Grow the Eff Up

[chanel]

Great piece by George Will called "Basement Boys".

Gary Cross, a Penn State University historian, wonders, "Where have all the men gone?" His book, Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity, argues that "the culture of the boy-men today is less a life stage than a lifestyle." If you wonder what has become of manliness, he says, note the differences between Cary Grant and Hugh Grant, the former, dapper and debonair, the latter, a perpetually befuddled boy.

Permissive parenting, Cross says, made children less submissive, and the decline of deference coincided with the rise of consumer and media cultures celebrating the indefinite retention of the tastes and habits of childhood.

And the boomers' children? Consider the television commercials for the restaurant chain called Dave & Buster's, which seems to be, ironically, a Chuck E. Cheese's for adults—a place for young adults, especially men, to drink beer and play electronic games and exemplify youth not as a stage of life but as a perpetual refuge from adulthood.

Last November, when Tiger Woods's misadventures became public, his agent said: "Let's please give the kid a break." The kid was then 33. He is now 34 but, no doubt, still a kid. The puerile anthem of a current Pepsi commercial is drearily prophetic: "Forever young."

George F. Will: Immature Men Won't Grow Up - George F. Will - Newsweek.com

 

[007]

Good article, and I saw the commercial for the place mentioned for adults, and I thought... WTF? I wouldn't be caught dead in there. Which is convenient, they don't have all those kinds of places up here in back woods Wisconsin. We're lucky we have a Wal Mart.

 

[boedicca]

The article is spot on.

Then: Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, John Wayne

Now: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Ashton Kucher

 

[chanel]

We have an unusually high number of "5th or 6th year seniors" this year, and expect to have at least twice as many next year - mostly males. Not long ago there was a stigma about not finishing high school on time. Not anymore. I realize a lot has to do with the economy, but there is very little desire for many of these kids to leave the comfort and safety of school or home if they have no plans for college.

Girls seem to be doing much better.