Does Masculinity always have to be ''toxic''?
I haven't seen this movie so i can't say too much about it, but based on the trailer it seems like a movie emphasizing the worst aspects of masculinity. Of course the issues it covers are completely legitimate, but imo they're not the most relevant issues to cover at this time. Currently the concept of masculinity is under attack. That may sound dramatic, but there's a legitimate movement especially among college aged kids, that sees masculinity as a sickness, calling it toxic and portraying it as something young men must ''unlearn''. Admittedly, and as is accurately depicted in Goat, Masculinity when pushed to the extreme can be destructive, but it's also what built the civilized world as we know it. The same aggression, competitiveness and ambition that's caused wars and massacres has also created the most powerful and developed nations in history, yet somehow it's taboo to admit that.
Again, I don't mind that Goat exists, because i'm sure the kind of stuff portrayed in it exists to an extent in real life, but In a time when masculinity is equated to danger, movies like Goat aren't saying anything remotely new or controversial.
What i'd personally like to see as a change of pace is a feature film that realistically depicts the dangerous and destructive side of political correctness surrounding college campuses right now. Lives are being destroyed by false rape accusations and hypersensitive language policing. The Orwellian environment college campuses have turned into would be a great setting for a movie about young people and never has it been more relevant than right now. Instead movies like Goat do what we've seen a million times before, focusing on the worst aspects of masculinity, when i personally would much rather see a movie that shows masculinity has its good sides, and its counterpart can be just as if not more harmful.