Where Have All The Good Men Gone?

ALRIGHT, so I know what you're probably thinking this post is going to be about, and I can almost promise that it won't be. Almost. Depends. We'll see, just keep reading, alright?

Okay, so, during this whole period that has been quarantine, I convinced my mom and sister (Fran) to watch all the way through the Skywalker Saga, or in English, Star Wars episodes 1-9. They hadn't seen all of them before, so I was super excited to go through and watch it with them, and be able to explain what I could, etc. As I neared the end, I had a lot going through my head, which is what led me to write this post.

Disclaimer: Behind My Face, Above My Throat is aware of how the upcoming topic might sound at first, and our staff would encourage you to read the post fully before making any assumptions of the writers and corporations standpoint on this subject matter. Thank you!

Movie men are trash. Like, lead male characters. Or any male character for that matter. Let me explain. Starting off with Star Wars, since that's where this whole thought started, we don't have a lot of options.

Han Solo: Smuggler, self-centered, comedic, generally disrespectful

Luke Skywalker: Strong male protagonist, then fails, hides, and gives up. Shows back up and gets killed off.

Entire Jedi Order: A lot of strong male protagonists, proud, cast in a negative light, "needs to end", all of them killed off, entire Jedi ideology is decimated in later movies.

Anakin Skywalker: Promising strong male lead, gets turned bad, then good, then killed off right away.

Finn: Shady past, tries to desert multiple times in multiple movies.

Poe Dameron: Shady past and present, prideful to the point of endangering lives.

Ben Solo: Bad guy for all but the last like 20 minutes. Gets killed off.

Lets go Disney in general. Maybe animated movies to spice it up a little bit. There's gotta be something there... For the sake of time I'll stick with humans.

Kristoff: Weird, dirty, has no friends but a reindeer, often walked on

Hans: Starts out a noble prince, then is the villain.

Nick Wilde: Con-artist, shady past

Flynn Rider: Criminal/thief

Maui: Manipulative/steals boat

Wreck-It Ralph: hearts in the right place, always breaking stuff, clumsy

Fix-It Felix: Comedic material for the movie

Finding Nemo: Overprotective dad, disobedient child

Mr. Incredible: Hiding stuff from his family and wife, needs help to succeed

Miguel from Coco?: He's like 12. All other males in the movie are over-protective or quite literally dead.

I'm not going to go on there. That was a skim. I even did Finding Nemo lol. If you want an added challenge though, try to name all of the Disney princesses, and then try to name the corresponding princes. Also Prince Ali doesn't count, he's a street thief that lies about his identity.

At the end of the day, the only thing I can come up with is Marvel, which is probably why they're doing so well, and why so many little boys are involved in that genre. Even then, not a lot of them are relatable, considering it's gods and aliens and mercenaries and people with shady/criminal pasts and whatever else.

Now, again, check the disclaimer up at the top before moving on.

Female leads are great. We need them. I'm all for everyone being equally represented. That's dope. It just seems as though we've tried so hard to represent one side that we've lost sight entirely of the other. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The men of today, a lot of times, aren't what they're supposed to be. I think a portion of that comes from not having anybody as an example of what they're supposed to be.

Equality is great, and America needs it if we're to survive as a country.

Disclaimer: Behind My Face, Above My Throat is aware of the light that this might portray the author in. The author invites those that may have questions or comments on their stance to reach out to them via social media platforms. Thank you!

-Dominic Romeo

05/07/2020

4:20 PM EST