How ARCANE Writes Men

"We do not get a celebrity male sex symbol" Me staring at the local cuisine:

as a girl speaking, i love how everyone in this show gets to be badass in their own way. men and women can be badass without undermining each other. the women can fight well without needing the men to be weak so the writer can push a message about how superior women are. the men get to be badass without women needing to be damsels in distress so men can seem more badass.

"There is no feminine version of the word 'emasculate'" THAT is a cool ass point

I'm surprised you didn't mention that two men make the choice to become single fathers (to daughters, even). Nurturing and childcare are often seen as feminine, but these two characters easily "survived" parenting their daughters. Just the opening image of Vander, the burliest male character, dropping his weapons at the sight of crying children, and Silco very quickly switching from being a violent aggressor to embracing a crying girl --- they were both very strong choices to give to male characters.

RE: Silco's makeup - he's not wearing it when he's introduced. He's in his oceanic observatory, interrogating Deckard, and treating his eye. He's got no makeup. Nor does he have that makeup when he's in the factory, interrogating Vander or fighting against the kids. Silco starts wearing makeup after he adopts Jinx. He wears the makeup not to hide his weakness from his underlings, but to look less monstrous for his daughter.

I'd make the case that Viktor's stereotypically masculine trait, more than even sucking up emotions, was his refusal to ask for help. He's dying and he knows it, but it's only once he's absolutely critical will he tell his best friend. If Jayce had known about Viktor's condition sooner he would have worked day and night to find anything to help him.

I also love the fact that Silco despite everything genuinely loves and protects Jinx and it's so often that I see villain male characters casting aside or using female characters as shields or abandoning them because god forbid he lets a woman get in the way of his goal. But Silco literally gave up undercity's independence as not to betray Jinx, even after she killed him he wasn't angry at her. Meanwhile when you see archetypes like Joker and Harley Quinn, Harley will always be used and disregarded by Joker. Whilst both archetypes are valid and show different kinds of personalities I see the latter far more often

As a women I've told another female friend, "I'm so proud of you." We were just sitting in the car after something and then she broke down crying. I said "ahhh shit I'm sorry..." (I don't know how to act sometimes and I acknowledge that irl) and she told me "no, no, you're fine. It just reminded me of my dad, and how I'll never etc.." I'm a pretty masculine woman so I feel like we all know this subconsciously. Like if Mel's mother said "I'm so proud of you, I didn't see it before but I do now." That would be huge and probably hit us all harder than "I love you Mel." Because we can see the love in how protective she is, how she reached out to try to give her daughter advice but she is a masculine woman. (Please correct me if she already said that shes proud bc I need to watch it all for the 3rd time)

Another addition to Silco's moments, he has and uses Stuff with Jinx's drawing/painting all over it despite being a strong man dictator.

“The stereotype of what guys want to hear from their fathers isn’t ‘I love you,’ it’s ‘I’m proud of you.” not a father but makes a mental note to compliment the men in my life more often

Validation is even a theme for jinx. She's the youngest so when we see powder do the things the older kids tell her to do there is never any compliments or congratulations. It's expected of her to just do the tasks like everyone else. I noticed Vander is so compassionate and complimentary and guides the older children. They forget that voice that guidance is what got them through their fearful moments and allowed them to get to where they are. Powder was expected to just catch up to them. Vi is the only one you see compliment and congratulate her but since she's the only one her betrayal is even more painful. The only person who believes in you says you are a failure

Moments of weakness in men that don't create lasting character change is so powerful, thanks for focus on that!

“Validation is the masculine equivalent to professing love” reminded me of the line from Mulan where Shang, instead of telling Mulan how much he’s grown to love her over their adventure together simply says “You.. fight good”

14:37 Maybe needing validation is why Silco takes in Powder. If he can raise Vander's daughter better than Vander could, it would validate Silco to himself. Additionally, Silco never recieved validation from Vander, who was like a brother. So he empathizes with Powder, who is constantly seeking validation from Vi

As a person which first thought about about writing men and women was "write them without caring about their gender" this was really eye opening, and it's interesting the thought that in one way or another stereotypes for good or bad will always form a part into the human personality. I really liked your video 💯❤️

“Validation is the masculine equivalent to professing love” is so true it scares me. When I was young and just coming to terms with being a gay man I got careless and my father found out, he took me aside and told me he loved me, and it felt so good, but later in that same day right before bed he pulled me aside again and said, "I will always love you, but I will never approve of you." and that love he was expressing went completely hollow, it was like love wasn't what I wanted from him at all and what I did want I know I'd never have. Since that moment I still can't look at him in the same way, its a permanent scar in my image of him and it's impossible to talk to him without it in my head. Validation is important, never be afraid to tell your friends and your family that you are proud of them.

Great thing about how men and women were portrayed in arcane is that they’re all capable in some way or another. No gender triumphs over the other as if they’re more superior. For example, with the jinx and ekko fight, we know that both characters are smart, they have their own way of fighting, and we generally see them as equals. When ekko beats jinx up and completely manhandles her, it doesn’t make us squirm. At least in my experience, I didn’t. I’m a girl and in most media, you just feel an overwhelming difference in power with men and women so seeing a girl get totally wrecked in a fight makes me feel queasy. With ekko and jinx, however, we feel as though they are on even grounds so whoever wins, it’s because of their ability and them as a character, not because of their gender. Pretty cool.

I actually really find the "local cuisine" character interesting. He doesn't even have any lines, but he has some interesting implications to me. He is using some very feminine qualities to his advantage, he's thin, and kinda soft looking to me, he is using his presentation and sex appeal to get things. Ambessa is very powerful in multiple ways and likely is getting the best of what Piltover has to offer for any given thing she wants. That to me says he is likely pretty expensive. So while Mr. Meal is showing very feminine qualities and using feminine qualities, he is likely getting something that men are usually shown wanting, status and wealth. Look at Ambessa and tell me being her favorite boy toy does not instantly give you power just from association. And just from some lines that Mel says, it is implied that Ambessa also has filthy money that Man Candy is now being given for his services. So it has depth of presentation of men even in a side character we barely see.

The line of "write them the same no matter the gender" always rubbed me wrong but never had a good argument to explain why. A great video

This might actually be teaching me lessons about my male and masculine friends :O I've got a close, very masculine, enby friend, whom I've told numerous times that I love - because I hold such deep love for them, and want to express it. They've never, ever, said it back. And that used to bother me a bit. Until I learned that they say it with their actions instead. They agree to hang out. They hold me when I'm sad. They bought me a very thoughtful, though somewhat inexpensive, present for my birthday, because they remembered me saying that I wanted it. Some people don't say "I love you" with words. And that has to be okay. So thank you, for making me understand my male and masculine friends a little better - while delivering excellent analysis of an excellent show.