Through films like Mad Max, Gallipoli, and The Devil's Playground,
we have seen the concept of mateship played out and demonstrated. The male protagonists engage in strong friendships with other male characters, friendships so deep that they are given their own term: mateships. To American audiences, i.e. our class, the idea of mateship seemed so foreign and new that it was difficult to comprehend. While perhaps the closest thing to mateship in the American films of late is the friendship of Seth and Evan in Superbad, mateship has been represented in American television for years, perhaps overlooked, but often just with a different name: guy-love or man-love.
Take Scrubs for instance. The relationship between JD and Turk goes well beyond the realm of what is seen as a common friendship and moves into the world of mateship. They just say it's guy-love or, rather, they sing that it's guy love.
The "My Musical" episode from the sixth season of Scrubs gives JD and Turk the perfect opportunity to describe their love for one another. They explain through song, "There's nothing gay about it in our eyes. You ask me 'bout this thing we share and he tenderly replies. It's guy love, between two guys" (http://www.1songlyrics.com/s/scrubs/guy-love.html). Throughout the course of the show, JD and Turk are shown to be in heterosexual relationships. Turk's wedding even has an episode devoted to it. Yet, their friendship is still as present as ever. Proving that while "mateship" may not be an American concept, "guy-love" is indeed.
The "My Musical" episode from the sixth season of Scrubs gives JD and Turk the perfect opportunity to describe their love for one another. They explain through song, "There's nothing gay about it in our eyes. You ask me 'bout this thing we share and he tenderly replies. It's guy love, between two guys" (http://www.1songlyrics.com/s/scrubs/guy-love.html). Throughout the course of the show, JD and Turk are shown to be in heterosexual relationships. Turk's wedding even has an episode devoted to it. Yet, their friendship is still as present as ever. Proving that while "mateship" may not be an American concept, "guy-love" is indeed.
Let's not forget other shows that have featured particularly strong male
-male friendships. Friends featured the tight bond between Chandler and Joey. The Odd Couple showed the friendship between Felix and Oscar (http://www.tv.com/odd-couple/show/104/summary.html). And my personal favorite, the friendship between Cory Matthews and Shawn Hunter spans through seven seasons of Boy Meets World, as well as the later developed friendship of Eric and Jack. Still, even more shows display the friendships between male friends as explored in a USA Today article discussing friendships on Boston Legal, House, and Nip/Tuck.While extremely close friendships between men may still be lacking in American cinema, they have been present in American television for years and still continue to be a common theme. Call it whatever you'd like--mateship, guy-love, man-love, bromance--but at the heart of it all, the concept is still the same: two guys, one unbreakable friendship.
(images thanks to: timeinc and photobucket.
2 comments:
I find it interesting that in TV there are certain examples of mateship, yet this is lacking in the cinema. It seems a common theme in many films that the female comes between two male friendships. I just watched "Appoloosa", a western style film starring Viggo Mortenson, Ed Harris and Renee Zelwegger, and I was surprised by the mateship apparent in the film. Mortenson and Harris play two men who ride from town to town and keep the peace using violence. We are introduced to the two characters' friendship with a voiceover from Mortenson. however, soon Zelwegger gets introduced in the film and she drives a wedge between the two men. I find that women become a common problem in the cinema between two male friends (Romper Stomper is another example). Recently, probably due to my knowledge of mateship from this class, I have found myself rooting for the two men to stay together and screw the girl.
In Film the audience is quickly introduced to the characters before the major plot comes into focus, and like most films, there has to be some sort of change in the daily lives of the main characters in order for a film to have meaning. Perhaps this is why women tend to have such an effect on ruining men's relationships, because unlike television, the audience has not seen the two men grow together in their friendship.
In "Romper Stomper" Hano and Davie are assumed to have a strong bond, but the audience doesn't really see this because there is automatically a strain between them when Gabe gets introduced. Male friendship may be present in many films, but it seems that women coming between the two males has more importance in film than showing the male bond. Perhaps this is due to homophobia in Hollywood in the past, or just lack of creativity; but I would love to see a film when two men have a strong non-romance bond and stay together in spite of the temptation to screw the other over.
Here's a great example of mateship in American film - it's hard to say though because it is a documentary. If anyone has heard of the classic 80s underground group the Minutemen their documentary We Jam Econo features a whole lot of mateship between members D. Boon and Mike Watt. Though this relationship was more musical than cinematic it is a great film about and even greater band led by two true mates.
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