The media dictating the ideal man
You are constantly being bombarded on television, newspapers, magazines and on online spaces with images of the perfect guy.
You are unconsciously giving into these stereotypes of what men should be like and giving into objectification. This creates unrealistic expectations since most of these images are photo-shopped and the image of the perfect guy is being dictated to us (Thomson et. Al, 1999).
This relates to the phenomena of soft power which uses attraction to influence. Manufacturing consent, discusses five steps as to how soft power is used to lure societies into certain cultural codes and values (Chomsky, Herman. 1988). The most relevant idea is the size, dominance and profit of media firms. Major media outlets re-enforce ideas around what masculinity is. An example would be Gq magazine. Gq magazine sales are quite high as shown below and this means that it is largely disseminated . This magazine features men like Chris Hemsworth, Leonardo DiCaprio and David Beckham take center stage showing how defined their physiques. This then defines what physicality should be for men.
http://justmediakits.com/mediakit/1371-gq.html
Media outlets also define what emotions and interests a man should have. The magazine covers say it all already. Men should be interested in working out, bulking up, having muscles and being athletic as possible.
Having a salacious interest in sex (heterosexual)
https://giphy.com/gifs/ash-williams-Psj6oPRONBVUA
They have to be breadwinners in their households and this shifts the power dynamic onto men having dominance in relationships.
This just shows the impact magazines can have by perpetually showing a particular kind of man. Due to technological advancements and access, the online world has become the new space to further entrench these ideas. Social media apps play a part in disseminating information. Instagram is one of the more popular apps since it has the highest usage rates. Instagram has something called Instagram models. These people are considered to be physically attractive and have a high following. The male Instagram models in particular love to show their toned bodies, nutritional diets, their affluent lifestyle and how many “beautiful” women they have around them.
This impacts the average male since it urges them to make these changes in their life. It impacts females in terms of what they want as life partners. To break down these examples, the stereotypical male should be strong, physically fit, sexual, emotionally detached and domineering. These explored ideas will feed into three main examples that seemed to have a large global impact on societies.
The Twilight franchise from 2008 made a large explosion in the media world when famous books turned into four films that young adults and teenagers went ludicrous over. To put the plot line simply, girl moves into new town, finds emotionally detached and creepy vampire boy attractive, pursues him and he falls in love with her, her werewolf friend likes her too and they all live disastrously ever after.
https://giphy.com/gifs/bill-hader-stefon-Kjv5D2VLwj2tG
The point is the relationship between the lead characters, Bella and Edward. When the two begin to commit, Bella is affected quite negatively. She gets physically hurt, emotionally torn when he becomes absent and leaves her and he has this blood-lust.
https://www.hypable.com/twilight-cast-hate-twilight/
Fifty shades of grey portrays this similarity where Christian Grey is this abusive, sexual deviant who happens to be rich and good looking and takes in upon himself to use his traumatic past as an excuse to hurt women such as Anastasia who are submissive and have no real knowledge of worldly affairs. What these two have in common is there impact on both genders in society. Looking at women firstly, these type of media products induct the belief that it’s okay for men to abuse you in all forms. You just have to stand by him and be willing because your emotions do not matter. It’s how you benefit him that matters. Looking at this from another perspective, it allows men to believe that they can hurt women because they are stronger, smarter, wealthier and women are naturally submissive.
https://za.pinterest.com/pin/8585055517934694/
Lastly, the new Netflix heartthrob, Noah Centenio.
To all the boys I have loved before sparked great interest in the male lead, Peter Kavinsky. The character portrayal of the perfect boyfriend. Peters relationship with Lara might have started off fake to prevent Lara’s best friend and sister from finding out about her recent crush and to annoy Peters ex-girlfriend, It soon ignited romantic feelings between the two. What makes this movie so attractive to viewers is the way Peter treats Lara. He sends her handwritten notes, he does the now famous hand in pocket spin, he talks to her about his family situation and feelings (not immediately however) and he is respectful and nice to her family. That sounds really pleasant but the facts still remain that is he an athlete part of the lacrosse team, he lives in a nice house and drives fancy car and to add, he has a raspy voice, tall and well built built physique and it doesn’t hurt that he is good looking. Although this portrayal of the male lead is slowly progressing, he still embodies the ongoing physical standards of the ideal male.
These type of attributes effect people’s desires and expectations because at one stage, I wouldn’t dare go for a guy who was not over six foot, worked out and lived some affluent lifestyle.
https://gifer.com/en/8lzz
The terms nice guys always finish last is because the media portrayed ideal guys to be emotionally detached and quite mean and in turn coerce women to be with this certain type of man. The medias portrayal of the ideal man impacts societies in ways people may not notice and people unknowingly give into and support stereotypes and that links to soft power and it’s influences on societies cultural codes and values.
