MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Do Men Even Matter Any More?

Do Men Even Matter Any More?

posted 7 years ago by R_Kane (15828)
19 replies | jump to latest

As some of you know, I’m a former journalst who has very actively avoided all news sources since the World Trade Center plane-bombing coverage, and I’m much happier in my blissful this-just-in ignorance. I recently had a good, beyond-intelligent woman friend tell me that she thought it was becoming impossible for men to receive credit and respect “in this climate.” Unlike me, she is a news junkie. I told her I hoped she was mistaken, and she hoped so as well. I just saw a promo on STARZ, touting three female-oriented series launching soon, and the headline was “This spring, the Female Revolution Heats Up . . . The Future is Female, Fearless, Fierce.” While this is manifest hyperbole (e. g., only one with no understanding of courage praises fearlessness) clearly STARZ thinks it will resonate with an audience. What really troubles me about it is the reference to the Female Revolution.” What revolution? When I think of all the strides, that I supported, women have made against prejudice, oppression and sexism that I have seen in my lifetime, though there are advances still to be made, I think the “heating up” stage has moved well into the “simmering” stage of the revolution—with one possible exception: revenge. Have we reached the stage of, “Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war!”? I mean revenge in the form of marginalizing and trivializing men in popular culture and the mass media, two institutions with as much greed and integrity as a used-car salesperson. I am a tremendously confident man, so the idea of some commercial force turning me into an object of reflexive derision literally never occurred to me; and I may be naive. What do you think? With all the news about sexual harassment, movies about superheroines, Girl Power TV shows, are men being pushed into a corner in the popular view? After all, in the US, women make 70 percent of all buying decisions.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 7 years ago

Problably a very intelligent post Kane, but next time, as a former journalist, you might want to throw in a paragraph break or two. It would make your post much easier to read.

:-)

[–] Frogarama (12942) 7 years ago

What you saw on STARZ is just advertising. People sell what sells.

[–] BornRetarded (57) 7 years ago

That is not normally true or they wouldn’t need advertising. That’s the whole point. People buy very little without being made to want more. For example, far fewer people would keep buying new products and trends if they weren’t made to feel inferior for outdated models. Even the OP pointed out how women buy more stuff than men despite having less money, so clearly women are being manipulated by advertising more effectively than men, and men are being manipulated by women to allow it.

How else would you explain why in ultra racist Right wing capitalist America all the TV shows are for liberals? The usual explanation is that all the creative people making them are liberals, not that the slobs who spend all day watching them are the liberals.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 7 years ago

"That is not normally true or they wouldn’t need advertising. That’s the whole point. People buy very little without being made to want more."

Made a dumb and mindless point in the first sentence, second sentence literally means nothing, third sentence completely invalidates the first. Good job!

Then you end the post with the kind of mindless twaddle that your political overlords want you to think because they love having you be a hateful little wretch.

Living up to your username again.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

I'm posting this because someone on my Ignore list was the first to reply, which prevents me from seeing all other replies, unless I insert this work-around.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I'm posting this because someone on my Ignore list was the first to reply, which prevents me from seeing all other replies, unless I insert this work-around.

I think your solution to not seeing someone else's opinion is a fine one to have Ark.

I sadly suggest though that other people adopting a similar approach to any divide in an argument, gender based or otherwise, is what is causing the boiling pot to reach critical levels.

Lots of people talk about opening up a dialogue or starting a conversation but they really want a one way street with no resistance.

Understandable but not workable on a grand social scale.

[–] TheMan18 (13135) 7 years ago

Why, did they matter BEFORE?

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Sperm, soldiers, civilisation and science have all been contributing factors in getting the homo sapien to where it is today. Men play a reasonable enough part in each to state that they mattered.

Whether the still do - indeed whether anyone does - now, is a matter of philosophy or gibberish for those who think they have answers which much better minds have tried to muster with a genuine hunger for the answers and not an upgrade on their privilege passes.

[–] TheMan18 (13135) 7 years ago

What about, err, HUMAN BEINGS as species in general, do they matter much anymore?

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

They matter as much now as they ever have and so that depends on whether you think they ever mattered or not TM.

If they ever mattered then yes, they matter.

If they never mattered then no, they don't matter.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 7 years ago

They matter, to themselves... The universe does not perceive meaning, only human beings do, therefore it is human beings that give meaning to themselves and to the universe...

"To matter" is a relational concept... For something to matter, it must matter to someone.

This is something that cannot be perceived, understood and appreciated with the nihilism that is dominant in popular culture these days.

Edited: Moved parts as a reply to the main post...

[–] Kazak (2197) 7 years ago

White dudes (I am one) had a good run. 'Shouldn't've effed everything up so badly. The pendulum swings, the worm turns, the chickens come home to roost, etc, ad nauseam, ad infinitum, and all the rest.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

What does that mean? What did white males do that was, in your view, wrong? I do not understand you.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 7 years ago

Going back to the topic of the thread, for men to matter, they must matter to society, to women, or to themselves and one another.

This can be in a sense of simple utility, as breadwinners, producers, providers, sexual partners or for reproduction. The modern State and technology has eroded part of this utility... or it can take other relational, less material forms as fathers, leaders, role models, lovers, companions and such... i.e. the traditonal concept of "manning up". This is more difficult for the technology to supplant, but can be circumvented through ideology, laws and such, to some extent.

What is going on in Hollywood and in the corporate world in general is only part of the story. It is not fully representative of the position of men in society or in our contemporary civilisations...

To be a man and to matter is more than being just a penis with a wallet... This is something that the contemporary man must navigate and figure out for himself...

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

I was hoping to get replies from women. I’m not much interested in what members of my gender think.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I think this movement means that predatory men will (hopefully) think twice before using their power to control and abuse women.Non-predatory men may have to complete courses about sexual harassment, it may piss them off to do so I'd imagine.It's also to be hoped that women will be paid equally if in the same job as a man.
Realistically I don't think this will filter any further than the world of film and tv.I may be cynical but I don't get the impression that those women,who are already rich let us remember,care too much that some people will never earn in their lifetime what they earn for one film.I hope I'm wrong.

I don't think decent males have too much to worry about,I don't think they are about to be marginalised.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

Thank you, Dazed. You confirm my belief that this is all largely a tempest in a teapot, being made to look larger and more heinous than what it really is by popular culture and a corrupt system of information media. I value your reply.

[–] thewaitress (1616) 7 years ago

I think straight white men are being pushed so far into the corner that they might as well be extinct.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

That is a clear reply, and I think that you are right. Thank you.