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ABSTRACT
The series Adam Ruins Everything (ARE) provides an opportunity to contemplate White, hipster masculinity and its professed progressivism in U.S. culture. As seen in ARE, hipster masculinity claims—in part—to possess an enlightened social politic, challenging sexism, racism, and heterosexism, yet the figuration of the White, cisgender-male hipster we get seemingly adopts feminist positions as means to insulate and expand his own social privilege. Using rhetorical strategies to win debates against cultural hegemony, the hipster of ARE becomes a superior masculinity, a trusted voice to guide and liberate White women and people of color, centering himself as the source of a singular truth. The essay provides the opportunity to consider ongoing tensions and ironies between men/masculinity and feminism.
Acknowledgment
The author wishes to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their insgihtful and supportive feedback.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Some early thought pieces on mansplaining (e.g., McClintock, Citation2016; Rothman, Citation2012), however, have emerged and may provide the basis for future study.
2. We should note, scholars challenge Tannen’s (Citation1990) observations as disinterested in the axes of race and class (Freed, Citation1993; Houston, Citation1995).
3. Jordan-Jackson and Davis (Citation2005) find Black men interrupt and speak more than White men in racially homogenous/heterogenous groups, but more research on the effects of race are needed.
4. The literature cited here often collapses sex and gender as synonymous (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, Citation1992; Palczewski, DeFrancisco, & McGeough, Citation2018), which Edwards and Hamilton (Citation2004) show affects research findings on sex/gender and communication. That said, patterns in speech among men and women does suggest a culturally-encouraged gender style.
5. See also, James (Citation2009) on notions of “hip” as always opposed to the masses’ tastes.
6. Each episode title of ARE begins with “Adam Ruins,” as in “Adam Ruins Hollywood.” Here and forward citations for specific episodes will use this abbreviated form of the episode title.
7. Only twice do characters who join Adam in making his case (e.g., an incarcerated person arguing prisons do not discourage crime [“Prisons”]) ever talk directly to the camera.
8. Although key recurring characters are White (his sister, two best friends, and a friend’s parents).
9. Adam also seems to possesses the power of omnipresence, magically in a home or a jail (“Immigration”; “Prisons”), and even omnipotence, time travelling, transporting to alternate dimensions, or becoming a Claymation person at will (“Wild West”; “Internet”; “Going Green”).
10. Adam’s insistence that enlightenment may be painful captures Gilligan’s (Citation1982) argument of cisgender men’s orientation toward an ethic of justice that deprioritizes interpersonal relations.
11. Similarly, male college students studying women and gender studies experience a tension as they come to see their privilege and yet are managing performances of masculinity familiar to them and their culture (Schmitz & Haltom, Citation2017; Styhre & Tienari, Citation2013).