B i g L o v e : Rewriting the Modern Man
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ideal was created. The internet, e-mail, and cell phones allow danger to enter the
American home through the backdoor, undetected. Not only can the male no
longer protect the weak from danger, he is often unaware of its entry into his
home. Bill’s inability to protect his family is symptomatic of the danger that
penetrates into a supposedly safe space and also of a coming to terms with the
lack in masculinity when compared to what is stereotypically considered ideal.
If, as established in the introduction, Bill can serve as a test case for the
modern man despite the exaggerated level of threat to his ideal masculinity, it
becomes possible to see the failure, not of Bill’s masculinity, but of the
masculine ideal. The contrast between the placid exterior image of masculinity
and the interior turmoil reveals that what has been considered ideal is actually an
inherently false reflection of the past that does not take into consideration the
equalizing pressures that are de-sexing gender roles. The symbolic castration
represented through the threats to Bill’s masculinity is actually a liberation from
the stereotype, because the distribution of masculinity between the two sexes
allows for a lessening of the responsibilities faced by the man. Through the
male-driven, hegemonic system of polygamy, the creators of Big Love reveal
that just as this paragon of masculinity has kowtowed to the egalitarianism of
modem day gender roles, the “average man” can no longer expect to attain the
sexually dominant, financially stable, all-controlling, defender role associated
with the masculine ideal. Bill, like the ideal, is dynamic and constantly
changing; so while he seems utterly different from the average male, with his
three wives and his seven children, he is actually the epitome of the modem man
with his masculinity in constant flux, if tenuously still intact.
University of Pittsburgh
Jennifer Lawrence
Works Cited
“A Barbecue for Betty.” Big Love. HBO. 2006.
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Diekman, Amanda and Alice Eagly. “Stereotypes as Dynamic Constructs: Women and
Men of the Past, Present, and Future.” Personality and Social Psychology'
Bulletin 26.10, 1999: 1171-88.
“Global Better Sex Survey.” 19 June 2007.
Khan, Kim. MSN Money. “How does your debt compare?.” 14 Dec. 2006. .
“Pilot.” Big Love. HBO. 2006.
Sexual Medicine Society' o f North America. 14 Dec. 2006. .