Tatiana Rizo

 
                 When I was single, I would go out with my friends a lot. I remember, whenever we went out, one phrase would end up coming out of my mouth every time, “My gaydar is terrible, I can’t tell if he is gay or straight and takes care of himself.” In high school, it was the same situation, but I never knew there was a term for it, because in my schools we never discussed the LGBTQ community and its members. Once I began college, I learned what the term for this person is—metrosexual. The idea of a metrosexual man is a heterosexual man who cares about his looks, hygiene and appearance. This idea of a man is relatively new. According to David Coad, “Without some of the most celebrated heterosexual athletes in the world endorsing and embodying different facets of metrosexuality it is uncertain if masculinity norms would have changed so rapidly in so many different cultures. Metrosexuality, in a way, is indebted to sportsmen for its very existence.” Coad continues with the image of David Beckham, where the idea of metrosexual began. It was well-known everywhere that David Beckham, professional soccer player, is heterosexual, but he always kept his hair on his head and face very neat and had impeccable style choices.
                  Ever since, the look of metrosexual took off with flying colors. It became a commercial phenomenon that all the magazines, websites and companies took part in. It eventually made its way to television as well. This brings me to the media that I will be discussing further. Metrosexual men have found a prominent role in primetime television. The example being analyzed today, is the television show “New Girl” and specifically one of the main characters, named “Schmidt.”  Elizabeth Meriwether created “New Girl.” Dave Finkel, Brett Baer and Elizabeth Meriwether direct the television show. The show is currently being broadcasted by 20th Century Fox Television. I chose this show and this character because Schmidt is the perfect example of a metrosexual man, it is also one of my favorite shows, so I have watched all the seasons enough to get a full picture of his character. Schmidt, being one of my favorite characters, it would be fun to analyze him. In the show, there are scenes and lines that portray him as slightly homosexual, even though in the rest of the show he is clearly heterosexual.
                  All of which is implemented in the first episode of the first season. Metrosexual men are considered feminine men because of either the way they dress, act or sound. The idea is implemented in Schmidt’s first scene when he meets the star of the show, Jessica Day. She responds to a craigslist ad asking for a roommate, come to realize that the ad was not written by females as she assumed, but they were written by men; let alone the ad was written by Schmidt. When he asked her why she thought the ad was written by women, Day said it was because of the word choice. Schmidt had used the terms “beige-y” and “sun-soaked” to describe the apartment’s look and location. But Schmidt does not want to come off as feminine so he proceeds to remove his shirt and says, “Does this look beige-y?” and then says “it’s L.L.S. ‘Ladies Love Schmidt.’” Schmidt is the kind of man who takes care of himself, but it is because of his obese insecurities from his childhood, that he feels he needs to look proper every moment of every day. But in a way, he also doesn’t like it when he is perceived as feminine or gay. Because each time this idea is illustrated he does or says something extreme to throw off the image and appear as a normative male.
                  This also occurs at his workplace. He works for an advertising company where he is the only man in the office. There is a flashback of Schmidt at work, where the women are catcalling him and asking him for a tampon because he is wearing a bright pink tie. The scene returns to the present, where Schmidt tells his roommate Nick, “Knowing every year that I will be going to the Wild Wild West Charity Auction for Poverty reminds me that I’m still a man, and I can still motorboat a hot girl.” He feels that the only way he can feel like a normative man is if he does a sexual act with a woman. Even though according to BBC news journalist Michael Buerk, “Our society is becoming a democracy in which men and masculinity are being marginalized. The game of life is increasingly played by women’s rules; success and failure measured by women’s criteria... In this feminized society, men who act like women are clearly preferred to men who act like men.” There was a company who was beginning to catch on, Studio5ive, which was a make-up company for men (heterosexual and homosexual).
                  In an episode, Schmidt tries to become a male model. When taking photos, he has his shirt on and off, again his body is fit but not large and his face looks clean but has facial hair. He has the exact look that Studio5ive was going for, only several years too late. “The model on offer in Studio5ive home page is good-looking but not extraordinarily handsome, buff but not a body-builder, and ordinary as opposed to effeminate or exotic.” Unfortunately, Studio5ive was ahead of its time and was shut down because not enough product was sold. But in 2017, this company would be thriving and most likely be worth millions. I know this because that is what all the men’s magazines, like, Maxim, GQ, Men’s Journal and Esquire, models sport the same look as the models from Studio5ive.com.
                  This analysis is significant because it illustrates how media created metrosexuality, commercialism took it over and how the media continues the phenomenon. It began with athletes and actors, such as David Beckham and Brad Pitt. Then commercialism took it over by placing the look in all men’s magazines. The media then continues by making most men look that way in television. The look and idea of metrosexual men is flourishing and I don’t predict is decreasing anytime in the near future.


References
 
Coad, David. (2008). The metrosexual: Gender, sexuality and sport . (p. 196). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
 
Meriwether, E. (Writer). (2011, September 20). New Girl [Television series]. Los Angeles, CA: Fox.
 
Midgley, Carol. (2005). The Times, Telegraph, Guardian. United Kingdom.

Ross, K. (2011). Studio5ive.com. In "handbook of gender, sex, and media" (1st ed., p. 197). Wiley-Blackwell.
 
 

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