Timothée Chalamet Is Redefining Masculinity And Fueling The Allure Of Vulnerability
One of Hollywood's newest heartthrobs shows us more than his acting chops - he shows us how to embrace the blurred lines and how to be truly human.
It is no secret that one of Hollywood's newest heartthrobs is Timothée Chalamet, a 6-foot tall glass of water. The 22-year-old actor from Manhattan graduated from the esteemed LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Breaking out in 2017 as the school crush of Saoirse Ronan's character in Lady Bird (2017), Timothée has continued to make a huge impact on the screen and in the hearts of his viewers, constantly drawing people in with his captivating vulnerable performances.
So, what is the allure that surrounds this smooth-talking, ground-breaking, curly hair-toting man?
His vulnerability and his quirky ambiguity.
In Chalamet's interview with Harry Styles for Vice's i-D Magazine, he and Styles discuss everything from Chalamet's roles to modern manhood. When speaking about the ability to be vulnerable, Chalamet, in conversation with Styles states:
"... it goes back to feeling comfortable in chaos and creating in madness. It's almost a high to be vulnerable. I really get that. I think it can be achieved in art, but also in intimacy. It's the craziest feeling to achieve that vulnerability. If us having this conversation, in any infinitesimal way, can help anyone, a guy, a girl, realise that being vulnerable is not a weakness, not a social barrier. It doesn't mean you're crazy or hyper emotional, you're just human, which I think is something your music gets at and hopefully my movies do too. Humans are complex; we need to feel a lot of things. We are not homogeneous."
Chalamet embraced the ability to break barriers emotionally, he finds strength in his ability to be open, to be emotional, and to connect to the deep, raw aspects of what makes each of us human, something extremely difficult for anyone to do, let alone a man in his early 20's in a society that tells men that they constantly have to be strong, protect, and hide their emotions.
Later discussing modern masculinity, Chalamet says:
"There isn't a specific notion, or jean size, or muscle shirt, or affectation, or eyebrow raise, or dissolution, or drug use that you have to take part in to be masculine. It's exciting. It's a brave new world. Maybe it's because of social media, maybe it's because of who the fuck knows what, but there's a real excitement from our generation about doing things in a new way… I would be really curious to see what you have to say about it?"
Again, Chalamet continues to break the mold society has set for him and men everywhere. Donning jewelry throughout the photos within the interview, Chalamet embraces this blurred lines between masculinity in femininity. As he continually hints at throughout the interview, who are we to define someone's experience, to define what it means to be a man? Why does it simply have to mean one thing?
In the media, we have begun to see more and more men who are prominent in the media's eye on the same page as Timothée. Harry Styles, the individual interviewing Chalamet throughout the article, is a perfect example of just this. He breaks the barriers between men and women's fashion and remains the equivalent to Timothée in terms of vulnerability in the music industry.
Both men embrace the ambiguity that has now begun to become commonplace in media and everyday life - the blurred lines between masculinity and femininity. He embraces what makes us all people, the raw, difficult to put to words, emotional reality of humanity. He is unapologetic for who he is and the openness he expresses. He does everything he works on with such a grace and honestly that it is constantly refreshing for those that stay up-to-date on his press. And yes, his striking green and hazel eyes help, but the reason that he remains so alluring is that he embraces every aspect of humanity, he blurs lines, he reminds us that the boundaries of gender perception are solely there because we put them there, and he is unapologetically vulnerable.
Although this piece sings his praises and his ability to embrace every facet of himself, it can't excuse the difficulty that many men have expressing their emotions, blurring the lines of what it means to be a man, and being openly vulnerable with those around them. We set these gender barriers for men, in addition to women, and it is time that if men desire, they are able to tear them down without being persecuted as not being masculine enough. There is no single correct answer to for what it means to be a man, and it is time we stop trying put men in boxes telling them that there is.
We can't define what it means to be a man, but we, as humans, can ALL work to embrace the qualities that are so desired in this young actor: vulnerability, openness, accepting, and change-making. THAT is the allure of Timothée Chalamet, his ability to remind us all what it means to be human.
