Chris Hughes’s performance of masculinity in Love Island (2017)

Abstract

[eng] This paper aims at analysing the performance of masculinity of the participant Chris Hughes in the reality television show Love Island (2017). With media as a pivotal status apparatus in the encoding of discourses such hegemonic masculinity, it could be argued that it is pivotal to the construction of gender in society. In a time and age in which the identification with the masculine is decreasing amongst younger generations of males in the United Kingdom, the contestants of TV shows like Love Island can bring light to this issue. Gender has not been previously been studied in none of the seasons of Love Island; accordingly, through in depth analysis of Chris and his behaviour in all the episodes in which he appears, this paper aims at determining whether his performance of masculinity conforms to the hegemonic discourse.