"Those were the days ..."
By Paul Moomjean 12/24/2009
Popular culture has a funny way of reflecting on our times better than many other institutions. Religious institutions can seem out-of-touch and irrelevant, while colleges and public schools can be behind the times with outdated text books and old English literature. In fact, this past week I saw a map hanging from a teacher friend’s wall that still had the U.S.S.R. north of Turkey. I didn’t have the heart to tell her Mother Russia was knocked out by Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV back in the late ’80s. Today, the modern prophets of the times with their fingers on the pulse of society are the ad agencies, film studios and television producers who are creating a true kaleidoscope of American life, and they all seem to be centering around man’s place in the world.
It seems like a long time since Archie Bunker sang on “All in the Family” about how “girls were girls and men were men” and we “didn’t need no welfare states” since “everybody pulled his weight.” Each week, Archie would end the song with the catch phase “those were the days,” as the opening credits faded into the first act of the popular show. Archie Bunker was a confused man living in a 1970s post-Civil-Rights-era America, trying to retain his masculinity in a world changing rapidly before him. By the 1990s, the modern man was shaped into Tim Allen and Al Bundy, men not just confused by the times, but instead confused by their place in the world. While Tim’s wife constantly had to keep the accident-prone buffoon on a short leash to make sure he didn’t blow up the house, Al Bundy became the iconic image of a man being mocked for simply being a man. The 21st century brought us the confused looks of Ray Romano and the flamboyancy of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” a show reminding us that straight men can’t dress themselves unless a woman or gay man helps him. Television commercials were no better this past decade, as men couldn’t find the right cereal, cough medicine or even satisfy their wives unless aided by Extenze or that little blue pill. Rush Limbaugh called this the feminization of America, and it crept its way into all of popular culture.
Movies no longer have men like Clark Gable and Paul Newman, but after Mel Gibson went crazy, little boys like Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal became the new kings of the Hollywood castle. Emo boys with their dark hair and skinny jeans replaced cowboys and knights in shining armor. Men have been the target of ridicule for the past 30 years, and due to popular culture’s imagery of the modern male, we have accepted their reduced role. But then this month, a miracle happened. Like Howard Beale in “Network,” Dockers has declared war on society.
This month, Dockers presented the Wear the Pants campaign, reminding us that “once upon a time, men wore the pants and wore them well.” The ad goes on to celebrate the chivalry of being a good dad, opening doors, helping old ladies cross the street, the importance of heroes, and the ad asks men to “put down the plastic fork, step way from the salad bar,” and finally “it’s time to answer the call of manhood. It’s time to wear the pants.”
This war cry to men should become part of our young century’s DNA. A few bloggers have already begun defaming the ad, calling it “an unnecessary snipe at gay men through the use of common wink-wink stereotypes,” but what the objectors don’t understand is that Dockers has used its megaphone to do what the other institutions of society have forgotten to do. We are not a genderless or ageless society, but are instead a diverse and complicated society that needs the firm hand of a man, the innocence of a child, the delicate touch of a woman, and the wisdom of a senior citizen. Each brings value to the table. So I applaud Dockers for asking men to wear the pants. Because there was a time when then they did, and, as Archie Bunker used to sing, those were the days.
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