I’ve always been a big movie-lover. That’s why it distresses me to witness the emasculation of Hollywood actors today. These men start out more or less intact, but the longer they stay in the Hollywood system, the less and less they seem to be men. A gradual process of psychological and emotional castration is destroying their masculine energy, and this crisis needs to be addressed
When I was a little girl, I loved playing with my Barbie and Ken dolls. My friends and I would spend entire afternoons inventing stories about their lives, dressing and undressing them. They were our first actors and actresses. I never paid attention to the fact that there was something missing between Ken’s legs. The lack of anatomical correctness in my doll was irrelevant to a child.
Regardless of the presence or absence of any parts, Ken was a thoroughly dull boy. Whether blond or brunette, black or white, he was blandly handsome, boring and predictable. Today, when I see actors up on the screen, I’m reminded of my Ken doll. These young men might start out as unique individuals, but soon they’re reduced to the same safe, yawn-inspiring stereotype.
We kids didn’t expect much from Ken. He served his purpose as a model of non-threatening masculinity. Real men, on the other hand, should have a lot more to offer. Too often, though, I’m left thinking that the leading men of today are too much like Ken.
They may not be as physically bereft as Ken is, but on-screen, they act as though there’s nothing between their legs. Whether they’re portraying action heroes, romantic leads, villains or spies, they’re most often neither exciting nor convincing in their roles.
I’m sad when I think about some of the stars of today, because the many of them seemed like real men at the start of their acting careers. Some were famous in their own countries before they came to the United States. When I saw them in their pre-Hollywood incarnations, they were unique, exciting and unpredictable.
Once they were processed through the Hollywood system, though, they came out looking and sounding exactly like everyone else. They turned into the blond Ken, the sporty one, the Black one; virtually identical and completely uninteresting. Hollywood is transforming these promising young men into male versions of the Stepford wives.
American-born actors don’t fare any better. Once they come to the attention of the major studios, some misguided committee makes sure that in subsequent films, whatever is most unique and compelling about them is stripped away, leaving them utterly ordinary and no different from every other male actor in Hollywood.
They’ve been rendered odorless, colorless and devoid of sharp edges. Their skin is uniformly smooth, their smiles are equally shiny, their hair is coiffed and gelled to perfect sameness. Even their physiques are identical. I suspect that they’re all sent to the same team of dentists, trainers and stylists, who were provided with an unvarying Hollywood template that must be rigidly adhered to.
Young Hollywood seems to be represented by a few basic types. There’s the “All American Boy,” who’s as polite and predictable as our own brother. Then there’s the “Pretty Boy,” who rivals the girls for looks with his high cheekbones, pouty lips and ultra-long lashes. Girls want to be like him, more than they want to be with him.
There’s the muscle-bound “Action Hero,” a big boy who enjoys smashing things up, and the so-called “Bad Boy,” who, despite being promoted as a non-conformist anti-hero, never does anything really shocking. Girls are meant to like him because he’s not all that dangerous.
There’s the “Funny Boy” who’s considered cute because he’s amusing, and who’ll never break a girl’s heart. There’s the “Nerdy Boy,” whose social awkwardness is supposed to make girls feel protective toward him, and there’s the “Strange Boy,” the indie movie actor who’s mildly quirky, but who Hollywood has nevertheless plucked, blow-dried and manicured to within an inch of his life.
These are the male stereotypes that Hollywood puts up on the screen. They’re all we get to choose from, and it’s not much of a choice. It makes me think that Hollywood producers don’t think very highly of these actors or their audience.
Aside from the fact that there’s very little difference between any of these types, they’re all forever boys, even well into their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Hollywood is obsessed with eternal youth. It presents these versions of Peter Pan as the masculine ideal for womankind today. I suppose this means that women aren’t supposed to grow up either, but should forever remain “girls.”
Whether cute or nerdy, funny or quirky, these boys are merely versions of my old Ken doll, and frankly, the stories my friends and I used to make up for him and Barbie were a lot more enjoyable and more real to us than the average Hollywood movie.
In its unrelenting and single-minded pursuit of profit, Hollywood has determined, incorrectly, that the model of a safe, predictable man-boy is what would appeal to the broadest female (and male?) demographic.
The motivation of the movie industry to put profit above artistry has created a system where, just like in any of the popular hamburger chains, the same flavorless, colorless cardboard product is served up, hour after hour, day after day.
Whether slathered with ketchup, relish or pickles, each burger is virtually the same. Whether all-American or action-hero, the men in Hollywood are indistinguishable. The profit-making machine has robbed its young stars of every last shred of their individuality, as well as their masculinity. I’d be annoyed if I weren’t so bored.
I’ve seen interesting Israeli, Irish, Spanish and Australian actors succumb to the crushing exigencies of the Hollywood machine. Even the most fully alive man has turned into a puerile eunuch by the time the system has “processed” them. It’s such a waste of talent, and such an insult to the audience who is constantly offered the lowest common denominator of manhood.
Interestingly, it’s far more likely that an American audience today would see full frontal male nudity than a demonstration of genuine masculinity. On-screen, the actual apparatus is apparently less threatening than a representation of genuine masculine power and individuality.
I suspect that one reason so many promising male actors shoot to fame and then fade as quickly into obscurity is that once Hollywood has co-opted them, the qualities that made them unique as men are no longer permitted to be shown on-screen.
In Hollywood, authentic masculinity is anathema. Maybe that’s one reason why we’re all so fascinated with these actors’ personal lives, as we desperately try to catch a whiff of the original essence of these men.
It’s evident that Hollywood views young actors as easily-replaced commodities; the raw material of the industry. When one fades, another one is brought forward in his place. Producers confuse novelty with desirability, but this means that we the audience have little time to bond with our new star before the casting director yells “Next!” toward the mass of talent elbowing each-other for a place in the line.
Agents and producers are so overloaded with choice that they have no motivation whatsoever to try and understand, let alone address why the most recent “it boy” failed to measure up to his hype. It’s too bad, because some of these actors were genuinely gifted and compelling.
The fact that some young actors were so exciting in their early work and then mediocre in subsequent films is as irrelevant to Hollywood producers as my Ken-doll’s lack of genitalia was to the young me. Producers don’t care that all this promise has come to nothing, but the actors care, and the audience does, too.
In Hollywood today, “real men don’t become movie stars.” Instead we get neutered caricatures. The assumption is that the audience doesn’t want to see actual hairy, smelly, complicated men up on the screen (except as the butt of a joke). They seem to think that women are so fragile as to be terrified by a real man, and that we wouldn’t know what to do with one if we encountered him, which I assure you is far from the truth.
Hollywood appears afraid that male audience members would be threatened by real masculinity or couldn’t identify with the men portraying it. This, despite the popularity of foreign films in which we do get to see portrayals of real masculinity. With the exception of a few truly independent films each year, Hollywood’s version of sanitized, lobotomized manhood is all that North American film-makers offer to their modern audiences.
The epidemic of emasculated men in the movies today doesn’t have to continue. We can cure it by refusing to watch films in which the men have essentially been castrated, and by demanding to see real men up on the movie screens. We can tell the promising young actors and the foreign stars coming to work in North America, “Be careful you guys, hold on to your manhood!”
Hollywood doesn’t get it, so it’s up to us to ask for what we want, to insist on seeing authentic masculinity on-screen. Here’s an open request to Hollywood producers: When you’re making a movie, whatever it happens to be about, please, leave the men alone! Real women aren’t scared of real men, and I’ll bet you that everyone would be happier if we got to see real men portrayed in the movies.
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