OMG, someone finally pointed it out! Every relationship depicted in films for the past 30 years has one common quality: The man must be debased first before he gets the girl.
This was great, masculinity in films has been sewed the wrong way for a long time. We need to represent what a man truly should be like for his community and people he loves.
The worst lesson here is that someone like Seth Rogan-totally devoid of charm, looks, class, intelligence, and anything else that might make him interesting-can be a rich, Hollywood star.
In spite of himself, many women were obsessed with Hugh Grant during his heyday. He was extraordinarily attractive and had screen presence. Plus he is not a half bad actor. I absolutely loved him in About A Boy
Hard disagree on Hugh Grant, he's far too charismatic to be labeled in the same vain as the others. When his characters are bumbling or aimless as you described, the likability and attractiveness he displays never makes his characters feel like losers. Love the main point of the video tho!
At the other end of the spectrum is The Woman in White, in which the plain girl and the main bloke work together, help each other and complement each other perfectly, in other words, they fit each other like a glove but he ends up with the bimbo anyway.
The trope of the puppy-dog, inoffensive, goofy-looking, socially maladroit, emotionally stunted damp squib of a guy somehow winning the heart of the gorgeous near-supermodel lead was actually elevated to the level of award-contender high art in the 70s by the unlikeliest tool of all time...Woody Allen.
And Charlie Chaplin, the greatest comedy talent to come out of Hollywood, always has a beautiful female lead in his movies. The trope being high art is older than movie.
@@rosezingleman5007 No, you young cretin, that is NOT TRUE. Allen fell in love with his ex-partner's adopted daughter, and they got together, got married, raised a family, and are still together today, thirty years on. See if you can make a relationship last that long, but before that, learn the facts and stop flaunting your misguided opinions.
@keiththorpe9571 All those epithets you flung at Allen, except maybe for "goofy-looking", are misapplied, and purely out of malice. Allen was always successful with women because he's highly intelligent, handsome in an intellectual sort of way, and of course a comedic genius. He's never been a "tool", so work on your maturity, and recognise your pathetic jealousy for what it is.
This channel is videos about what I've thought about for years, but with hilarious clips, great comedic timing, cool examples from movies I haven't seen. Plus it's fighting the good fight against bad movies! I love it.
Sitcoms as well as movies taught me that the man must always apologize. The arm folding Marge Simpson-esque character, must always be apologized to by her buffoonish jerky husband.
That started in the 90's. A rigid hierarchy of winners and fools took root: Child (always the winner), woman, POC character, white male (always the fool).
Love your channel! If I could make just one request, it would be for you to have small text of the movie title whenever a little clip shows up rather than all the titles at the end out of context. but if that’s a hassle for some reason I’m OK just searching at the end like I’ve been doing.
In the third act of The Apartment, when Lemmon quits his job and tells his stammering boss, "Save it. The old payola won't work anymore," I swooned a little at what he became in that moment (just like you said): Emotionally mature, motivated, confident. i.e. authentically desirable. And on a different note, YES, one should ALWAYS do what Clark Gable would do.
Good video, I agree with most of it but there are some disagreements (Some parts of it I found it a little bit weird, like the assessment of the 40 year old virgin, which I remember very different), however the main point of it is totally in the right place, of course. If you stop thinking of women just as sexual objects, you stop simping for them. Because if you see them as human beings, you see them as a person with FLAWS as well, just like you, and you act accordingly. Instead of worrying about getting just one thing from them YOU SEE THEM AS EQUALS.
Nooooooo. Of equal value yes, but never as equals. Women aren't attracted, drawn to, desirous of an equal. Ambition, vision, get-up and go, leading are masculine traits.
@@cuckoobrain7999 Bullshit. I've no idea what podcasts you listen to but they aren't in touch with reality and you sound like a newbie to the world but one with a very closed mind...the stuff of the metro-sexual from the magazines and daily papers. I've expressed hardcore masculine traits, and had women melt, doe-eyed. Women seek guys with the traits of Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, John Wayne and Bogart, among others, it's in a 1,000 manuels from every country, in every era, in every epoch. From all the legendary lovers, the greatest ladies men, wild tomcats, dating gurus, naturals, and yes, women talk about it too, but only if they know you won't judge them. You could check out Robert Greene's best-selling "Seduction", or older texts from the last century. You may even check out Esther Parel of Dr. John Gottmann (he features in the best-selling book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell and could tell if a relationship was going to last after watching a couple for 5 minutes). Men and women work, like all mammals on polarity. Watch some David Attenborough, if you get a chance.
@@bobbyjosson4663 Nope. There's also charm, intelligent and sweetness. After all, Woody Allen was voted "Sexiest Man Alive" for 7 years running. Not every man need to be Sean Connery.
@@CrazyMazapan Balderdash and very poor reasoning. A Woody Allen in the real world would have one thing going for him, wit. Even then, that kind of self-deprecating humour isn't catnip in romance and his constant self diminution would have her leaving him. He hasn't any charm in any traditional or modern sense. He is intelligent but that's not going to make him a ladies' man. At best he would be in "the friend zone", where she would unload her disappointments. As for the corrupt tabloid media showcasing him as "the sexiest man alive" - that's so foolish, it is beyond belief. Like those who've never fought or trained in a discipline saying Bruce Lee was the greatest martial artist, or Ali "the greatest". Did they compare Allen with every male on the planet? or put him in a room with a woman in a country in which he wasn't known to see how well he would do? What he had was celebrity from his fame, status and wealth. Three universal aphrodisiacs. Otherwise, he's not a model to follow as a man unless a boy wants to be simpish. You don't have to be a Connery. Absorb the essence of a Gable, a Tracey, a Cooper. And supplement that by growing past it. Get ambitious, have a vision for your life, learn skills, develop humour and wit, learn to fight so that you have the ability to protect loved ones, experience the great literature, music, film, poetry, radio drama, TV, and paintings, as well as an understanding of history, psychology, sociology, theology so you understand the world. And to paraphrase Kipling's 'If' - then you'll be a man.
9:33 You put your finger on the one problem I have with _The Apartment:_ Fran's suicide attempt and subsequent depression aren't Bud's fault. Billy Wilder seems to want us to believe that Bud is "being a mensch" by taking the blame for something he didn't do, but it's really closer to how Gatsby meets his end - pathetically sacrificing himself for a woman who can't really appreciate what he's done for her. Luckily, both Fran and Bud get better by the end, but the notion that Bud has to pay for something he hasn't done is questionable, to say the least.
Can we have a video on how horrible women are in modern movies, particularly rom-coms? I mean they are generally horrible. Remember that line is "As good as it gets." "I imagine a man, then I take away reason and accountability."? It's like they actually do that.
I blame Pauline Kael for the "schmucks nailing models" trope. In Woody Allen's early days she told him, "Woody, the audience wants to see you as the romantic hero who gets the girl." Naturally, Allen was dubious, considering he's a self-important, repellent little worm and somewhere deep down he knew it. But he took her advice -- for decades -- and that's why really dumpy men believe hot young women want them. Thanks, Pauline, for creating a monster.
Woody Allen was voted "Sexiest Man Alive" for 7 years running and he married some amazing women. Intelligence and the ability to make them laugh counted.
@@CrazyMazapan I'm sure many dads think their adopted daughters are "amazing," but most don't marry them. That's a joke, son! But seriously. We could debate the attractiveness of Woody Allen the man all day (agree he is intelligent and witty but still incredibly icky). What I'm saying is that I believe the schlubby character he plays on screen hooking up with hot women in his 70s-80s movies is what first sparked the trope. It was the seed that sprouted the Judd Apatow branch. That's all.
Didn't see the movies you mentioned, but Hugh Grant is a very good looking and charismatic actor, I can totally see beautiful and accomplished women falling for him. He's also British.
"The Drop" nicely reverses this idea. The Tom Hardy character seems like the loser, puppy-dogging around Noomi Rapace (who wouldn't?) until near the end of the movie. Then he suddenly steps up in a critical situation and the effect is chilling.
In Casablanca, I think, Rick has at least two related reasons for telling Ilsa to go with Laszlo. One is so he can go fight in the resistance, but maybe the more compelling is that, if she'd stayed, he'd never have known for sure that she wasn't whoring herself out to him to save Laszlo. The dilemma's been foreshadowed and set up in the depiction of Captain Renaud's sexual exploitation of women in war-related crises, and Rick's only semi-covert opposition to it, the first contradiction of his claim that he sticks his neck out for no one. There's a risk, of course, that Ilsa really does love Rick more than she loves Laszlo, but it barely matters: she clearly does love Laszlo and Laszlo has been, up to this point, by far the better man and more than earned his happy ending. In contrast, it would be faintly obscene for Rick to go straight from dilettante bar owner serving drinks to Nazis to a happy-ever-after romantic ending.
At first I thought Captain Renault was an utter scumbag for what he did. But then I realized he sent Annian to get advice from Rick, knowing he'd help her out. Rick has done this before, so why send her to him? Because if they really object, if it really hurts them, he's not interested. Of course there's also the money, but fundamentally there's a limit to what he will subject women to.
I don't know what you're talking about. I take my uncombed hair, mismatched outfit and lame car up to girls' houses all the time and stand there holding a boombox playing Peter Gabriel and it still works every time.
Yeah, I don’t know about what you said about The Apartment. I know I’m ten months too late, so no one will read this… Obviously you’re right about Fran’s red flags, but that seems to me to be largely the point. Both leads do things that are morally unacceptable- cheating with a married man, enabling cheaters for personal advancement, etc. They don’t do it because they’re inherently bad people, but because they’re weak. Both of them are weak, and clearly have a history of trauma and allowing themselves to be taken advantage of. You can frame this in terms of his masculinity if you want, but that seems to me to be comparatively superficial. A story about weakness is not an endorsement of weakness! At the end, both morally compromised characters find the courage to walk away from their self-victimized status (symbolized by the same man) and in that action become worthy of each other. Fran isn’t some cheap whore Bud is fixated on, she’s the female version of him. She’s the same character with much the same journey. The coupling at the end can almost be seen as a metaphor for self-love, self compassion, and self respect. Which is necessary in order to be ready for a relationship with another person. Now, you could say it’s “unrealistic” that she would ever fall for him under any circumstances, although I don’t completely agree. The symbolism of the cards they choose kind of underscores their status difference, though- a 3 for him and a queen for her! Proves that Wilder was a genius. Incidentally, I remember a quote from Wilder in his biography that he didn’t think the couple would end up together in real life, or that it wouldn’t last long. But he changed his mind after decades of being married to his second wife, which I think about every time I watch that scene.
I think about all the stuff you talk about (despite being a critical cinephile anyway- you really talk about the thing’s I wish to hear spoken about, great channel for my taste.)
I loved the bit about The Apartment... would love to see video essay’s on random film’s from you. These are more or less that, analytical- but yeah, “Ugetsu Retrospective” , “Herzog Retrospective” type shit would be great from you, idk if that’d be as enjoyable to make but frfr
I don't understand why movies can change people's minds and world views. It never did for me. Most of the time I am left wondering how the characters would survive in reality. Bad decisions that dont have the consequences associated with them always pull me out of a story.
@@CrazyMazapan who are you talking to and what are you talking about? Your comment is highlighted under my comment. But it doesn't tag you as talking to me
Knocked Up was the one where I lost patience with Apatow (and also killed my interest in seeing Seth Rogen again). Oh no, somebody got pregnant from a hook-up, better force a marriage onto this! And while you're at it, try to bury your respective personalities for the abstract sake of "trying to make it work with each other." Yes, people have to evolve with each other to make a long-term thing work, but those two people were a horrible fit who should never have tried it in the first place. I'd be fine if the movie were more actively trying to satirize the situation, but I didn't get that feel at all from it.
In case of fire, save your bong, not your pregnant girlfriend. And she still chooses him. I know he changed his ways but that was an "I'm out" moment if I've ever seen one.
I think there is something to be said for an untraditional male role to get the girl. Where she see's his sense of humor our he supports her in another way. But it is insane how pretty much every strong male character has to have their legs cut out from under them and humiliated at least once in the franchise. I've met guys who were genuinely super people and weren't insecure, sexist, simps, awkward, weak, or lame. It's not unrealistic for a guy to be charming and witty. Call me nuts but it'd be nice to have more role models rather than every guy in the public eye having to be a fucking clown from characters, to talk who hosts, and politicians. I guess the "real men" are at work providing for a family lol.
hello, nice video. I just disagree on your view of "The Apartment", at the end, she realized that he gave up everything for her, so there is a shift in her mind, she runs to his place, he is about to leave, when he says he loves her, you are showing facepalms, but I think it's wrong, baxter reach the point where he can say what he truly means. and she replies "shut up and deal", I heard shut up and deal with it (the fact that you love me) and she takes her coat off, meaning she is ready to be loved again. One could argue that there is no kiss, but my guess was and still that she is ready to try to live with someone who really love her, instead of sheldrake who lied over and over. baxter gets her because he is truly in love with her, baxter's multiple attempt to seduce her were shadowed by sheldrake beahaviour. great channel.
"she realized that he gave up everything for her" but that's the problem. This doesn't happen in real life. People won't respect someone who doesn't respect himself, and if you're such a doormat and pushover as to give away everything in life while getting nothing in return, for someone who clearly not only isn't interested in you but also thinks lowly of you, that means you're not respecting yourself. And this is actually universal, to both women and men. Having self respect is vital, you can never expect others to respect you more than you respect yourself, so you will always be disrespected that way and never be treated right.
I love your channel and appreciate the video, however I don’t fully agree that the protagonists of the classics are stronger characters to the awkward, dorky guys we see in modern rom-coms. We need character development, so if the main character is constantly spouting off witty retorts, looks the sexiest, and has a successful career then what do they have to overcome? Not as a much, at least.
Movies are ideology comrade. An ideology which depicts and encourages belief in a sick, divided, dispossessed bourgeois middle class of emasculated working class men and shrewish, selfish and materialistic working class women serves the purposes of the billionaire 1%ers who own and run Hollywood and our country. Ideology always reflects the values of the ruling class. The cinematic reflection of the intensity of the economic class war against the working class over the last 40 years since Reagan and the GOP got it started back in 1980 isn’t very “funny” when seen through that lens. This shift in comedic tone shows just how much contempt they hold for the working class and it’s middle class component.
@@B_Estes_Undegöetz 1. Movies aren't always ideological 2. There is a large amount of films that are about and support the working class(sometimes whole genres) like kitchen sink realism and Italian neorealism.
I recently watched the movie The Apartment and I couldn't agree more with you. I was liking it until the end when *spoiler* Baxter tells Fran that he loves her. He should have just left.
I represent the Apatow loser guy and I have always hated his movies for many reasons, namely his COMPLETE DEPENDENCE ON AD-LIBBING AND EDITING INSTEAD OF WRITING FUCKING JOKES, but also this. I became pretty aware pretty fast that this was just another layer on the pyramid built on writers drafting their wish fulfillment into victory stories. But it's bullshit, and I keep waiting for the movie where the guy doesn't get the girl, knows he won't, and isn't put off by it when it doesn't happen. Contrary to popular opinion, not all of us become incels or mass shooters; most of us just get used to it and run out the clock until we die.
@@Pastel_of_Nate Definitely not. Cyrano's a winner at everything except Roxane, and the tragic irony of the play's ending is that she WAS in love with him, and neither of them knew until it was too late.
I watched the 5 year engagement - it was awful & don't really know why Seth Rogan has a movie career, he is the same character in all his roles & that annoying laugh. Look at real life & who Emily Blunt married. If nice guys actually got a "hot chick" they would either be dumb or a serial cheater.
The way to improve these movies? Have their would-be lovers actually help them improve as people and become true chads. 2:30 I mean, there have been far and few cases. 14:31 Oh, shit, that’s the guy who played Sandman and The Verminator!
Is this Jordy from Premier Basics? The voice in the videos? It sounds exactly like him but doing a character. Very good content though! Thank you! Jordy.
Well spotted! Yes! Promises Promises is one of the three musicals based on Billy Wilder's films. The others being Sugar (from Some Like It Hot) and Sunset Boulevard, one of the best ever
10:40. You may have a point here. But keep in mind the time period the movie was made. Sleeping around was discouraged, especially for women. So it’s not really her not liking him(at least, that’s not the full reason.) but she probably doesn’t want men to think she’s sleeping around before marriage. Otherwise. Really like the video, modern movies have really damaged dating.
Okay. Saw the rest of the video. So she is a bosses mistress, so that means she does in fact sleep around. But I’d still argue that doesn’t mean she wants people to view her that way. Or maybe you’re right and she just doesn’t like the idea of people thinking the main character slept with her. I agree a man should take the Cary Grant approach.
Firstly, this is a film which is an escape from reality. Realism in films is super boring. Secondly, I have seen many pretty girls hanging out with ugly losers. The look does not grants you everything else grown up should have. Most of us have totally incompetent parents. That is enough to be broken for life. Broken people are engaging in bad relationships.
I agree with your examples of bad movies where someone uninteresting ends up with the ''hottest woman in the world'' for no apparent reason. However, I don't agree with your examples of ''good films''. In these examples, they are always men around 60 years old, most of the time rude and rich, who end up ''conquering'' an 18-year-old girl. Another very recurring theme in Hollywood since forever.
Social engineering my friend, weaken the males and society is doomed. In fact nice guys walking away does get even the toxic ones chasing after him. Your editing is second to none, especially the Simpsons 😅
Hitch with Will Smith was a terrible movie through and through for this very reason! Not only is the climax a gigantic cliche but Smith's character made my face cringe inside out. This goes TRIPLE for Good Luck Chuck!!!
I guess it tells us a lot about the writers in Hollywood when these are the fantasies they bring to the studios. Hollywood must be full of guys who didn't do well with women because or dorkiness or effeminate look/behavior because that is their go-to ideal characters now.
It is not merely that Weak Men want to be told The Woman Will Choose Them. It is further that Women do not want to imagine themselves as shallow and dependent. Seeing female characters make the, ahem, less intuitive choice reinforces their idea of their own freedom (albeit, a freedom to make a poor choice).
