Since my last entry about Drive I (re)watched some films that fit the same category. (Fight Club, Nightcrawler, American Psycho and Blade Runner 2049) At first these films don’t really have a lot in common. Except that they deal with men confronted with isolation and emasculation and the simple fact that when people watch them, they think: „this is literally me!“ Even though they are neither Get-away Drivers, sociopaths filming crime scenes, killers or replicants in a dystopian cyberpunk world. I think the fact why people associate with these characters on such a deep level, is that they have experienced similar feelings and situations. They have been the outcast, never learned to really talk or even feel trough their emotions, and society doesn’t want them to or doesn’t even allow it all. That’s why all these characters are on quest for meaning. We all are. The only difference is that these characters really break conventions to actually achieve it. People might not associate with the ways these characters search for meaning but they definitely associate with the need for it. I think it is very important that these „literally me“ films and characters exist, because they are a rare example of media that deal with male emotional struggles. These films show people that they are not alone and that others feel the same way.
