cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/70086414
Given Lemmy’s leftward sociopolitical skew, the appreciation for Star Trek makes perfect sense, but what do we think of “MacGyver”? I specifically refer to the 85-92 Richard Dean Anderson show; I know there’s a reboot but I haven’t seen it yet.
Let’s see…
-Leftward Socio-political Commentary, including environmental activism and anti-authoritarianism
-Male protagonist with actual outward sensitivity & feelings
-“Open-source”; makes his own tools/gadgets from whatever’s available instead of relying on a corporate supply chain.
Sounds right up this platform’s alley.
I’m halfway through season 2 and it’s pretty damn good; it’s basically James Bond as an overgrown Boy Scout and that’s actually rather endearing.
I mostly know him as an interest of Patty & Selma Bouvier, but have extremely vague memories of watching the show.
How would the similarly tech-positioned A-Team fare in your analysis?
I’d have to find it & watch.
The premise is they’re a team of crack commandos convicted of a crime they did not commit. They are constantly harrassed by the military and they take on missions that amount to public service; in most episodes, there’s a montage where they build a bunch of shit out junk.
It also has Dirk Benedict, who is dreamy.
They also have a “crazy” person on the team, which is good for representation but a little questionable otherwise.
It’s also got Mr. T who became famous for… being Mr. T.
Mr. T was charismatic, had a colorful look kids wanted to imitate, talked in a way that got people’s attention, but most importantly, he was a fundamentally good person who did a lot of charity and public service work and who just happened to have a “tough guy” image. He made it cool be both strong and kind.
We need more Mr. T’s and fewer Andrew Tates these days.
Andrew Tate can eat my balls
I agree Mr. T is better than Andrew Tate, but they both share the same problem of needing to perform masculinity. The whole gender binary is a trap and it makes me sad that we have to sell kindness as a brand of manliness to make people take it seriously. I wish we could throw the whole thing in the trash and just value traits independently of hormonal associations, but likely that is an impossible utopian vision.
Masculinity isn’t an inherently bad thing by itself. If anything, I think we need more positive role models who can show a wholesome side of masculinity.
Associating traits with gender is an inherently bad thing.
Edit:
If men are strong, women are weak, etc. It’s nakedly a bad idea.
The problem is children identify with their gender naturally (?), so the best PRACTICAL work around is making masculinity less toxic and femininity less passive.
I’m good with Mr T’s cartoonishly unrealistic version of masculinity that was used to promote the positive aspects while clearly being a character.
Yeah, me too, but, like I said, it’s a stop-gap; it still relies on people identifying with masculinity.
It’s kind of like using the bible to push kindness, you still end up supporting Christianity which is, on the whole, pretty toxic.
Most single-span bridges need strong foundations at both ends.