Masculinities on Screen: Transformations and crises in contemporary television series

Abstract

This article examines the representation of masculinity in contemporary television series from a visual and gender studies perspective. Through the analysis of Valeria (2020-2025), Machos Alfa (2022-), Envidiosa (2024-2026), and Adolescence (2025), it explores how serialized fiction dramatizes the crisis of hegemonic masculinity while opening the way for new identity models. The study identifies tensions between traditional figures—associated with power, success, and invulnerability—and emerging masculinities that embrace vulnerability, affectivity, and co-responsibility. While Machos Alfa turns male deconstruction into a comic laboratory, Valeria and Envidiosa highlight active fatherhood and alternative emotional bonds. Adolescence, in turn, reveals the fragility of young men facing misogynistic digital discourses and the absence of affective role models. The article concludes that these series do not merely reflect social transformations but actively produce cultural meanings of masculinity in dispute within the contemporary public sphere.