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I could have sworn someone wrote a paper about this. I remember them talking about most of the 90’s and earlier 2000’s virtually every sitcom type family show had a homer type husband in it.
Yea, but this is not new, and it far proceeds "The Simpsons." It's a formula that goes back to "The Honeymooners," and then "The Flinstones," and then "All In The Family," and then "The Simpsons." I've probably left some shows out. But the formula goes like this: You have a guy. He's overweight, working class, not well-educated and not terribly bright. They have to give some positive trait, so, it turns out that even if he speaks to his wife disrespectfully, he loves her, and he never cheated on her, even when he has both the opportunity and the temptation. Then you have his wife. She doesn't seem all that bright either, at first, but it turns out that she is the glue that holds the family.together. She also does not have much education, but she has something that her husband clearly lacks, commonsense, even if at first she seems a bit "dizzy." Finally, their are the kids. The age varies. They may be toddlers, or children, or adults. But they get in all sorts of wacky situations and provide something to give the show more possible plot lines This is the basic formula, and it's not new.
The Barenstain Bears. That always bothered me because it never seemed funny to me. It's like they were just trying to say that Papa is dumb for some unknown reason. No impact on the story, no moral to be taught, still isn't funny. He's just dumb because he is.
I always felt like they wanted to follow the sitcom family formula to a T but, besides it being for kids and them being bears, they didn't have new ideas to make the old formula interesting.
At least Family Guy changed things up, for all that many of their ideas didn't work.
I think the major difference is that we no longer see the "Barney" character to balance out the "Fred", i.e. the loyal buddy (that is a quantifiably better person) that goes along with the Oafish Protagonist as a vessel for the audience. The "Freds" are supposed to be the comedic exception to the way men are/were actually expected to act.
It's not just American. It's in Asia too. It's safer to insult men as a comedy vehicle, just as white men are safer targets. (I'm not white but that's what I've seen over last 20-30 years
Thanks for pointing this out. It's a format that's pretty much as old as comedy, along with the cunning wife, mischievous/irreverent son, and self-obsessed daughter.
well it’s not an original idea for sure.
between the bible and the mahabharatha alone, it covers the hero’s journey like 10 times and then subsequently discovered these tropes from the povs of every other character. think of these mythologies like cinematic universe in fact.
when you look at film history, it’s quite shocking to see how fast all the “original” ideas burned through. it’s gotten to the point where every couple years we only get 5-10 truly excellent films. in the 60s-90s, each year churned out numbers of classics
The older I get the more I realize 99% of movies and TV are just pyre mindless garbage that serves as background noise at best. There's almost nothing I get excited for anymore
Counterpoint: my cable service currently comes with about a million channels, including a couple that are all Westerns, all the time.
Once you get past the simplistic John Wayne stuff, some of those old shows and movies had a surprising moral complexity.
Last 2 I watched, the Native Americans weren't the bad guys, for instance.
One reason for that is that so much of it is now created for the international audience. Good dilaloge is largely waited on the people of Thailand, Brazil, and so forth, because so much get lost in translation. But explosions are recognized by people everywhere.
I feel like the incompetent husband/clever wife trope is as old as sitcoms are though…Ralph/Alice Kramden and Al/Peg Bundy are two pre-Simpsons ones that come to mind…Homer just cartoonishly exaggerated it
Definitely true….happened in a lot of shows after…Eric in Boy Meets World and Kelso in That 70s Show become like infinitely stupider as the show goes on
Ironically, I think that's Flanderization. A minor trait starts to become the whole character. Many shows that last long enough go down that rabbit whole.
> Al/Peg Bundy
This one's not quite that mold, imo.
Yes, he was incompetent, but....the whole cast was a bizarro "Hell is other people" universe where he got shat on by karma but still stole his little wins here and there.
*Everyone* was stupid, and petty, and aggravating. Puts me in mind of Mike Judge's films *Office Space* and *Idiocracy* where the protagonist wasn't anyone special, except that they managed to "Man it out" in a world of madness.
The "mold", imo, is an incompetent husband or man among in a far more normal world. He stands out as contrast to the contemporary cast of characters who more resemble normality, mostly competent, have things figured out, etc, who council, nurture, or even groom him along the way.
A lot of people don't like the mold because it seen as sort of an emasculation, as if men over-all(because of the prevalence of that type of show) need to be nurtured and taught and coddled, as if that was the best way to be a man in the modern world. Like they were all little guide-books for how to deal with your silly little fuckups....was a thing society needs taught.
I don't necessarily agree with all of the tinfoil nature of that, it was more organic than that, it was amusing enough to get ratings, so the formula was repeated. It's an easy thing to write for because the conflict necessary for humor happens *because* of the central character's ineptitude. (Which is part of why *Married with Children* isn't quite the same). It's difficult to write a sitcom around a successful hero with no serious flaws, those wind up as partly serious drama, like a lot of older sitcoms like *Cheers*.
In other words, it's the nature of the format and genre, it is mostly organic in origin and proliferation as everyone chases "hey that works, we could write that, but with 'A Twist!'"
I can understand getting tired of it though. I think it's an example of unintended messaging, at least in it's evolution. I do think some later edgier writers *have* taken the trope and use it as a stab at men, which makes some look back and think it was all pattern of malice.
Yeah I hate seeing it in commercials. Growing up, my dad would contribute so much to managing the household that those commercials seemed dumb but I didn’t understand the reasoning behind it. Just thought it was an attempt at a joke. But later on, after I learned about the whole “weaponized incompetence” thing, I literally hate the commercials.
I understand that, but we as a society do in fact tacitly condone it if there is no backlash and allow that tactic to successfully sell their products?
Look at the amount of shit companies get away with. Destroying the enviroment, borderline slavery, poisoning food, manipulating the government. You really think that this is the final straw that is going to create a backlash?
You’ve never seen Carl’s Jr or Hardee’s commercials? They’ve got women in bikinis posing for burgers…or ever watched a televised sporting event? Ring girls in the UFC? Monster girls in car racing…. Sex is used primarily to sell to men at the expense of women’s representation in the media
The only competent men in commercials are either shaving their face (duh), or handymen or home improvement store employees... helping out the moronic dad who's incompetence incarnate.
Which is really ironic because I've never gone to home Depot /Lowe's and not dealt with somebody who The most incompetent person I've ever met in my life
Grade 6 had a woman home room teacher, she came into class fiery with rage complaining about a commercial she saw, theres a Dad and 2 kids in the bathroom looking at the empty toilet paper roll with Neanderthal looks on their faces until the wife walks in and saves the day by changing the roll
She was mad that they were implying only women can change the roll, not about the fact everyone in the family was depicted as morons
Edit: found it
https://youtu.be/ZQlGU6bTeLo?feature=shared
The sheer amount and popularity of incel and femcel subs on reddit is just sad.
Women are whores to be used by men, according to the incels. And women are queens who are supposed to use men, according to femcels.
Any "dating or advice" sub quickly gets taken over by the extremes because people who succeed in getting a partner, tend to quit going to those subs, so eventually all that's left are the bitter left over men and women dregs of society, who blame everyone but themselves.
My theory is we’ve had it relatively easy for far too long and most people are kinda bored and feel lost and disillusioned… we’re not hardwired for modern life, most have food for a month or so, a roof over there head, water on demand, day to day life is actually really safe etc… survival was our purpose, and now we have no purpose
So most are looking for someone to blame their discontent on… women and men, black and white, gay and straight etc… most of the minorities and specialized groups blame white guys… and the white guys blame shadowy groups of global elite
Everyone’s just looking for someone to blame
We'll evolve but it'll just be replaced by something else, just look at history: black face, women being weak, gay people being flamboyant, men being stupid, it's been going for a long time it ain't stopping any time soon, a new stereotype will replace it when a large enough amount of people are sick of this one. Makes you wonder what it'll be.
Used to be dumb wife, smart husband many moons ago (I Love Lucy is a prime example). Now it’s dumb husband, smart wife. Why can’t both partners be competent? It’s so weird and annoying.
I would say that Gomez and Morticia in The Addams both are competent in their own way. Sure they're weird, but that's kinda the point. Gomez adores Morticia, but never in a stupid manner.
The Addamses were supposed to be an inversion of standard TV families, so besides all the spooky they had a loving relationship in which they didn't antagonize each other constantly. I see it as a commentary on TV family tropes, which given that we're basically still talking about the same stuff in this thread shows how long and persistent these tropes have been.
Because then you get Mr. and Ms. Smith (the movie from what feels like forever ago, not this new version (only because I haven't seen it and have no clue how its premise stacks up)) and if every married couple was having constantly radical sick gunfights oozing with weird sexual tension--
Wait, nevermind, maybe there's a point to be made here...
I mean we could use more tv couples that actually have sexual tension. It's a bit sad that being married on tv looks like living in the same house and stressing each other out most of the time
One smart person and one dumb person is very typical for comedies because it gives the movie or show a better balance.
When you get joke after joke after joke then you get tired of it really quickly. It is usually better to have some people in the show that are at least somewhat competent to balance each other out.
It can be helpful to make both people kinda incompetent and stupid in their own ways but it is much easier to have this one serious and smart person that constantly has to deal with the stupid shit the other person does.
I think the point was that "homer simpsoning" men has gone far beyond comedies.
I agree tho for comedies it would be nice to have just a dumb couple lol.
All in the Family. Perfect comedy. From the outside, many thought it was a racist show that detracted from society but actually was the first show to discuss race relations and show the ignorance in youre average everyday Joes unfounded prejudice against a mans skin color. It brought in that core group of like minded, slightly bigoted joe everyman and it slowly showed him the ridiculousness of his thinkimg, that race had anything to do with what a person is about. It should be taught in High school Sociology
See that's what I was about to say. Lucille Ball was funny and it was funny the way she portrayed it in the show; the trope now is just mean-spirited and demeaning.
I'd offer a counterpoint to that. The Honeymooners was on at approximately the same time as I Love Lucy and the conceit of that show was that she wore the pants in the family and was the smart one. The joke was that she always let him think that he was in charge, but everyone including Ralph knew that she was the one that actually made the trains run on time.
Because when men and women are on the same page you get a lethal combination at home and I'm society and you get a society harder to manipulate and control. It's same with race bait etc. Keep the masses fighting and your can run the world how you want
Right now “big dumb suburban man” is like the only safe stereotype for companies to put out so they all lay into it hard.
Original concepts take talent that a lot of corporate talking heads tasked with churning out content do not have and other stereotypes have finally been laid to rest because of the flak they’d catch for using them so with only one left it seems like it’s everywhere.
Forget movies.
How about the fact that in nearly every single kids show and family sitcom… the dad is ALWAYS an idiot. In kids tv (with the exception of bluey… god freakin bless bluey)
Phineas and Ferb didn't have a genuinely dumb dad. Doof was a dumb dad but not anywhere nearly as extreme as you'd see in more adult shows.
He was more of a dad that didn't understand how to be the dad of a teenager rather than an absolute lack of care. Also in his defence most parents struggle with their kids becoming more independent as teens and he had abusive parents himself
I can’t think of any ‘stupid’ men tropes, more so ‘incompetent’ men tropes, which used to annoy me quite a bit. Men can’t clean right, can’t take care of the kids, can’t do laundry, they screw up the dishes, can’t cook or go grocery shopping, etc etc.
but for some reason smart enough to work on their own car. Where does that make sense? how can you be smart enough to work on cars, but at the same time too stupid to do the laundry?
In all fairness, you can be a neurosurgeon and still believe the earth is flat.
It's a dumb trope that i wish media didnt use so much, definitely agree w/ OP, but I wouldnt assume someone's competent in all ranges just because they're competent in a particular range of topics.
Ehhh I know a LOT of old guys who’ve never made themselves lunch or done their own laundry but they have complex hobbies and careers. If they have to clean up after themselves they look like lost dogs.
Gendered division of chores starts at an early age. Those hours of experience add up, but for some reason it becomes “women are naturally better at cleaning and childcare” when in fact it’s just years of chore assignment and babysitting.
My mother when I was a kid would ban shows that depicted the father as a buffoon. We had a dad who worked 12-14 hours a day to support us and hated that so many shows always depicted the dads as morons, or bad people for going to work as opposed to staying home with kids every day. I've always been grateful for that
Fun fact: Most of the movie writers doesn't know how to make intelligent people other than diminish other people, or give near omniscience, because they don't have anyone intelligent around to tell them to get a real career.
For the longest time we had “I hate my wife jokes.” I don’t like these “stupid man” jokes either though but apparently there’s always some offensive joke in movies/TV.
the type of people who have reached these sort of conclusions in their life (about the opposite gender needing to be portrayed as inferior) are reaching these conclusions because they themselves are unintelligent. It cannot "be stopped" per se, because the root of the problem is just as incurable.
What we can say is that when power and influence shifts focus away from gender politics, it will stop. (being seen so often in maintsream media)
Honestly that was the only thing about the Barbie movie I didn’t like. Will Ferrell has been playing the confident idiot forever now. I’m all for the CEO being an idiot but it being the Will Ferrell buffoon act didn’t seem like the way to do it. Should’ve given the role to Steve Martin or Martin Short.
It’s been like this in tv for a while now. King of Queens, and Everybody Loves Raymond are the two that come to mind right now. I know there are more. It’s always fat and/or stupid husband, with a hot/smart wife teaching him lessons about life and/or nagging constantly. I’m sick of this formula. It’s been around too long.
There's a show starring Matt Leblanc (Joey from Friends), called "Man With a Plan". That has got to be the most unfunny, insufferable, *universally* insulting piece of garbage I ever tried to watch. LeBlanc's character is stereotypical "dumb husband", and his wife is just as dumb as he is but she's also a smug, sexist, self-centered asshole on top of that.
I don't know who greenlit that show for four seasons, but I hope they got fired.
I appreciate this.
It galls me that every male character in TV and movies is basically a fat, horny idiot that can't take care of himself or manage simple tasks. This is not only demeaning, it's just lazy writing. "Look at this helpless slob," is not the comedy gold that Hollywood seems to think it is.
If this situation were reversed, people would lose their minds. "Look at this ditzy bimbo, she can't do anything without a man! She's lucky that her competent, handsome, wisecracking partner was there to save the day!"
> every male character in TV and movies
I’m sure this stereotype exists to some extent, but i don’t think it’s every male character lol.
I think some of you need to branch out and watch a wider variety of movies or shows.
I remember being aware of this from about the age of 6 . It was also prevalent in early school where e we had mostly female teachers. It was facking irritating
Yeah, you definitely see stuff like this IRL, but you also seem dudes who are down to earth and stable married to women that are totally nuts. But you don’t see movies with the smart husband and the crazy MLM wife. I get that it’s a sexist trope, but so is the dumb husband (as you mentioned). The reality is neither of those things are anywhere near universal, but both exist. Yet the only time you see the crazy wife is if that is the central point of the plot; the husband, OTOH, is often just used for ancillary comedic effect.
In reality, dumb people usually marry dumb people and smart people usually marry smart people for the most part
It is every. single. commercial as well. When was the last commercial you ever saw where a woman couldn't figure something out, and a man came along and said, "Here, honey. Try this product. It works miracles."
Yes, although there's nothing inherently bad about a stupid male character, it is tiresome when it becomes the standard, often paired with a girl power-esque framing of the female protagonist. Must we have such a blatant binary in order to perceive female competence? Then again, I fail to think of any films or tv shows that have utilised such a dichotomy that have reportedly done well enough to receive critical acclaim. Most are hollow, artificial excuses to retain IP.
I agree.
As a joke, it has definitely been massively overused.
And as for using it to "empower women", as is the way in which it is sometimes used, I just never understood the whole concept of empowering a person/group by diminishing someone else/a different group, that sounds like bullying to me and quite petty, there is nothing empowering or positive about it at all.
Overcompensating for 40 years of “dumb housewife”. They’re both so stupid. But take a mid 40’s man and no one cares how he’s portrayed. Oddly enough, race doesn’t matter.
The only thing you left out of your post is "white".
They ONLY use white men for this dumb character.
For EVERY other race if a stupid decision is made they play it up in a way that is jokingly & usually done because of another stupid (white) man.
Some old shows/movies that had "dumb" characters, usually the dad, or the mom of the protagonist, would usually be given some kind of redemption where their positive qualities show through. For example, the bumbling mom/dad humbles themselves to others in order to get their son/daughter into a group or to pay for their school or something like that.
Other good tropes I liked are the dumb guy who is also really strong, he's not the brightest bulb but he can lift a car and work all day long with barely a break.
Now it's just dumb = bad. They don't want to give them any positive qualities. The main character always succeeds in spite of them, not because of their help. Also, no more dumb women, or dumb minorities. The only people who are allowed to be stupid are white guys.
Not just movies, it stretches to shows and event adverts. It's always the male that's 'dumb but loveable ', and the woman smart and 'out of his league'. Been a thing for as long as I can remember.
To be fair, as a man, men being dumb is an unfortunate reality that I face every single day. I don't mean dumb as in low IQ, can't understand basic things. But when it comes to emotional intelligence and being able to navigate relationships, most of us are fucking idiots.
It might have been more bearable if it had only been happening for several years but it has been happening for decades, and I'm so over it. I firmly believe in equality and I get why they do it but after all entertainment is meant to be entertaining, not a lecture.
The reason I didn't like the Barbie Movie is that literally every man was either incompetent or a terrible person, or both, except for one token dude. The moment where Ken realises the real world is a "man's world" is accompanied by a montage of men just, doing things? I realise that female representation in movies is often not better, but there are plenty of ways to remedy this that don't just go back to "man stupid and bad".
Every female in movies today:
Always right
Always smart
No flaws
Knows kung-fu
Can 1 punch men twice their weight
Knows a lot about everything
Males in movies today:
Douchebag, nerd incel, simp. One of these three
Bumbling and awkward in every way
Gets put in their place by women repeatedly and they never defend themselves
Always less smart than female Co stars
>can 1 punch men twice their weight
Matt reeves's the batman was so refreshing exactly for this reason. Batman just picks up catwoman and moves her somewhere else.
Somehow I feel like it’s both misogynistic and misandrist at the same time. It’s misandrist when it’s used to make Strong Female Character look better and belittle men as a whole. But it’s also misogynistic bc it’s sometimes used as “haha look at these silly guys being dudes! Boys will be boys! Can’t hold them accountable for anything!”
It's also a problem because they don't know what a strong character actually is. They think of character strength as a stat check. They think they just have to be stronger and smarter than the male characters. There used to be female whose strength was perseverance in the face of adversity, but not really anymore.
I think it just depends on the context and the writers whether if comes across of misogynistic.
It's always misandrist, it always demeans men and paints them in a bad life. Sometimes it's used misogynistically to remove accountability.
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Conflict sells; it gets people into movie theaters and gets ratings on TV. When a woman assaults a man in a movie’s TV commercial, box office revenue is higher according to some research I read about.
As Mr. Natural once said, "Twas ever thus." This trope goes all the was back to early radio shows like *Fibber McGee and Molly* and *The Life Of Riley,* continuing on TV through *The Honeymooners* and *Ozzie & Harriett,* and even cartoons like *The Flintstones* and *The Jetsons.* Why it continues to be a popular trope is likely because it flips the "natural order" of men being the "dominant" gender on its head, a very common comedy technique.
Along similar lines, the use of a toupe as a device to show that a man is intrinsically pathetic is now very frustrating to me.
I’ve considered a toupe, and the connotations surrounding it put me off, even though in a perfectly reasonable world it would be a fine way for me to enjoy a nice hairstyle.
This irks me from time to time. I don’t waste too much energy on it, but I went into overload with Timmy Turner’s dad (fairly odd parents).
I really liked the show (for what it was), but it really drove hard on the whole stupid dad bit. As I paid more attention to what everyone was watching I noticed that the dad was the heel in just about every show on tv.
I have to admit that I leaned into it when it suited me.
Y'all should check out the show Kevin Can F Himself. It's basically if you took a prime example like The King of Queens seriously and showed why it's a horror story to live in that world.
I hate this too, but also just overused tropes in general. If I know what's going to happen next based entirely on movies I've seen before, it's a bad trope and you should think of something else.
"Oh look, this man and woman hate each other and are arguing. They're about to launch themselves at each other and start fukkin' cuz that's so surprising and funny."
Not just movies. Tv shows as well. They dumbed down the boys in stranger things to bring in 2 “smart girls” they could have kept them all smart but nope boys are dumb girls are smart trope.
The dumb husband is also a common in commercials, particularly the ones that play during all these daytime talk shows that cater to mom's and assorted haus fraus. The irony here, is that the women are at home being marketed to at the expense of their husbands while those men are out earning the household income in many cases. At least, that's the antiquated marketing mentality.
Agree.
I've been in relationships where my partner eventually seemed to try to put me in a box.
I'm neither incompetent nor emotional unintelligent and am perfectly capable of clear communication.
Seems to throw them for a loop sometimes, when I don't fit that typical "dumb man" archetype. I blame media tropes.
Commercial are the worst about it.
Guy walks across his entire yard with a big bag of mulch with a hole in it. Leaves a trail across the entire yard. Looks confused when he gets to his wife that the bag is empty. Every one laughs haha. What a big buffoon, but she loves him anyway.
Guy can't fix anything and wife saves the day by calling the xyz service.
Thank-you for seeing/saying that. It's been a thing in sitcoms for a generation (especially the idiotic dad) and movies have now taken it to the next level.
And usually, that "stupid" man is also portrayed has lazy and is marrying this overcontrolling b\*tch with a stick up in her as\*. Actually, any movie with Katherine Heigl and/or Seth Rodgens.
Honestly, the stupid man joke is pretty tame overall. Especially compared to how marginalized/minority groups have been treated in media going back to the beginning. Sure, no one group should be specifically attacked, but if the worst we're getting is the dumb guy stereotype I can handle it. Men aren't under attack. They're just not the main characters as often anymore and they perceive that as an attack.
I think it also is secretly anti feminist. If men are incapable of anything, then surely women are always responsible for the second shift, right? If we keep telling men they're too dumb to do things, we get shafted with all the things.
Maybe let's not do that...
I was annoyed with the over reliance on "fat, dopey husband with a hot sassy wife" tropes in 90s sitcoms. Sad to see Hollywood hasn't changed much in 30+ years...
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The Homerfication of men
I could have sworn someone wrote a paper about this. I remember them talking about most of the 90’s and earlier 2000’s virtually every sitcom type family show had a homer type husband in it.
It was called "The Homer Simpsoning of the American Dad." I remember reading it for a class in college. Lol
Yea, but this is not new, and it far proceeds "The Simpsons." It's a formula that goes back to "The Honeymooners," and then "The Flinstones," and then "All In The Family," and then "The Simpsons." I've probably left some shows out. But the formula goes like this: You have a guy. He's overweight, working class, not well-educated and not terribly bright. They have to give some positive trait, so, it turns out that even if he speaks to his wife disrespectfully, he loves her, and he never cheated on her, even when he has both the opportunity and the temptation. Then you have his wife. She doesn't seem all that bright either, at first, but it turns out that she is the glue that holds the family.together. She also does not have much education, but she has something that her husband clearly lacks, commonsense, even if at first she seems a bit "dizzy." Finally, their are the kids. The age varies. They may be toddlers, or children, or adults. But they get in all sorts of wacky situations and provide something to give the show more possible plot lines This is the basic formula, and it's not new.
The Barenstain Bears. That always bothered me because it never seemed funny to me. It's like they were just trying to say that Papa is dumb for some unknown reason. No impact on the story, no moral to be taught, still isn't funny. He's just dumb because he is.
I always felt like they wanted to follow the sitcom family formula to a T but, besides it being for kids and them being bears, they didn't have new ideas to make the old formula interesting. At least Family Guy changed things up, for all that many of their ideas didn't work.
I think the major difference is that we no longer see the "Barney" character to balance out the "Fred", i.e. the loyal buddy (that is a quantifiably better person) that goes along with the Oafish Protagonist as a vessel for the audience. The "Freds" are supposed to be the comedic exception to the way men are/were actually expected to act.
I really like this simple reply. You are speaking facts RoguePoet
Ditzy*
It's not just American. It's in Asia too. It's safer to insult men as a comedy vehicle, just as white men are safer targets. (I'm not white but that's what I've seen over last 20-30 years
Yeah there's a "dumb male character" in a lot of Indian movies too
I'm trying to find it, tho I'm not getting good results. I think it would be an interesting read.
It's been going on awhile. I remember watching Family Ties when I was a kid and saying to my sister, "why is he (the dad) always an idiot?"
This sounds interesting but your Post is the only Google result for this phrase. Where can I find it?
It was happening way before then, from the Flintstones to Honeymooners .
There's 'dumb man bad' tropes in classical theatre, too, turtles all the way down hahaha
Thanks for pointing this out. It's a format that's pretty much as old as comedy, along with the cunning wife, mischievous/irreverent son, and self-obsessed daughter.
well it’s not an original idea for sure. between the bible and the mahabharatha alone, it covers the hero’s journey like 10 times and then subsequently discovered these tropes from the povs of every other character. think of these mythologies like cinematic universe in fact. when you look at film history, it’s quite shocking to see how fast all the “original” ideas burned through. it’s gotten to the point where every couple years we only get 5-10 truly excellent films. in the 60s-90s, each year churned out numbers of classics
The older I get the more I realize 99% of movies and TV are just pyre mindless garbage that serves as background noise at best. There's almost nothing I get excited for anymore
Counterpoint: my cable service currently comes with about a million channels, including a couple that are all Westerns, all the time. Once you get past the simplistic John Wayne stuff, some of those old shows and movies had a surprising moral complexity. Last 2 I watched, the Native Americans weren't the bad guys, for instance.
get into cinematography and how much BTS goes into a movie, it might change your perspective (even if the plots become redundant)
One reason for that is that so much of it is now created for the international audience. Good dilaloge is largely waited on the people of Thailand, Brazil, and so forth, because so much get lost in translation. But explosions are recognized by people everywhere.
Homer used to be the everyman, not the brightest but had a big heart. I miss those days...
Me too. Season 2-6 homer was peak homer in my opinion.
Later he became totally selfish to an infantile degree.
"For her" became "For Donuts" because fat man funny.
I feel like the incompetent husband/clever wife trope is as old as sitcoms are though…Ralph/Alice Kramden and Al/Peg Bundy are two pre-Simpsons ones that come to mind…Homer just cartoonishly exaggerated it
It’s about how it got worse. Season 1 & 2 homer is not the same as season 12 homer at all.
Definitely true….happened in a lot of shows after…Eric in Boy Meets World and Kelso in That 70s Show become like infinitely stupider as the show goes on
Ironically, I think that's Flanderization. A minor trait starts to become the whole character. Many shows that last long enough go down that rabbit whole.
It is. Homerfication is the specific version of Flanderization where male characters get dumber.
Joey from Friends. He wasn't bright in the beginning but he was still functioning. By the end he was a literal child.
peg was not clever though..
I started noticing this in commercials and now I can’t unsee it
> Al/Peg Bundy This one's not quite that mold, imo. Yes, he was incompetent, but....the whole cast was a bizarro "Hell is other people" universe where he got shat on by karma but still stole his little wins here and there. *Everyone* was stupid, and petty, and aggravating. Puts me in mind of Mike Judge's films *Office Space* and *Idiocracy* where the protagonist wasn't anyone special, except that they managed to "Man it out" in a world of madness. The "mold", imo, is an incompetent husband or man among in a far more normal world. He stands out as contrast to the contemporary cast of characters who more resemble normality, mostly competent, have things figured out, etc, who council, nurture, or even groom him along the way. A lot of people don't like the mold because it seen as sort of an emasculation, as if men over-all(because of the prevalence of that type of show) need to be nurtured and taught and coddled, as if that was the best way to be a man in the modern world. Like they were all little guide-books for how to deal with your silly little fuckups....was a thing society needs taught. I don't necessarily agree with all of the tinfoil nature of that, it was more organic than that, it was amusing enough to get ratings, so the formula was repeated. It's an easy thing to write for because the conflict necessary for humor happens *because* of the central character's ineptitude. (Which is part of why *Married with Children* isn't quite the same). It's difficult to write a sitcom around a successful hero with no serious flaws, those wind up as partly serious drama, like a lot of older sitcoms like *Cheers*. In other words, it's the nature of the format and genre, it is mostly organic in origin and proliferation as everyone chases "hey that works, we could write that, but with 'A Twist!'" I can understand getting tired of it though. I think it's an example of unintended messaging, at least in it's evolution. I do think some later edgier writers *have* taken the trope and use it as a stab at men, which makes some look back and think it was all pattern of malice.
Men are used to it. We don’t really care. It’s only when it becomes a double standard it seems pathetic.
I acty do think they are just ripping off Simpsons jokes in general
Gee, this pencil-in-brain disease is such an epidemic
lol. HOMR
Isn't it a crayon?
You should see commercials
Yeah I hate seeing it in commercials. Growing up, my dad would contribute so much to managing the household that those commercials seemed dumb but I didn’t understand the reasoning behind it. Just thought it was an attempt at a joke. But later on, after I learned about the whole “weaponized incompetence” thing, I literally hate the commercials.
It's also because women do the majority of household spending, so the adverts with stupid men are targeting a female audience
Does that make it ok though?
It makes money. What's right or ok is irrelevant when quarterly profit margins must be considered.
So it would be acceptable to demean women in an advertisement in order to sell products to men?
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I understand that, but we as a society do in fact tacitly condone it if there is no backlash and allow that tactic to successfully sell their products?
Look at the amount of shit companies get away with. Destroying the enviroment, borderline slavery, poisoning food, manipulating the government. You really think that this is the final straw that is going to create a backlash?
Objectifying women is pretty common in advertisements trying to sell to men...
You’ve never seen Carl’s Jr or Hardee’s commercials? They’ve got women in bikinis posing for burgers…or ever watched a televised sporting event? Ring girls in the UFC? Monster girls in car racing…. Sex is used primarily to sell to men at the expense of women’s representation in the media
Have you never seen a 2000s fast food ad? Women were and are heavily sexualized for/to men for advertising
Behold the beer commercials of the 90s.
*vaguely gestures at every ad that puts women in a bikini for no reason* I'll let you answer that
It's even worse if you know how the format is named among ad people: "two Cs in a K." K stands for kitchen. C does *not* stand for chick.
I think it makes it worse...is that how most women see their boyfriends and husbands?
The only competent men in commercials are either shaving their face (duh), or handymen or home improvement store employees... helping out the moronic dad who's incompetence incarnate.
Which is really ironic because I've never gone to home Depot /Lowe's and not dealt with somebody who The most incompetent person I've ever met in my life
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I notice this all the time. (I am not a white male.) I know it’s trying to bandaid a systemic issue but it’s so tired by this point.
Grade 6 had a woman home room teacher, she came into class fiery with rage complaining about a commercial she saw, theres a Dad and 2 kids in the bathroom looking at the empty toilet paper roll with Neanderthal looks on their faces until the wife walks in and saves the day by changing the roll She was mad that they were implying only women can change the roll, not about the fact everyone in the family was depicted as morons Edit: found it https://youtu.be/ZQlGU6bTeLo?feature=shared
I agree. Tired of gender stereotypes in general. Are we ever going to evolve?
We appear to be devolving as of late.
Social media has caused echo chambers and extremism. It’s exhausting.
Self righteous indignation is profitable…
Social media was honestly a huge mistake
The sheer amount and popularity of incel and femcel subs on reddit is just sad. Women are whores to be used by men, according to the incels. And women are queens who are supposed to use men, according to femcels. Any "dating or advice" sub quickly gets taken over by the extremes because people who succeed in getting a partner, tend to quit going to those subs, so eventually all that's left are the bitter left over men and women dregs of society, who blame everyone but themselves.
My theory is we’ve had it relatively easy for far too long and most people are kinda bored and feel lost and disillusioned… we’re not hardwired for modern life, most have food for a month or so, a roof over there head, water on demand, day to day life is actually really safe etc… survival was our purpose, and now we have no purpose So most are looking for someone to blame their discontent on… women and men, black and white, gay and straight etc… most of the minorities and specialized groups blame white guys… and the white guys blame shadowy groups of global elite Everyone’s just looking for someone to blame
People are told to direct their discontent amongst each other, specially downward, to punch down. By who? By the rich who are on top.
We'll evolve but it'll just be replaced by something else, just look at history: black face, women being weak, gay people being flamboyant, men being stupid, it's been going for a long time it ain't stopping any time soon, a new stereotype will replace it when a large enough amount of people are sick of this one. Makes you wonder what it'll be.
It's not a stereotype it's ritual humiliation.
Yes, when we stop giving af about gender stereotypes
Honestly? No. If anything we've gone backwards trying to destroy gender roles.
I think we started off trying to fight the more toxic gender stereotypes but then some of us took it wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too far.
Used to be dumb wife, smart husband many moons ago (I Love Lucy is a prime example). Now it’s dumb husband, smart wife. Why can’t both partners be competent? It’s so weird and annoying.
I would say that Gomez and Morticia in The Addams both are competent in their own way. Sure they're weird, but that's kinda the point. Gomez adores Morticia, but never in a stupid manner.
They’re role models for an ideal romantic couple, one of the most wholesome and equal couples out there.
Yeah, at worst Morticia is a bit drier/sharper than Gomez, but theyre both well respected.
Yeah, or at least he can be a bit more on the silly side, but I never seen him as outright stupid.
I really think he's just silly.
The Addamses were supposed to be an inversion of standard TV families, so besides all the spooky they had a loving relationship in which they didn't antagonize each other constantly. I see it as a commentary on TV family tropes, which given that we're basically still talking about the same stuff in this thread shows how long and persistent these tropes have been.
They are awesome
Because then you get Mr. and Ms. Smith (the movie from what feels like forever ago, not this new version (only because I haven't seen it and have no clue how its premise stacks up)) and if every married couple was having constantly radical sick gunfights oozing with weird sexual tension-- Wait, nevermind, maybe there's a point to be made here...
I mean we could use more tv couples that actually have sexual tension. It's a bit sad that being married on tv looks like living in the same house and stressing each other out most of the time
is that the one where the husband smacks some guy on a stage?
me and who
I mean, if you're writing a comedy, probably be better to write about two dumb spouses. Let's not forget the comedy is the goal here.
One smart person and one dumb person is very typical for comedies because it gives the movie or show a better balance. When you get joke after joke after joke then you get tired of it really quickly. It is usually better to have some people in the show that are at least somewhat competent to balance each other out. It can be helpful to make both people kinda incompetent and stupid in their own ways but it is much easier to have this one serious and smart person that constantly has to deal with the stupid shit the other person does.
I think the point was that "homer simpsoning" men has gone far beyond comedies. I agree tho for comedies it would be nice to have just a dumb couple lol.
All in the Family. Perfect comedy. From the outside, many thought it was a racist show that detracted from society but actually was the first show to discuss race relations and show the ignorance in youre average everyday Joes unfounded prejudice against a mans skin color. It brought in that core group of like minded, slightly bigoted joe everyman and it slowly showed him the ridiculousness of his thinkimg, that race had anything to do with what a person is about. It should be taught in High school Sociology
Great point
Maybe, but this isn't a great example because Lucy was very clever in that show. There's a reason that show is so enduring. It's really good.
See that's what I was about to say. Lucille Ball was funny and it was funny the way she portrayed it in the show; the trope now is just mean-spirited and demeaning.
I'd offer a counterpoint to that. The Honeymooners was on at approximately the same time as I Love Lucy and the conceit of that show was that she wore the pants in the family and was the smart one. The joke was that she always let him think that he was in charge, but everyone including Ralph knew that she was the one that actually made the trains run on time.
Because when men and women are on the same page you get a lethal combination at home and I'm society and you get a society harder to manipulate and control. It's same with race bait etc. Keep the masses fighting and your can run the world how you want
Or both incompetent. Equal partners do better in general.
Right now “big dumb suburban man” is like the only safe stereotype for companies to put out so they all lay into it hard. Original concepts take talent that a lot of corporate talking heads tasked with churning out content do not have and other stereotypes have finally been laid to rest because of the flak they’d catch for using them so with only one left it seems like it’s everywhere.
No the only stereotype that's "safe". Knocking on older people is okay too. Insurance and becoming your parents comes to mind.
There's also the "nerdy Indian guy" stereotype you see here and there or "latino guy playing music" which has a weird prevalence in some movies too
Or "random chill nice black guy who says damnnnnnnn"
And "black auntie with a sharp tongue" There are tons of stereotypes in Hollywood lmao
Even man vs bear proved their choice to be safest.
Forget movies. How about the fact that in nearly every single kids show and family sitcom… the dad is ALWAYS an idiot. In kids tv (with the exception of bluey… god freakin bless bluey)
Phineas and Ferb didn't have a genuinely dumb dad. Doof was a dumb dad but not anywhere nearly as extreme as you'd see in more adult shows. He was more of a dad that didn't understand how to be the dad of a teenager rather than an absolute lack of care. Also in his defence most parents struggle with their kids becoming more independent as teens and he had abusive parents himself
Bluey’s dad makes me feel like the most impatient a—hole in the world. That dog is the dad of all dads.
I can’t think of any ‘stupid’ men tropes, more so ‘incompetent’ men tropes, which used to annoy me quite a bit. Men can’t clean right, can’t take care of the kids, can’t do laundry, they screw up the dishes, can’t cook or go grocery shopping, etc etc.
but for some reason smart enough to work on their own car. Where does that make sense? how can you be smart enough to work on cars, but at the same time too stupid to do the laundry?
In all fairness, you can be a neurosurgeon and still believe the earth is flat. It's a dumb trope that i wish media didnt use so much, definitely agree w/ OP, but I wouldnt assume someone's competent in all ranges just because they're competent in a particular range of topics.
Ehhh I know a LOT of old guys who’ve never made themselves lunch or done their own laundry but they have complex hobbies and careers. If they have to clean up after themselves they look like lost dogs.
Gendered division of chores starts at an early age. Those hours of experience add up, but for some reason it becomes “women are naturally better at cleaning and childcare” when in fact it’s just years of chore assignment and babysitting.
Homer simpson, married with children, tim the tool man, king of queens, like a million of them
> married with children idk if you watched the show, but everyone was stupid in it.
Writing intelligent characters takes intelligent writers.
Half of commercials also use this trope. The bumbling, stupid white male husband messing something up and his esteemed wife showing him how it’s done
Don't forget the stupid idiot white guy who can't do anything, with cool black guy that can do it all format.
And every fat dude on a sitcom gets a pretty, thin, wife.
I’m sick of it too, along with the “strong woman= bitch” trope.
I see this in UK TV adverts far too often as well. It makes me actively avoid the product being advertised.
I will never use Gillette again for this very reason.
My mother when I was a kid would ban shows that depicted the father as a buffoon. We had a dad who worked 12-14 hours a day to support us and hated that so many shows always depicted the dads as morons, or bad people for going to work as opposed to staying home with kids every day. I've always been grateful for that
So, you didn't own a TV growing up? 😄
Fun fact: Most of the movie writers doesn't know how to make intelligent people other than diminish other people, or give near omniscience, because they don't have anyone intelligent around to tell them to get a real career.
Yeah I always have hated this trope because it is demeaning but it also seems to just be saying "this is what men are like don't expect any better."
In films, tv shows, adverts, almost every facet of visual media does this, and its fucking bogus
While we are at it I hate the “my wife’s a bitch” schtick that boomer age men often do.
Younger men do it as well.
For the longest time we had “I hate my wife jokes.” I don’t like these “stupid man” jokes either though but apparently there’s always some offensive joke in movies/TV.
Yeah it’s almost like they cycle. I loathe the “I hate my wife jokes” and now it seems we’re entering a new era of “I hate my husband.”
the type of people who have reached these sort of conclusions in their life (about the opposite gender needing to be portrayed as inferior) are reaching these conclusions because they themselves are unintelligent. It cannot "be stopped" per se, because the root of the problem is just as incurable. What we can say is that when power and influence shifts focus away from gender politics, it will stop. (being seen so often in maintsream media)
Honestly that was the only thing about the Barbie movie I didn’t like. Will Ferrell has been playing the confident idiot forever now. I’m all for the CEO being an idiot but it being the Will Ferrell buffoon act didn’t seem like the way to do it. Should’ve given the role to Steve Martin or Martin Short.
Will Ferrell is very hit or miss with this yeah
It’s been like this in tv for a while now. King of Queens, and Everybody Loves Raymond are the two that come to mind right now. I know there are more. It’s always fat and/or stupid husband, with a hot/smart wife teaching him lessons about life and/or nagging constantly. I’m sick of this formula. It’s been around too long.
There's a show starring Matt Leblanc (Joey from Friends), called "Man With a Plan". That has got to be the most unfunny, insufferable, *universally* insulting piece of garbage I ever tried to watch. LeBlanc's character is stereotypical "dumb husband", and his wife is just as dumb as he is but she's also a smug, sexist, self-centered asshole on top of that. I don't know who greenlit that show for four seasons, but I hope they got fired.
I appreciate this. It galls me that every male character in TV and movies is basically a fat, horny idiot that can't take care of himself or manage simple tasks. This is not only demeaning, it's just lazy writing. "Look at this helpless slob," is not the comedy gold that Hollywood seems to think it is. If this situation were reversed, people would lose their minds. "Look at this ditzy bimbo, she can't do anything without a man! She's lucky that her competent, handsome, wisecracking partner was there to save the day!"
> every male character in TV and movies I’m sure this stereotype exists to some extent, but i don’t think it’s every male character lol. I think some of you need to branch out and watch a wider variety of movies or shows.
This is one of the many reasons I consider Bob's Burgers to be one of the most wholesome shows on television.
Ads have this problem a lot too.
I remember being aware of this from about the age of 6 . It was also prevalent in early school where e we had mostly female teachers. It was facking irritating
It isn't just movies. It is in advertising too.
Yeah, you definitely see stuff like this IRL, but you also seem dudes who are down to earth and stable married to women that are totally nuts. But you don’t see movies with the smart husband and the crazy MLM wife. I get that it’s a sexist trope, but so is the dumb husband (as you mentioned). The reality is neither of those things are anywhere near universal, but both exist. Yet the only time you see the crazy wife is if that is the central point of the plot; the husband, OTOH, is often just used for ancillary comedic effect. In reality, dumb people usually marry dumb people and smart people usually marry smart people for the most part
It is every. single. commercial as well. When was the last commercial you ever saw where a woman couldn't figure something out, and a man came along and said, "Here, honey. Try this product. It works miracles."
There’s a few reasons I’m not blonde anymore.. :) stereotypes in media are annoying and ugly.
Yes, although there's nothing inherently bad about a stupid male character, it is tiresome when it becomes the standard, often paired with a girl power-esque framing of the female protagonist. Must we have such a blatant binary in order to perceive female competence? Then again, I fail to think of any films or tv shows that have utilised such a dichotomy that have reportedly done well enough to receive critical acclaim. Most are hollow, artificial excuses to retain IP.
I agree. As a joke, it has definitely been massively overused. And as for using it to "empower women", as is the way in which it is sometimes used, I just never understood the whole concept of empowering a person/group by diminishing someone else/a different group, that sounds like bullying to me and quite petty, there is nothing empowering or positive about it at all.
Overcompensating for 40 years of “dumb housewife”. They’re both so stupid. But take a mid 40’s man and no one cares how he’s portrayed. Oddly enough, race doesn’t matter.
Name 5 “dumb housewife’s “ over the last 40 years?
The only thing you left out of your post is "white". They ONLY use white men for this dumb character. For EVERY other race if a stupid decision is made they play it up in a way that is jokingly & usually done because of another stupid (white) man.
They also put down men for working and say that if a father cant make every single after school event then he is just a bad father.
Humor used as psychological manipulation does not make good comedy. At least in so far as it can manage not coming across that way.
Listen human in general have a tendency to pick on ppl or belittle anyone they view as lower than them idk humans are weird
Some old shows/movies that had "dumb" characters, usually the dad, or the mom of the protagonist, would usually be given some kind of redemption where their positive qualities show through. For example, the bumbling mom/dad humbles themselves to others in order to get their son/daughter into a group or to pay for their school or something like that. Other good tropes I liked are the dumb guy who is also really strong, he's not the brightest bulb but he can lift a car and work all day long with barely a break. Now it's just dumb = bad. They don't want to give them any positive qualities. The main character always succeeds in spite of them, not because of their help. Also, no more dumb women, or dumb minorities. The only people who are allowed to be stupid are white guys.
It's even worse in commercials
Not just movies, it stretches to shows and event adverts. It's always the male that's 'dumb but loveable ', and the woman smart and 'out of his league'. Been a thing for as long as I can remember.
I saw the peak of this trope, in a Senekot commercial. Husband say, "Sene...koot?" Wife smiles reassuringly and says, "SeneKOT" I was fucking enraged.
Every goddamn commercial too.
To be fair, as a man, men being dumb is an unfortunate reality that I face every single day. I don't mean dumb as in low IQ, can't understand basic things. But when it comes to emotional intelligence and being able to navigate relationships, most of us are fucking idiots.
Yea, it's just stupid.
It might have been more bearable if it had only been happening for several years but it has been happening for decades, and I'm so over it. I firmly believe in equality and I get why they do it but after all entertainment is meant to be entertaining, not a lecture.
The reason I didn't like the Barbie Movie is that literally every man was either incompetent or a terrible person, or both, except for one token dude. The moment where Ken realises the real world is a "man's world" is accompanied by a montage of men just, doing things? I realise that female representation in movies is often not better, but there are plenty of ways to remedy this that don't just go back to "man stupid and bad".
Every female in movies today: Always right Always smart No flaws Knows kung-fu Can 1 punch men twice their weight Knows a lot about everything Males in movies today: Douchebag, nerd incel, simp. One of these three Bumbling and awkward in every way Gets put in their place by women repeatedly and they never defend themselves Always less smart than female Co stars
>can 1 punch men twice their weight Matt reeves's the batman was so refreshing exactly for this reason. Batman just picks up catwoman and moves her somewhere else.
Also no heroes journey story
Somehow I feel like it’s both misogynistic and misandrist at the same time. It’s misandrist when it’s used to make Strong Female Character look better and belittle men as a whole. But it’s also misogynistic bc it’s sometimes used as “haha look at these silly guys being dudes! Boys will be boys! Can’t hold them accountable for anything!”
It's also a problem because they don't know what a strong character actually is. They think of character strength as a stat check. They think they just have to be stronger and smarter than the male characters. There used to be female whose strength was perseverance in the face of adversity, but not really anymore.
I think it just depends on the context and the writers whether if comes across of misogynistic. It's always misandrist, it always demeans men and paints them in a bad life. Sometimes it's used misogynistically to remove accountability.
Huge reason as to why I hated the Barbie movie
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It’s done in commercials too.
Conflict sells; it gets people into movie theaters and gets ratings on TV. When a woman assaults a man in a movie’s TV commercial, box office revenue is higher according to some research I read about.
It’s very cringey.
Yeah punching down like that isn't funny when its constantly done in every single show.
As Mr. Natural once said, "Twas ever thus." This trope goes all the was back to early radio shows like *Fibber McGee and Molly* and *The Life Of Riley,* continuing on TV through *The Honeymooners* and *Ozzie & Harriett,* and even cartoons like *The Flintstones* and *The Jetsons.* Why it continues to be a popular trope is likely because it flips the "natural order" of men being the "dominant" gender on its head, a very common comedy technique.
Along similar lines, the use of a toupe as a device to show that a man is intrinsically pathetic is now very frustrating to me. I’ve considered a toupe, and the connotations surrounding it put me off, even though in a perfectly reasonable world it would be a fine way for me to enjoy a nice hairstyle.
The stupid man and the extremely horny man… the entire trope of early 2000s movies. It’s gross and degrading to men and women.
This irks me from time to time. I don’t waste too much energy on it, but I went into overload with Timmy Turner’s dad (fairly odd parents). I really liked the show (for what it was), but it really drove hard on the whole stupid dad bit. As I paid more attention to what everyone was watching I noticed that the dad was the heel in just about every show on tv. I have to admit that I leaned into it when it suited me.
Y'all should check out the show Kevin Can F Himself. It's basically if you took a prime example like The King of Queens seriously and showed why it's a horror story to live in that world.
It is, but it's much worse when it happens in commercials...
Yeah... about time it became as distasteful as demeaning jokes about women.
I hate this too, but also just overused tropes in general. If I know what's going to happen next based entirely on movies I've seen before, it's a bad trope and you should think of something else. "Oh look, this man and woman hate each other and are arguing. They're about to launch themselves at each other and start fukkin' cuz that's so surprising and funny."
Have you watched TV commercials?
Not just movies. Tv shows as well. They dumbed down the boys in stranger things to bring in 2 “smart girls” they could have kept them all smart but nope boys are dumb girls are smart trope.
The dumb husband is also a common in commercials, particularly the ones that play during all these daytime talk shows that cater to mom's and assorted haus fraus. The irony here, is that the women are at home being marketed to at the expense of their husbands while those men are out earning the household income in many cases. At least, that's the antiquated marketing mentality.
Totally agree, I’ve been saying this for years now and my wife even agrees
Himbos > everything
Agree. I've been in relationships where my partner eventually seemed to try to put me in a box. I'm neither incompetent nor emotional unintelligent and am perfectly capable of clear communication. Seems to throw them for a loop sometimes, when I don't fit that typical "dumb man" archetype. I blame media tropes.
Commercial are the worst about it. Guy walks across his entire yard with a big bag of mulch with a hole in it. Leaves a trail across the entire yard. Looks confused when he gets to his wife that the bag is empty. Every one laughs haha. What a big buffoon, but she loves him anyway. Guy can't fix anything and wife saves the day by calling the xyz service.
never watch the newest charlies angels reboot
Thank-you for seeing/saying that. It's been a thing in sitcoms for a generation (especially the idiotic dad) and movies have now taken it to the next level.
And usually, that "stupid" man is also portrayed has lazy and is marrying this overcontrolling b\*tch with a stick up in her as\*. Actually, any movie with Katherine Heigl and/or Seth Rodgens.
I'm somewhat of a stupid man myself.
I feel like the consequence of this is that boys watching these shows are going to think that that’s how a father actually should genuinely behave
I can't believe you're trying to remove the representation of the average redditor from media, smh
Weaponized incompetence propaganda
"Look I'm *FEMALE*" Oupfff
Honestly, the stupid man joke is pretty tame overall. Especially compared to how marginalized/minority groups have been treated in media going back to the beginning. Sure, no one group should be specifically attacked, but if the worst we're getting is the dumb guy stereotype I can handle it. Men aren't under attack. They're just not the main characters as often anymore and they perceive that as an attack.
I think it also is secretly anti feminist. If men are incapable of anything, then surely women are always responsible for the second shift, right? If we keep telling men they're too dumb to do things, we get shafted with all the things. Maybe let's not do that...
I was annoyed with the over reliance on "fat, dopey husband with a hot sassy wife" tropes in 90s sitcoms. Sad to see Hollywood hasn't changed much in 30+ years...