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Men Don't Cry: Difference between revisions
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* For all its macho bravado, ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' '''completely''' averts and washes this trope away with an ocean of sensitive and warm-hearted [[Tender Tears]], even from its [[Noble Demon|supposed]] [[Anti-Villain|"villains."]] Also notable in that at no point does ''anyone'' attempt to hide such tears.
* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'':
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* ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' plays with this trope to establish Cutemon's character. At the beginning of episode 28, he reprimands Zenjirou for crying, claiming that "boys shouldn't cry." Towards the end of the episode, he must make the decision between staying with his parents (with whom he had recently reunited), or continuing to travel with Xros Heart. Choosing the latter, he tries his best to retain the notion of Men Don't Cry, but is convinced that it's okay to shed [[Manly Tears]] upon bidding farewell.
* Sonic (Amazingly enough) cries at the very end of the second season finale of ''[[Sonic X]]'', presumably over the inevitable prospect of leaving Chris. The viewer never sees either his eyes or face directly.
* Subverted in ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]'': Jesse Custer hasn't cried {{spoiler|since his father was shot to death in front of him and the killer taunted him about it}} and is of the firm conviction that men should act manly and should under no circumstances cry. Tulip eventually calls him out on it, {{spoiler|after he notices he is crying as he admits that some of his character traits may need to be re-thought.}}
* In the Marvel ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' series, the mobster Underworld brings up this trope and says that it's a bunch of bullshit. He says that when his dad died, he cried like a baby, but was no less a man after he had grieved than before.
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== Film ==
* ''[[The Bridges of Madison County]]'': During the filming, [[Clint Eastwood]] had a crying scene, during the filming of which, he would not cry to the camera. He said it was because he had never cried on camera before, and he couldn't just go into an all-out bawl, because he is Clint Eastwood. In the end, he decided that this approach was actually more realistic, and went with it.
* [[Tear Jerker|The funeral of Valeria]] in ''[[Conan the Barbarian]].''
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* ''[[Boys Don't Cry]]'': Not too surprisingly, a carrying theme.
* In ''[[Cars]]'', the chief of the Radiator Springs police department begins to shed [[Manly Tears]] when Lightning appears to left the town - he denies doing so when asked about it, stating that [[Blatant Lies|he's glad Lightning is gone]]. Averted with Red within the same film, who has a tendency to run- well, drive- off sobbing at the slightest provocation.
== Literature ==
* ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'': Briefly shown when Anne talks about her teacher leaving the school.
{{quote|Jane Andrews has been talking for a month about how glad she'd be when Mr. Phillips went away and she declared she'd never shed a tear. Well, she was worse than any of us and had to borrow a handkerchief from her brother—of course the boys didn't cry—because she hadn't brought one of her own, not expecting to need it.}}
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* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Hermetic Millenium|Count To A Trillion]]'', Menelaus's mother tells him this after he cries.
* Subverted in the novelization of ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''. Both in the scene where he tells Leia he's going to face his father, and later as Anakin Skywalker is dying, Luke weeps openly and without shame.
== Live Action TV ==
* Why does nobody like Craig in ''[[Big Brother]]''? Two reasons: 1) He's male. 2) He cried. Even if he's gay, he wasn't allowed to get away with it.
* Discussed in ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'' when Tim's friend, father figure and boss, John Binford, died. Tim is no stranger to loved ones passing away since his dad died when he was 11 and he learned to cope by just continuing on like everything is normal. But he was caught off guard when Brad complimented him on not showing such girly feelings, which was not the message he wanted his boys to learn. After the funeral he admitted to Brad that he cried.
{{quote|'''Jill:''' "He cried more than the widow."
'''Tim:''' "That's cause she didn't have to pay for parking!" }}
* ''[[Farscape]]: The Peacekeeper Wars'': Knocked gently at the end. Crichton, as his son begins to cry, says, "Hey, Crichtons don't cry. ...often. Or for very long."▼
* ''[[Pushing Daisies]]''': Played fairly straight in the second season opener (source of this page's quote). Even Ned, usually gentler and more empathic than Emerson (albeit deeply, deeply repressed), nods in agreement.▼
* ''[[The Colbert Report]]'': [[Stephen Colbert]] insists men don't cry, and as the manliest of men, he'd [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/181238/november-29-2005/better-know-a-district---california-s-50th---randy--duke--cunningham never] [http://tinyurl.com/whyaretheydoingthistosam break] [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/61313/april-05-2006/crying that] [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/216580/january-20-2009/stephen-s-inauguration-breakdown rule].▼
{{quote|It's never okay for men to cry! You know who cries? Girls. And little babies. And little baby girls. Man holds it in! Until his eyeballs swell to the size of baseballs, his throat feels like it's about to explode, and his gut just aches like there's a snake wrapped around his heart! That's why we die earlier, but it's worth it!}}▼
* ''[[Sliders]]'': Our heroes ended up on an Earth where women were the superior gender. Professor Arturo loudly voices his disdain, and as a result ends up in a campaign to become mayor of San Francisco. He's later convinced that this is a bad idea, and tries to throw his campaign by "pulling a Muskie", referencing Edmund Muskie from above, and breaks into tears at a debate. {{spoiler|In a subversion, the tactic gains him an enormous sympathy vote.}}▼
* ''[[Lost]]'':▼
** Generally averted by the cast, most notably Jack, who frequently cry without there being anything made of it.▼
** Probably justified in that the characters have crashed on a desert island and go through some pretty rough stuff, and the many rivers of [[Dysfunction Junction|freely flowing angst]] that make up everyone's backstories can only add to reasons someone might want to shed a tear.▼
* ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'' averted this nicely, showing several of the male characters (and hardass Margret Houlihan) to be weeping or out right sobbing at different times in the show. The most famous example would be during the movie/finale when Hawkeye reveals why he's been in a mental hospital the whole episode up to that point.▼
* Played straight with ''[[The Thick of It]]'''s alpha male, Malcolm Tucker. In series three there are several moments where Malcolm sounds like he's about to burst into tears, but he never does... not on screen, at least. In episode eight we see him with red-rimmed eyes but as [[Magnificent Bastard]]s don't cry we never see the crying itself.▼
* ''[[Extreme Makeover: Home Edition]]'': Averted in , where it's not uncommon to see a man cry as much as a woman.▼
* [[Glenn Beck]] is awfully fond of averting this "[[Patriotic Fervor|for the sake of [his] country]]" or some such.▼
* Averted on [[The X-Files]] with Mulder, who is seen crying at many points in the series. As a whole, he is more likely to show emotion of any kind than his stoic female partner, Scully. This was done quite deliberately on the part of the creator.▼
* ''[[Community]]'': Despite stating "guy's I never cry", [[Once Per Episode]] Troy breaksdown.▼
* In the ''[[Kamen Rider Fourze]]'' movie ''[[Kamen Rider]] x [[Kamen Rider Fourze]] & [[Kamen Rider OOO|OOO]]: Movie War Megamax'', Gentarou (the titular Fourze) explicably states that there's only two times a man should cry - losing his wallet and getting dumped. He says this as he's crying because he found out the girl he fell in love with was an alien and may not return those feelings. He gets over himself when he realizes that she never said anything about not feeling the same. [[spoiler:[[Kick the Dog|When he gets the chance, it's stolen from him and he ends up crying in anguish.]]▼
** It should be noted that he is the primary source of [[Manly Tears]] and Inelegant Blubbering in the show. Ironic, isn't it?▼
== Music ==
* The [[Flight of the Conchords]] song "I'm Not Crying" parodies this trope, with the Brett and Jermaine defiantly ([[Blatant Lies|and unconvincingly]]) trying to convince the audience that they're not crying after a breakup.
{{quote|''There’s [[Sand in My Eyes|just a little bit of dust in my eye]]''
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* Brazilian song "Homem Não Chora", by Barão Vermelho.
* Dee Clark's "Raindrops":
{{quote|''Rain keeps falling from my eyes
''Oh no they can't be teardrops
''For a man ain't supposed to cry }}
* "I'm Not Crying" by Chris de Burgh, whose lyrics consist mainly of [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]s.
* ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw1_wKvd-3g When a Man Cries]'' by [[The Divine Comedy]] is all about how society all but prevents a man from outwardly crying.
{{quote|''When a man cries,
''His body shakes
''And his eyeballs ache
''And his mind vibrates,
''But he doesn't make a sound.
''Don't wanna wake the house, now.'' }}
* "Dust In My Eyes" by Arcadian Days explores this.
* Repeatedly subverted by the narrator in [[Tim McGraw]]'s "Grown Men Don't Cry".
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''Boys boys don't cry''
''They don't shed a tear because of pride'' }}
* The 1960s Japanese song known to Americans as [[Americanization|"Sukiyaki"]] -- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc "Ue o Muite Arukou" ("I Look Up When I Walk")] by Kyu Sakamoto, is all about this trope; it's the lament of a man who's lost his love and goes walking in the rain with his face turned to the sky to hide his tears.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Baby Blues]]'': In an early story arc, Daryl has gotten involved in a minor car accident that broke his abnormally-sized nose- cast and all. Talking about it with his wife Wanda, they both begin to get choked up over the idea of him not being there for his family:
{{quote|'''Daryl:''' Don't start, you'll get me going, too...
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* Used heartbreakingly by Charlie Brown in a [[Peanuts]] comic:
{{quote|Those dreams I have at night are going to drive me crazy. Last night I dreamed that little red-haired girl and I were eating lunch together...But she's gone...She's moved away, and I don't know where she lives, and she doesn't know I even exist, and I'll never see her again...and...I wish men cried..." }}
== Professional Wrestling ==
* Averted by ECW alum Tommy Dreamer, who cries freely when he feels like it and challenges that men who don't cry are not real men. However, sort of inverted in that the things he
▲* Averted by ECW alum Tommy Dreamer, who cries freely when he feels like it and challenges that men who don't cry are not real men. However, sort of inverted in that the things he DOESN'T cry over (like getting his scalp pierced or set on fire or whatever else has happened to the guy in matches) are the same things that would send even the manliest man into a fit of uncontrollable whimpering. Physical pain isn't what gets most people to cry in the first place—it's the emotional buffeting that breaks people down.
* Somewhat averted when Kurt Angle cried when receiving a gold medal in the Olympics, but then [[Played for Laughs]] whenever it's been called back to in his pro wrestling career. In addition to being mocked by Triple H, Angle has also turned into a crying mess in at least one (possibly more) in-ring kayfabe re-enactments of his medal ceremony which he has done to soothe his own ego.
▲* ''[[Farscape]]: The Peacekeeper Wars'': Knocked gently at the end. Crichton, as his son begins to cry, says, "Hey, Crichtons don't cry. ...often. Or for very long."
▲* ''[[Pushing Daisies]]''': Played fairly straight in the second season opener (source of this page's quote). Even Ned, usually gentler and more empathic than Emerson (albeit deeply, deeply repressed), nods in agreement.
▲* ''[[The Colbert Report]]'': [[Stephen Colbert]] insists men don't cry, and as the manliest of men, he'd [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/181238/november-29-2005/better-know-a-district---california-s-50th---randy--duke--cunningham never] [http://tinyurl.com/whyaretheydoingthistosam break] [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/61313/april-05-2006/crying that] [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/216580/january-20-2009/stephen-s-inauguration-breakdown rule].
▲{{quote|It's never okay for men to cry! You know who cries? Girls. And little babies. And little baby girls. Man holds it in! Until his eyeballs swell to the size of baseballs, his throat feels like it's about to explode, and his gut just aches like there's a snake wrapped around his heart! That's why we die earlier, but it's worth it!}}
▲* ''[[Sliders]]'': Our heroes ended up on an Earth where women were the superior gender. Professor Arturo loudly voices his disdain, and as a result ends up in a campaign to become mayor of San Francisco. He's later convinced that this is a bad idea, and tries to throw his campaign by "pulling a Muskie", referencing Edmund Muskie from above, and breaks into tears at a debate. {{spoiler|In a subversion, the tactic gains him an enormous sympathy vote.}}
▲* ''[[Lost]]'':
▲** Generally averted by the cast, most notably Jack, who frequently cry without there being anything made of it.
▲** Probably justified in that the characters have crashed on a desert island and go through some pretty rough stuff, and the many rivers of [[Dysfunction Junction|freely flowing angst]] that make up everyone's backstories can only add to reasons someone might want to shed a tear.
▲* ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'' averted this nicely, showing several of the male characters (and hardass Margret Houlihan) to be weeping or out right sobbing at different times in the show. The most famous example would be during the movie/finale when Hawkeye reveals why he's been in a mental hospital the whole episode up to that point.
▲* Played straight with ''[[The Thick of It]]'''s alpha male, Malcolm Tucker. In series three there are several moments where Malcolm sounds like he's about to burst into tears, but he never does... not on screen, at least. In episode eight we see him with red-rimmed eyes but as [[Magnificent Bastard]]s don't cry we never see the crying itself.
▲* ''[[Extreme Makeover: Home Edition]]'': Averted in , where it's not uncommon to see a man cry as much as a woman.
▲* [[Glenn Beck]] is awfully fond of averting this "[[Patriotic Fervor|for the sake of [his] country]]" or some such.
▲* Averted on [[The X-Files]] with Mulder, who is seen crying at many points in the series. As a whole, he is more likely to show emotion of any kind than his stoic female partner, Scully. This was done quite deliberately on the part of the creator.
▲* ''[[Community]]'': Despite stating "guy's I never cry", [[Once Per Episode]] Troy breaksdown.
▲* In the ''[[Kamen Rider Fourze]]'' movie ''[[Kamen Rider]] x [[Kamen Rider Fourze]] & [[Kamen Rider OOO|OOO]]: Movie War Megamax'', Gentarou (the titular Fourze) explicably states that there's only two times a man should cry - losing his wallet and getting dumped. He says this as he's crying because he found out the girl he fell in love with was an alien and may not return those feelings. He gets over himself when he realizes that she never said anything about not feeling the same. [[spoiler:[[Kick the Dog|When he gets the chance, it's stolen from him and he ends up crying in anguish.]]
▲** It should be noted that he is the primary source of [[Manly Tears]] and Inelegant Blubbering in the show. Ironic, isn't it?
== Theatre ==
* In the stage play ''Lost in Yonkers'', Grandma tells her grandsons that "boys of ten shouldn't cry" and goes into a list of seemingly heart-wrenching circumstances which apparently did not move her, claiming to be "made of steel".
* In ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' Launcelot, the clown, tries to unman his dad by tricking him into crying ("Now will I raise the waters!") and, later, accuses ''himself'' of weakness for weeping as he says goodbye to Jessica: "But adieu! These foolish drops do something drown my manly spirit." The more serious characters in the play (Shylock and Antonio) are prone to [[Manly Tears]].
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'''Celia:''' Do, I prithee, but yet have the grace to consider that tears do not become a man. }}
** This is contrasted by several references to the (actual) guys in the play shedding [[Manly Tears]], most notably Orlando and his brother, Oliver, after they reconcile offstage.
== Video Games ==
* Averted in the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' games, where Otacon is contractually obliged to undergo at least one [[Tear Jerker]] per game, and is quite open about it.
** Perhaps even examined in the first ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', where Snake, after watching Otacon cry for a while, places Wolf's handkerchief over her face. His rationale is that he doesn't need a handkerchief, having 'no more tears left to shed' - both showing that he only got to the point where he can't cry through massive emotional torture and making him implicitly envious of Otacon's ability to show emotion in that way.
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* In ''[[Professor Layton and the Unwound Future]]'', this takes the form "A gentleman never makes a scene in public." Despite this, both {{spoiler|Layton}} and {{spoiler|Luke}} each cry at one point. For the former the reason is {{spoiler|his love having to leave to die}} and for the latter {{spoiler|having to leave Layton because his family is moving away}}.
==
* Invoked (and [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040204 broken]) by Sam "Da Man" Sein from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209165726/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4275 a trike feminist attacks this: Hey guys, it's okay to cry.]
== Web Original ==▼
* ''[[The Nostalgia Critic]]'':▼
** The Critic said that a man getting in touch with his feminine side makes him a pussy. This was during the beginning of his ''Top 11 Saddest Nostalgic Moments'' and he ends up [[Hypocritical Humour|breaking down at all of them]].▼
** While reviewing Baby doll from ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', the hosts begin to cry over the episode only to say it makes them want to lift weights.▼
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyJBnmO8O8o Shed a Tear], by Kevjumba, Chester See, and [[Nigahiga]] pokes fun at the trope by [[Inverted Trope|inverting]] it to a ridiculous extreme.▼
== Western Animation ==
* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die" the eponymous character's favorite band, [[Radiohead]], calls him a "little crybaby" for {{spoiler|crying over the deaths of his parents}}. To be fair, they didn't know about that; they thought he was crying just because he was dying from cancer.
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': Often referenced by Ron Stoppable, whenever he's about to cry, who says "[[Sand in My Eyes|I have something in my eye]]."
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* Inverted on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', when Heloise goes [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] to find out about Jimmy and Beezy's list of "Secret Guy Stuff", one of them is crying at a sad movie. When she expresses disbelief that this is guy stuff, they respond "Heloise never lets us cry...unless it's from pain."
* On ''[[Family Guy]]'' Peter accidentally crashes his boat into a bar mitzvah and [[Dead Baby Comedy|kills the clown]] hired for entertainment. The party boy looks on in horror and begins to cry, only for his father to slap him in the back of the head and remind him that he's supposed to be a man now.
▲== Web Original ==
▲* ''[[The Nostalgia Critic]]'':
▲** The Critic said that a man getting in touch with his feminine side makes him a pussy. This was during the beginning of his ''Top 11 Saddest Nostalgic Moments'' and he ends up [[Hypocritical Humour|breaking down at all of them]].
▲** While reviewing Baby doll from ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', the hosts begin to cry over the episode only to say it makes them want to lift weights.
▲* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyJBnmO8O8o Shed a Tear], by Kevjumba, Chester See, and [[Nigahiga]] pokes fun at the trope by [[Inverted Trope|inverting]] it to a ridiculous extreme.
== Real Life ==
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