| rdfs:comment
| - The Spear Counterpart to Tomboy and Girly Girl. What makes Odd Couples odd is that they pit together people with conflicting personalities in hopes that hilarity will ensue. A common variant is to have two male characters that are at the opposite ends of masculinity. One guy will be your everyday Macho Man. He's rough, aggressive, and strong (or at least that's how he sees himself). He loves sports, cars, power tools, and general physical activity. The other guy in contrast will be much "softer." He loves poetry, literature, art, and is generally more In Touch with His Feminine Side.
|
| abstract
| - The Spear Counterpart to Tomboy and Girly Girl. What makes Odd Couples odd is that they pit together people with conflicting personalities in hopes that hilarity will ensue. A common variant is to have two male characters that are at the opposite ends of masculinity. One guy will be your everyday Macho Man. He's rough, aggressive, and strong (or at least that's how he sees himself). He loves sports, cars, power tools, and general physical activity. The other guy in contrast will be much "softer." He loves poetry, literature, art, and is generally more In Touch with His Feminine Side. Occasionally these personality traits extend to their looks. The Macho Man will be tall and well-muscled. The Sensitive Guy will be more slender. Anime usually gives him a Bishounen look while Western production might go for a more nerdy one. They may have an Odd Friendship or will be Those Two Guys in an ensemble cast. More frequently they are rivals or even enemies, especially in schoolyard settings. This is because the Manly Man may see the Sensitive Guy as a "wuss" for not displaying stereotypical masculine behavior. Similarly, the Sensitive Guy may resent the Manly Man for perpetuating those stereotypes in the first place. This is very apparent if the two are caught in a Love Triangle as the female will theoretically choose which of them she sees fulfilling the role of "man" best. These two tend to get into a lot of Ho Yay or Foe Yay which tends to drive a certain group of fans wild. If they're an actual romantic couple, they'll get Uke and Seme comparisons too. Related to Red Oni, Blue Oni with the Manly Man almost always Red and the Sensitive Guy almost always Blue. Also related to Power Trio with the Manly Man usually the id and the Sensitive Guy usually the superego. Like its Tomboy and Girly Girl counterpart, this can run the risk of Unfortunate Implications / Family Unfriendly Aesops if done wrong. Sitcoms are especially guilty of this as the main character often will be a Manly Man and if he's given a Sensitive Guy friend or neighbor as a foil, many jokes will be made at the latter's expense especially if he commits the grievous sin of being into opera instead of sports. On the other hand, the Manly Man can often be portrayed as boorish, mean and stupid if he prefers hiking and hunting to sewing. This of course is a relative not an absolute contrast. The "sensitive guy" need not be a Dirty Coward, nor need the "manly man" be a Jerkass. And of course on a Badass Crew, to some degree everyone will be a "manly man". And as you want the characters to be likable, you do want most of them to have some characteristics of a "sensitive guy". And so on. The point of the trope is in the contrast between the pair. Often also used as a way to indicate that works relying on Mars and Venus Gender Contrast still have room for at least more than one stereotype per gender. Expect the Action Hero to be a Manly Man and the Action Survivor to be a Sensitive Guy in an Action Duo. Compare Sibling Yin-Yang and Blue Oni Red Oni. When the Manly Man happens to be a woman it is a case of Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy. Contrast Emotional Bruiser where they combine. Compare with Noble Male, Roguish Male, where the Noble Male is still considered to be "manly" in a chivalrous fashion.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)