I’ve been thinking about the whole “how men are portrayed in the media” thing, and I don’t think that men are portrayed as bad as a lot of people think. Even though there is still that “tough guy” image that is seen in almost every movie and on many TV shows, there are plenty of regular men in the media as well. For example, even though real, masculine men aren’t supposed to cook, one of my favorite TV shows is
Iron Chef—a show in which top chefs (usually men) duke it out in a kitchen, trying to defeat an Iron Chef. Also, Emeril is pretty popular (although I don’t watch him myself), and isn’t considered to be any less of a man because of his mad cooking skills.
Next, that guy on
Extreme Home Makeover cries almost every show but is still respected by many people and is considered more of a man because of the things he does to help people.
There’s lots more examples of these media men who don’t fit the masculine figure that we talked about in class, but I think that there should be more so that the view of men in the media can change and young boys have more to look up to than just tough guys.
8 comments:
I pretty much agree with what you are saying, and you had some good backups but there are still media portrayed males, with the "tough guise". There are countless wrestling and boxing shows, shows where the jock gets all the girls, and shows where the men are portrayed as the leader of the house and are able to rule the family, even if they tend to be comedic shows. I just think, great they have men with sensitive sides and men that are cooking, but the term "iron" makes it more masculine and I beleive that it still does not balance out the guises that are put out in the media today
-David
for the most part i agree with nick. i think that many young boys look up to the "tough guys" in the media and try to be like them. but i was watching oprah yesterday and they were talking about women being portrayed in the media and how all these young girls try and dress and act like celebrities. but i think that young people shouldnt even be looking up to older people in the first place and acting just like them. because if you spend so much time trying to be someone else, you wont ever figure out who you really are.
-emily
I agree that there are some good role models out there for men; Ty Pennington is a great example- he is a huge role model for a lot of people, probably in part because he can be the typical manly man (ripped, power tools, girls all over him, etc.) and yet he is extremely (no pun intended) caring and not afraid to show his feelings. I feel like a lot of the older shows actually had good role models too. Full House showed a single parent father - obsessed with cleaning, taking care of the kids, etc. and a great dad, while still being the career man and everything. The Cosby Show was also a great example- Bill Cosby definately wasn't your typical manly man and yet everybody loved him- the fact he was able to poke fun of the ideal and shed some light on reality made him a man more than muscles and power tools. The sad thing is that the vast majority of media still portrays 'real men' as the tall, strong, stoic guys that people still see as 'manly'. We like to think we've gotten over the stereotype but one look in the media shows otherwise.
-Ellie
I agree with Nick and I was thinking the same thing when we were watching the movie on masculinity in males. I think that you can't look at the way men are being portrayed as a negative like the way woman are portrayed. I think it is a totally different situation and that there are plently of sympathetic men that are shown on Television. In fact if I was on television I know that I would be crying all the time. I don't think men portrayed on T.V. as tough beer drinkers is a bad portration because that is what most males are.
AJ
I agree with Nick in that the media have men that are regular guys.I think that Extreme Home Makeover has Ty Pennington has broken the mold for men. Even though he is a carpenter, he has an emotional side to him. I agree that people don't think any less of him because he cries. On the other hand there are still ads in the media protraying manly men but slowly there are new views on men that break the mold like Ty.
I agree with nick. I think that there is some men bashing in the media that should be changed because in pretty much every movie the 'hero' is always a strong masculine male who has to do tough things, or mostly in action movies but then theres also romantic movies such as the notebook and i don't think that anybody considers noah as any less of a man. So to some extent there is men bashing but i don't really think that it's meant to be portrayed that way, some people just think of it in the wrong way.
MELISSA
I 100% agree with Nick. The big, strong, tough guy image isn't really seen as much as it used to be. On old TV shows the manly man was always the jock and the nerd was always the skinny kid wiht glasses. Recently the image of the tough guy isn't only a jock it could be anyone.
I have to agree with what everyone has been saying. The way men are potrayed in the media is not only the "tough guy" but also a sympathetic guy too. There is an equal number of guys to girls on the cooking channel. Which is not a sterotypical tough guy thing. However, I think there should be a lot more. Many boys still only see the macho guy, and don't really get to see many other types in movies and popular tv shows.
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