- Actor David Corenswet praised Jonathan Bailey’s performance as Fiyero in Wicked: For Good in a recent interview.
- David applauded Jonathan’s ability to “maintain [his] masculinity” during a scene with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo).
- The comment sparked debate, with some viewers finding it sexist while others have come to David’s defense.
There’s been quite a bit of discourse surrounding masculinity in recent years, as society/the internet continues to debate whether it’s inherently toxic and if it can, should, or needs to be saved. Now, thanks to a recent viral conversation between David Corenswet and Jonathan Bailey, some new questions concerning masculinity have emerged, namely: How does a man go about maintaining it if he is playing a romantic lead in a movie who is being magically levitated by a female love interest? And also: ...What?
These great questions of our time come to us courtesy of a viral moment during a recent interview between the stars for the Variety & CNN Actors on Actors series. In the clip, David praises Jonathan’s performance as Fiyero in Wicked: For Good, specifically a scene in which he is levitated by Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba while the two sing the romantic number, “As Long As You’re Mine.” David expresses particular amazement at his fellow actor’s ability to “maintain [his] masculinity” during this scene.
“Every man out there would think there’s no way you can look masculine and powerful and in control when you’re being levitated by a woman,” David gushes. “You somehow, in that moment, when she’s lifting you by your arms…You somehow maintain your masculinity.”
After a brief pause, the Wicked star swoops in with a strikingly smooth reply, saying, “Oh my God, yeah. It was a total honor. And also, I mean, listen. I’d be carried by both Cynthia and Ari for the rest of my life if I could be.”
This somewhat confusing exchange quickly sparked chatter online, with some viewers criticizing David’s arguably sexist implication that a man being levitated by a woman is somehow emasculating, as well as a similarly questionable comparison the actor made to his own, apparently more masculinity-maintaining levitation scene in Superman, telling Jonathan, “You had the bigger challenge…’Cause it’s a lot easier when you get to carry the girl.”
In typical internet discourse fashion, however, counter-criticism swiftly followed, with others arguing that David’s comments weren’t meant to enforce the sexist double standard they address but rather to simply acknowledge a problematic societal perception and praise Jonathan’s subversion of it.
There’s certainly a case to be made that David’s comments, while perhaps poorly worded and somewhat off-putting, were likely not intended to impose a sexist belief but rather to simply acknowledge the existence of one. However, this situation comes as an important reminder that discussing these kinds of problematic social constructs—even for the purposes of countering them—has an unfortunate way of centering and reinforcing them if not carefully executed. What you say ultimately comes down to how you say it, regardless of what you mean.
Meanwhile, I think it’s fair to argue that even if David’s comments had been worded more effectively, the point he was trying to make still wouldn’t have done enough to meaningfully challenge or correct the sexist bias it raises and would’ve simply been better left unsaid. After all, if progressive wisdom holds that masculinity is merely a harmful patriarchal construct, does it really need to be “maintained?”
Moreover, does suggesting that it can or should be maintained against whatever threat a powerful woman supposedly poses really do anything other than reinforce the idea that powerful women are, in fact, a threat to men and masculinity in the first place? Meanwhile, is that the kind of idea we want to risk reinforcing, however unintentionally, in an age where it has apparently once again become okay to openly wonder things like whether women ruined the workplace?
On the other hand, now we all get to enjoy a bunch of “maintaining masculinity” memes, which will probably be pretty fun for approximately one to three business days until we inevitably beat this joke to death—so maybe it was worth it after all.
