Will "The Northman" Bring Back Men’s Disappearing Masculinity?
"The Northman" Redefines the Values of Masculinity
Just when masculinity is being both berated as toxic and lamented as disappearing, The Northman kicks down the door to top-off men’s testosterone. And if that doesn’t get the job done, Tucker Carlson wants to tan our testicles.
According to some conservative pundits, there’s a massive crisis in men going soft on traditional masculinity. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who famously attended the Jan. 6 rally with a raised fist, has called for a “revival of strong and healthy manhood in America.” He added, “This is an effort that the left has been at for years now and they have had alarming success. American men are working less, they are getting married in fewer numbers, they're fathering fewer children, they're suffering more anxiety and depression, they're engaging in more substance abuse.”
I’m not sure how “the left” benefits from this imagined war on men, especially when science suggests other causes for the 20% drop in testosterone in American males 15-39, including “increased obesity/BMI, assay variations, diet/phytoestrogens, declined exercise and physical activity, fat percentage, marijuana use, and environmental toxins.” Not Harry Stiles wearing a skirt.
Still, Candace Owens, conservative apologist trying to herd everyone into her time machine set for 1950, tweeted in 2020, “There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men.” Ah, yes, bring back those men who would have told her to shut up and let the men speak, just get dinner on the table, and after dinner, yourself on the table. Good times, Candace?
For some, those are the manly times The Northman brings back. Or does it?
The alt-right was highly eroticized in anticipation of the movie, leaving love notes on an anonymous message board site 4-chan before it was even released: “Northman is a based [agreeable] movie, all white cast and shows pure raw masculinity.” “[Director] Robert Eggers. He is restoring pride in our people with his great films. The Northman is going to be epic… Hail Odin.” Whitsups (what I call white supremacists) were giddy over the all-white cast flexing alabaster abs while hacking off limbs, killing children, and raping women.