I think this is why a bunch of adults suddenly like Bluey; the father might be one of the only kid's show dads who isn't a pathetic idiot OR a boring authoritarian who is just there to say "you're grounded".
Literally every 80s/90s family sitcom. "This man is a fucking idiot who knows nothing, but also you have to obey him "
I hate those sitcom dads, but I have a soft spot for early Homer Simpson and Malcolm in the Middle. They’re technically sitcoms with bumbling fathers, but in The Simpsons there are moments where Homer must face the horrors of capitalism and sacrifice is portrayed.
And Malcolm is pretty much about an dysfunctional, borderline abusive family that was a result of constantly being stressed over finances, bankruptcy, minimum wage jobs, and potential homelessness. Hal is an idiot, but we know why because he doesn’t have enough time or energy to truly learn about being a good dad.
Other feel good sitcoms rarely show what the “sacrifice” actually is, and if they do it’s usually just “oh shucks, I’m being laid off, but I still love my family and will find another job to provide for them.” The cruelty is not present. It is just another obstacle for characters to get through. It’s no surprise that politicians criticized The Simpsons (and maybe Malcolm? I’m not sure) and encouraged people to be like the feel-good always happy live audience sitcom families. There is no overarching horror corrupting their relationships and behavior. Everything is okay at the end of the day.
Look, the problem isn't that there are so many waifus in media, but the fact that there are just waifus and no twinks.
There's that one movie where a man's wife kills herself , and he can't bring himself to read the note. Instead, he gets addicted to huffing gasoline and spirals. Anyone know which film that is?
I love that movie! Philip Seymour Hoffman is the guy. I can never remember the name of it either lol Edit: looked it up. Its called Love Liza. Really under-rated film
I would love to see more fiction where men can feel sad or just have a rough time. Not just rage and angst, but sadness or perhaps disappointment. A more nuance emotion other than big mad. I would love to see that dude’s rough time met with empathy, solidarity, fraternity, from other men. Like a dude character is being sad, and other dude character gives him hug. Something that basic would be cool. It’d be rad to see fiction where dudes are capable of being human. I want to see fiction (and reality to be honest) where men have real friends who let them be real.
It depends on the movie or show for me. In Breaking Bad, Scarface, American Psycho, etc. (using cliche examples here) there are no doubt badass lines and moments, but if you’re not a mindless conservative consumer then you’d realize how pathetic the main characters are outside of very specialized situations.
Like Walt thinks he’s some criminal mastermind when in reality he’s just a very good meth cook and engineer. He thinks he can kill actual hardened, indifferent criminals by just walking up to their house.
Bateman is going around murdering people, but he’s obsessed with how he’s perceived by others and the brands they wear - a literal soydl consoomer in their parlance (it’s also theorized/implied that he’s such a bland loser that he fantasizes all his violent crimes).
Montana will kill hundreds of assassins sent to his mansion, but that was the consequences for embracing the American dream and realizing that capitalism is a soulless, racist, and lonely enterprise when it was far too late.
Tony Soprano can kill and chop up a body and have sex with dozens of mistresses, but he’ll have a heart attack over a box of uncle Ben rice because he hates black people, only to be treated by minority doctors.
But these shows and movies were written by intelligent people and half of the audience is too dumb or lazy to analyze it. Movies like Taken or the various police, SWAT, FBI, special forces dramas on ABC or whatever are taken at face value because it was written to be taken literally. Also, as for the strong female lead, these shows mentioned in this paragraph will usually have them, but they’re usually just tomboys who aren’t taken seriously until they commit police brutality/war crimes and every man in the force is like “whoa she’s just like me! I can trust her and now treat her with respect.”
But these are antiheroes. You can’t just be a normal guy who feels sad
I didn't know the movie was going to be a musical, this thing really is going to be catnip for anyone even vaguely feminist or critical of capitalism huh
