Male Characters in
Our Favorite Shows
What is it that attracts us to a
television series? Sometimes it could be
the juicy storyline but many times it is the presence of a strong male
character that brings together audiences that religiously follow a particular
series. Furthermore, these characters
are attractive and have these deep complexities that make them appealing
characters. Some would call them “bad
boys” and they do not always play by the rules.
Don Draper from Mad Men, Vince
Chase in Entourage, Walter White in Breaking Bad, and Hank Moody from Californication are examples of
this. I would not necessarily call this
a new trend as having an ideal male character to star in a show has been going
on since the dawn on the movie industry.
However, I believe that it is the presence of these characters and the
multiple dimensions they bring to the show is what keeps us watching over and
over again.
For those
that watch Mad Men, Don Draper is one
of the most compelling characters on television. He is good-looking, smart, and even has an intriguing
dark side. Furthermore, he lives life to
the fullest, attending lavish parties with beautiful women while also
constantly smoking and drinking. For
those that lived through this era of the 1960’s, Don Draper is the man. Ladies love him and men want to be him and
the best part is that this is not some sort of fantasy, this was real
life. “…There was a tremendous amount of
drinking, three martini lunches were the norm…I smoked three to four packs a
day. Everyone smoked at all times in all
meetings….There was a tremendous amount of sex, I don’t know of a single
marriage to survive that time” (Bruce Horovitz interviewing Jerry Della Femina
– a veteran ad executive – for USA Today).
Not only are we fascinated by all of the smoking, booze, and sex, but
also Don’s secret dark side had audiences on the edge of their seats, wondering
what his secret was and than would anyone else find out. If it were not for the character of Don
Draper, Mad Men would not be what it
is today.
The show Entourage on HBO in many ways is a
modern day Mad Men. “Both shows create a fantasy world revolving
around the media/entertainment industry, with elaborately designed costumes and
glamorous characters. Both sets of
protagonists jet around the world in expensive clothes. They attend fancy parties and sleep with
beautiful people” (Cline, 2011). Vincent
Chase is to Entourage what Don Draper
is too Mad Men. Just as we want to be the witty Draper who
comes up with brilliant ad campaigns, we also want to live the life of Vince and
the persona he exhibits. Vince and his
crew spend their days cruising around Hollywood having a blast and conversating
with beautiful women. We are happy when
Vince is successful and we are sad when he is going through turmoil. Similar to Draper, we watch Don spiral out of
control, consumed by sex, drugs, and alcohol and we hope that he pulls himself
together.
While
Walter White from Breaking Bad might
not be the most attractive character, he is the prototypical “bad boy” that
everyone seems to love. A character that
has a darkness to him that fans of the show become obsessed with. While many may not want to admit it, we all
have a little “badness” in us and we do not always want to follow the rules. “Our attraction to this characters is primal:
they enact our darkest fantasies of power and violent release” (Almond, 2013). Furthermore, while we like Don Draper and
Vincent Chase because they are successful and wealthy, we want the same for
Walter. An over-qualified chemistry
teacher who gets cancer and can barely make ends meet, but wait he has this
amazing skill to cook meth and get rich off of it? Fuck ya, I’m in.
Finally
there is Californication’s Hank
Moody. Another strong male lead that is
attractive, witty, and has a great sense of humor. Again, Hank is another character that tries
and gets his life in order but seems to keep getting caught up in the world
wind of sex, drugs, and alcohol, while also mixing in a little rock n’
roll. We watch the show because we want
to see what kind of trouble he will get into next. He is somewhat brilliant at what he does,
similar to Don, Vince, and Walt, and we are in awe of his charisma when his
brilliance is on display. “One of Hank’s
more appealing traits is his candour. He
makes no apologies for who he is and he speaks his mind with very little
thought for the consequences. Through his
scathing, yet mostly eloquent t comments, Hank deals with people and situations
the way that most can only dream of after the event has occurred” (Payton,
2008). Many people admire a person that
speaks their mind and the fact that he seems to get beautiful women to sleep
with him makes many of us wonder how he just did that.
Therefore,
the reason why many audiences are attracted to these shows is the brilliant
complexity of the protagonist male lead.
They portray confidence, smarts, power, and they play by their own
rules. This is the way we subconsciously
want to live our lives: by our own rules.
So we tune in to see if Don will be able to get out of a downward
drinking spiral. What beautiful celebrity
will Vince sleep with next? What is Walt
going to do with all of that money? What
crazy situation will Hank find himself in this time? This is why we watch these shows and why the
lead male characters make it so much fun to do so.
Resources
I agree that viewers do get some sort of satisfaction or somewhat live vicariously through watching these characters. I am familiar with all the shows and characters you referenced and your right, it is hard to watch these shows and not pull for them. Yes all of them have major character faults and personal issues that most would not want to deal with, but its something about their dark persona and charisma that people can't help but to root for.
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