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The phenomenally successful, low budget, hyper-frenetic, 'Speed', was a film that was set very much in the here and now, but it gave us a refreshingly different take on the action hero. Here was a young, cute, cuddly kind of guy, who says things like "Yep, we're all gonna die" rather than, "I'll be back". With the muscle men recently appearing in films like 'Judge Dredd', and 'Streetfighter', tends to suggest that the only characters they are really suited to play can only exist in the fantasy worlds that spring out of comics and computer games. Whilst we love watching these super-bodies in action, we can no longer identify with the body-builder as a realistic depiction of modern masculinity, in the way that we desperately wanted to during the eighties. So for the time being at least, they will remain within the realms of fantasy.

For 'real world' scenarios, it would seem we are more able to identify with a distinctly softer image of masculinity, in heroes like Keanu Reeves. I only hope that in the midst of all these positive cultural shifts, straight men do not forget the thrill of watching two sweaty, pumped up hunks pounding the hell out of each other. It's a sight us gays would sorely miss.



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