In the past we have naturally focused a lot on women. We figured it was time to write a feminist post about men. (Sorry, we ain't dropping the feminism any time soon.) So this is a list of our favourite male characters who subvert some masculine expectations (sometimes described as toxic masculinity). We decided not to include sexual minorities, since masculine expectations are heteronormative. So by being not straight, one has already bucked the major masculine norms entirely. We're not big fans of such terms as masculine and feminine traits because that is basically assigning personality based on someone's physiology. We think that the line that has been created between what is masculine and what is feminine is rather arbitrary. We await for the day when men are no longer from Mars and women no longer from Venus. Where our characteristics are under the blanket of "humanity" and where we see each other as fellow human beings. And no, none of the aforementioned means erasing biological gender. So, chill.
1. Vash from Trigun. D-uh! He might not give the best first impression, but just stay with it. He is the most gentle, caring and compassionate person. Vash subverts almost all masculine expectations. He cries at everything. It's not Hollywood tears, it's weeping. We're talking waterfalls. Yes, the picture we have is funny, but most of it is played very seriously. He's forced to wear this mask of a clown and an idiot but is actually incredibly open with his feelings and basically wears his heart on his sleeve. Heard of the expression "would not hurt a fly"? Yeah, it's this guy right here. Whether friend or foe he refuses to seriously injure anyone and eschews violence. Plus he has like, zero ambition. Literally none whatsoever. Superheroes usually have these very lofty and ambitious goals. All he wants is to live in peace as a nameless nobody in some crummy little village helping people for the rest of his life. Also, he loves kids - as in he'd be exactly the type to be a stay-at-home dad. And last but definitely not least, he learned all his values and beliefs from a woman. As we all know, "real men" never take advice from women - only a bro is allowed to teach another bro. There are a thousand other things we could list about this guy and that's exactly why he's #1 here. It is no wonder that he shares the top spot as our favourite male character ever.
2. Billy Elliot from Billy Elliot. The boy who likes ballet - of course he's included! This is really the only boy character we have here, since boys are not yet men and can be often given more leeway than full-grown male characters. But Billy is such a seminal character subverting not only of what is expected of men but of boys, so we had to have him here. We especially love the fact that the story takes place in a working class environment, with a single father whose ideas of manhood are harmful to both him and his sons. It is a wonderful and heartwarming story, since the father and Billy's brother both learn to express their tender side to Billy and accept Billy for who he is.
3. Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. He's on this list because Faramir of the book does not exist on film. Ashitaka has quite similar attitude to conflict and war that Faramir has. He would much rather live in peace and harmony with all his surroundings and only fights out of necessity. You knew that at least one Miyazaki would make it here.
4. Mr. Baxter from The Apartment. This guy is incredibly nurturing. Here is a movie where you see a man being a woman's emotional support. And there is nothing that we love more about him than that he is never that guy who guilt-trips the woman (like saying I'm so much better than him or why are you with that guy) that you have in every other romantic movie. He makes no demands whatsoever on her and expects nothing.
5. Willow from Willow. Willow's the first one we have where nurturing is the main reason we picked him. Especially nurture towards children. You don't see men doing the domestic side of nurture - like feeding, changing nappies or carrying a baby constantly. And showing that the man would actually enjoy taking care of a child. Willow exceeds in all.
6. Michael from The Deer Hunter. First, think of all the 70's and early 80's roles De Niro has done. They're all pretty hypermasculine - he's aggressive, violent and often lacking in general humanity. They're interesting roles but fit a certain stereotype of men. Michael as a character is actually quite a departure for De Niro's usual roles. It might not seem that way looking at the film's premise, but the character is surprisingly deeply compassionate. Our favourite moment where his compassion shines is when he's talking Steven through their torture - he never tells him to man up or not to cry, instead he says it's okay and to let it out and tries to comfort him and be there for him. Another one is when Michael goes to see Angela - she is in a state of shock and is unable to communicate, and of course you'd at least expect him to get frustrated, because in many films where women are in shock men usually lose their nerve and either shout or shake them or tell them to snap out of it. None of that here. He is nothing but kind, gentle and patient to the very end.
7. Holland March from The Nice Guys. This guy is so damn effeminate and we absolutely love it! It's kind of played for laughs, but then again it's not. It's much more physical comedy rather than the viewer laughing at the character failing in some "masculine act". Part of the subversion here is to do with the actor - Gosling's roles tend to be on the stereotypical sphere, so it was nice to see a role where he got to play on a different spectrum. And we're always happy to see caring fathers onscreen.
8. Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He's a sweetheart. Even though he has been raised by the cruelest person, Quasimodo is astoundingly kind and gentle. Since he is a Disney character, the range isn't that wide, but especially when you compare him to other Disney men, he has far less toxic elements in his behaviour.
9. Lenny from Strange Days. Ok, he has some of the toxic aspects of "masculine behaviour" - like being hung up on his ex, but he does eventually learn out of them. The reason we have him here, is because when we (still 100% Mormon then) watched this the first time we deemed him a coward. Because he evades conflict and is afraid of pain. He uses every verbal method possible to avoid getting beat up. And he's always saved by a woman.
10. Ed Wood from Ed Wood. He's a cross-dressing straight dude. How much more norm- breaking can you get? And he's pretty much the only one on this list who's based on a real person, played with Depp's and Burton's weirdness, of course. We love it.
11. Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts. Here's another one who is a very nurturing character. The movie we don't much care about and have never liked Harry Potter, but this man was a pretty good main character. He focuses saving the animals without harming them and instead of violence opts for dialogue. It doesn't surprise us that some film critics took issue with Newt as a main character - for movies that are supposed to sell it is expected that the lead is your regular hero who punches first and thinks later (or never).
12. Ichabod Crane from Sleepy Hollow. This is another dainty male character with some very effeminate traits. He's physically incompetent, afraid of spiders and faints at the sight of blood. Here you have the classic man of action versus man of intellect division, but unlike in most Hollywood films where the man of action is the one to save the day, here it's the other way around.
13. Shinji from Evangelion. The series, NOT the movie (which was basically the equivalent of the creator saying: oh, you like these characters? Well, fuck you!) Shinji is pretty much an antithesis to most animeboy teen heroes. He's a coward, indecisive and really really passive. Shinji is actually quite an accurate depiction of depression (the whole show kinda is). Point is, these kind of boy characters rarely show up anywhere mainstream and definitely feel more like actual teenagers than most we see in popular media.
1. Vash from Trigun. D-uh! He might not give the best first impression, but just stay with it. He is the most gentle, caring and compassionate person. Vash subverts almost all masculine expectations. He cries at everything. It's not Hollywood tears, it's weeping. We're talking waterfalls. Yes, the picture we have is funny, but most of it is played very seriously. He's forced to wear this mask of a clown and an idiot but is actually incredibly open with his feelings and basically wears his heart on his sleeve. Heard of the expression "would not hurt a fly"? Yeah, it's this guy right here. Whether friend or foe he refuses to seriously injure anyone and eschews violence. Plus he has like, zero ambition. Literally none whatsoever. Superheroes usually have these very lofty and ambitious goals. All he wants is to live in peace as a nameless nobody in some crummy little village helping people for the rest of his life. Also, he loves kids - as in he'd be exactly the type to be a stay-at-home dad. And last but definitely not least, he learned all his values and beliefs from a woman. As we all know, "real men" never take advice from women - only a bro is allowed to teach another bro. There are a thousand other things we could list about this guy and that's exactly why he's #1 here. It is no wonder that he shares the top spot as our favourite male character ever.
2. Billy Elliot from Billy Elliot. The boy who likes ballet - of course he's included! This is really the only boy character we have here, since boys are not yet men and can be often given more leeway than full-grown male characters. But Billy is such a seminal character subverting not only of what is expected of men but of boys, so we had to have him here. We especially love the fact that the story takes place in a working class environment, with a single father whose ideas of manhood are harmful to both him and his sons. It is a wonderful and heartwarming story, since the father and Billy's brother both learn to express their tender side to Billy and accept Billy for who he is.
3. Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. He's on this list because Faramir of the book does not exist on film. Ashitaka has quite similar attitude to conflict and war that Faramir has. He would much rather live in peace and harmony with all his surroundings and only fights out of necessity. You knew that at least one Miyazaki would make it here.
4. Mr. Baxter from The Apartment. This guy is incredibly nurturing. Here is a movie where you see a man being a woman's emotional support. And there is nothing that we love more about him than that he is never that guy who guilt-trips the woman (like saying I'm so much better than him or why are you with that guy) that you have in every other romantic movie. He makes no demands whatsoever on her and expects nothing.
6. Michael from The Deer Hunter. First, think of all the 70's and early 80's roles De Niro has done. They're all pretty hypermasculine - he's aggressive, violent and often lacking in general humanity. They're interesting roles but fit a certain stereotype of men. Michael as a character is actually quite a departure for De Niro's usual roles. It might not seem that way looking at the film's premise, but the character is surprisingly deeply compassionate. Our favourite moment where his compassion shines is when he's talking Steven through their torture - he never tells him to man up or not to cry, instead he says it's okay and to let it out and tries to comfort him and be there for him. Another one is when Michael goes to see Angela - she is in a state of shock and is unable to communicate, and of course you'd at least expect him to get frustrated, because in many films where women are in shock men usually lose their nerve and either shout or shake them or tell them to snap out of it. None of that here. He is nothing but kind, gentle and patient to the very end.
7. Holland March from The Nice Guys. This guy is so damn effeminate and we absolutely love it! It's kind of played for laughs, but then again it's not. It's much more physical comedy rather than the viewer laughing at the character failing in some "masculine act". Part of the subversion here is to do with the actor - Gosling's roles tend to be on the stereotypical sphere, so it was nice to see a role where he got to play on a different spectrum. And we're always happy to see caring fathers onscreen.
8. Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He's a sweetheart. Even though he has been raised by the cruelest person, Quasimodo is astoundingly kind and gentle. Since he is a Disney character, the range isn't that wide, but especially when you compare him to other Disney men, he has far less toxic elements in his behaviour.
9. Lenny from Strange Days. Ok, he has some of the toxic aspects of "masculine behaviour" - like being hung up on his ex, but he does eventually learn out of them. The reason we have him here, is because when we (still 100% Mormon then) watched this the first time we deemed him a coward. Because he evades conflict and is afraid of pain. He uses every verbal method possible to avoid getting beat up. And he's always saved by a woman.
10. Ed Wood from Ed Wood. He's a cross-dressing straight dude. How much more norm- breaking can you get? And he's pretty much the only one on this list who's based on a real person, played with Depp's and Burton's weirdness, of course. We love it.
11. Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts. Here's another one who is a very nurturing character. The movie we don't much care about and have never liked Harry Potter, but this man was a pretty good main character. He focuses saving the animals without harming them and instead of violence opts for dialogue. It doesn't surprise us that some film critics took issue with Newt as a main character - for movies that are supposed to sell it is expected that the lead is your regular hero who punches first and thinks later (or never).
12. Ichabod Crane from Sleepy Hollow. This is another dainty male character with some very effeminate traits. He's physically incompetent, afraid of spiders and faints at the sight of blood. Here you have the classic man of action versus man of intellect division, but unlike in most Hollywood films where the man of action is the one to save the day, here it's the other way around.
13. Shinji from Evangelion. The series, NOT the movie (which was basically the equivalent of the creator saying: oh, you like these characters? Well, fuck you!) Shinji is pretty much an antithesis to most animeboy teen heroes. He's a coward, indecisive and really really passive. Shinji is actually quite an accurate depiction of depression (the whole show kinda is). Point is, these kind of boy characters rarely show up anywhere mainstream and definitely feel more like actual teenagers than most we see in popular media.
