Nicole Johnson believes movies and television shows can be funny and still portray men in a positive light. Why it’s not being done in this day and age baffles her.
Growing up, my brother, Matt, and I were unapologetic television and movie buffs. We loved any box with rabbit ears, and the silver screen was a magical place where Extra Terrestrials, Ewoks, and Super Heroes lived. In fact, I could call up Matt right now and say, “Jack Abramoff is as corrupt as Boss Hogg”, and we would nostalgically burst out loud laughing over the comparison.
A portion of our childhood was shaped by Happy Days, Benson, Battlestar Galactica, Different Strokes, Good Times, The Cosby Show, Little House on the Prairie, and of course, reruns of The Brady Bunch, Leave It to Beaver, and Lassie, (just to name a few). Moreover, our minds were influenced by the educational cartoons of the time. Don’t scoff; we learned a lot from The Smurfs and Fat Albert. As for the movies, Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, and E.T. will always be some of our favorites.
The aforementioned movies and televisions shows not only entertained us, but they taught us right from wrong and proved goodness undeniably conquers evil. My brother and I were fortunate; we grew up during the decades where men were celebrated in film and television. I’m grateful we were raised at a time where industry giants were at the apex of their careers. Thank you, George Lucas and Norman Lear.
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It didn’t matter if we were watching Tom Bosley’s Mr. Cunningham, John Amos’s Mr. Evans, or Christopher Reeve’s Superman (Clark Kent), my brother and I knew these characters were strong and honorable. There was no ambiguity; we knew they were good men. In our generation, media outlets consistently showcased two types of dignified gentlemen: the type of men Matt would want to emulate and the type of men I would want to marry. Despite our affinity for Hollywood, we didn’t learn everything from fiction. My father provided us with a real-life, everyday example of what it meant to be an extraordinary man. His tutelage continues to this day. Thank you, Dad.
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The media I was exposed to in my youth and adolescence is the antithesis of American media today. In 2011, there is a dearth of movies and television shows portraying men in a manner worthy of emulation. Currently, programs in the medical, legal, and criminal justice genre feature certain men as honorable and capable, however there are few television dads who could rival the television dads of generations past. Ergo, the dads incarnated on ABC’s Modern Family are vaudevillian compared to the standards of the 1960’s and 70’s.
Here’s what I find tremendously disconcerting: Hollywood has started writing and producing content which depicts men as ridiculous and as people who should not be taken seriously. The characterizations of men in the media over the past two decades portray men as weak and incompetent. Interestingly enough, it’s men who are behind the scenes doing this, not women. Hollywood is a notorious “boys club.”
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Why do male movie executives (yes, Jud Apatow, I’m referring to you) consistently disseminate this type of content? Clearly the men creating movies such as Knocked Up, Old School, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Pineapple Express, Super Bad, The Hangover, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I Love You, Man are simply seeing dollar signs. (For further proof, watch the trailer for the upcoming movie The Sitter.) What man would walk away from these movies saying, “I want to be like him?” Conversely, what woman would walk away saying, “I want to marry him?” I understand it’s designed to be entertaining, but if I were a man, I’d be horrified.
Television executives are equally as culpable in contributing to the debasement of men. The most glaring example is ABC’s newest show, Man Up. I’ve seen two full-episodes and I am disgusted ABC actually put this show on the air. ABC’s Man Up portrays men as infantile, incapable, uncultured, weak, pathetic, and flat out moronic (I could go on, but I’ll stop here). Don’t the executives at ABC realize this show is damaging to men? Do the writers not care they are depicting men as buffoons? Why not just put the male actors in clown suits and call it a day?
I’m tired of Hollywood trying to sell me on the concept of “loveable idiots”, and I am disheartened by the ubiquitous content that tears men down. I love filling my life with laughter, however why are my current content choices trying to get me to laugh at a reduced version of men? Why is Hollywood trying to get me to focus on the broken-down, allegorical version of who they think my husband is? Obviously they don’t know my husband.
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Millions of men are driven, capable, intelligent, honorable, responsible, etc. At present time, why is this not regularly celebrated on film and television? I wonder if the media is deliberately trying to degrade men, because I know there are ways of infusing positive aspects of manhood and masculinity into content while maintaining the comedy and excitement. Case in point: Frasier, Scrubs, and Jim Carrey’s, Liar Liar.
I hope media outlets will revamp their destructive strategies. The current template has the potential to be catastrophic to men (and women). There’s a reason why Kay Hymowitz wrote Manning Up, and it’s not solely because of the economy and Feminist movement. The media has contributed to a portion of this plight. Perpetuating images of the “man-child” has established the need for academic and sociological involvement. Thank you, Kay Hymowitz.
To the executives at ABC and beyond, men deserve better. Every protagonist should not be painted as a pinhead, and all antagonists shouldn’t be written as angry Neanderthals. The superfluous use of these stereotypes is depressing. It’s time to redesign the formula. Good men are everywhere; let your content reflect this fact.
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photo: abc.com
As a man I find it difficult to find movies I want to watch not only because they are demeaning , but they hold no suspense. Any male character who insults a woman or child will be severely punished later in the film, and the same old “single mother makes good” plot will be repeated. In a quest for dollars, media has catered to women at the expense of men. In addition, so called news shows always in search of ratings, way over cover stranger abductions and child molestation because they are sensational. The chances of a child being severely… Read more »
Hi, Yes, they’re and unfair easy target a little, because women in the western world are granted social rights to be primary caregivers, bread-winners, emotional and serious and they may express themselves in lots of ways. Unlike men who are stereotyped and expected to conform to inflexible gender roles and also to be scared of their femininity( men and women have both masculinity and femininity and in varying degrees.). Women who act follow manly pursuits don’t have their women-hood questioned, while men following womanly pursuits could be socially ostracized, or be physically attacked. Men have great qualities in different areas… Read more »
Jason, it wiped out my comment too! It used to refill this box with what I wrote when it refreshed, but not this time, how frustrating! I will try to make a briefer point. I think this reflects a more general trend of creating characters who are flawed so they are more believable as real people. Because the assumption is that no man can be as perfect as Mr. Cleaver all the time. Those men of yesteryear’s television might have been good role models, but they wouldn’t pass the buck nowadays. Viewers are proving with their box office money that… Read more »
I believe your last paragraph is missing the words “Except for Inara, who was basically perfect at everything, which wouldn’t have been so bad if the actress could pull it off”. It was still a great show, but it wasn’t perfect. Honestly, the thing that’s bugged me the most recently was an episode of Castle (normally a show I enjoy) where the running joke was “who roofies a guy, all you have to do is ask”. It took me half an hour afterwards to explain to my assembled female relatives (my dad doesn’t watch the show), who were all laughing… Read more »
One more comment: I was interrupted while typing this and forgot one thing I wanted to say.
For an excellent portrayal of a non-idiot man in a sitcom (at least I think so, anyway) check out Whitney on NBC. The Alex character is essentially the straight man to Whitney’s neuroses, but he’s not depicted as anything like a buffoon or a caveman. It can be done. You’ve just got to know where to look.
Earlier this afternoon, I typed up a response to another post (the one about Two and a Half Men, but the website reset itself and ate everything I’d written) talking about how I think this type of characterization of men can largely be laid at the feet of the half-hour sitcom format and largely lazy writers. When producing half-hour sitcoms, you really only have about 22 minutes of screen time once you factor in the commercials, meaning that any story you tell has to be very abbreviated. It therefore becomes easier to use shorthand characterization–archetypes. Once you know that Charlie… Read more »
Great article, Nicole. Yes it seems the scatalogical humor and portrayal of men as goofy pigs is what Hollywood makes money off of more that the nice guy… But here are my two thoughts. As a writer, I have leaned that real life is boring. Yes everyone has a story, but few are best sellers and Hollyood is only interested in box office gross. When a formula works, they repeat it until it doesn’t work anymore. Second thought is, perhaps there are just not enough good men out there, so it’s easier for them to portray what is common. God… Read more »
“Hollywood is a notorious “boys club.”
Yes, as always, it’s fault of men, isn’t it. The ladies haven’t done anything in the past 40 years to land us here, oh no. As always, the fairer sex is absolved of all guilt while men (surprise, surprise) are bearing the responsibility to fix everything.
And THIS, my dear Nicole, is why you will never see your wish come true. Have a nice day.
Thank you for this great article. I couldn’t agree more with what you are saying. It is true. If I think back to when I was a teenager I remember watching movies with actors like Cary Grant, John Wayne or Kirk Douglas. There was one characteristic that always distinguished the characters they played: strength. They stood for something. They had values and they were uncompromising about them. For me that was truly inspiring and I think that is the essence of being a man. Somehow that has gotten lost. Today when we see male characters in movies they rarely have… Read more »
Joss. No, Hollywood doesn’t represent many kinds of people. It tries to give various kinds of people what they want. It appears that Hollywood thinks, probably correctly, that an economically sufficient number of women like seeing men portrayed as doofuses, and there is no countervailing economic pressure. So it’s all good to them. You can call up and complain, but they wouldn’t pay you any attention because….they’re already not paying you any attention. You may as well not exist. It’s as if they’re daring you to boycott something you never dealt with in the first place. Go ahead. See what… Read more »
Despite male “titans” sitting on the top of the media empires, Hollywood isn’t quite the boy’s club we envision. The middle tiers of networks have a number of women in fairly powerful positions. Several network heads of comedy development are women. The issue, however, isn’t so mars-venus. 1) Middle-tier executives with TV networks are, by and large, risk averse and not creative. And 2) dumb guys test well. Sticking to the middle-of-the-fairway makes it a lot harder to be fired when something doesn’t work. At some point, the inept man (which can be an incredible character: see Homer Simpson) became… Read more »
Yes, Richard. That was my point. Hollywood/popular media does not represent me or good men. I think the whole “role models are for real life and media is for entertainment” is a cop out. I don’t find demeaning ads, sexist advertising or doofus male depictions/bitchy dominant female depictions entertaining – I find it as annoying there as it is in real life. And good luck getting the real world to stop trying to imitate what they see on TV, in the sports arena, in advertising, at McDonald’s and in music.
Joss. The question isn’t about you and your television habits. It’s about why the general presentation of male characters is so doofus-like. It will continue to be, absent your viewership. That’s because the target market, for sitcoms and advertising, is women and the pros think women like this stuff. My opinion–for what it’s worth–is that the professionals have the target market pretty clearly figured out. Or they wouldn’t be doing it. If the target market changed what it liked, so would Hollywood. Hollywood hasn’t, so…their view of the target market is probably spot on. If it were a matter of… Read more »
Modern media are playing to their market; they know that women consume more of this form of entertainment and thus they pitch their product to their consumers. Consider, why do sporting events have cheerleaders in skimpy outfits? It certainly doesn’t help get some pigskin over the line but it is entertaining for their primary audience, that would be men.
Role models should be in life; characters in film and television are caricatures because that makes the story being depicted as more entertaining.
“Millions of men are driven, capable, intelligent, honorable, responsible, etc. At present time, why is this not regularly celebrated on film and television?”
“Good men are everywhere.”
True.
You miss something. Let’s just talk about Knocked Up for a second. The male lead is incompetent, unattractive, and boring. He fails to be anything worthy of admiration, and lacks any quality that would make a woman interested in him. Yet he still gets the (extremely attractive) girl, and the family man life that is still desirable, despite doing nothing but partying. This comes as a surprise to many women i know, but this is a male fantasy. It gives men an excuse to be lazy, to party, to do nothing, and to still expect to get the best from… Read more »
Yet he changes his ways….
How many YOUNG women are out getting drunk, partying like crazy and doing their hobbies? The beauty of knocked up was that he changed from slacker to a great catch. You call that the male fantasy? It’s full of earning respect, go watch the movie again but drop the omgwomengetitworse attitude. The fantasy would be having both the slacker lifestyle, and the hot gf if anything but the movie doesn’t support that…
As an adult, I’m not going to the movies or watching TV to see positive role models or perfect members of society. I too grew up watching and loving strong, perfect male characters. Captain Picard on Star Trek TNG for his intelligence, success, and open-mindedness. Ruroni Kenshin in the series for his athleticism, loyalty, and enormous heart. Danny Tanner in Full House for his parenting skills and ability to adapt. Same thing goes for many of the women I saw (in Buffy, parts of Sailormoon, historical movies focusing on British queens). I still admire and have a HUGE soft spot… Read more »
Boys club in Hollywood indeed. But it isn’t Mr. Aptow’s work that is the biggest offender. Spend an afternoon looking at commercials targeted to women featuring men who can barely brush their own teeth without his wife (or daughter) handing them the toothpaste with a condescending “tsk, tsk” smile on her face. What this proposes to me is that there is something comfortable and reliably masculine to a certain female market demographic about the notion of men as gormless idiots who are best used for heavy lifting, but can’t manage to change a baby, wipe a counter, or manage an… Read more »
It is true that people drive the market and business creates only what people buy – I couldn’t agree more. But sometimes I feel like I’m constantly on the run with my principles tucked under my arm like a football. I don’t watch TV because it’s junk. I don’t mind sports so much but then I have to watch ridiculous commericals where everything is sold in a sex package (I try not to buy these products). I don’t read fashion magazines for the impossible depictions of beauty and materialism I could never measure up to. I avoid violent, disgusting video… Read more »
We’re talking about a business. The professionals in entertainment or advertising think they know their target market.
If they were wrong about knowing their target market, they’d lose money by the supertanker load and change their ways.
They don’t change because they haven’t lost tons of money because they do know their target market.
They’re professionals and they’re right. About the target market.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’d say there’s hardly any network TV that makes anyone look good. Ads exist to attract attention to product, not people. Reality TV makes all it’s participants look like fame whores and sitcoms play (usually) to the lowest common denominator. Shows like 30 Rock, Community and Parks and Rec are close to being canned, probably because the humor is too smart, too complicated. Good TV winds up in dramas, or on specialty cable channels. I loved the shows (and the men) of the 90’s. Bring me a Fox Mulder, a Giles, a Xander. All the… Read more »
I watch zero network t.v. It portrays both men and women in demeaning ways.
Exactly. Men are buffoons and women are gold diggers. This is what television nowadays is telling us. Anyone seen the new Dr. Pepper 10 commercial? Most commercials on television have some subtle form of sexism, but this one was so blatant that it was impossible for me to believe it was supposed to be a parody.
Oh god 🙁 Just saw it, the one where the guy dumps the girl to be with the dr pepper.
I chalk it up to laziness, it is really easy (and safe) to target men for the butt of the jokes. In a comedy someone has to be the butt of the jokes that is the nature of the beast. Men are a safe target, the show won’t get protested, more than likely have have ad revenue pulled for making fun of them. In a weird way it reminds me of the show “The TALK”, a few months ago a woman allegedly cut of her soon be ex husbands penis and put in the trash compactor, “The Talk” had a… Read more »
Exactly right. Most lazy comedy requires someone to be the target–the idiot, the incompetent, the bumbler. And you can’t make that target a woman (it’s sexist) or a child (that’s abusive) or a minority (that’s racist), etc. etc.
So what’s left? What’s the only safe target for comedic abuse? White men, of course. They’re the only ones who don’t get to write angry letters when they’re portrayed as buffoons.
I agree and have coined the term “target starved”. In an era where we have protected groups, groups that have been successful in extorting money via lawyers, the only acceptable target left is adult men. Americans are rather self conscious , insecure people. We are brought up to be ashamed and insecure about sex and our bodies, especially the males . Just as insecure people used humor as a release, Americans produce, and need, humor. However, with targets mostly off limits, the target that is left is adult men. So that target get saturated with abuse. The new hollywood manta… Read more »
Of course once we find adequate role models on the tube we no longer require real ones in our homes
Its to do with this gender war zeitgeist putting men down to put women up.
While this is an issue I’ve had with the media for a while now (it seems like sitcoms and tv commercials are the worst culprit), I do think, while not a big fan, that the Apatow style of comedy speaks to a different point. Speaking for guys who watch them, I’m sure many find something relatable, amusing, or comforting in watching guys who seem even more lost and clueless in life than they feel. I’m sure this speaks to something about gender roles in this day and age–but I can’t really speak more on that (though as a gay man… Read more »
I’ve been saying this for years now. TV shows/commercials and film are b.s. when it comes to relationships for one simple reason. In these media outlets, the woman is always smart and beautiful, and the man is always some fat/ugly dumb fuck lucky enough to have married her. However, while it’s true a smart man will marry a dumb woman, a smart woman would NEVER marry a dumb man.
Thank you for writing this. Most of us men are decent guys. We do what we have to. Providing for and caring for our families. Loving our kids and doing our best to raise them. Television and movies portray men as morons and dogs. We’re not that. Television and movies don’t do any better in their portrayal of women.