stuff? yeah i know about stuff

Don’t let the title fool you, it’s got good points. Here’s my favourite part, where one talent scout highlights that this “feminization” (if it exists) is back lash that comes from focus on being “manly” in the first place:

“I believe there’s been a certain feminization of the American male,” he says. “As a result, there are a lot of ‘mama’s boys.’ Kids are raised like veal. We’re afraid to let them play soccer. That kind of nurturing softens what we’re used to seeing on the screen. American men aren’t men on the screen.”

Papsidera says he’s had to turn to Canada, Australia, and the U.K. to fill our growing superhero testosterone gap.

“There, they’re still raised as men. Heath [Ledger] was a man’s man. Guys like Henry Cavill, there’s an easy masculinity to them. But because of how predominant the sixties and the women’s movement were here, guys in America talk about their ‘feelings’ far more than guys from New Zealand and Australia or Ireland.”

One leading talent agent agrees that American leading men are increasingly less than hypermasculine, but thinks that Papsidera may have it backwards: It’s not that American men aren’t allowed to act manly; it’s that manly American men aren’t allowed to act.

“By the time a kid reaches 12 or 13 in America, if he’s displayed any talent for them, he’s steered towards athletics in high school,” offers the agent. “Kids who want to do theater, or study acting, well, they’re immediately labeled ‘wimps’ or worse, ‘fags.’ Whereas, in the U.K., that’s absolutely not the case: It’s not considered weird to act and play soccer over there, or to sing and play rugby. And so by the time some of the more better-looking, rugged American guys who’ve been, say, modeling decide maybe they’re interested in acting, it’s too late: The U.K. guys have had so much more and so much better training, it’s not even a fair fight. Our guys don’t stand a chance.”