10ofRods
Verified Anthropologist
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2019
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yes..true...but men are also socialized to be stoic, strong-willed, and self-contained when faced with a hardship. BM's impenetrable veneer in the video was more a taught survival mechanism than a willed attempt to deceive, imo.
So...then it becomes interesting that he so easily is provoked to physical violence (not stoic, not self-contained) and then cries at the worksite, and then collapses on the ground during the search.
But more than that, it's such a contrast with the picture where he is looking out the hotel room door. Nothing self-contained about his expression there, IMO.
In what contexts would a 52 year old man from Indiana, who went to Purdue and owns a landscaping visit, learn this type of stoicism? Those expectations are generational - AM is just a bit older and doesn't seem so studied in his self-presentation. To me, BM was a very savvy user of social media and knew how to film his own video, which uses a contrived persona rather than an emotional appeal. He's equally capable of being all-out emotional, according to AM and to the man in Indiana who is giving interviews about him.
Anyway, men are not all socialized the same way. Part of what we're observing in the BM video is not just his own presentation of self - but his expectations of his audience. He puts on that face because he wants his audience to react a certain way. It's not impenetrable at all, it's a studied attempt to look very concerned (forehead furrows).