Masculinity Is Camp

Batman, the camp crusader!

Another day, another slander against female oriented media being “cringe" and problematic.

I've never read a steamy romance novel but I'm aware of the stereotypical cover that graces them. You can picture it too; a lady leaning against the rock hard abs of a gorgeous shirtless man with blond locks flowing in the wind. It’s commonly parodied in media after all, ridiculing women for their over-the-top self indulgent fantasies.

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Anyways, what's this Thor character that men are so protective over?

Although men—and women brainwashed to think like men—love to pull at low hanging fruit to mock femme and queer oriented interests because “they can't take it seriously”, they can't seem to look past their own noses when it comes to male oriented media and how it oozes camp. Men idealize the concept of masculinity so much despite its absurdities that a male protagonist can climb out of their TV screen, grip their hands (like men do) and introduce themselves as “Alpha Chad McMary-Sue” and they still wouldn't think this character constitutes as camp.

I'm not much of a Marvel or DC fan but I love Batman. By day he's a jobless billionaire playboy and by night, he's leaping around in a skintight bat suit, harboring bat-themed weapons and vehicles with cute silly names like “batarang" and “batmobile”. Charging off at the sight of the “bat signal” that pastes itself on the constantly dark and smokey skies of Gotham to pummel pun-named gimmicky villains like The Riddler, aka Ed Nigma (get it?). Batman epitomizes camp that it always impresses me when supposed fanatics of him can't admit it as if it'd degrade his likeness. I recall a video where a comic fan had a hard time describing what's so great about Batman: The Brave And The Bold, opting for “authentic”, “retro”, and “self aware” but couldn't fathom to call it camp, at least not as a compliment.

Men's glorification of masculinity has turned a colourful and gimmicky character like Batman into an emo angsty edgelord (which is also pretty camp if you ask me). Yet it's upsetting to see how terrified men are of emasculation that they scrubbed away the charm of comic book heroes and their aesthetics in order to come off as respectable. The running gag of superheroes like Batman and Superman “wearing undies over their leotards” has lead to modern designs being as plain and militant as possible. Their colour pallets have slowly become more dull and dark, Batman eventually transitioning into a purely black ensemble. The hyper masculinization of Batman meant running from his queer menagerie of villains and sidekicks, aside from the Joker who helps emphasize the new edgy image by being an “uncontrollable psychopath” (remark on the homophobia and ableism imbedded in the darker interpretations of Joker). To this day, men put The Killing Joke—a painfully cliche and problematic story—on a pedestal while shunning Adam West's Batman for it's intentionally kitschy energy.

If you ever try to centralize Batman in his camp-era, you will inevitably come face to face with a staunch naysayer, as if Batman should only ever be taken seriously because men and their interests are only ever meant to be taken seriously. Cars parachuting out of helicopters, a famous spy riding the outside of a flying plane, a killer cyborg, a Kung Fu master, an American psycho, just super buff men in general; the embrace of hyper masculinity to the point of absurdity is no different from “chick-flicks”, just that the pendulum swung the other direction. Despite their similarities, men shiver at the idea of describing media they enjoy as “campy” because that has been a word to describe queer and feminine media, something they view as inferior and unworthy of respect. So I created my own term for the boys; Machismo Camp.

Although it's fun to harp on men and what they deem to be “good media”, it'd be far healthier for men to be able to admit that masculinity itself is an absurd concept. Franchises that glorify masculinity is innately campy because it embodies an absurdist, fantastical idea of men that should only be enjoyed as pure camp rather than portraying an actual standard. Yet the patriarchal powers at play has men huddling around a flimsy and weak flame that whispers what makes them worthy of respect. Too scared to lose that delicate source of comfort, men struggle to acknowledge the existence of machismo camp because it calls into question everything they were taught to take seriously and have built their principal on. But if men can become self aware and look at masculinity for what it is, maybe they wouldn't revere femininity and queerness so much. Maybe they'd realize we all like the same thing. That we’re all over the top and self indulgent.