Egalitarian masculinity model and indicators in Galician TV fiction: The case of televisión de Galicia's fontealba and serramoura

Abstract

From television studies, fiction set in the receiver's contemporary reality is a privileged opportunity to consolidate social regulations, but also to make latest trends visible. In order contribute to the field of masculinity studies, this article analyzes two successful dramatic series of Television de Galicia (TVG) in 2017 as proximity stories that could represent new alternative masculinities to the traditional model. For this, the type of masculinity prevailing in these TV productions has been evaluated by analyzing the characterization and social interactions of their main male characters. The applied method has included in-depth reading and mapping of paradigmatic relationships among characters, together with multivariable content analysis that showed correlations between characters' age and social class and the type of masculinity. Results hold greater affinity with hegemonic masculinity as the power exercised by the character in the public or labor spheres increases. A correlation between social class and masculinity model is established, but not for the age variable. And although different approaches to more egalitarian masculinity models are depicted, the characters that embody them dissociate themselves from the labor sphere as a key element of identity construction. All this leads to conclude that, despite the growing diversity in the representation of masculinities in the TV shows concerned, the patriarchal model defined from the public sphere remains hegemonic.