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[Reizo Ryuu]

maybe it's just the type of movies you watch, I go to theaters nearly twice a week and there's been a nearly countless string of good male representation in the past few years.
Saw red one yesterday and there's a couple there.

 

[Coconutt]

Top Gun Maverick is the last movie I can think of that portrayed white men in a positive late, so used to seeing them as the villains in every modern movie.

 

[intbal]

OP, you said "past five years".
A Quiet Place fits inside that window (2018).

May not be the type of story you were thinking of, since the point of the movie isn't really to highlight personal relationships. Although it does that fairly well. Especially considering the dialogue is minimal.

Another horror movie with top notch male representation is "The Road". It's not really all that recent, though.

 

[touchfuzzy]

RRR.

Not one but two badass male leads, kicking ass and fighting for their (non-lame) ideals, bro-ing out and being awesome.

 

[RedC]

I'm surprisingly looking forward to Gladiator 2 this year which will be filled with a wide breath of masculinity.

 

[chokotoureiki]

Go watch RRR. Its one of the best bromance movies I've seen in years.

 

[jason10mm]

So is Red One any good? My boy is interested, be nice if it's actually enjoyable.

 

[FunkMiller]

Lots of people quoting good examples of non asshole males in movies, so maybe the focus should be more on heroic male protagonists in major Hollywood output? IE - the central, main character of a movie being male, with heroic, positive traits for young men to identify with? How has that archetype fared in the last four or so years on the big screen?

 

[IDKFA]

Civil War- Two female reporters. Two male reporters. Female reporter has a breakdown. Male reporters dont.

The male reporter played by Wagner Moura has a breakdown when

Spoiler

Sammy dies. The dude just stands there screaming and the next scene he's clearly a broken mess

For those who want to see it

Spoiler

 

[SlimySnake]

The male reporter played by Wagner Moura has a breakdown when

Spoiler

Sammy dies. The dude just stands there screaming and the next scene he's clearly a broken mess

For those who want to see it

Spoiler

yeah but by the end he's back to smiling in the middle of a warzone and keeps his composure even after he loses you know who.

 

[RedC]

 

[IDKFA]

yeah but by the end he's back to smiling in the middle of a warzone and keeps his composure even after he loses you know who.

I think he's only calm in the end because he knows he's going to fulfil his dream and

Spoiler

document the last spoken words of the POTUS

That and he has years of experience and knowing what to do when shit hits the fan. Same with Kirsten Dunst, but I think at the end, years of trying to bottle up her emotions and not letting go got the best of her.

He still has moments of vulnerability, just like any person who decides to be a war reporter.

 

[LimanimaPT]

I was watching a youtube video with trailers of 2024 horror movies. I stopped at the 15th trailer. 13 of them had female leads. The other 2 I couldn't tell.

 

[thefool]

Remember of any media with good traditional families representation?
This is the real crime, the destruction of the fabric of our society.

 

[PlayofSparta]

5 years? Hell no. I don't know any. The Batman borderline there maybe? But those two movies are good (jobless male young adult and detective male young adult):

 

[kurisu_1974]

If Bollywood is the answer I don't even want to know the question.

 

[simpatico]

Black Adam

bruh

 

[RedC]

I was watching a youtube video with trailers of 2024 horror movies. I stopped at the 15th trailer. 13 of them had female leads. The other 2 I couldn't tell.

Horror films are known for having female protagonists and appealing to a largely female demographic and are great for dates. Hence, it's consistent with low-risk budgets with potentially high reward box office returns.

 

[SJRB]

 

[chokotoureiki]

If Bollywood is the answer I don't even want to know the question.

RRR isn't Bollywood. It's Tollywood.

 

[mclaren777]

 

[Doom85]

bruh

Dr. Fate and Hawkman: “Bruh yourself.”

 

[CGNoire]

Avatar 2 way of water supported traditional values.

 

[tommib]

American Psycho

 

[VulcanRaven]

Probably most movies.

 

[John Bilbo]

Twisters handled masculinity pretty well for a female lead movie.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Twisters handled masculinity pretty well for a female lead movie.

It was such a bad movie though lol The lead actress is so bad, least convincing super-genius in the history of movies.

 

[John Bilbo]

It was such a bad movie though lol The lead actress is so bad, least convincing super-genius in the history of movies.

I thought it was better than the original.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I thought it was better than the original.

To each their own, glad you enjoyed it.. I didn't regret watching it or anything but I thought it was pretty bad.

 

[Kraz]

I've watched a tv series recently called "Why Women Kill", and like the title implies, every men is a piece of shit in it. Every single one of them (well, except the gay one, of course)

I asked my gf: "can you remember of a single movie of the past 5 years or so where there was a male role model? Not an asshole or some weak individual?". She couldn't answer. And I couldn't either, hence why I'm asking here.

I'm honestly worried about how this may impact young boys, with the lack of men that they could be inspired by in media, while being represented as bad individuals simply by being ... male.

The kindest way she could've answered would be to ask if Jason Statham stopped making movies.
If a gf asked something like that about women role models after watching Friday the 13th I'd wonder how much fluoride she ingested and hoping she's just tired and being insecure.

Yeah, great examples

I particularly love the Guy Ritchie movies (men are usually not role models in his movies tho lol. 90% are criminals, but I see what you mean)

Maybe I'm just consuming a lot of junk lately. I wouldnt call The Substance junk, tho.

It's good to see you recognize your opinion is informed by your selections.

Idealized male characters from this year alone, off the top of my head of strong role models
There's Praetorian Jack in Furiosa.
The lack of any mention of Ungentlemanly Warfare so far makes me wonder what values are considered good representation.
Beekeeper

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

The Equalizer Trilogy

 

[Futaleufu]

oh man this reminds me i recently watched the biopic about enzo ferrari expecting cars, engineering and beautiful italian design and more than half the movie are his troubles with women....

It was so awful I stopped watching after 30 minutes. I was expecting something like Ford vs Ferrari.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

It was so awful I stopped watching after 30 minutes. I was expecting something like Ford vs Ferrari.

i got really tired of that actress pouting on camera every 5 minutes.. yeah i had a similar expectation

 

[CGNoire]

Remember of any media with good traditional families representation?
This is the real crime, the destruction of the fabric of our society.

Avatar 2 for sure.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I've seen some people complain that the male lead isn't emotionally strong

In the sense that it acknowledges men have trauma and feelings, but let's get past that.

G-1 is a triumph.

 

[Boralf]

The Northman?

 

[DAHGAMING]

Craig Fairbrass playing Pat Tate in any of the Rise of the footsoldier films.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Does this count? This had me and my wife riveted the entire time. Got to see some true heroes maintaining their composure and bravery in the face of the most stressful situation imaginable, and surviving thanks to their hard work and ingenuity. And it’s 100% made up of real footage/pictures with a bit of representstional scenes mixed in…. not one of these documentaries where 80% of the visuals is people sitting there talking about their past experiences.

Spoiler

if 2024 Hollywood wanted to tell a fictional story in this vein, the disaster would happen thanks to some cocksure white men, and they’d all be arguing and raging about how to solve it, until some super genius BIPOC woman that they all underestimated walks in and presents some solution that she worked out all by herself. And all the dudes would just sit there gobsmacked at her brilliance.

 

[jason10mm]

Spoiler

if 2024 Hollywood wanted to tell a fictional story in this vein, the disaster would happen thanks to some cocksure white men, and they’d all be arguing and raging about how to solve it, until some super genius BIPOC woman that they all underestimated walks in and presents some solution that she worked out all by herself. And all the dudes would just sit there gobsmacked at her brilliance.

To be fair to the ladies, this scenario plays out for ALL Hollywood 'science' films. You can't just have a competent team without the drama of some authoritarian figure dismissing them. Very few writers can make just science or engineering interesting for a mass audience film so the "they dont believe my wild idea" angle is what they go with time and again.

 

[Londo]

Boss Level (2020) is pretty good, I found it funny and with great action scenes, plus Michelle Yeoh in a small part, so, 'nuff said.
Last week I saw Rebel Ridge (2024), which was pretty meh and forgettable to me, like 99% of the modern times movies nowadays, but it checks the 'good-male-representation' well.

Better search into indians/hk/chinese/indonesian/korean productions, even if for some flicks you have to get accustomed to subtitles.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The Northman?

In which world is a bloodthirsty motherfucker any good representation?

What this movie does better than most is depicting Vikings as the barbarians they really were.

I'd say Interstellar's protagonist is a prime example of good representation.


In series, The Walking Dead is full of them.

 

[Jsisto]

This has been going on for a long, long time. Think commercials and sitcoms depicting men as clueless dopes that can barely even put their pants on without the pragmatic, rational woman to keep them in line. Culturally I think we’re finally reaching the point where we’re exhausted by it.

 

[Hrk69]

The Banshees of Inisherin
Oppenheimer
Past Lives

 

[jason10mm]

So is Red One any good? My boy is interested, be nice if it's actually enjoyable.

So I'll answer my own question since I saw this today with my son.

Red One is a fairly mid film, it's narratively trash, tonally inconsistent, and has an almost PS2 level of muddy graphics buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut from the perspective of "positive male representation" it is quite stellar!

Santa and The Rock have several moments of mentoring, men helping men through difficult decisions, and nice masculine bro-time. Chris Evans has a fairly non-toxic relationship with his son's mom (seems like they never married, he's not bitter about it, he respects that she moved on and doesn't try to undermine her husband) and the core of the film, his relationship with his son, is featured from and center without a lot of whiney drama, both forgive the other or acknowledge fault.

The film itself is surprisingly devoid of any woke. There are hot girls in bikinis and Chris Evans is allowed to admire them. The boy's mom gets exasperated but doesn't actively demean Evans and there is no clumsy scene of her showing him up or shaming him other than a normal conversation. The women characters are just normal, there are no girl boss moments, no butch dyke side chick, and for the most part all the fights make sense, no 90 pound girls throwing monster dudes through walls.

So while it ain't that great of a flick since it can't decide if it is a whimsical kids romp, a teen level spy movie about mythologic creatures plaguing our world, or a family drama, it is a decent way to spend the time with your kids, especially sons, as it is aimed pretty squarely to boys. My pre-teen liked it, though I could tell he got bored at the talky parts. I was mostly distracted by the shoddy world-building. Does Santa use magic or technology? Why does he need a bodyguard, exactly? Why is there a shadowy agency working with him?

This should have been a 80 million dollar movie concept at best, how it ballooned to 250+ MILLION for what we get on screen is mind-boggling. If it's true that the Rock kept showing up late and thats why it got so expensive, stop hiring that guy!

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

stop hiring that guy!

bit hard since he produced it and his production company created the story.

 

[jason10mm]

bit hard since he produced it and his production company created the story.

I guess, but if he cost his own production 50 mill in delays or whatever, hope that czme outta his paycheck.

 

[Doom85]

I guess, but if he cost his own production 50 mill in delays or whatever, hope that czme outta his paycheck.

Last I heard, the details on that weren’t confirmed, so I don’t want to pass judgment just yet. But if it is true, between this and refusing to star in Shazam 2 because he didn’t want to play a character who ultimately loses the fight in the end (and Johnson was well aware Black Adam is primarily connected to Shazam), someone needs to tell this guy to get over himself and be a team player.

 

[Hugare]

The Banshees of Inisherin
Oppenheimer
Past Lives

The Banshees of Inisherin: both guys suck
Oppenheimer: dude has created the atomic bomb. Also cheated on his wife.
Past Lives: one of them wants to fuck a married woman and the other one is a cuck (joking, kinda)

What about guys that are flawed, but are "heroes" in a beliaveble way?

Kinda like Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness". Or his character in "Seven Pounds"? Or even Hitch?

Lots of people mentioning action movies. And tho thats fair, masculine characters in action movies are one note and simplistic. Good representation in terms of masculinity, but not really of men as a whole, imo.

 

[jason10mm]

The Banshees of Inisherin: both guys suck
Oppenheimer: dude has created the atomic bomb. Also cheated on his wife.
Past Lives: one of them wants to fuck a married woman and the other one is a cuck (joking, kinda)

What about guys that are flawed, but are "heroes" in a beliaveble way?

Kinda like Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness". Or his character in "Seven Pounds"? Or even Hitch?

Lots of people mentioning action movies. And tho thats fair, masculine characters in action movies are one note and simplistic. Good representation in terms of masculinity, but not really of men as a whole, imo.

I'm sad for you that you don't live a fully action packed life like some of us...

 

[SlimySnake]

The Banshees of Inisherin

lol they were both toxic cunts.