Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Apatow’s The 40 Year Old Virgin offers a critique of definitions of manhood (masculinity) and the self-understanding of heterosexual men (manliness) by treating virginity as similar to homosexuality. Andy Stitzer, the hero and the film’s middle-aged virgin attempts to pass as experienced among his friends. His failure at passage triggers the friends to ask if Andy is gay, something acceptable to them. Andy’s confesses his virginity, which his friends view as unacceptable. However defining man as not-virgin becomes increasingly absurd as we see Andy’s friends engage in unmanly behavior, like infidelity, pining, and drug addiction. The irresponsibility of men, parading as manliness, conceals and perpetuates their deep-seated loneliness. The women of Virgin are equally irresponsible, obsessed with sex, and lonely. Andy’s love interest, Trish, worries about why Andy will not sleep with her while she mishandles her teenage daughter wants to start having sex. What begins as a critique of masculinity becomes a critique of the central role sex plays in the lives of all adults. The two characters contradicting sex’s central role are Mooj, the family man, whose imperfect advice foreshadows the moral delivered by the character called “Prostitute,” a drag queen, whose experience in passing and expertise in sex gives provides insight to help Andy. Apatow’s Virgin, therefore, emphasizes the similar condition among gender roles as we receive them and impose them on ourselves, while hoping to replace sex with loving social responsibility as the defining feature of adulthood for all genders.