Of Boys and Men

Master and Commander, revisited

It is a truth universally acknowledged that guys are obsessed with Master and Commander. At least, guys of a certain Type—generally over 30, if not 40, and generally dads. A recent GQ column examines the movie’s cult following and what exactly it did right to make its fans so loyal. The conclusion is simple: It tells a story about men and boys who are bound together by a common purpose that is distinctly and unapologetically masculine in nature. (As one wag joked on Twitter, it actually does pass the Bechdel test…if you count the ships as “female characters” in conversation with each other.) Beyond this, it gives the 21st-century man a noble ideal to strive for, in his own small 21st-century way. Director Peter Weir sums up, “It’s about how men (and boys) behaved in that time and circumstance. How they understood concepts like ‘duty’ and ‘courage’. Perhaps that has some relevance today. Times change, and with them fashions, but some things remain imperishable. This film touches on those imperishables.”

All this is very true. Though, in my judgment, the GQ piece actually somewhat short-sells the film. If by some chance you stumbled onto the article without having ever seen it, you could form a certain impression of the story that was a good deal, well, happier than it actually is. Not that it’s “an unhappy story,” overall. But it most definitely explores shade as well as light, even around questions of masculine identity. And the answers it arrives at are more nuanced than one might expect. This emerges most strongly in the story arcs for the young crew, who are sometimes overlooked in the focus on Aubrey and Maturin’s “bromance.”