Masters of the Universe Has Something to Say About Masculinity

Article excerpt

The new Masters of the Universe film attempts to explore masculinity through its narrative, a thematic ambition absent from the 1980s cartoon that inspired it. A puzzling real-world sequence midway through the movie, lasting roughly thirty minutes, disrupts the fantasy adventure for reasons the original source material never considered necessary. The film's deliberate pivot toward examining what it means to be a man signals a departure from pure action-adventure storytelling, suggesting the filmmakers want their superhero narrative to grapple with contemporary gender questions. Whether this thematic layer strengthens or complicates the story remains the critic's central question.