«Tottie»: Richard Armitage, seen here in Possession, said he was often asked to remove his shirt for roles. Credit: Netflix
Recently, Paterson Joseph, star of the BBC hit Vigil, was invited to audition for a major Hollywood film. But he decided that this role was not worth it. «The character had all this power and did all sorts of authoritative things in an authoritative way, but in the end he didn't move anywhere.»
It's not the first time he's been asked to play a 2D stereotypical male — he always says no. “I often found myself in a situation where the character simply ticks the box that says “boss”. But I would be bored. Where are the downsides?”
Typically, when it comes to casting, the objection to gender stereotyping is given to female actors, whose options, as actress Tracey-Anne Oberman puts it, have historically been limited to “virgin/whore; mother; Driven by Miss Daisy.»
However, a recent Acting Gender study by three scholars from Northumbria and Durham Universities shows that more and more male actors these days feel they are being asked to play traditionally male roles, while female characters are more complex.< /p>
The report states that in film and television in particular, «male characters tend to have work-related interpersonal relationships and are less likely to be portrayed in emotional or primary care roles, as committed romantic partners or parents, compared to characters portrayed by women. «.
Paterson Joseph (portrayed here as Julius Caesar) turned down a Hollywood movie because the role «didn't get anywhere.» Images of Kenton/Bridgeman
Report co-author Claire Cook told The Stage newspaper: «What we found interesting was that it was male actors who felt they were the least represented characters they were asked to play, with many saying the roles available were very gender-typical and overly masculine.» . . On the contrary, «the actors we interviewed felt that their characters were more reminiscent of how they identified as women.»
One of the male stereotypes that male actors disagree with is the sex symbol stereotype. “A couple of times I was hired for something because the producer wanted to get a little naughty on stage,” actor Richard Armitage told me last year, adding that he was often required to take off his shirt. “People talk about the power of the male gaze. But it is also interesting to talk about the female gaze. It's just as much of a marketing tool as any.»
Television and film have rightly rushed to fill the schedule of shows that emphasize complex female characters, whether it's Lucy Prebble/Billie Piper's black comedy I Hate . «Susie» or «Flea» by Phoebe Waller-Bridge are both hits.
However, there are clearly no equivalents. The protagonist of the Netflix hit “You” was, of course, not an easy one – but he was also a stalker and a serial killer. In Michaela Koel's critically acclaimed I'll Destroy You, most of the male characters were either sexual predators or rapists. The BBC hit «Normal People» is a rare example of a TV hit where a man in a sexual relationship can have the same emotional sensitivity and intelligence as his partner.
Penn Badgley plays stalker and serial killer Joe in Netflix's You Photo: Netflix
Meanwhile, in theater, the challenge of finding male characters who challenge the core tenets of outdated masculinity is made more difficult by the cultural dominance of a predominantly male canon. Felix Shelley, a 35-year-old gay actor who doesn't appear «particularly masculine,» admits he would be embarrassed to play the «sexually dominant, controlling, sometimes even aggressive male roles that come with the Rattigan, Coward, Wilde revival.» or John Osborne.
Instead, he feels at home in more «emotional» supporting roles, such as Henrik in Sondheim's Little Night Music. «There are a lot of male characters in this musical arguing with each other about who gets the woman, while Henrik cries and tries not to commit suicide.»
So do we need to develop a new Bechdel test that ranks a movie or play on the number of scenes in which two men talk to each other about anything other than sex, money, or being bossy in an office?
Not so fast. Most of the male actors I spoke to for this article did not feel that the report adequately reflected their experience. First, a study of this magnitude—the authors interviewed a total of 318 actors, many of whom were just beginning their careers—cannot contain or reflect the nuances of gender identity presented in stage and screen history.
A Shakespearean exploration of masculinity: Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) in Succession. men tend to draw their tragic or comic energy from the deconstruction of the very masculinity that their characters aspire to, be it Willy Loman or John Proctor.
«Take the character of Hjalmar Ekdal in Ibsen's The Wild Duck,» adds Shelley. “He thinks of himself as a winner, as a person who can provide for his family. But the tragedy is that deep down he believes that he is not good enough. This constant bravado that stems from insecurity is so masculine. That's the tragedy of a lot of male roles: they try to be something they're not.»
No TV show has been more successful with this idea lately than Legacies, a show so full of testosterone that you practically smelled pheromones, but which became a compulsive viewing precisely because his exploration of masculinity was downright Shakespearean.
And yes, Kendall, Tom and Roman may have spent a huge amount of screen time in the office, but no one could argue that in the midst of this massacre, any of them represented the gender ideal. Meanwhile, in theater, some of the biggest successes in recent years have been intimate new dramas like Ryan Kale Cameron's 2021 sleeper hit «For Black Guys Who Contemplated Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy» or the 2023 Broadway import «Weird a loop». Both intentionally subvert the notion of a physically aggressive dominant male, instead finding poignancy and drama in male vulnerability.
black boys who contemplated suicide when the hue got too heavy. Author: Ali Wright
The key, perhaps, is that we no longer think of masculinity in the same binary terms that many of the great playwrights, directors, and television writers of the 20th century did. “Part of it is these drastic changes that cause a lot of anxiety or introspection [among young actors],” says Joseph, 59.
Significantly, almost all male actors spoke with the bristling idea that they should identify with their male characters first. Louis Donegan-Brown is currently starring in the popular West End hit «2:22 Ghost Story» where he dubs Ben the builder as well as Sam the lecturer.
“I’m not a stereotyped man [like Ben],” he says. “And I’m definitely not a white middle-aged balding man [like Sam]. As actors, playing roles that we don't identify with is exactly what we should be doing anyway. If there are a bunch of hyper-masculine characters in a David Mamet play, it's interesting to look into that and find out what effect that kind of masculinity has on the society they live in.»
«If I find a hyper-masculine character, then I'll love it, because it isn't,” Joseph continues. «And if I find a character who is a weak male, I'll love that too, because I don't think I'm particularly weak.»
In other words, if an actor is worried about the version of masculinity he is supposed to portray, he can destroy it and stop complaining. “The job of an actor is to rewrite the stereotype,” notes Elliot Levy, who won an Olivier Award for his role as Herr Schulz in the popular West End Cabaret. «It's practically a job description.»
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