Post: #1

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/opinio...=eta1&_r=0

David Brooks looks at the move The Searchers and compares Ethan Edwards' inability to enjoy the domestic bliss he made possible to men's inability to transition to the new economy they have made possible.

Commenter jocat:

Increasingly over the last generations, society has been devaluing or downright dissing the classic male virtues. Gary Cooper in High Noon; Alan Ladd in Shane to pick Westerns I know. A combination of moral and physical strength; a code of honor; an honest forthrighness that doesn't compromise and doesn't mess around and has the courage of its convictions. Autonomy. Self-sufficiency. A sense of responsiblity. And, yes, a protectiveness. We now ask men-- beginning with boys in school-- to tamp down their maleness and ask, in a parody of Henry Higgins, "Why can't a man be more like a woman?"

At the very same time, the kind of work that demanded men's courage and strength has been rapidly disappearing, replaced by desk jobs existing within an often whimsical hierarchy, for which only Yes Men, not men, need apply. There were movies about that going back to the 1950s. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit comes to mind. Gregory Peck coming, back from the war and stranded in a world of conformity. The Man replaced by The Organization Man, who by now has been replaced by the Metrosexual--the guy who won't offend but won't do much else either.

In this case, I think the man who's outside the door is the better man to be and he's the insider's loss.