Teens Want Less 'Stoic' Men and More Male Vulnerability in Their Movies and TV Shows

Hollywood has daddy issues.

That was the message sent to filmmakers and showrunners this week by Gen Z and Gen Alpha survey respondents, who said they wanted to see more caring, affectionate fathers and men showing vulnerability onscreen.

The new research comes from Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA and is part of its Teen Snapshot series, which aims to elevate youth voices around entertainment and desired content.

The new study, released this week, sends a powerful message to the entertainment industry around the desire for more content that shows men in loving, caregiving roles.

“Our findings reveal a profound cultural shift: Youth are craving a version of masculinity defined by emotional availability and joyful connection,” Yalda Uhls, founder and CEO of CSS, the study’s senior author and adjunct professor in UCLA’s psychology department, said in a press release. “By highlighting these narratives of partnership and care, storytellers can offer a vision of masculinity rooted in hope and love. For today’s young audiences, the most compelling hero isn’t the one standing alone, but the one who has the courage to be present.”

For the research, CSS put targeted questions into its annual Teens & Screens survey, which polled 1,500 young people ages 10 to 24 (reflecting the age of adolescence as defined by the National Academy of Sciences).

Seeing “fathers enjoying parenting” and “fathers showing love to kids,” in fact, were the most requested male traits by survey respondents. Also desired to be seen onscreen: men taking care of others, teen boys being expressive, men asking for help, men seeking mental health care, and adult men being expressive.

“While the survey specifically measured ‘fathers,’ the intensity of the response suggests a much broader hunger for connected masculinity overall,” the report notes. “Young people are not just asking for better dads; they are asking for a reimagining of how men show up in the lives of others. Whether it is a father, mentor, coach, or teacher, the message from the audience was the same. We see this in popular shows such as Heated Rivalry and The Pitt.” 

For decades, the report points out, media has relied on the “stoic provider” or the “distant hero” as the default for adult men. But, the data shows, this focus has led to other images, of more vulnerable men, falling by the wayside.

“I love it,” says health educator Christopher Pepper, co-author of Talk to Your Boys and the Teen Health Today newsletter. “We’ve just gone through two decades of seeing superhero movies on the screen all the time, and Marvel movies presenting one image of masculinity. And it makes sense to me that people want to see more variety in the way men are expressing themselves and living in the world.”

He says it would behoove producers to listen to the message, and to understand the power behind what they create. “Many people look to their entertainment for guidance around how they should be living their lives and how they should act,” he says. “And I love that young men are saying they want to see more examples of sensitive guys, or emotional guys, with a full range of feelings that they show to the world.”