Hommer Simpson, Fred Flintstone, Daddy Pig. What do they have in common?
Yes, they’re incompetent, undisciplined, and constantly corrected by their smart wives who, incredibly, don’t divorce such morons.
Funny? Of course.
Should we worry about it? Yes, because what started as a joke has now become an insult to us, fathers.
Time to stop this.
This silly dad stereotype is so widespread I had a hard time finding a counter-example
But I found one: Jack Pearson in “This Is Us”.
Jack is wise and dependable, strong and caring. Oh, he’s playful too. It is a pity such a good role model has become so rare nowadays.
So, if you haven’t seen “This Is Us” yet, you’re missing something.
The insult goes beyond fatherhood — it affects masculinity as a whole
Even male characters who are not fathers are depicted now as silly, whereas the rational, centered roles are mostly taken by females.
I recently saw all the Star Wars movies with my eight-year-old daughter. The stark difference between the movies from the 80s and the more recent ones is evident. Just compare Luke with Finn. Luke is brave and smart while Finn, well, Finn is funny.
And, if you live in this galaxy, you probably know that, in the newest trilogy, brave and smart is Rey, the female protagonist.
To be clear: I have nothing against strong women — on the contrary — but why do they have to always be paired with men who are funny at best? Look at Anna and Kristoff, from Frozen, or at Fiona and Shrek, just to give two examples.
It’s on us to impart a genuine masculine image in society
We shouldn’t underestimate the media’s power. And, since there is no sign we are reverting anytime soon to the old days of “Father Knows Best”, we must do our part.
Wisdom, courage, discipline, strength, and rationality are hallmarks of masculinity that we men must champion.
For the good of our children and families, it’s time we reclaim our birthright.
—
This post was previously published on medium.com.
***
From The Good Men Project on Medium
 |
 |
 |
 |
***
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—–
Photo credit: Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Form follows function- Homer Simpson, Fred Flintstone and Jack Pearson are all structured to fulfill criteria of the particular task they were built for: They were all built to conform with certain unique expectations of their particular flavors of comedy or drama when they were created. They were certainly not built to engage in something as potentially unprofitable and financially risky as to try to challenge or to dictate a thesis to an audience. Understand that there is no money, and absolutely no other incentive in ‘for-profit’ entertainment to engage in activities that might antagonize too big a chunk of… Read more »
Perhaps part of being a nuanced adult is coming to realize that sometimes a caricature is, after all, just a caricature- that it only has as much (or as little) significance, as much influence, as we are ultimately willing to cede (or withhold) it: Not everything needs to crammed through the aperture of gender, all the time, in every detail. It seems almost axiomatic now that in progressive circles these ultimately superficial things (pop culture slights which were originally imbued with too much significance by the least temperate and most easily disgruntled and offended stripe of Men’s Rights Activists, ironically)… Read more »