The American Man

When Alexis de Tocqueville came to the United States in the 1800’s from England, he made several observations on the gender roles he saw men and women occupying. Tocqueville wrote that democracy had a profound effect on American men. Unlike in Britain, all American men are born with equal opportunities. The third born son is granted the same opportunities as the first-born son. Sons of a blacksmith are not expected to grow up and carry on the family blacksmith business. They can go to school and train to be whatever they want to be. There is a sense of choice and chance and opportunity in America. One can rise up and make something of himself.

Today in America, the media has crafted a vision of the ideal American male. He can be seen on television and in movies, on the evening news, and splattered throughout newspaper headlines. The AMC drama Mad Men captures life in America on the cusp of 1960’s. Don Draper, portrayed by actor Jon Hamn, is the archetypal male on the show. Young and handsome with a high level advertising position on Wall Street, Don is the epitome of success. He has a beautiful wife and two children at home, and has earned the respect of his colleagues and neighbors. Don is admired for his ability to control the people around him. From what I’ve seen of the show so far, Don didn’t come from the world of class and high status that he resides in. The audience learns, from a stray comment, that Don wasn’t raised by a nanny. He doesn’t talk about his past, but one can assume that Don worked his way up into his wealthy life in New York. He was the American man of the 1960’s.

Don Draper

Forty years later, the American male ideal has changed. A new kind of male has emerged. He’s slobby, sexist, insensitive, lazy, and utterly disinterested. Judd Apatow’s 2007 film Knocked Up told the tale of a beautiful, ambitious woman named Alice who has a one night stand with a slobby guy named Ben that results in a pregnancy. Ben, portrayed by actor Seth Rogen, does not work. He sits around with is buddies dreaming up website ideas. Their biggest idea yet? A website that breaks down, minute by minute, all of the times a woman’s naked body appears in a film. Allison, portrayed by Katherine Heigl, is an ambitious worker at E! News who has just been promoted to a telecaster.

Ben and Annie:

Despite their differences, the movie finds Allison and Ben overcoming their differences and choosing to try out a relationship. Despite his lack of income, Ben is expected to support the baby. Ben cannot shake society’s expectations for a male to be the supporter and protector. The Seth Rogen type can be found in Homer Simpson on Fox's The Simpsons.

At the same time, there is a very masculine, heroic male archtype in the media. On Fox’s 24, Jack Bauer tortures terrorists every week. On the big screen, big movie stars like Brad Pitt and Gerald Butler run around shooting guns in action movies where they show off their strength and manliness. 2005’s War of the Worlds had Tom Cruise fighting off an alien invasion while he protected his eleven-year-old daughter.

Jack Bauer:

I think that American society has taken these various representations on television and melded them to form an ideal male. The Don Draper model of the 1960’s still persists in the fact that the male is the breadwinner. When a man walks into a room, he should command respect. He should also be strong and athletic. Traditionally, men are still expected to marry and have children. And yet, at the same time, there is a new type of slacker male. He can wear dirty shirts and say politically incorrect things but it’s all okay as long as he comes off as slightly charming. To be man today means to be hardworking and strong. But doing the weekends, it's fine to regress to a bum in sweatpants.

In looking at the media, one can see that my definition is a working definition. The American man changes through the years and decades, ditching aside some traits and gaining others as the years go by.