The Mandate is a newsletter on topics that men don’t like to talk about. It’s written by Olympic Medalist and frequent Men’s Health contributor Jason Rogers. If you enjoyed this content, please give it a heart. You can follow Jason on Twitter here. If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe below.
Greetings! This week I have another Mandate Mini for you. As a quick reminder, Minis include all the stuff I’ve consumed over the past couple of weeks that I think is worth your attention. I hope you enjoy this format as I find it to be a helpful way to process all the stuff I’ve been shoving into my eyeballs each day — plus, it allows me the opportunity to step back and work on more involved essays. Please let me know what you think of the Minis in the rating & review section at the bottom! Many thanks. Jason
🎭 Rothaniel — Over the past decade, Jerrod Carmichael has made a splash in popular culture through his stand-up and artful, family-focused documentaries. However, in his new comedy special, Rothaniel, he’s offering the world something entirely new. It’s not stand-up in the traditional sense. He is on stage with a microphone in what appears to be a venue in New York. However, what makes Rothaniel different is the comedian’s intention to, as Shiley Li puts it in The Atlantic, “transform the comedy stage into a space for processing ‘secrets’—the secrets that shaped him, and the ones he still needs to share.” Midway through, Carmichael informs the audience that he is gay, a revelation that may not shock progressive coastal viewers at home. However, Carmichael elaborates. Coming out was an incredibly complicated and fraught endeavor because of his upbringing in North Carolina and the hyper-masculine tendencies that haunt black culture at large. It certainly is not your typical performance for a man of the mic. The performance reads as if he’s constructing by feel as he goes along, and often long silences ensue. Thankfully, the audience is there to offer their support and lift him up. — Watch on HBO Max | Trailer on Youtube
⚖️ I’ve Always Struggled With My Weight. Losing It Didn’t Mean Winning. — When men talk about fitness, they’re usually referring to their quest to bulk up or to sculp a praise worthy set of six-pack abs. This piece in the New York Times Magazine contains neither of these tropes. Staff writer Sam Alderson explores the emotional complexities of his pandemic weight loss journey, one that was mediated by a popular habit formation app called Noom. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments (“Do you know the saying ‘Don’t fill up on chips?’ That saying is about me. I am the guy who fills up on chips.”). But I appreciated the piece for its thoughtful self-critique and investigation of diet culture writ large. Here are a really lovely couple of lines about his personal contradictions: “I am, all at once, the one who wants to swallow the world and the one responsible for stopping myself from swallowing the world. This probably means that I will always be unsatisfied, in some way, until the moment that everything ends. And I will have to learn to be satisfied with this.” — Read in the New York Times Magazine
🍑 Pleasure, The Film — Most media that focuses on the porn industry forces you to take a clear position: either you’re for it or against it. However, The film Pleasure by Swedish director Ninja Thyberg does no such thing. It is undoubtedly a feminist take on the industry, but you are left wondering what do I actually think? This is due in part to the fact we often default to thinking that “porn” is some kind of monolithic sub-culture, and all its participants and fans share similar values in life. Pleasure helps us understand that that’s not true. Yes, there are vile, misogynist men who view women’s bodies as objects, but there are also those who go through great pains to make porn that prioritizes pleasure parity and view tasteful depictions sex as a form of art. That this film can depict such ambiguity is what gives it its power. I should add that there are many major names from the industry who make appearances in the movie, so it’s clear that this was no armchair analysis. Thyberg clearly was aiming for an accurate depiction of this world. — In Theatres in select Cities | Trailer on Youtube
🔫 The Ameriguns — One of my favorite newsletter writers — Charlie Warzel — recently interviewed Gabriele Galimberti, an Italian photographer who spent two years photographing Americans with their collections of guns. The project debuted in 2021 and won the World Press Photo Contest. However, his images recently made the rounds again on social media (uncredited) after the horrifying shooting in Uvalde. His work offers depictions of gun owners that can be interpreted as either glorifying and grotesque. Although Galimberti has to play it somewhat neutral, given he’s earned subjects' trust, he does not appear to be a fan of gun ownership in general. Also, Galimbeti’s work doesn’t exclusively feature isn’t exclusive to men. Many of his images focus on women with a veritable arsenals of weaponry. Nevertheless, I think the project paints an interesting portrait of the male gender and what they hold dear. I was struck by a comment he made about the recruiting process. Many of the photos feature dozens, if not hundreds, of weapons. He now gets all kinds of requests from gun owners who say, “I have so many more guns than the people in your book; you should photograph me!” — Galaxy Brain @ The Atlantic
🕖 JLo Critiques Gender Norms in Hollywood — While receiving the Generation Award from MTV, the icon Jennifer Lopez closed her acceptance speech by thanking her fiancé Ben Affleck and her family, noting that she'd be home for dinner by 7. This ending note appeared to be a critique of gender norms in Hollywood in that it was a reversal of a speech made by Greig Fraser at the 2022 Academy Awards . After winning Best Cinematography, Fraser thanked his wife and family for allowing him to be away from home for six months to shoot Dune and finished by saying, "I'll be home in time for dinner." JLo's words felt particularly powerful because her partner Ben Affleck is a superstar in his own right but still taking on domestic duties. I.e., it's not just the women who stay home. Men are equally responsible for enabling their partners' success. — Twitter
😹 Lampooning Rogan — Comedian Bo Burham recently released outtakes from his ground-breaking comedy special Inside. I’ve shared Inside in previous installments of The Mandate, but, as a quick refresher, Burham spent the entire quarantine period of the pandemic holed up in one room with various electronic paraphernalia making songs and sketches as he slowly descended into one of the darkest mental health moments of his life. In one of the outtakes that recently went viral on Twitter, he parodies the men’s podcast movement. He doesn’t explicitly mention Joe Rogan, but many think the work was aimed at the bro-caster in chief. Like most of Burham’s work, it’s hard to explain, so I suggest you watch the short clip. Also, don’t miss the Easter Egg in the middle. The small captions reads: “This episode is sponsored by Manstuff Dick Spray.” Enough said. — Twitter
Even More Links!
👨❤️👨 Bros, The Movie — According to IMDB, this upcoming rom-com is “the first major studio film to feature an all LGBTQ principal cast playing heterosexual roles.” — Trailer on Youtube
🤠 The Reinvention of a ‘Real Man’ — This is a wonderfully written piece in Washington Post about one man’s efforts to get the hard, cowboy-type men of Wyoming to open up — The Washington Post
👽 Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe — Mike Judge’s incorrigible idiots are back in what the filmmakers call “The dumbest science fiction movie” ever. Oy Vey. — Trailer on Youtube
😶🌫️ Gun Violence and Mental Health — Republicans often use terms like “wacko,” “crazy,” and “nuts” to describe mass shooters so they can continue denying the need for gun reform; however, the reality is that a drastically small percentage of this kind violence is due extreme issues of mental health. — The Daily @ The New York Times
⚖️ Massage and Sexual Misconduct — Franchise quarterback Dashaun Watson was recently accused of soliciting sexual acts from multiple massage therapists. He’s facing criminal and civil repercussions. — The New York Times
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That Bo Burham clip is excellent lol