Adam Sandler movies, HBO's Entourage, and such magazines as Maxim
and FHM all trade in and appeal to one character--the modern boy-man.
Addicted to video games, comic books, extreme sports, and dressing down,
the boy-man would rather devote an afternoon to Grand Theft Auto than
plan his next career move. He would rather prolong the hedonistic
pleasures of youth than embrace the self-sacrificing demands of
adulthood.
When did maturity become the ultimate taboo? Men have gone from
idolizing Cary Grant to aping Hugh Grant, shunning marriage and
responsibility well into their twenties and thirties. Gary Cross,
renowned cultural historian, identifies the boy-man and his habits,
examining the attitudes and practices of three generations to make sense
of this gradual but profound shift in American masculinity. Cross
matches the rise of the American boy-man to trends in twentieth-century
advertising, popular culture, and consumerism, and he locates the roots
of our present crisis in the vague call for a new model of leadership
that, ultimately, failed to offer a better concept of maturity.
Cross does not blame the young or glorify the past. He finds that men of
the "Greatest Generation" might have embraced their role as providers
but were confused by the contradictions and expectations of modern
fatherhood. Their uncertainty gave birth to the Beats and men who
indulged in childhood hobbies and boyish sports. Rather than fashion a
new manhood, baby-boomers held onto their youth and, when that was gone,
embraced Viagra. Without mature role models to emulate or rebel against,
Generation X turned to cynicism and sensual intensity, and the media fed
on this longing, transforming a life stage into a highly desirable
lifestyle. Arguing that contemporary American culture undermines both
conservative ideals of male maturity and the liberal values of community
and responsibility, Cross concludes with a proposal for a modern
marriage of personal desire and ethical adulthood.
