‘How to Train Your Dragon’ gives a new vision of masculinity
Image by Universal Pictures via Wikimedia Commons. Fair use.
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf
If there’s one thing that seems certain, it’s that men are in trouble. Facing what has been dubbed a “masculinity crisis” by pretty much any news outlet out there, men are struggling to adapt to a new world in which women have increased earning power and the ability to be choosier with partners. The result is a rise of masculinity influencers.
If you’ve never heard of Andrew Tate or Liver King, consider yourself blessed. Some studies show that as many as two-thirds of young men have turned to these influencers, taking their advice on everything from dating to workout regimens. Religious groups are even getting involved, with one Russian Orthodox community promising “absurd levels of manliness,” advising its members to stop doing things like crossing their legs or eating soup.
In the middle of that fray jumps a live-action remake of a popular animated franchise – “How to Train Your Dragon.” The adult Viking mentors of Hiccup, the protagonist, are paragons of masculinity. They live to kill dragons, brag about missing limbs, are suitably distant, and scared to show the slightest bit of interest in or vulnerability with their children.
One scene captures this perfectly, as a main character rushes to talk to his father after a dragon hunting expedition and is told, “don’t talk to me in public.” Another scene shows Hiccup’s father struggling to connect with him, being unable to actually sit down and have a conversation with him face to face. Both find it incredibly awkward and simply give up.
Distant fathers are nothing new. Many of us have had the experience of trying to connect with a father who seems simply incapable of conversation, and, if the popularity of Sabrina Carpenter’s hit song “Manchild” is any indication, young men are not exactly showing signs of advance in this regard.
There are plenty of voices speaking to young men about how they should be men in the world, and yet progressive Christianity has had little to say to or about men.
That’s why the movie’s message is so important. Hiccup is not a traditionally masculine figure at all. He is a lanky, introspective, and thoughtful young man who pioneers a way of communicating with the dragons that the previous generation has spent so much time and energy trying to kill. At the start of the movie, a character gestures to all of him as an indication of what he needs to change to earn his father’s love, but by the end, that image has flipped. It is the older generations that have plenty to learn from Hiccup and his way of encountering the world.
If there’s anything I took from the movie as a pastor, it is that there are plenty of voices speaking to young men about how they should be men in the world, and yet progressive Christianity has had little to say to or about men. Sitting on the sidelines is not earning any points, and we have to figure out a way to speak to the present masculinity crisis because a voice against toxic masculinity is so needed right now.
Young men don’t need to be told not to eat soup; they need to be shown how men can be gentle, kind, loving, and emotionally available – that these do not threaten traditional masculinity but were always the most important part of what it means to be a man. We see in Scripture that the prodigal son’s father is not cold, distant, or unforgiving. He runs to meet his wayward son; he is willing to embarrass himself so that his son knows that he is valued in his household. He is gentle, when he could simply cast him out.
Those are values that could have a big impact on men who are looking for something different in the present world. In the church’s lack of interest in having those conversations, other, more sinister, voices speak into that void.
Perhaps Hiccup can lead us forward or at least start a conversation, one that is desperately needed both in our society at large and the church. We need something new, but maybe that something new can be drawn from some of the oldest stories around – that has always been the promise of church.
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf is senior minister, Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois. He currently serves as the co-associate regional minister with the American Baptist Churches Metro Chicago. His book, published in 2023 by T&T Clark, is titled “Sanctuary and Subjectivity: Thinking Theologically about Whiteness and Sanctuary Movements.” He is also the co-founder of Challenging Islamophobia Together Chicagoland, an initiative that brings together people of all faiths to counter Islamophobia from a religious perspective.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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