The representations of men and masculinity in the French zombie drama Les Revenants (The Returned) is one that remains fairly consistent while being complex throughout the duration of the season. Male characters in the show all have flaws; no matter how good they may seem on the surface they all have some flaws that appear the more we learn about them. Thomas initially appears to be a good, caring person towards Adele and Chloe however it is then shown how he is controlling of Adele and also very selfish. Similarly, Jerome is also initially shown to be a character who cares about his family a lot before it is implied that he attacked Lena at some point. These actions aren't glorified by the show, as it aims to bring focus to these issues instead of presenting them in a positive way. This is done by showing consequences to these actions. Male characters who act in this way are usually punished in some way for it. Jerome is kicked out of the house by Claire, Thomas' fate is left uncertain after the decision he made to not give Adele to the Returned.
The show represents these issues in this way as it attempts to critique patriarchal oppression in society. It is a show that depicts real, familiar forms of this patriarchal oppression that can be seen in our world every day. Although its depiction of violence against women that occurs many times during season one may be seen as something that reinforces this patriarchal oppression, I believe that the show doesn't actually do this. It doesn't encourage these acts or justify them. The show encourages us to distance ourselves from the characters who commit these acts and see them as being completely negative. Similarly, characters are placed in familiar stereotypes based on gender to also bring a negative light on societies role in the construction of different ideas on gender. Thomas is someone who is very rational and thinks things through, Pierre is a leader who is both rational and efficient while Jerome is an outsider who does his own thing. However, all of these characters have one thing in common; they all have flaws that lead off of the stereotypes they have been given. Although Thomas is rational and stoic, he bottles up his anger, jealousy and frustration which leads him to become controlling of Adele. Similarly, Pierre may come across as a strong individual who is able to take responsibility and be someone the people can look up to, although we eventually see how he is also manipulative of the people around him with a dark past and a desire to look out for himself other than the rest of the people. Finally, as previously mentioned Jerome's flaws stem from how he treats his family. He may act like he is a caring father/husband but when it matters he is still only in it for himself and will always chose the easy way out when it gets too hard.
On these ideas, bell hooks would agree that The Returned primarily focuses on ending this patriarchal oppression rather than reinforcing it. She would say that by representing men and societies construction of masculinity in this negative way that the show doesn't reinforce negative patriarchal ideas and that all potential patriarchal ideas are justified as a means of presenting them to be criticised not glorified. In terms of Liesbit Van Zoonen's ideas on feminism, she would say that looking at the show from this perspective would be more aligned with the views of a 'socialist feminist'. This is because the socialist feminists are the type of people who would see the 'bigger picture', that depicting these acts in graphic and extreme ways have a purpose in getting across an ideology by using ways that will stick in the minds of the audience.
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