Masculinity and Square Enix: Where Is My Chest Hair?

Masculinity is a tricky topic. While Feminism has offered society a philosophical and practical view of itself, culturally and historically, a Masculinity movement has never really taken off. Sure, there was a time when men would gather in the woods, hug and cry, discussing their repressed feelings and insecurities, but it never really attracted much of a crowd. The image of masculinity is molded by popular media to be someone who takes action, and lets his guns do the talking for him. Western video games have heroes like Marcus Fenix, an ultra gruff, blood-soaked man with a troubled past. But, what do we get from over seas? Well, that is a horse of a different color.

I’d hope most of you have played at least one of the many Final Fantasy games. The men represented in these games are more often than not easily confused with fairly attractive women. Perfectly smooth skin; pants that seem to just hang on by the semblance of genitalia (like a picture hanging on a nail in the wall); thin, toned bodies; and the only hair present is atop of their head, blowing about perfectly in a cool summer breeze. This is considered the ultimate man in Japanese culture, but it doesn’t exactly fly in America. Thankfully, though, their actions tend to not match their appearance. There is conflict, emotion, action, fighting, and often romance.

But, where is the middle ground? Men are either muscle bound, gun-toting renegades, soaked in the blood of their enemies, or effite fashion idols, with a penchant for manscaping. Grand Theft Auto IV’s Niko Bellic is getting there. He isn’t a giant tree of a man. In fact, he is shorter than most of the men in the game. His violence isn’t for the sake of violence (well, at least not the plot-specific stuff), he has a complex characterization stemming from a traumatic time in the Yugoslavian civil war, and you can dress him up in a variety of different outfits!

Final Fantasy XIII offers another bit of hope, as the main protagonist is a woman, instead of a frustratingly designed man-thing. The trailer also offers us a glimpse an unknown dude, who actually looks like a man:

But can his bleach-blonde, frattastic masculinity overcome the army of femimen Square has amassed over the years? The odds seem a bit stacked.