Societal Expectations within FightClub and Billy Elliot

Society has a cookie cut concept of what it means to act manly and to act womanly. Men are supposed to be rough, tough, aggressive by nature, sex driven, and above all strong- physically and mentally. Women are supposed to be feminine, nurturing, caring, and innocent. Within the films Fight Club and Y Tu Mamma Tambien, the main characters struggle with these expectations.
The main character in Fight Club, Ed Norten’s character, subconsciously desires to be the “manly” man that society expects. He wants it so bad in fact that he creates an alter ego, Tyler Durden, whom he lives vicariously through. His alter ego creates fight clubs, a manly way of proving strength and aggressive behavior, and has an enormous sex drive, which he clearly puts to use with Marla, and in a nutshell, portrays the manly man that society expects. The conflict is that becomes obsessed with the alter ego he has created and tries to become it, and when he discovers that the alter ego is not actua...