The Toxic Masculinity of Ang Lee's Hulk 

The idea that the gamma rays just triggered something that was put there by his father's experimentation was a metaphor for generational trauma.

It is the best portrayal of the Hulk- bar none imo. Not to get too personal but as someone who suffered abuse, the portrayal of Bruce’s father was extremely accurate to an abusive, toxic parental figure and the trauma and anger that can carry over as a result

As much as I like the mcu hulk, I always wonder about the unmade sequel that would of featured grey hulk, abomination, and the leader, and what Ang Lee would spin with it.

When I first saw this, I thought this would be a very political video about how the Hulk is very toxic and the embodiment of toxic masculinity, but as I listened and watched the video, I see where you are coming from. Very well made video!

I have maintained for years that Ang Lee's Hulk is a masterpiece, with only a thimbleful of the depth you express in this video. Josh, this is quite possibly your finest work yet and I love it. Deep and moving, this is exactly the sensitive exploration of character that makes you so unique. Keep being you.

This was deeply touching and very profound. I love the Hulk as a character and it's nice to see a dissection from a fresh angle. Great video Josh!

If Ang Lee saw this I think he’d be a happy dude

This man gets it. Great video, really awesome to see people who understand the Hulk nowadays

Most underrated superhero flick of all time.. This movie hit me like a hurricane when it came out. I thought I was kinda alone with my feelings. Great to see there are a whole bunch of people who think alike.

"A Hulk in the body of feeble Bruce Banner" That's a fantastic quote. Did you come up with it?

I’m a Bruce Banner too. Sometimes I’ve lost the battle with my inner Hulk. Sometimes it’s hard not to. But thank you for the video.

This guy understood this way better then the nostalgia critic guy and now that I think about I dont think nostalgia critic understood it at all.

Hulk is severely underrated and deserves so much more credit

As a kid i always felt i was missing the movie's point but 15 years later i'm 25 and dealing with a lot of baggage resulting from my dad leaving us and other events that most days become extremely overwhelming and difficult. I get the movie's point now.

I loved this. I grew up watching Spider-Man (2002) & Ang Lee's Hulk on repeat as a kid. There's not many youtubers out there who could provide such a high quality documentary about this film. I love your content more and more each time you upload a new video.

“The futility of rage.” I love that.

I get a strong feeling that those that disliked the video didn’t watch it. The title is definitely a little bit of a fire starter but the content is gold.

Ang Lee's hulk still has some relevance today especially in the new immortal hulk run where in the book bruce was also the result of altered genetics which is anoth3r reason given to his hulk powers anyone who like this video should really cheak out the run

Hulk 2003 is one of my favorite superhero films. It has a few dated aspects and iffy execution of certain things - but it's so much more than a few niggling flaws. It's truly fascinating and moving. It's a very idiosyncratic blockbuster that was allowed to be driven by a filmmaker with their own sense of storytelling and style. It's what a adaptation should be - an artistic interpretation of the source material. I find it telling that a lot of the discourse around the film when it came out was that it shat on the comics by making the film some navel gazing art-house film and not some generic smashy-smash film. I hate to gatekeep, but this just shows me most of the people who said this didn't really understand the comics whatsoever. Hulk has never been a mindless brute. That is how THE WORLD sees him. He wouldn't be a danger if Ross and the military took the time to approach Hulk as a person and not a monster. Hulk does not seek out conflict. He seeks peace. But conflict comes to him, and he responds in kind. He's driven by pure emotion, so why he doesn't want to hurt people, he will fuck you up if you try to hurt him. And he never wants to hurt innocents. Hulk 03 is very respectful of the characters backstory of trauma and Ang Lee really understood this. So many people are like "Oh why do we need all this daddy issue drama! Why can't it just be some guy who got zapped by gamma rays and turns into a rage beast!?" And it's like...? Hulk 03 resonates with me personally is various ways, and as I have read and more of his comics over the years, the character is one I see as heartbreakingly tragic with a lot more thematic richness, be it intentional or not, than people assume. I love what the Hulk as a character says about how society treats the confrontational aspects of emotion - emotion people want to ignore or shun if it's not all happy go lucky and manufactured positive. Hulk is the personification of every emotion society doesn't like to confront. It goes beyond anger into misanthropy, fear, distrust, and loneliness. Hulk is, at the end of the day, a character looking for acceptance and peace. But the world won't let him.

Please watch the entire vid people please

Honestly this is what The Hulk really is. A man who Is struggling to maintain a sense of balance.

About halfway through and I don't quite get the dislikes yet. I'm an extremely conservative dude and even I see that masculinity can have its downsides. I mean that's the whole appeal of Hulk. He's this unstoppable beast who's driven by trauma caused by his father's insecurities (which he inherited). There's a psychological element to him. No matter how much he wants the pain to stop, it will never end because he himself refuses to let up. Think of Sisyphus and his punishment. He will eternally suffer because of his actions, regardless of if he "deserves" it or not. It's a fight against the past and himself, to be good when Banner/Hulk was doomed to suffer.

Damn, you convinced me to rewatch this film.

This is without a doubt some of your best work yet, Josh. This is insanely touching, deep, and beautiful. So much of what you said resonated with me. Well done, Josh. It’s a shame YT kept hitting you with that copyright strike. Regardless you closed out on a great note.

I love this movie so much to be honest. Also love how you did the lighting so that you’re half green just like one of the shows/movies did at some point I’m pretty sure. I can’t remember where from but I definitely remember seeing something like that for the Hulk

I like how this guy lights his face half green as he narrates the video.. genius

Hulk has always been my favorite superhero. That scene at the end with his dad gives me chills everytime I watch this movie. Wish more people could get into it

The term toxic masculinity was obviously coined to sow division through its implication that toxicity is exclusive to men, when everyone knows that is not true. What is not being called toxic speaks volumes. Unfortunately, when the term itself is challenged, men will simply be accused of being blinded by their toxic masculinity, and women will be accused of internalizing misogyny from the toxically masculine cultures their live in. A conveniently uncontestable, circular term. Anyway, good video about a good movie.

Fun fact: This movie came out the day I was born June 20, 2003 funnily enough he is my favourite superhero and this film was my childhood

Yo it's crazy I randomly had a nostalgic flashback about this movie and it lowkey is a masterpiece. It's not an easy watch and it's not meant to be.

it's really tough to take a video seriously when the term "toxic masculinity" is used in a serious way but this was a phenomenal video

Sam Elliot's General Ross is my favourite version of General Ross

I'm a bit confused on the toxic side of physically protecting someone you love. Bruce becomes hulk when he gets angry beyond a certain containable threshold. Now in most Hulk representations that threshold is very high. In other words Bruce does not become Hulk if you disagree and argue with him or even in tolerable form of aggression. I believe all, not just men, break after a certain point and the retaliative nature differs across the spectrum. Men are more aggressive but so are women when they're against women. Women tend to be docile when pitted against men. Is it because they're less aggressive or because they realize they cannot win by aggression? The docility is tactile at this point. Weaker men use this against perceivably stronger men where the outcome is quite obviously against them.

Wow just wow- such an intellectual breakdown. Even down to your framing and the lighting you used in the talking head shots- the green light covering half your face- reminiscent of the duality of the hulk . Great video essay 👏

7:15 “competitive” there’s nothing wrong with being competitive, quite the opposite! Competitive makes us achieve great things. Rivals do that to us. A great example would be the moon landing.

Another interesting aspect is Hulk being visually expressed though the imagery atomic mushroom clouds & the jellyfish, expressing the idea that Hulk was born out of the two greatest forces in the universe genetic & atomic force hence potential immortality & evolution, also I think the editing of showing panels is more than adapting a comic book format cinematically it expresses the different sides to Bruce

i love this video! it has me look at the movie in a whole new way, and it was a lot to think about

I clicked on your vid expecting to get annoyed however while I disagree with a few things it's refreshing to see a level headed take on what masculinity actually is rather than what it's generally viewed as. Good job sir. I subbed and will be bingeing your channel this Sunday during my hangover. All the best from Northern Ireland

man youre videos are getting better and better. they were never even bad to begin with !

I've always love Ang Lee's Hulk and seeing a video sharing those thougths is great, but man your conclussion is heartwarming, thank you for this great video.

Incredible work here, man! Really great video and brought up some obvious factors of the character I don't think I'd really ever considered

You are spot on with the strengths of this movie. I will say the Ang Lee hulk movie is missing the most important scene, being the first deleted scene, where Bruce talks about nanomeds and remembering and forgetting. Hopefully one day, an extended version will include this scene. That scene gives the movie a whole other layer of depth, and really explains cell function and how the nanomeds will eventually work in turning Bruce into the hulk on a physical level. That is the most valuable scene! I have no gripes about the story. When Banner is exposed to the gamma rays and in his mind's eye he sees the gamma explosion from his childhood which signified the moment of extreme trauma of his mom dying, when he repressed all those memories and rage, is pure genius. I do have 3 regrets. 1. Banner's mother dying as in the tv series, of natural causes, where banner still blames his father, would have been better - less dark. 2. The tallest bodybuilder around - give or take 7 foot tallish would have kept the hulk himself firmly rooted in reality. 3. The casting of a shorter actor for banner, aka Ruffalo, would have been better a better fit if using a bodybuilder. But it is what it is, and what it is is an underrated masterpiece in it's own right. (So long as that deleted scene is in)

Any praise for this masterpiece of a movie is always amazing

I really loved this film it's my favorite hulk film. Eric bana was a great Banner. But then again, I'm an Ang lee Stan. 😁

I think I get what you're talking about- but in the same vein, I think the biggest topic that nobody reflects on is- why? Bruce was traumatized as a young boy as a result of his father's unchecked aggression and behavior in a dire attempt to attain a breakthrough in scientific pursuits. The door itself is metaphorical. It is the emotional/psychological boundary between who we present ourselves to be(Superego) and who we really are (Id), with Bruce in between both points (Ego). He's a deeply troubled man because he never learned how to balance all three parts of his consciousness. He's emotionally distant, even to those he cares about, and hyper-focuses on his work instead of himself. The door is always there in his dreams, taunting him, perhaps a release from all the trauma he endured as a young boy. His first transformation is the first time he sees what's beyond- The Hulk. Years of anger and frustration, molded by neglect. His superego has done most of the molding of the lesser ego, and thus, he is afraid of what that neglectful Id wants to do. Violence by its inherent nature is destructive. When it's aimed at an individual or a structural representation of society, or sometimes, society itself, it is far more so. But destruction or maybe, the Id, much like the wake of a floe of magma, brings growth and new life, tempered by the elements, or supplanting that with the Superego and the Ego controlling it. Bruce only ever transforms when he loses control of his temper, when the Id wins over the Superego and his Ego allows it to manifest. Hulk doesn't really find closure in his mutation, but rather learns to accept that it is part of him. Acceptance is a healthy attitude towards negative emotions. Accepting you're an alcoholic, or accepting you've been neglectful to loved ones, or responsibilities in work and life. Growth comes out of those, and I think with Bruce, his acceptance that he is The Hulk is part of his growth. Ruffalo's Hulk also shows that the growth has taken place, when commenting that he's 'always angry'; a healthy acceptance to who he is. I always saw Hulk as an allegory to acceptance of who you are as a person. If you have anger issues, accepting you have an anger issue and learning to handle and manage the temper is a growth process. Tying that into Toxic masculinity, I argue that the term itself is a poor term to describe what the problem really is- underdevelopment and emotional neglect. We've all got a Hulk behind a closed door, no matter who you are. But you gotta let it in to understand what you are, and how to take hold of who you are as a person. Just my two cents. Interesting analysis.

This is the most thoughtful analysis of Ang Lee's Hulk that I have seen. I did not like the film when I first saw it years ago, but after this video, I see the film in an entirely new light. Excellent work!

This video finally put a shink in the MCU armour I had held up for the last decade. Especially your point about how differently this Hulk was met but the newer MCU Hulk was adopted. Had not seen it like that all. Thank you for this video, especially your PSA on mental issues men are dealing with

Damn... This video went hard. I remember that when i was a kid, My favorite super hero was the Hulk, I never knew why, i only liked it, but when i was an adult, i had understood everything. Thanks for the video and the Thanks for the video and for bringing back that memory.

Speechless. That was beautifully strung together.

Really informative, unique analysis on a unique film. Love it. Really related to that quote about wanting to be like Peter Parker when you're a kid, and feeling more like Bruce Banner when you grow up. Love the message

Loved the ending bit of this video. Capped everything off with an honest and sincere thought on our identity

Masterful analysis and synthesis. This truly rivals any video essays on the platform right now.

Man, this was amazing man.Hulk has a special place in my heart and was a huge part of my childhood, this movie was a favorite of mine as a three old kid, and still is today!!

Finally, someone did the video about history and psychology of the hulk. Especially, I very happy for mentioning lee, kirby and ditko run on hulk, it's one of the best comic books of that era, on the same level with kirby's fantastic four and ditko's dr strange and amazing spider-man.

I'm Glad to see someone else likes this movie as much as I do. Great Video btw!

From the bottom of (my) heart, Thank you for making this video. I'm in a dark place right now due to being beholden to an abusive family and society, with my father especially unwilling to accept his role in leaving me as the broken person I am now. This movie hits much harder than it did as a child who didnt know better. I'm seeking therapy and medication right now... But what I really need is to get out of this country and start over elsewhere. Our treatment for mental health here is expensive and not very good.

Very cool video. Really made me think. Glad to see you still on the grind during these strange times.

Another compelling and entertaining video. I wish you could make five of these a week. I always enjoyed this Hulk movie, this video makes me want to revisit it. Well done, sir.

Excellent video my friend! I absolutely love this film and saw it multiple times in the theater. Also I have to say how much I missed watching content and giving it a chance instead of just writing it off! Nuance levels are over 9000!!!

This was very well done bro. You are one of the few people who understand the character of the hulk and how Bruce banner's story is analogous to real life situations. Again very good video I enjoyed it.

Wow. This video was incredible. I was never afraid of feeling my emotions, I've just always been slightly afraid of sharing them. It's just me, mostly. That's how I am. I nice smile at work and in public...tears at home. Especially nowadays when my life has really hit rock bottom. *sigh* This video definitely made me think a little differently about my favorite superhero. I like it. I really need to go watch that movie again someday... Oh! I also liked your Hulk lighting. :)

I completely agree with u on everything! Every time I watch this movie I always get the chills at that scene where hulk finishes Bruce’s line “Take it all!!!!!” it was so awesome to c it as a kid but to understand it makes it that much more awesome now

Absolutely fantastic video. You did Ang Lee's hulk justice.

I love the lighting. Such a simple yet great touch

I love this video! Very well made and very good points. Hard to find anybody that likes this film and understands it. Thank you!

Fantastic video my man, absolutely fantastic. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who loved this film, always have ever since I watched first watched it as a child. While I do understand the gripes people have with it, in no way does it deserve the kind of hate it receives. You just earned a subscriber. :) Also, I really think Ang Lee would love watching this video. Wish there was a way to share it with him though...oh well.

This was beautifully put together. Mad respect.

Embrace toxic masculinity, this hulk was way better than what we’ve got now

Amazing video about a great movie, and both underrated (this videos deserves much more)

Blimey, Josh! That was not what I was expecting... Unlike your previous videos, which bounce along with both insight and humour, this one is clearly a well-crafted, serious essay around the subject of defining personal masculinity, and it's possible disadvantages and detriments, as well as it's long-term effects on personal development (well, as I see it anyway)... There is a very personal element to this video - the usual humour is toned right the way down, and there is an intimacy created with the darkened background, and the use of coloured lighting hints that there may indeed be some ongoing struggle, as referenced in your quote from Stevenson... Your videos have always had a nice polish to them, but this one positively shines! There is heart in it. Thank you for this video Josh. Stay safe son, and please... More content! Take care. :)

I appreciate you for being bold enough to use the title you did in the way you did. To people pausing to comment, please seriously watch this. It’s deeper than you think.

Always felt like this hulk movie was ahead of its time like watchmen

I'm glad you made this video you should do more of these type of videos i really like them this and the body horror of superheroes video you did are really well made its nice to know someone has the same opinions and thoughts as me it doesn't make me feel alone

This is a phenomenal video. One of the most amazing ones I’ve ever seen on RU-vid. You speak so articulately and seem so kind and cool. You had me hooked the whole video. Amazing job. (Side note, although I’m sure you won’t see this, your hair is fantastic I simply must say. It’s so cool).

Hulk 2003 is toxic? Then i like it even more 😈

Great video. Love the lighting and hearing different interpretations of this film. It's the first movie I ever really stopped to consider themes with and it's always nice to have others' opinions and thoughts when engaging with a piece of art. Thank you for making this.

Out of all the Reviews I have seen over the years in various different subjects whether that be monster movies, super hero movies, or any other kind of movies, this review was the best one I have ever seen. Very well done.

This was not what I was expecting at all. Thank you for this video. Truly, a spectacular take. Well done! 💪

I loved this video man. Coming from Los Angeles, California. Seeing that clip of kid Bruce kissing his dad goodnight brought back some memories and made me cry. Also I loved your conclusion to your video/essay. 💚

Dude those videos of stan Lee explaining the hulk were in the extras for the dvds such nostalgia for me i also tough i was only one who cared about this movie. Happy to be proven wrong

I'm really in love for this video. The way you transcribe the ideia of everyone's internal hulks is incredible (pun not intended haha), and reliefing in a way that it's ok to be who your are, not letting this ideia of masculinity grow within you, and that I'm not the only one trying to make peace with this traits. Great video man ! It's was my first, hope to see more like this one.

Thank you so much. This video means everything to me. It gives me hope to seek betterment for myself. This movie has too become significant in my life where the timing couldn’t be more perfect

Thank you. This is a great video that led to a lot of self-reflection.

The ending is so beautiful I relate to Bruce banner as well man we all have hulks within us

What a great video. Fantastic work, i really enjoyed this

This is wonderful. Great stuff!

Instant sub, thanks my dude. Great analysis!

Ayyy it finally let you post it!

That was honestly one of the best videos I have ever watched thank you for it!

I'm actually going to go back and rewatch this movie. I was 21 when it came out and expecting something like the early 90s Hulk movies. Needless to say, this wasn't that and I was extremely thrown off. You just have me a lot of insight that I wasn't aware of then.

Wow. This is an important video. I wasn’t expecting that. Thanks, mate. I really appreciate the work that you’ve done here. I’m confident that it may likely serve as the watershed moment many young men (or 38 year old men) were waiting for. Bravo 👏

Always come back to this video, it’s absolutely masterful, love it josh!

Finally someone who appreciates this movie as much as I did!

I haven't seen this movie since it was new. I was 6 or 7 at the time and I remember wanting more Hulk, as I'm sure most little kids would. I didn't understand some of the deeper themes. I really appreciated this video so much, that I'm becoming a Patron immediately. Thank you.

Splendid work, Josh! Whether or not I like the film, I truly appreciate your dedication to analyzing the psychological depths of it. Wonderfully done!

This video was so fucking good dude. You did such a good job exploring the themes of this movie. Seriously. And your explanation of toxic masculinity, and what it is, VS what it isn't, was on point too. Great video dude!

This was a very beautiful video. It's also why I love The Hulk from this movie and and as a character.

Intrigued me back at release, and has since become a favourite "superhero" movie of mine - this is a super upload.

interesting dissection. I like the thoughtful shift in content presentation and topic as well

As a long time fan of this movie since I was very little I'm shocked only now Ive discovered this video, I'm glad this film is being appericated thank you.