In front of my TV, I growl at these advertisements that put thick Quebec men on stage. In that of a home delivery service, the bad faith of the guy reaches acute cretinism. This guy has invented a fake cardboard friend who is falling apart, but refuses to admit that he is making a fool out of him. From one ad to another, this same character gets drunk in his shoelaces. Good actor, by the way, screaming truth. Elsewhere appears a doting husband who, every week, at the same street corner, evokes his girlfriend of yesteryear, the beautiful Nancy. And even if his wife and daughter roll their eyes or point out how he repeats himself relentlessly, this coco does not understand anything, unable to perceive himself as the family pest. Not to mention the slouch with his hands full of thumbs blowing up everything in the hearth. And so on.
Too many advertisements of the genre. Stereotypical to the bone, with male characters in checkered shirts, lumberjacks of yesteryear or nonos of service. They exalt the nostalgia of the rough-hewn man who smells of prejudice, ignorance and blissful self-satisfaction. Just like the good old fantasy days. Misery !
Straight White is a prime target. Today, to portray a woman in such a way would rightly cause people to scream. As it is often comedians who write the texts (made mostly by men who shoot themselves in the foot), they seek the comic effect. No more laughing at women and minorities. Hard ! But never mind ! It remains to caricature his own sex. Manhood can take thaws, I will be told, so long has it dominated. But that hampers any progressive perspective. Fathers take better care of their children than before. The relationship between men and
women are undergoing profound changes. As much to testify, if only for the example.
To believe that the world of advertising is the last cave of Cro-Magnon man. Elsewhere on the screen, mores are gradually changing. Not here. What are these finished oaf portraits for? Do heavy gags really sell? Not sure. Personally, the stupidity of these characters annoys me, to the point of not checking which product they intend to promote. Male viewers shouldn’t like their reflection in this mirror too much either. They would do well to demand better.
The thick, it exists, the sensitive men too. It is not at the spectacle of such louts that young boys will want to refine themselves. They watch TV too. Pity them! The female image has changed, the bodily diversity of actresses on the screen testifies to this. They often play fine flies in pubs elsewhere. Their fight is bearing fruit. We want male representations to evolve together, for the common good. These stupid profiles don’t help anyone. Neither did the women, confining companions and sons to desolate areas.
Especially with the huge problems plaguing the men’s field. While femininity is being analyzed and reinvented, masculinity remains a continent to be cleared, no doubt because machismo has little desire to look itself in the face. Violence, feminicides, rape, dropping out of school are not analyzed from top to bottom to dismantle the mechanisms. It will however be necessary to present to the boys new reliefs less destructive, under penalty of causing still more distress among them.
The representation of theHomo Quebecus moron is not new and has already caused waves. In 1998, Luc Picard and other actors had stepped up to protest against these roles of soft and tortured losers, in their eyes overrepresented in soap operas. On show Challenges, he said he was tired of seeing too many weak men evolve alongside overpowered and flawless women. We were far from the omnipotent and arrogant fathers of yesteryear. So much the better ! But a balance had to be found.
In the cinema, Pierre Falardeau was saddened, in front of his ill-mouthed Elvis Gratton, to see the public identify wholeheartedly with this apostle of the worst masculine failings, brushed in satire. Yes, there was still a long way to go.
The roles of guys have since become more complex, in cinema and on the small screen, to the rhythm of society. In television series, men express their emotions more than before. In the cinema, both sexes can have the beautiful role. But in the world of advertising, the stereotype of the obtuse Quebecer still takes hold. Like a record skipping to old tunes out of tune. Late, confined to the last century. If we want to create a better enlightened world, it is by embracing together the enormous challenges of our turbulent planet that we will succeed. Not by perpetuating asphyxiating models of males too obtuse to evolve.