Could you imagine an overweight superhero? What about the lead male role in a romance film sporting a beer belly? Neither can Nicole Johnson, and it’s all because of society’s obsession with the alpha male body.
Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s… a gorgeous man with six-pack abs wearing a skin tight spandex suit. His bulging muscles and chiseled face are impressive. We are enchanted by his ability to protect; power and strength are emanating from his body. Because of his appearance, we’ve surrendered to the notion that he will unequivocally save the day.
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I’ve never seen an obese Superhero, and I’m confident I never will. I can’t imagine Stan Lee has plans to launch a new Spider-Man in need of gastric bypass. Given what we revere in our society, audiences would have a hard time routing for a Superhero toting an extra 200 pounds. We would be disenchanted by his ability to safeguard against evil.
I have never seen an overweight leading man in a romantic film. As movie goers, we expect to see a certain “type” of man in these roles. Hollywood is astute to our cultural standards; entertainment executives have become armchair psychologists. The silver screen is a sagacious representation of our values and dreams.
As a museum buff, I’ve never seen a rotund male body in a piece of artwork during my strolls through various galleries. From the Renaissance to Baroque periods (and beyond), alpha male bodies have been the subject of painters and sculptors for centuries. Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Tintoretto, Ruben, et al were famous for decorating canvases with iconic interpretations of the perfect male form. Their corporeal creations are unforgettable.
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We value the alpha male body, but why? What is our fascination with this category of men? The answer is multifarious, both obvious and complex. Overtly, our values stem from these factors: strength, power, protection, attraction, and sexual desire. More intricately, our appreciation is derived from their capability to achieve the following: strong social value, increased economic status, improved health status, lifespan longevity, the ability to protect, and the ability to influence.
As beautiful as these bodies are, I’m not easily impressed. I don’t care how magnificent a man looks with or without clothes. An asshole is still an asshole regardless if he’s in his naked alpha body or an Armani suit. The exterior can not conceal discrepancies with the interior.
Alpha status aside, it all comes down to character.
Good men come in all shapes and sizes. The quality of a man is not determined by the flesh he lives in. A man’s character is determined by his soul and his beliefs, as well as his actions and words. A man who is kind, caring, compassionate, loving, loyal, honest, empathetic, authentic, and altruistic can inhabit a body with six pack abs or a beer belly. Beautiful attributes do not always live in beautiful bodies.
Weight will never determine the worth of a man. However, after centuries of established cultural values, it’s unlikely the average, nondescript form will be honored to the degree of alpha status. Yet, I remain hopeful. I look forward to the day when our culture can look beyond a man’s physical body and celebrate his soul.
—Photo amsoares/Flickr
About Nicole Johnson
“I have never seen an overweight leading man in a romantic film. As movie goers, we expect to see a certain “type” of man in these roles. Hollywood is astute to our cultural standards; entertainment executives have become armchair psychologists. The silver screen is a sagacious representation of our values and dreams.”
I think more honestly, our cultural standards are set by Hollywood. The rest of us are adjusting our standards to the on-screen man/men.
I have never seen an overweight leading man in a romantic film. As movie goers, we expect to see a certain “type” of man in these roles.
And the closest you’ll get are Seth Rogan style rom-coms.
These days about the only time you’re going to see a fat man in any sort of role on tv/movie is if that fat is a part of the character. Need someone to play “Dumb Muscle Thug No. 1″? Get a fat guy. Casting for a supporting role that needs to be funny? Well fat can be funny so get a fat guy. Looking for a guy that has many great qualities but is hampered by one overshadowing flaw? Get a fat guy.
If you look at the fat guys you often see on tv/movie they are usually filling some role where their fat is as much a part of the character as the man in question’s own acting skills are.
“I’ve never seen an obese Superhero, and I’m confident I never will.”
You should watch NFL football, they have a few of those
Nicely done, Nicole. You make a lot of great points.
However, as true as this is, I would say it’s even more true for women. I think society puts more emphasis on beautiful women than on “beautiful” men. We often see older men paired with young, hot women in the movies, but very rarely do you see an older (or less attractive) women paired with a hot leading man.
Hopefully, society will become more focused on internal beauty rather than external beauty in both men and women.
And I did think of one fat superhero who we all love: Santa! There’s hope for us yet!
However, as true as this is, I would say it’s even more true for women. I think society puts more emphasis on beautiful women than on “beautiful” men.
True and that’s because men are valued for suceess while women are valued for their physical beauty.
That’s why a guy can (usually but not universally) be what is considered ugly and still be attractive if he has enough status, power, and money and a woman can (probably not universally) be considered lacking in status, power, and money and still be attractive if she has enough beauty.
We often see older men paired with young, hot women in the movies, but very rarely do you see an older (or less attractive) women paired with a hot leading man.
That’s because an older woman/young man pair is a violation of the things I said above. An older woman is no longer has beauty and that young man doesn’t have that staus and money yet.
Thank you!!! The standard is harsher for women. I read back in the day there was more emphasis on men being attractive and alpha male like Kirk Douglas. Nowadays in hollywood the unattractive man is more in common, and in movies he gets the really pretty girl. Hmmmm….
I think the bottom line is that people are pretty shallow a lot of the time. When people go to the movies they want to see attractive people.
Nowadays in hollywood the unattractive man is more in common, and in movies he gets the really pretty girl. Hmmmm….
I wouldn’t be so quick to point to that as validation.
Bear in mind that most of those men not just unattractive in a physical sense but are usually embodying qualities that are considered unattractive in the first place.
Where are the depictions of guys that are overweight, not in shape, aren’t conventionally attractive AND don’t spend their days away on computers/video games, aren’t skating by on the bare minimum of a job, actively freeloading off of some relative (usually parent or grandparent), involved in some sort of criminal activity, or presented in some other way of not being attractive that’s not physical?
In short if he were alive today what is the likelyhood that we would see Chris Farley playing something like even as conventionally attractive as James Bond (a character that despite the way he treats women and has a disregard for law and order is still presented as being conventionally attractive in a physical way)?
Yes!! My girlfriend first pointed it out to me years ago when I mentioned that I was disappointed she wasn’t wearing something sexy. She asked when I ever wore anything sexy for her benefit, and I was like lol, your right! Ever since she mentioned some of the huge double standards, they’re really hard to miss.
But yeah Nicole, it’s becoming really bad for men too now, and it’s only going to get worse if we don’t ALL – both genders! – pay more attention to what we really want to end up with! I mean, if we have kids I don’t want them to have to deal with worse expectations then what we have now!!
Nicole, I think Danny De Vito (who’s not obese, but quite “rotund”
) has starred in one or two romantic comedies. The male co-protagonist in “Hitch” (the one wooeing the woman manager) was overweight.
So, yes, there’s 1% hope in the media.
Regarding art, I remember Botero, who’s quite famous here in Europe, and painted very round men and women.
Anyway, even if I dislike the obsession about looks, I don’t think the predominance of “alpha” models in the media will go away.
For the simple reason this preference is rooted in our biology, is an innate part of us. And that’s why most people appreciate and enjoy looking at those “alphas” (even if they love and marry non-alpha types in real life).
After all, we like to dream, don’t we?
As an overweight male myself I can tell you that growing up overweight was very tough and even still I have body image issues. Recent studies show men are just as insecure over their bodies as women now and it’s pretty sad that either gender has so little confidence in their looks.
The major negative stereotype I found when growing up and into adulthood was that overweight women were able to find a partner easier than an overweight man. I’m not sure how true this is but it was a very commonly said stereotype which makes me think quite a few people believe it. I don’t think society has really bothered to look into how bad the body image, self esteem, the portrayal of overweight men can be. I’ve seen far far more said on overweight women and their issues but it seems people are finally waking up to the fact a lot of men suffer too, does society believe men are immune to self esteem issues or something?
This is true for all sizes n shapes of man, if you want to see true insecurity then google body building and look into the sport/muscle supplement industry. Men spend A LOT of money on muscle building, trimming and toning down and you can just goto your local gym to see how many are pushing themselves further and further to the point that men inject steroids simply to be the ideal alpha male body. The fat men get thought of as lazy, slobby, unhygenic, “geeky”, and other negative associates. Skinny men get the scrawny, weak, needs to eat more type insults. Even the big and bulky alpha males cop bad stereotypes such as meathead, jock, neanderthal, anything to imply they aren’t intelligent. And of course women have a whole list of their own insults against them.
Media has a lot to answer for, I copped so much bullying over my weight in school that I ended up as an adult with a social anxiety disorder with major trust issues of humans, all for being fat. I got teased and tormented in soccer. I LOVED soccer, was my favourite sport but copped so much abuse from team-mates that it wasn’t fun and I always felt like I let the team down because I was slower (although I had a power kick that one poor kid ended up copping a full force kicked ball to the chest when I was trying to send that ball way down field to a team-mate….winded the kid). How sad is it that our kids who are overweight get bullied out of sports which SHOULD be a great way for them to stay healthy. I comfort ate and got to the point of obesity as an adult and had lap-banding surgery just to give me a leg-up and get me out of the danger zone, I lost quite a bit of weight and it let me focus on my mental illness and resolving those issues. Why is fat so horrible to society? Why is it still one of the last remaining acceptable prejudices?
There are some good examples of bigger men now in media, I actually found actors like Jonah Hill, James Gandolfini, Paul Sorvino, Mark Addy, John Goodman, Kevin James, Richard Riehle, Kevin Smith!, Kenan Thompson, Jack Black, Forest Whitaker, John Belushi, John Candy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Cedric the Entertainer, Gabriel Iglesias (cept he’s not fat, he’s fluffy!:P), and Rodney Dangerfield. There are plenty more but I can’t go on too long with this comment, but they gave me hope that overweight men could be respected after I saw them on movies. Imagine seeing thin people mostly in media but then starting to notice people who are big, like you, it fills you with hope that weight or looks aren’t everything. I mean even Steve Bucemi gets roles because he’s valued for his talent as an actor, Mickey Rourke, etc who aren’t pretty boys (these days at least) so there is hope for media.
I do like the fact there seems to be more variety in media if you look now, I can find actors and actresses from all ethnicities, Djimon Hounsou (African) comes to mind or Tony Shalhoub (Lebanese descent). You can find the non-alpha male bodytypes like Jay Baruchel who can be heroes too in movies. But I don’t know of any overweight superheroes…maybe Mr Incredible when he’s older and has kids? Maybe movies are slowly starting to diversify?
The King of Queens
Hitch
Uncle Buck
Only the Lonely
Knocked Up
Green Hornet (Superhero movie)
Nacho Libre
The Honeymooners
Are you sure you are tuned into popular culture?
Yeah what Nicole said. But let’s get a little closer.
The King of Queens – Kevin James playing a husband that’s basically an idiot that his wife has to keep up with like he’s a child.
Hitch – Kevin James again playing a goofball that spends the movie looking for help with getting a date.
Uncle Buck – John Candy playing a screw up uncle whose sister barely trusts enough to watch her kids while she goes out of town for family business (I think it was a death in the family).
Only the Lonely – John Candy again. I don’t recall the story but since John Candy was the “fat goofball” star of the 80s my hopes aren’t high.
Knocked Up – Seth Rogan?
Green Hornet (Superhero movie) – Seth Rogan? You pulled Seth Rogan not once but twice?
Nacho Libre – Jack Black as picking up the “fat goofball” star roll that Candy carried through the 80s passed to Chris Farley for most of the 90s and is running with today with Kevin James.
The Honeymooners – The Jackie Gleason character that inspired Fred Flintstone and could very well be Fat Goofball Star 0. As in the originator of the achetype?
Yes I am tuned into it.
Now if we start seeing things like:
1. Anthony Anderson being the lead man in a Tyler Perry movie.
2. Patton Oswald being cast in a Bond movie as something other than a silly sidekick.
3. Omar Benson Miller in The Notebook.
I’ll reconsider what I’m seeing when I tune into Pop Culture.
This is a great comment thread; thank you to everyone who has provided feedback!
@ Archy – thank you for sharing your personal story. @ Sara – yes, I am tuned into pop culture ,-)
Sara, the movies that are on your list (and the list of others in this thread) are all romantic comedies. The men in these movies are cast to make people laugh; we root for them as the archetypal “under dog.” Unfortunately, these actors would not be the first casting choice for romantic dramas or romantic thrillers. There’s a reason why we see the same “type” of man in movies like Ghost, The Notebook, The Reader, The English Patient, Sleepless in Seattle, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Legends of the Fall, Dear John, etc.