My analysis of the Disney movie, Luca, has been published in the Fall 2021 edition of the magazine, Voice Male: Standing with Women and Men in Chronicling Masculinities Today.
The 2021 Disney movie Luca is a coming-of-age story about a young sea monster boy on the cusp of adolescence; but it is much more than that. It is a repudiation of conventional, restrictive male socialization, and a celebration of expansive, healthy, male emotional connection.
Inspired, perhaps, by Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, the main character, Luca’s call to adventure interrupts his humdrum life. While exploring tantalizing sea objects, he encounters a seemingly carefree boy, Alberto, who introduces him to a simultaneously exciting and frightening new world beyond the waters of ordinary sea-monster life. Luca quickly discovers that he has as much to learn about himself as he does the broader world he inhabits.
Luca’s first obstacle is his fear of transgressing the status quo boundaries that have dictated his life. Alberto tells him, “You’ve got a ‘Bruno’ in your head”—Alberto’s term for our inner critic; the one who says, “you can’t.” Rather than obey the critic, Alberto teaches Luca his mantra for courageous and authentic living: “Silenzio, Bruno!” While there are times our inner critic is just the voice of prudent caution, often it prioritizes propriety over authenticity. Alberto teaches his friend that our “Bruno” sometimes holds us back from our true self.
SEX, GENDER, AND LUCA
Luca beautifully subverts patriarchal masculinity—a damaging vision that not only presumes men as inherently superior to women, but also asserts that men are naturally domineering, violent, and detached from life. That expression of manhood limits—and diminishes—men’s lives. Luca succeeds in honoring the parts of boys’ humanity they are otherwise expected to “kill off—the emotional parts of themselves,” as bell hooks put it in her 2004 book, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. The film is an antidote, presenting a healthy and humane vision of boyhood masculinity.
Read the rest of the piece here on Voice Male’s website. The full magazine, in PDF form, can be found here. The piece on Luca appears on page 33-34.
Please share the piece with others and let me know your thoughts on the film.
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