The Violences of Men:David Peace's 1974

King, MS and Cummins, I (2014) The Violences of Men:David Peace's 1974. Culture, Society and Masculinity, 6. ISSN 1941-5583

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Abstract

This article examines representations of hegemonic masculinity and the resultant violences of men in the context of literature on representations of men and masculinities and representations of policing in TV and films. Using bricolage as a theoretical hub, an analysis is made of hegemonic masculinity at work in the film 1974 (produced by Channel Four and Screen Yorkshire in 2005) based on the first of the novels from David Peace’s Red Riding quartet. An examination of three of the film’s characters—a “young turk” journalist, an oldschool Detective Inspector, and a criminal entrepreneur—and the ways in which they are drawn together in a plot which centres on violence and corruption, provides examples of the adaptive nature of hegemonic masculinity and the centrality of power and violence to this concept. The value of examining the past in relation to the present is also addressed.