Old-School Cool
“Cool guys” like James Bond, Sarah Connor, and Indianna Jones are all undoubtedly likeable, suave, strong-willed, and have top notch stylists. Aesthetics aside, the trope of the cool character in cinema’s history has been overplayed and stereotyped too hard. We’ve been bashed over the head with the idea of a blasé bad boy/girl saving the day from the collective delusion of what it means for the hero to be “cool.”
This feels most prominent with male characters because of overly-reinforced societal stereotypes. Masculinity scholar Michael Flood provides a theory called “The Man Box” concept, which describes the stereotype that limits how men and boys see themselves and behave. Based on this theory, a man’s self-sufficiency, toughness, physical attractiveness, aggression, and ability to maintain control is what makes a man objectively “cool.”
However, this type of “cool” role model is something we have been experiencing on our screens with male and female characters since childhood. Regardless of gender, these icy-hot heroes become our role models. We all want to be cool, so it’s tough to deny the act of being nonchalant.
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No Fear in Numbness
A careless attitude may be a key trait for famously “cool” characters, but in the real world, it’s an indicator of psychological self-preservation. “Emotional numbness happens unconsciously,” online mental health resource Unity Point Health points out. “It’s the result of our minds disconnecting from our thoughts, actions, sense of self and sensory experience of the world around us.” As a survival mechanism for our cerebral system, dissociation and apathy are common side effects of overstimulation, emotional flooding, and intense trauma—which are all pretty prevalent in the action-packed, fictional worlds of our “cool” heroes. Dr. Sharon L. Johnson’s published PTSD research says, “Avoidance can be useful at times. Emotional numbing is the reluctance to re-experience trauma, and, therefore, a lack of safety.” Through emotional suppression, PTSD-like symptoms remain at bay.
The fact of the matter is, it’s often overlooked that these famous "heroes" portrayed on the screen are riddled with trauma. Bruce Wayne, a millionaire orphan, metamorphosizes into a crime-fighting vigilante after suffering a debilitating back injury then escaping from an underground super-prison. Natasha Romanoff (aka “Black Widow”), was orphaned as a child and recruited by the elite, underground child-assassin programs of Russia to become a war machine. Bad guys dog-napped John Wick’s only living companion which sent the highly-trained assassin on a warpath for justice. Ellen Ripley fought hoards of aliens aboard her space ship, surviving in a cryosleep for 57 years only to awaken to a revoked pilot’s licence and her daughter’s tombstone. Yet all of these seemingly fearless heroes remain calm, collected, and constantly in control of their emotions.
How? By shutting down, of course.
The Lonely Island, a spoof-style comedy trio born from the casting rooms of Saturday Night Live, created a song (and subsequent music video) about cool guys in action movies. With the famous line, “Cool guys don’t look at explosions; they blow things up then they walk away.” They comedically point out the absurdity of the lengths at which action characters numb themselves. Even when they feel the blazing hot flames of a villain’s lair exploding at their backs, a “cool guy” never turns to assess the risk. They simply walk away in slow motion without a care in the world.
This emotional numbness, however, has been mistaken for coolness for too long. According to Joe Nemmers, a mental health counselor, “In the face of physical or emotional pain, or a traumatic incident, our sympathetic nervous system has three responses: Fight, flight or freeze. Emotional numbing is freezing.” Our brains put our emotions into a sort of hibernation-mode in order to protect ourselves, resorting to robotic, apathetic instincts in order to stay 100% logical, safe, and alive. So, it’s clear why some of these cool-as-a-cucumber heroes would want to shut out the past.
We’ve been idolizing blasé behavior in the movies for centuries. Linking this careless behavior with “badassery” and “coolness” is just admiring these characters’ ability to ice out any semblance of humanity. Once a person loses their humanity, however, that doesn’t make them much different from other animals in the wild.
Caring is Cool
Luckily, many newer films are becoming self-aware of the mental implications of emotional numbness. The latest James Bond , played by Daniel Craig, dives deep into the personal traumas of a high-caliber, MI6/ Secret Intelligence Service special operative. Lingering on lost romances, guilt, and even the physical toll of being a covert operative. This new image of James Bond has a far more “human-like” dimension, while still maintaining his charming, cool-guy attitude, and lethal presence, of course.
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The trope may persist until the end of time, since the “cool” hero stereotype is so deeply ingrained in our storytelling culture. However, it’s hopefully that the suave characters of the future will be more multifaceted. Entrenching ourselves in the drama of humanity and feeling our emotions flood to the surface is what makes us who we are. So why hide behind the flattened tropes of our two-dimensional heroes of the past?
No one is exempt from fear or worry, so it’s far better to care deeply about the things that matter to us instead of latching onto apathy. It may seem simpler to cower behind a wall of mental protection in the face of danger, but owning your emotions and fueling your passions are what make us human and lead us to inner healing.
Turn away from coolness and embrace your emotions, evolve—because caring about things deeply is way cooler than being blasé.
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