Begone toxic masculinity! Jeff from Yellowjackets, Hughie from The Boys and frankly, everyone from Ted Lasso have offered healthy alternatives to archaic representations of manhood. Billie Walker takes a look at the TV shows that are quietly changing the way we see men.
TV loves to offer us unlikeable men, men that refuse to talk about their emotions or reckon with their pasts. We love to see Don Draper (Jon Hamm) knock around New York, bed hopping, bar hopping and occasionally sharing his trauma with an unknowing side character.
We look on in horror as Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) empire swells alongside his inflated ego, knowing that he’s flying too close to the sun. These are characters who were never going to deal with their damage. Either they cruise along with the same scars for the show’s entirety or we watch as they soar, ignoring all the signs, until their wings melt.
For a while now this was the way the media depicted men; they were damaged individuals who never confronted their demons and spoke to no one about their issues. They were toxic, radiating this version of masculinity that may have been a critique but it wasn’t a constructive one. They were untouchable, unchangeable and while they make for great TV, there’s only so many of them we can take before we need to change the conversation.
Bryan Cranston as Walter White in Breaking Bad. Credit: AMC
These men and their metaphorical wounds were designed to show us that the societal male ideals were harmful, but like a surgeon circling the sores and then walking away, they only highlighted the infected area with no intention of removing the infection itself.
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Thankfully, there has been a change in the male characters we see on TV today. Gone are the days of unchanging, terrible men; now there’s a glimmer of hope! While the conversation still hinges on what to do about men’s damage, it no longer leaves them oozing and sore at least.
Car trouble
One thing that men of this new oeuvre of manhood love to do, is break down in their car. Women are often depicted in their living rooms or sprawled in bed, makeup is perfectly smudged wearing the cutest slip they’d never choose for a meltdown. For men, it seems that the car has become the go to place for an emotional outlet.
What should go down as one of the greatest car scenes in recent TV history is Jeff’s (Warren Pole) cathartic blasting of Papa Roach’s ‘Last Resort’ in the garage. In the first episode of the second season of Yellowjackets, after helping Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) to destroy murder evidence, Jeff is left alone in the car. Jeff is a simple man who has led a good legal existence up until now, making this new situation a lot to bear.
Yellowjackets’ Jeff has been a beacon of hope for men all around. Credit: Showtime
The following scene, in which Jeff trashes inside his car, is not just a powerful moment for the emo millennials that love Yellowjackets; it’s a scene of pure, healthy emotional release. Jeff is never nothing but a supportive husband to Shauna as she opens up about her traumatic past and her current state of mind. The last thing he needs to do right now is put his feelings on her, and so he uses this moment of solace to thrash it out.
It cannot be stressed enough that the characterisation of Jeff as a himbo husband, who dutifully supports his wife is an important pivot in male roles on screen. There is still a societal backlash against men choosing the passenger seat in relationships, but Jeff is leading the change, it seems.
Submissive / Dominant
This is demonstrated by the recent uproar caused by a harmless Vogue cover featuring Rihanna in front leading her husband A$AP Rocky, who carries their first child in his arms. What to most looks like a stunning photo of a powerful couple caused quite the stir online, with many claiming A$AP Rocky’s stance behind Rihanna is emasculating. One twitter account went as far to annotate the photo labelling A$AP Rocky “submissive”, “feminine” and Rihanna as “dominant”, “masculine”. All with the intention of insulting and undermining the empowering cover shoot.
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It’s due to these mindsets that stress that men should not be seen publicly accepting or enjoying the parental role that shows combat this damaging belief. Prime Video’s The Boys actively targets this outdated notion of fatherhood and child raising. The last season of The Boys saw many of these angry tortured men battle it out.
Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander (Antony Starr) fought over their son and unintentionally imprinted their ideals of legacy and manhood onto their offspring. Billy eventually realises after many torturous flashbacks of his own father’s behaviour towards him that he is not in fact treating his kid or Hughie (Jack Quaid) any better.
Throughout The Boys, Hughie has always offered us an alternative manhood, counteracting the many men raging with testosterone – and compound V – in this show. But after many seasons of trying to be the good guy, he gets sick of never winning and tries his hand at the Billy Butcher way, by taking compound V and gaining temporary super powers. But just like Billy Butcher’s toxic masculinity never gets them very far neither does the V. Hughie may now possess superhuman strength, but he still doesn’t win back Annie or take revenge on A-Train.
Who’s your daddy?
Cut from the same rough cloth as Billy Butcher, is The Last of Us’ Joel (Pedro Pascal). The pair would probably share a beer and a few grunting, monosyllabic conversations while brooding over their own pain. But much like Billy Butcher, Joel is burdened with a young protégé, someone to protect and hopefully not load all of his baggage onto. It is Hughie and Ellie (Bella Ramsay), who are both the thorns in their sides and the reason for them to carry on fighting. And it’s through both of these that the men begrudgingly soften.
The Last of Us. Credit: HBO
One of the reasons we have recently come to love Pedro Pascal, is not because of the hardened character he plays, it’s because of the man he is; showing up to the red carpet in glittery cardigans and outwardly supporting his trans sister. None of which emasculates Pascal, it only adds to the internet’s slightly obsessive adoration of him. Pascal has shown us that men have options.
Comedy shows have always offered a different type of man than the strong silent types that fill drama series, but Ted Lasso offers something new entirely. Not only is Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) forced to reckon with his bravado of positivity, the whole show grapples with football players fighting against the masculine ideal that they are supposed to represent.
Ted Lasso is a TV show that offers endless joy and positive male representations, with much of the humour coming from its awareness of the typically macho setting of a football stadium. It feels similar to the England team’s campaign during the last World Cup, where our boys were photographed playing in a swimming pool, and riding unicorn inflatables. These portrayals combat the aggressive hooliganism often associated with the game.
What we are beginning to witness is fresh alternatives of what it means to be a man. These men are still damaged; well-adjusted characters just don’t make for great entertainment. But instead of allowing this pain to fester into full blown toxicity, there is a new trend of men looking to better themselves. Whether that’s by supporting their wife, changing their job, going to therapy or changing the way they treat those around them.
It’s simply not in vogue anymore for men to drag their damage, undealt with and unmanaged through five, six, seven seasons of a TV show. Jeff from Yellowjackets is TV’s hottest husband right now; the ultimate wife guy. Neither is it fun in reality or culture to choose to uphold antiquated, rigid ideals of manhood. Men should be able to play, raise children and cry without being emasculated for their behaviours and hopefully (despite online backlash) the tides are turning.
