Rotten in Brighton will aim to analyse the validity of hooliganism within contemporary English society as a response to the breakdown of the traditional ‘provider’ model of masculinity in a fragmented post-Empire Britain.
First, each member of the blog will address their impressions of a specific term relating to masculinity and its Darwinian model (such as yob, thug, hooligan, lad, et cetera), defining it in terms of the course texts. This will operate as an attempt to de-mystify the wide range of terms used regarding masculinity, and as a way to achieve a consensus (or, at the very least, promote a lively and rewarding discussion on the matter).
Building on this foundation in the following weeks, each contributing member will connect these concepts and definitions to examples in various arenas of society in the British isles, including politics, music, film, and news clippings, relating it to the continuing relevance (or growing irrelevance) of the framing of masculinity through common uses of these terms within each realm.
Thus, the theme of this blog will be the dialectic surrounding valid masculine performances and their representations in the uses of terms like ‘yob’ and ‘hooligan.’
