Why Men Love 'Literally Me' Characters

Fight club and American Psycho have been warning us, the idea of what it means to be a man is destabilizing in modern society. Recently a lot of characters have gained renewed interest among young men calling them "literally me": Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, Ryan Gosling from Drive, Tyler Durden from Fight Club, Lou Bloom from Nightcrawler and ofcourse Patrick Bateman from American Psycho.
In this video essay we will dive deeper into the psyche of men in order to get a grip on why men find them so relatable and understand the so-called crisis of masculinity...

Summer in Oxford - Jakob Pietras
Aves - The Chase
Float - Notize
Gnossienne 3 - Romi Kopelman
Mozart - Lacrimosa but humanity has ended
Nobou - The Beginning
Ardie Son - Aftershocks
Ardie Son - The New World

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#fightclub #tylerdurden #masculinity

[DuCinema]

It appears as though for some people I wasn't clear with the message of this video. So let me elaborate:

*Research Question* Why do men relate to "literally me" characters so much nowadays?
*Hypothesis* Does it have something to do with the "crisis of masculinity" in the modern age that Fight Club tried to warn us about? Emasculation?
*Conclusion* Yes these are all troubled men struggling with their manliness, who put on hypermasculine personas which alienated them. That's why young men relate to them. All these characters f*cked up at the end of the movie showing that radicalisation is definitely not the answer. However, who would want a video to end on that depressing note? I don't. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that we should indeed embrace masculinity and not let society and conformity emasculate us, but instead of turning into lonely sigmas and chads we can also maintain our humanity. Living a healthy lifestyle, being well-groomed, working hard and being brave are characteristics of these men that we can definitely aspire towards.

I could have chosen a lot of other movies but I chose these because they are so popular right now. Besides that, movies don't have the answer to everything. But this is a movie channel so that's why I use them as an example. Nobody is perfect, but a medium like cinema can help us learn more about ourselves and see relatable characters on screen that make us say: “that's literally me”.

[wwe]

Walter White in Breaking bad is another perfect exemple of masculinity crisis.

[rolltideroll]

Increasingly sexualized society + harder dating scene = heavily increased feelings of unwantedness and loneliness

[kurosawa]

"reject modernity, embrace masculinity, but that is only as long as you can maintain your humanity" is such a hard quote i cant even lie

[apache]

Travis doesn't dress like a vet, he was a vet. He's a soldier looking for another war, especially coming back from Vietnam. He wants to do good and get over his insomnia and maybe what he did to make his life mean something

[Xueqs]

I think creativity and self expression is really underrated in men. Its all about "work hard, get a trade, be a soldier" but the aesthetic pursuits of bodybuilding, male form, musician, artist, etc are needed. Most of the greatest men in history were also artist.

[stravblardo]

When I was in my late teens and early 20s, Taxi Driver, Fight Club, and American Psycho were my three favorite movies. I somehow never realized how closely they were related until now. Thanks for that

Apparently, I need to watch Driver and Nightcrawler.

[officialgagethepyro]

When i was in my early 20s, I thought Tyler Durden was the smartest man alive. I quoted Fight Club constantly and tried to mold my personal philosophy after it. What followed was a period of deep depression and anxiety. Now that I’m on the other side of that I realize the actual point of the movie and the difference between self destruction and self actualization. Creation is the better option

[Dewy]

I work with children and I realized saying a character is literally me is the equivalent of a 4 year old saying “I’m Spider-Man” Same core part of our psych

[kronos]

Mental health is the biggest thing. It really feels like no one cares if you fail when you're a man. Tangentially I was in a class and following a test a few of my friends did not do well. The professor only approached the female students to make sure they were ok and to extend the option to review the concepts. The same offer wasn't extended to my male friend who did not do well. It's one instance but this video made it stand out to me.

[Nebulaoblivion]

I think a big part of the alienation, is that men feel like they have to be perfect in all these different ways. Which is basically what you just reinforced at the end, undercutting the humanity of people struggling and saying, “feel bad? Just do better and be perfect”

[vanessa]

As a woman, I love learning about the male perspective! I think it should be more discussed cause it's really interesting.
Beautiful analysis, and they all are literally me

[UncleDutchFilms]

To see a male character in film snap is something we all identify with within ourselves. The wish to fight back at what causes your pain is something we all want, but is something we are held back from because of generations of repression.

[Tsukareda]

I know that may sound cheesy, but the exact thing described in this video happened to me. I lost most of my friends and love from my life and have been searching for the answer "what happened to me and why did I act as I acted" until i watched this summery and something did click inside of my head.
A year of psychotherapy did help but nonetheless...I implore all of the guys that read this comment to be careful and not let such behaviour overtake you, it brings only destruction and pain, at first you will be oversaturated with emotions and will be dazzled by them but reality will crush on you someday no matter what.

[RSidd]

What I think is also a huge part of masculinity we've lost in this modern age is brotherhood. We are tribal by nature and society today is set up to make men isolated and be by themselves, working jobs in a cubicle, live in small apartments and just be a random nameless worker in a big organization. We used to hunt, go to war, build things and overcome obstacles together with our tribe which created a sense of belonging and strong brotherhood which I think is as essential for our survival as food and shelter. So, my advice to men who are feeling lost is to join a group centred around some activity like sports, hiking, crafts, cooking, etc. I've joined a motorcycle club and seriously the fulfillment I get by riding around beautiful nature with my buddies once a month is second to none.

[Valleyraven]

Falling Down is a great classic I feel fits this genre as well, as it's about a man who despite doing everything "right", just gets beaten down constantly by random

[keekeekakakookoo]

i think there are actually some people who genuinely relate to these main characters. on the flip side, there's those who follow the "male sigma" concept in their head without actually having a single idea of what the character shows. it's like a whole aesthetic for some men who follows "masculine" trends to help them define what a man is.

[yojimbo]

I remember having these debates on Fight Club in high school and college with people, one thing that always stood out to me was that guys always identified it with rage. And they're not wrong. Fight Club was for all the males that were rejected, unwanted children of God in society. Tyler just gave it a name. But also remember: the narrator ultimately chose to reject Tyler by the end of the movie. Some say his eyes were wide open at that point, and no longer needed Tyler to go the last step.

[Null]

Only watched a minute since it was uploaded 4 minutes ago. But I think mental health is way underrepresented in society for dudes and seeing stories of men who have to deal with mental illness is something novel for them.

[alientitimilk]

Man the amount of people that relate to this is actually concerning not in a way that they’re bad but in way like wtf are we doing as a society we’ve been so focused on everyone else that when comes to the everyday person that just wants a purpose they can live for we’ve almost completely abandoned them, its a culture that if not addressed could really lead to some serious problems