has a popular drama recently called "Jack Reacher" .
When hearing this name, most viewers will probably react. Tom Cruise had a movie with the same name 11 years ago, and 4 years later a second movie was released while the iron was hot.
But most people did not expect that facing the handsome and capable Tom Cruise, the two movies would be better than the other. The first part of
only had a passing score of .4, but in the second part, it dropped to .9.
In 2022, this IP launched a drama version of the same name.
What people didn't expect was that in the film and television works of the same IP, the bad role played by global superstar Tom Cruise was actually played by a big man nearly 2 meters tall, and became popular all over the United States.
As soon as the drama version of "Jack Reacher" was launched, it quickly became Amazon's most popular TV series that year. While
Douban scored .0 points, "Jack Reacher" became popular on the Internet.
The male protagonist Alan Ritchson also used this drama to quickly make a name for himself and became the most popular "big guy" in Hollywood and even the world.
Recently, with the release of the second season of "Jack Reacher", the name Alan Ritchson quickly entered the horizons of Chinese audiences. The words "I can do it" under the handsome stills of
are the most favorable comments about a big guy.
We all know that Hollywood is rich in big men.
In recent years, handsome muscular men in Hollywood have sprung up in movies of various types and themes, harvesting the audience's wallets and dazzling the audience's attention.
Alan Ritchson's popularity reminds Mr. Tomato of the big guy who also suddenly became popular, "Aquaman" Jason · Momoa .
The rise of new muscular men is like a back wave, rushing onto the beach.
Schwarzenegger, who is getting old, and Dwayne Johnson, who has no films released this year, seem to have disappeared without a trace.
You must know that three years ago, Johnson was the most popular and highest-paid actor in the world. In just three years,
has not only fallen from the altar, but in the entire 2023, there will be only one "Fast and Furious 10" released that did not cause any splash.
The big guy’s ability to attract money is still there, so why has Johnson plummeted? Why do Alan and Jason continue to gain fans?
After watching the second season of "Jack Reacher", Mr. Tomato seems to have found the real reason behind it - There are not only European and American audiences' aesthetic crux of muscular handsome men, but also the objective rules of big actors making stars.
It is inevitable for some people to gradually fade away, but it seems that new people replace old ones, it seems to come a little too fast.
To see why Johnson fell so quickly, we also need to see why he rose so quickly in the first place.
Johnson was not an actor at first, and he never even thought about becoming an actor.
When he was 17 years old, he wanted to develop his career in sports, but in his first year as a rugby player, he suffered an injury. After
became a professional athlete, his salary was only $250 and he was fired.
At the worst time, Johnson only had 7 steel coins in his pocket. For this reason,
later named his company "Seven Bucks Production".
It wasn’t until the age of 26 that Johnson’s life suddenly opened up, and he began to cheat.
This year, he began to come into contact with wwe. When
joined WWE, Johnson accidentally came into contact with the first step in the American muscular handsome guy's popularity, which is the accumulation of original fans.
In the aesthetic system of Europe and the United States, there is an aesthetic view of longing for muscular and big men. This concept is deeply rooted.
On the one hand, , Europeans are martial and aggressive by nature. Force and conquest run through the entire history of Europe and America. People with strong force can obtain more social resources, and muscles are the most intuitive manifestation of force.
Therefore, throughout European history, the admiration for muscles has been throughout, from Greek mythology to Hollywood stars. Schwarzenegger ("Terminator"), Stallone ("First Blood"), who were the first to become popular around the world, all It's a big guy.
On the other hand, , due to the influence of many factors such as racial genes, physiological structure, eating habits, etc., European and American races are inherently stronger. They are generally tall, with large skeletons, thick hair, and well-developed muscles.
The systematic fitness culture, scientific diet, and admiration for various physical confrontation sports continue to emphasize to Europeans and Americans and consolidate this aesthetic preference.
Over time, liking muscular men and preferring "big guys" has become an important part of Westerners' aesthetic system.
Hollywood film and television works that are popular all over the world continue to consolidate this aesthetic by portraying large and muscular men. This leads to the aesthetic difference between European and American audiences and Eastern audiences.
Of course, this is also the need for entertainment and star-making culture.
After all, big muscles have more hormonal flavor, and the collision between muscles has more visual impact.
Compared with Xiaoxianrou, there is a super-large man running rampant on the camera, which gives the audience a completely different look.
Some people like the feminine beauty of small fresh meat, while others like the muscular hormones of big guys.
's explicit male sexual tension and charm has a huge and broad niche market among European and American audiences, especially female audiences. This has also contributed to the unspoken rule that Hollywood male stars must have eight-pack abs to become famous. .
Then the question comes again. There is no shortage of big guys in Europe and America. Why can The Rock stand out?
The answer is obvious, because he is so good at "acting".
wwe itself is a performance game. Compared with other players, Johnson, who is with a height of 1195 cm and weighs 1118 kg, is supposed to be a "ruthless character".
However, in competitions, Johnson often used his acting talents to make the audience laugh, and thus accumulated countless fans.
He has rich body movements, iconic tricks, and rich facial expressions. He is the first generation Internet celebrity in the United States and a contributor to "emoticons".
The performances are all the same. If you can perform in WWE, why not in Hollywood?
Therefore, after WWE became popular, Johnson was discovered by Hollywood director Fan. After his predecessors Schwarzenegger and Stallone, he starred in "The Scorpion King" and received a salary of 5 million US dollars, becoming the highest-paid Hollywood actor at that time. Newcomer.
"The Scorpion King" premiered and won the North American box office championship with US$36.2 million. It also broke the previous record for the best April movie premiere at the North American box office.
The audience who walked into the cinema to cheer for Johnson were precisely the "first generation fans" he accumulated in WWE.
This catapulted Johnson into the first echelon of Hollywood movie stars, and also made him the hottest hunk in Hollywood.
In fact, if you look closely, Alan Ritchson and Jason Momoa have the same path to fame as Johnson.
Although they did not go to WWE to play exhibition matches, they all seized an opportunity to become famous, which allowed them to accumulate the first wave of fans together.
These fans are all "high net worth fans" with high stickiness.
Alan Ritchson's step is "Jack Reacher". In the original work of
, Jack Detective is a muscular man nearly 2 meters tall. The reason why Tom Cruise's movie version is not rated high is because his image does not match the original work, which has a lot to do with it.
But Alan Ritchson is different.
, this big muscular man, not only looks handsome, but also has a height of nearly 1.9 meters. His body is full of tendon meat, which gives him an overwhelming hormonal aura.
On the screen, the visual impact of this kind of actor is very strong.
Alan Ritchson, in particular, has the unique rugged temperament of a Hollywood tough guy. With the director's camerawork and the packaging of action scenes in the play, he naturally has a layer of "Jack Reacher" filter on him.
In a popular drama, with such a figure, face, muscle mass and a sense of male security, that's basically it.
It is no exaggeration to say that Alan Ritchson’s first step was to climb up on Tom Cruise’s shoulders.
Jason Momoa, exactly the same.
Jason Momoa first gained popularity when "Game of Thrones" became popular.
His role as the horse king Khal Drogo has attracted many audiences because of his wild and tense appearance.
Ma Wang's infatuation also made Jason Momoa put on a "Ma Wang" filter.
has become the perfect companion in the minds of thousands of girls.
Since then, Jason Momoa struck while the iron was hot and joined the DC Universe. In 2018, he starred in his first solo super-hard work "Aquaman".
Obviously, Jason Momoa is famous thanks to James Wan .
In order to show Jason Momoa's muscular hormones and wild temperament, James Wan created many shots tailored for him.
For example: this kind of looking back as if looking up;
Another example is this shot full of wild sexual tension.
"Aquaman" not only grossed 1.1 billion US dollars, but also attracted thousands of girls around the world to lick the big screen and confess to Jason Momoa: I can do it!
Look, the new muscular star is ready.
After "Aquaman", Jason Momoa jumped into the first echelon of Hollywood male movie stars, and even appeared on the "Top 100 Most Handsome Faces in the World" year after year.
The audience's obsession with muscles not only comes from the temperament of the actors themselves, but also from the degree of fit between them and the characters, as well as the degree of commercialization of the work.
From this perspective, Alan Ritchson and Jason Momoa took the first step very steadily.
So these muscular men are famous, how do they maintain their image and continue to be exposed to the next level?
Then we have to say that the second step for American muscular men to become famous is to create a crazy personality to create a sense of contrast and affinity.
The Rock is so famous in the United States because of his unparalleled personality.
In addition to exaggerated expressions and cuteness, Johnson has many qualities that muscular men do not have, that is, a sense of contrast and affinity.
Unlike many other Hollywood superstars, who are aloof and cold, Johnson is very down-to-earth, never mind playing the buffoon, and even likes to embarrass himself in public.
When a big man with a height of nearly 2 meters is a "funny guy" in daily life, the audience will unconsciously like him.
In order to match his character, Hollywood film directors have designed many funny scenes for Johnson in all his films.
These scenes continue to feed Johnson’s off-screen persona.
came and went, and in everyone's minds, Johnson became the big and friendly guy.
Johnson also pays great attention to this aspect. He once had a little boy fan. Once his brother was drowning, he imitated Johnson's appearance in the movie "The Fall" and rescued his brother, and actually saved his life.
After hearing the news, Johnson not only visited the little boy's family in person, but also filmed a public welfare video with them to call on everyone to learn more about first aid measures.
After this wave of operations, even if the audience has no interest in Johnson, his popularity will basically not be bad.
Every time Johnson has a conflict with others, the majority of people on the Internet support Johnson.
This gives Johnson's movies extraordinary appeal. His movies basically make money, and Hollywood investors naturally like and favor him. The intertextuality is completed inside and outside the movie.
You can take a closer look. In fact, Alan Ritchson and Jason Momoa took the same second step as Johnson.
In "Jack Reacher", Alan Ritchson has a huge body, super strength and unparalleled hormonal aura.
But when there are no action scenes, his temperament is gentle, reserved and calm. Sometimes he even has the word "honest person" written on his face.
Not only that, in order to strengthen this contrast, in the play, Jack also has a pet dog.
and his infinite intimacy with his female companions all emphasize this contrasting personality of being wild and rough on the outside and gentle and honest on the inside.
When viewers watch it, it’s hard not to like it.
Jason Momoa, too.
In real life, Jason Momoa is simply a gentle and sunny boy, which is in huge contrast to his wild appearance.
He usually likes to wear "Death Barbie Pink" and make funny expressions for the camera.
In the movie, James Wan also designed many funny scenes for him that were inconsistent with his image.
For so many years, Jason Momoa has always wanted to act in romance films and comedies, but because of his image, these scripts have not been suitable for him.
He also often complained about being "trapped in a big, bulky body."
When he goes out on the street, you can't tell who is protecting whom, him or the bodyguard.
Ma Wang in "Game of Thrones" is so serious and cold-blooded, but when the camera turns around, the stills and group photos look like this.
Walking on the red carpet, you have to do all kinds of enchanting postures.
Social media, just wear a double ponytail if you have nothing to do.
Even in formal occasions, he never forgets to tease his brother Superman.
Who can refuse Jason Momoa?
And the two most popular muscular big men at the moment also completed their cooperation in "Fast and Furious 10". In the
film, the director designed the image of Jason Momoa like this...
In comparison, Alan Ritchson, who made a few complaints, is much more normal.
being able to join the "Fast and Furious" club and become a member of the "Family Man" has shown that the market and the audience recognize these two big men.
On the road to stardom in the future, they may have to challenge Dwayne Johnson's status.
Originally, as long as these two steps were ensured, a successful Hollywood muscular movie star would be basically complete.
It's just that he is always in a high position. Compared to these two, Johnson has spent a little too much on his reputation in recent years.
On the one hand, the audience has been watching this bald tough guy for 20 years, and they are more or less tired of aesthetics.
Johnson's characters are almost all homogeneous funny muscular men, which makes it impossible for him to break through in the drama.
On the other hand, Johnson is too "prolific", making an average of 3-4 films a year, and the filming plan has been scheduled until 2030.
What does not match this is the decline in the quality of his works. So far, Johnson's highest-rated movies are still about more than ten years ago.
In the past five years, the only one with the highest rating is "Titan Game", which is a reality show.
"Fast 10" scored 6.1 points, "Black Adam" scored 5.6 points, "Jumanji" scored 6.1 points, "Jumanji" scored 5.9 points...
Johnson fell into the cycle of "performing himself" and could not get out of his image. The imprisonment gradually dimmed him, which was an inescapable fact.
Perhaps this is also a rule in the entertainment industry. When new people come forward, the old ones should give way.
But for these "big guys", how to maintain "freshness" in front of the audience is a constant topic.
It is foreseeable that with the consumption of image and the increase of age, it is an undisputed fact that Johnson has retreated to the second line.
How long can Alan Ritchson and Jason Momoa stay popular?
let us wait and see!
(Movie Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Department: Miaomiao)
