The War Room

WHERE HAVE ALL THE TOUGH GUYS GONE?

That's the question that Brit filmmaker Richard Jobson asks, as have many of recent years. Even James Cameron has made note in casting Avatar that there were no masculine American actors he could choose from, so he went Australian.

"Has anyone seen a modern day version of James Coburn, Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin or William Holden on the big screen in recent years? No, you haven't and you're not about to.
Forget it, they don't exist. They're extinct, beaten into submission by the wet, limp, chinless world of modern cinema."

Many have lamented the lack of geniunely masculine male actors on screen as role models. Their's is the legacy of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Charles Bronson. Even some classically overt left-wing actors were awesome at projecting a masculine outback image. Who can deny the rugged cool of Paul Newman or Robert Redford in their prime?

But, film and the arts are currently seen as traditions of the New Left. Given that the two biggest influences culturally on the New Left are feminism and queer theory, you now get 'tough guy' actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Affleck and the like.

And sadly, the notion of 'tough guy' is so looked down upon in modern culture that the ones who could do it, Russell Crowe, Gerard Butler etc. don't want to inherit the mantle.

Perhaps the toughest actor in cinema right now is on TV with Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer. I met him once and must say he passed the test. He was in a bar at Yonge and Bloor slugging back alcohol in a group and smoking cigarettes. A friend of mine and I approached him and he was very friendly with a firm grip of a handshake as he wished us a safe ride home.

More than ever there is a need for conservatives to shake off their stereotypes and enter the arts. It will not change on its own.

Unless of course, unlike me, you are one of those people who does not burst out into laughter at the sight of Leonardo DiCaprio with a gun.

posted by Nicol DuMoulin @ 8:09 AM