Oct 15, 2009 03:27 AM
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Macho men are not so in vogue these days. And, with some help from Oprah, the trend, once so prevalent in pop culture, may very well be dead. Or on its way, at least.
This past Monday marked an important date in the death of macho: Oprah, the nation's greatest arbitrator of cultural trends, hosted Mike Tyson, the boxer most known for wife-beating and biting off Evander Holyfield's ear. The latter was the bloody, maniacal and all-around shocking moment in which Tyson become macho's ugly extreme: he was a monster, and the public, however horrified, fed the beast, which may explain those regrettable tattoos.
But thanks to some soothing words from Oprah this week, a contrite Tyson was brought to tears as he cried about his troublesome past and, most tenderly, the death of his daughter. Since simple tears may not be enough to completely rehabilitate Tyson, Oprah's bringing him on again this Friday, when he'll sit down and have a gab with Holyfield himself.
The resultant sob fest may very well make these former enemies the best of friends. Or, at the very least wash them both, but mostly Tyson, of their respective heavy-weight images.
Tyson's is just one of the many examples of once-fierce men rebranding themselves in more family-friendly fashion. The most obvious, of course, is former braggart wrestler Dwayne Johnson. Sure, "The Rock" still has some action chops, but how can anyone take him seriously after seeing him dressed up as, quite literally, a fairy in his latest, The Tooth Fairy. A sadder display we have not seen.
Even action heroes aren't manly anymore: Jake Gyllenhaal may be buff in Prince of Persia, but he's hardly a macho man. Nor is Adrien Brody, who will be fighting the aliens in the Predator remake. And so it goes. Thanks, birth control.
Send an email to Andrew Belonsky, the author of this post, at andrew.belonsky@gmail.com.
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