according to research conducted by the upstart male-oriented network Spike TV, which interviewed thousands of young men to determine what that coveted and elusive demographic likes most in its television shows.
Spike found that men responded not only to brave and extremely competent leads but to a menagerie of characters with strikingly antisocial tendencies: Dr. Gregory House, a Vicodin-popping physician on Fox's "House"; Michael Scofield on "Prison Break," who is out to help his brother escape from jail; and Vic Mackey, played by Michael Chiklis on "The Shield," a tough-guy cop who won't hesitate to beat a suspect senseless. Tony Soprano is their patron saint, and like Tony, within the confines of their shows, they are all "good guys."
The code of such characters, said Brent Hoff, 36, a fan of "Lost," is: "Life is hard. Men gotta do what men gotta do, and if some people have to die in the process, so be it."
feeling marginalized yet?
1 comment:
I wonder if some of that "gotta do what you gotta do" is appealing to men in a completely separate way from the "macho man" aspect the article is talking about. Isn't the appeal largely about cutting through the bullshit of the modern world? And by bullshit, I mean "complexity".
Whether that means Noam Chomsky berating the history of American foreign policy with a cut-to-the-quick brutal sentence, or Jack Bauer putting a bullet into a suspect's knee because he's not going to deal with the complexities of human rights.
The appeal, I think, is about people wanting to emulate people who do not get confused by the confusing world, who see straight through it to its essence without getting distracted or slowed down by all the frills.
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