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Thursday, May 11, 2006

Nostalgia is Dangerous
Slate informs us of the many ways in which it is difficult to become six again. Like, when you watch he-man as an adult, all you can see is it's homoerotic overtones.

The best part about rewatching He-Man, after the initial nostalgia-burst, was tracking the show's hilarious accidental homo-eroticism—an aspect I missed completely as a first-grader. In the ever-growing lineup of "outed" classic superheroes, He-Man might be the easiest target of all. It's almost too easy: Prince Adam, He-Man's alter ego, is a ripped Nordic pageboy with blinding teeth and sharply waxed eyebrows who spends lazy afternoons pampering his timid pet cat; he wears lavender stretch pants, furry purple Ugg boots, and a sleeveless pink blouse that clings like saran wrap to his pecs. To become He-Man, Adam harnesses what he calls "fabulous secret powers": His clothes fall off, his voice drops a full octave, his skin turns from vanilla to nut brown, his giant sword starts gushing energy, and he adopts a name so absurdly masculine it's redundant. Next, he typically runs around seizing space-wands with glowing knobs and fabulously straddling giant rockets. He hangs out with people called Fisto and Ram Man, and they all exchange wink-wink nudge-nudge dialogue: "I'd like to hear more about this hooded seed-man of yours!" "I feel the bony finger of Skeletor!" "Your assistance is required on Snake Mountain!" Once you start thinking along these lines, it's impossible to stop. (Clearly, others have had the same idea.) It's a prime example of how easily an extreme fantasy of masculinity can circle back to become its opposite.


Oddly, now I really do want to see it again. I can't believe I missed this stuff.

3 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Fisto and Ram Man! Ha!

6:43 PM, May 11, 2006

 
Rev. Dr. said...

Ha!

7:40 PM, May 11, 2006

 
Another Anonymous Poster said...

Every once in a while, I still find myself humming the song that played whenever they hopped into the Attack-Track

8:32 PM, May 11, 2006

 

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