Bromance

I posted a blog entry about a week ago discussing the homophobia prevalent in hip hop music based largely on the hypersexual, hypermaculine conception of black men. But I started thinking lately about the conception of white masculinity after I saw this clip that aired on the Jimmy Kimmel Show:



Whether in Judd Apatow comedies, MTV reality shows, or late night television, there has been a lot of the ironic use of 'homoerotic' situations to create humor. Close male friendships have been dubbed bromances and buddy comedies focus on the intimacy of the friendship before making sure to note that it is a completely platonic relationship.

The most important question seems to be, why is it funny? Is it a comment on a shift in society that signals an end to the conception of malehood as emotionless? Or is it just a gentler form of homophobia.

The actors in this video aren't literally saying "no homo" the way many mainstream rappers are doing, but it seems their actions are doing it for them. While it is important to show young men that close relationships between men should not be stigmatized, it seems that they are embracing and appropriating the idea in an effort to distance themselves from homosexuality. Men do not behave this way 'normally.' Rather than commenting that same sex relationships are natural and acceptable, it seems that they are saying that the idea is so unbelievable that it could only be humor.