Culture critic
Fragile white guys?
As main characters? In this economy? Emphasis on ‘fragile’
‘What’s new about the fragile white guy?’ you’re probably saying. ‘Haven’t we seen a bajillion of those in the history of film?’ Thanks for asking, and yes. You know the ones – damaged male characters just trying to be good but the society we live in won’t allow it and isn’t that sad? Hot take: not really. And you know who else agrees? The people behind Hollywood’s latest depictions of male vulnerability. New films such as Fair Play and Cat Person don’t reinforce the whitemen-as-victims trope. They’re not thinly veiled attempts to stir audiences to something no one actually needs to do – feel bad for male characters who, in the grand scheme of things, do not deserve our sympathy.
Of course, male fragility as a thematic coddling device is still out there (sorry, it’ll probably never go away), but the best new movies are painting a much more familiar picture. Take Fair Play, which got snapped up at Sundance by Netflix for an impressive $20 million (roughly £16m). It follows a young engaged couple, Emily and Luke (played by Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich), both of whom work in finance. They’re madly in love, but when Emily is promoted over Luke, he turns into the Worst Guy Ever, sabotaging her at the office because he simply can’t deal with her success.
In Cat Person, based on the viral New Yorker story, uni student Margot (Emilia Jones) meets thirtysomething Robert (Hollywood’s go-to himbo Nicholas Braun) at work. They go on one fairly forgettable date, after which she breaks it off. And he… loses it. He cannot comprehend that she was interested in him at one point and isn’t any more. There’s even an ultracringey scene where he reads aloud every single text Margot sent him that made him think she liked him, trying to put the blame fully on her for leading him on instead of acknowledging the idea that she just changed her mind.
These guys aren’t fragile heroes or even anti-heroes. They’re punchlines. We’re not supposed to empathise; we’re supposed to nod and think, ‘Yeah, that’s about right.’ Because these characters demonstrate what women already know: men are insecure. And they can’t handle rejection. This is why watching Fair Play’s extremely privileged Luke unravel i
