bromance has become a sub-genre of romantic narrative in its own right, and is often contested as to whether it is a performance of ‘straight’ male behaviour or not (Corwin, 2016). The performance of bromance has long been studied (Sedgwick, 1985), and its notoriety as a landscape for study lies partly in its marketability (DeAngelis, 2014). Media representation of men and masculine identities has, in more recent years, created a space for predominantly heterosexual white men to engage in platonic intimate relationships with other men. We study both the romantic onscreen relationships these characters have with the female contestants with whom they are ‘coupled-up’, and between the two male characters themselves through the notion of ‘bromance’ ( “an emotionally intense bond” between straight men DeAngelis, 2014:1). This paper draws on two favourite characters from Love Island 2018: Jack Fincham, a former stationery sales manager and Alex George, an Accident & Emergency doctor, to explore how heterosexual norms are constructed and challenged. With this paper, we also contribute towards redressing the marginalization of women within the study of bromance. Whilst broadly, this paper contributes to debates on the sociological potential of reality television shows, such as Love Island, its specific contribution is to a small, but growing body of international scholarship on homosocial relationships and male love stories in television and film. The decision by Alex to end this relationship led to many viewers questioning his sexuality, with specific reference to his adoration for Jack. In particular, we focus on Jack and Alex’s budding relationship and the condemning of this relationship by the public amid Alex’s termination of his romantic relationship. We use the ‘Male Gaze’ to methodologically lens the performances by characters and their romantic interactions on the television show. Through a textual analysis of the spoken words and physical interactions between characters in episodes forming the fourth series of Love Island and analysis of social media posts and articles in popular press outlets, we use the notion of gender performativity to explore how these characters perform both hegemonic and, what we argue is, ‘threatened’ masculinity. We study the romantic on-screen relationships these characters have with the female contestants, and between the two male characters themselves through the notion of ‘bromance’. This paper draws on two favourite characters from British reality television show, Love Island 2018: Jack Fincham, a former stationery sales manager, and Alex George, an Accident & Emergency doctor, to explore how heterosexual norms are constructed and challenged.