Simon Pegg reflects on why his friendship with Nick Frost isn’t a bromance.
We have seen Simon Pegg’s and Nick Frost’s on screen friendships through a zombie apocalypse in “Shaun of the Dead,” to small village police officers fighting a murdering cult bent on maintaining the popularity of their town in “Hot Fuzz”, and most recently attempting to survive “The World’s End.” They also have a deep and loving friendship off screen. Simon Pegg, however, doesn’t think that they need the word “bromance” to define the way they feel about each other. In fact, he notes the slang word adds to the cultural norming that tells men that it is odd for them to have close friends because there is only a thin line separating close male friendships and homosexuality.
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Original graphic from Upworthy.com
Coverphoto via Flickr/adam_oliver
I’ve always thought the term bromance was used with a heavy degree of irony anyway. It’s making fun of a stereotype, not buying into it.
It’s insulting / belittling to men’s close friendships……..and seems to be used more by women than anyone else. At times it’s seems to be used as a form of social control to “break up” men only spaces and settings by injecting homophobia into them. Sadly it worked over the years, isolating men from each other and surely adding to the suicide rate, drug abuse rate and even likely to the acceptance of DV as normal by male victims that have no close intimate non sexual relationships left.
As feminism rose through the sixties and seventies, The acceptable versions of masculinity narrowed. Look at pictures and films of WW2 soldiers playing in there off between missions times……..some of which these days would be almost homoerotic…….yet was acceptable goofball play among young adult men…….That was lost and hopefully can be found again…….Being a man in today’s society is a grim business,…. suicide, drugs, booze, all seem to afflict men more……..maybe we’ve lost so much do to the need to meeting the true man stereotype rather than enjoy the male friendships that enriched and strengthened mens lives.
As someone who’s definitely from the ‘Older Generation’ let me just state that the one thing i can appreciate from the modern generation is the way that it’s OK for men to show affection for each other without it being subject to homophopia! I mean, you care about someone of the same gender period! There’s nothing sexual about it! I was 24 years old when as an adult, I hugged my Father for the first time! I remember HE was the one who initiated it and I’ll never forget how it felt so good, something I wanted to do my… Read more »
I mean my son, now 22 years old, since the day he was born until he left for Afghanistan, I’ve always given him a Kiss on the cheek and told him I loved him (and he tells me the same) and if you don’t like that or it makes you uncomfortable, wellF**K YOU!!!
Man that’s your son! exactly screw them. A family member told me that I’m going to turn
my toddler into a *ussy because I’m affectionate and gentle with him…we do rough-house. I’m not raising some hyper-masculine insensitive @sshole..my soul purpose is to raise a strong, well adjusted, gentleman who is a benefit to society..