Hah... I should explain (Rogue 1 Spoilers) (Gaming)

by Harmanimus , Monday, March 19, 2018, 18:54 (2237 days ago) @ Kermit

So, two things that are important:

To answer your specific question, I'll give one example: there seems to be an intent to highlight "toxic masculinity" (a trendy construct that assumes toxicity is gendered)

The concept of toxic masculinity isn't "a trendy construct" nor does it assume that toxicity is gendered. Toxic masculinity is a very specific type of toxicity that is conditioned and trained into those who identify/present as male which has far reaching and vast negative consequences on their physical, emotional, and psychological health while also being detrimental to other facets of society in a far reaching nature. One can have masculinity without having it be toxic masculinity. The only examples that play up actual toxic masculinity in TLJ are from villains.

and to shame male attempts at boldness or sacrifice, which are traditional mythological tropes.

Which is totally in line with the traditional mythological tropes. There are three examples which normally get highlighted in these discussions regarding TLJ, Poe twice and Fynn once, as "masculine suppression" or however one would like to phrase it. All three of these are in direct contrast to Luke's sacrifice, which is actually not his death, as that is incidental.

1. Poe disobeys a direct order from a superior officer resulting in a Pyrrhic victory, which was otherwise avoidable.
2. Poe disregards appropriate protocol, continues disobedience of a superior, puts a plan in motion that gets a bunch of other people killed which would otherwise have been avoidable.
3. Fynn attempts to sacrifice himself in an effort to, umm, let me check my notes here . . . get killed accomplishing nothing but probably also making Poe and Rey really, really sad.

Hubris, hubris, and a reinterpretation of earlier cowardice. These are still in line with the mythological themes which were so interwoven into the core of the Original Trilogy. And in all three cases events which allowed for substantially more character growth which is also an important aspect of trials in traditional myth. I would say generally TLJ does a better job of supporting the mythological elements than TFA or quite a few large portions of the PT.