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Bromance

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For other uses, see Bromance (disambiguation).
In 2017, then President Barack Obama's relationship with Vice President (later President) Joe Biden was described as a "bromance".[1]

Relationships
(Outline)
Types
Genetic or adoptive
By marriage
Partner(s)
Intimate and sexual
Activities
Endings
Emotions and feelings
Practices
Abuse

A bromance is a very close and non-sexual relationship between two or more men. It is an exceptionally tight, affectional, homosocial male bonding relationship exceeding that of usual friendship,[2][3] and is distinguished from normal friendship by a particularly high level of emotional intimacy.[4][5] The emergence of the concept since the beginning of the 21st century has been seen as reflecting a change in societal perception and interest in the theme,[4][2][3] with an increasing openness of Western society in the 21st century to reconsider exclusivity constraints.[6] The female version of the bromance is the womance.

Etymology

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Bromance is a portmanteau of bro (or brother) and romance. Dave Carnie is credited with coining the term as editor of the skateboard magazine Big Brother in the 1990s to refer specifically to the sort of relationships that develop between skaters who spent a great deal of time together.[4][7] The term did not attain broad currency until approximately 2005[4] when the theme became more prominent in the motion picture industry.[4][5]

Characteristics

[edit]
Hug in France
Bromance in Morocco

Bromance has been examined from viewpoints such as historiography, discourse analysis, social research, and queer theory in book-length reviews.[4][8] The emergence of bromance as a topic over the past decade has been seen as reflecting how society has collectively changed its perception and interest in the theme.[4][2][3][5][8]

Several characteristics of bromance have been cited:

  • Bromance conveys a male homosocial relationship that goes much further than traditional homosocial practices.[4] The increased closeness goes beyond being mere friends, to a deep bond that has been characterized as capturing the conceptual edge of "is gay / is not gay".[4][5]
  • Its emergence as a distinctive conceptual genre and theme in the movie and television industry is seen as reflective of a "broader acceptance of non-heteronormative cultural expressions as well as the prospect of a same-sex intimacy that transcends matters of sexual orientation".[4]
  • Contemporary cultural circumstances, including the struggle for and attainment of gay marriage equality, and specific elements of the depiction of bromance in movies and television separate it from buddy films, as well as historic romantic friendships, which reflect a different social construction.[4][3][5][8][9][10][11]

According to Chen, society has taken a collective interest in reexamination of some of the traditional constraints on male friendship, and in potentially reshaping the constructs of gender, sexuality, and intimacy.[6] Bromance provides "a case study of gender, sexuality, and exclusivity constraints in twenty-first century America as they operate in law and beyond. Those constraints in turn speak to the privilege and subordination imbued in this type of relationship, with implications for other types as well."[6] This is distinct from the connotations of romantic friendship, a term of 20th century historical scholarship that retrospectively described close homosocial relationships, which had become less common after potential physical intimacy between non-sexual partners came to be regarded with anxiety in the second half of the 19th century.[12]

On the one hand, social interest in the theme has been seen as driving the film industry, which has then fed back to society at large, exploring peoples' mindsets and addressing acceptance of "other types of relationships" between people.[13] On the other hand, some have seen the emphasis on platonic love as a rejection of homoeroticism, or as a deliberate confounding of homosocial and homoerotic relationships.[14]

Bromance has also been seen as a reflection of greater "discursive expressivity".[4] The experiences of friendship and masculinity, perhaps due to more open parenting styles from the 1970s, reflect a trend toward more openness emotionally, with increased expressivity.[2][8][15][16] According to sociologist Peter Nardi, "men are less afraid of being perceived as gay. It has become more acceptable for them to show some emotion."[17] Men are marrying later, if at all, which impacts male bonding.[17][18] According to the 2010 US Census, the average age of a man's first marriage is 28, up from 23 in 1960; men with more education are waiting until their 30s before getting married.

Criticism

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Some people, including Randall Munroe,[19] have criticised the term 'bromance' as a superfluous term for friendship, implying that it is unusual for two men to be close friends, when such relationships are deemed normal between women, and 'friends', 'close friends' or 'best friends' would all be equally accurate and valid ways of expressing the same thing. The term has also been criticised as implicitly homophobic.[20]

Celebrity

[edit]

A number of celebrity relationships have been popularly characterised as "bromances". Although bromance is a new term, this treatment of celebrity relationships is not new.

Film celebrities

[edit]

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as the 1946–1956 ‘rock star’ comedy team Martin and Lewis set a new standard for a complex, multifaceted enactment of a ‘special’ male friendship." Coming post-war, "the comedy of Martin and Lewis teased with a sly alternative to the model of heterosexual affirmation traditionally peddled by Hollywood, as their intense and unstable relationship showcased a panoply of emotional and erotic intensities between men. The cultural resonance of Martin and Lewis's comedy derived from the way it set in motion a more complex ‘queering of gender.’"[21] They starred in 16 films together as an inseparable unit, as well as on early live television and in nightclubs. They had an immeasurable effect on millions of baby boomers and future comedians, (including George Clooney, whose aunt Rosemary Clooney was a guest on their show).

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were described as "perhaps the pioneering bromance in showbiz history",[22] which led to an off-Broadway play called Matt and Ben.[23] The relationship between Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine, stars of the 2009 Star Trek film, has been described similarly, in common with their on-screen characters' relationship.[24]

The close friendship between George Clooney and Brad Pitt was once suggested to be "George's longest-lasting affair".[25] Clooney's bromantic tendencies served as the basis for an episode of the animated series American Dad! entitled "Tears of a Clooney", in which lead character Stan Smith becomes bromantically involved with Clooney as part of an elaborate revenge plot.

Athletes

[edit]

Professional footballers Eric Dier and Dele Alli, who played together for both Tottenham Hotspur and the English national team, have a close relationship that has been described as a bromance.[26]

During the 2016 Olympic 100m finals, the friendship between Jamaican Usain Bolt and Canadian Andre De Grasse emerged, characterized and celebrated on social media as a bromance.[27]

Bodybuilders Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu, had a close relationship described by themselves as bromance, since 1965. Arnold and Franco were inseparable friends and training partners since then. They began a bricklaying and patio business called European Brick Works in 1969.[28]

Between band members

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The tight relationship both on- and off-stage between Bruce Springsteen and the late E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons has often been described[29][30][31] as one of the most fitting examples of bromance in Western modern music. This relationship is most notably depicted in Springsteen's song "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", from Born to Run – in which Springsteen and Clemons appear respectively under their pseudonyms Bad Scooter and Big Man. It was also described in Clemons' autobiography Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales.[32]

The Japanese and Korean music industry actively encourages bromance among male celebrities (particularly members of boy bands) as part of the fan service to please the audience.[33][34]

Gay-straight celebrity relationships

[edit]

While the term has generally been applied to straight relationships, mixed gay-straight relationships without sexual intimacy have also been dubbed "bromances". Examples of well-known gay-straight bromances include George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley from the band Wham!; Ronnie Kroell and Ben DiChiara from the Bravo reality series Make Me a Supermodel, in which the pair was nicknamed "Bronnie";[35] the relationship on Survivor: Gabon between Charlie Herschel and Marcus Lehman;[36] and American Idol's Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, which was given the name "Kradam".[37]

Cultural references

[edit]

Film

[edit]

Buddy films have to a degree been rebranded as bromance films, although critics draw a distinction between the two, noting that a buddy film tends to be more explicitly violent and less open about its latent homosexual content.[4][38] The intersection between buddy films and what would come to be called the bromance film was noted comedically at least as early as 1978, when National Lampoon ran a parody ad for the football-themed buddy film Semi-Tough, renamed "Semi-Sweet" and featuring an illustration of stars Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson holding hands.[39]

Prominent examples of bromantic comedy include Judd Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Knocked Up (2007), as well as Greg Mottola's Superbad (2007), which targeted non-sexual homosocial behavior and masculinity in inventive ways.[40] Zoolander (2001),[41] Wedding Crashers (2005),[5] Funny People (2009),[42] John Hamburg's I Love You Man (2009),[13] The Hangover (2009),[42] and Horrible Bosses (2011)[42] are other examples.

Although J. R. R. Tolkien's novels predate the "bromance era",[citation needed] the portrayal of the lifelong close relationships between Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, and Gimli and Legolas in the novels have been characterized as bromance, as well as the depictions in the films based on them.[43]

Other

[edit]

The cultural concept that bromance connotes particular closeness has been taken up thematically. The concept has been visited in biology,[44][45][46] as well as an experimental acrobatic video dance piece, Bromance, which explores "... the intimacy of physical interaction between guys; of their ‘bromance’."[47]

The relationship between George W. Bush and former press secretary Scott McClellan as told in McClellan's book What Happened was called by one reviewer "the tale of one long, failed bromance".[48]

The former premiers Dalton McGuinty of Ontario (2003–2013) and Jean Charest of Quebec (2003–2012) were described as in a "burgeoning bromance".[49][50] Stephen Harper of Canada (2006–2015) and Tony Abbott of Australia (2013–2015), and their respective countries, were characterized as having a "conservative bromance".[11][51][52] The term has been used to describe Narendra Modi from India and Barack Obama from the United States during the January 2015 visit,[53][54][55] and Vladimir Putin from the Russian Federation with Gerhard Schröder from Germany.[56]

In early 2017, a number of internet memes surfaced which alluded to Obama's relationship with Vice President Joe Biden as a "bromance".[57]

A bromance has been linked with a decrease in "problems such as anxiety, depression, heart disease, and memory and concentration impairment".[58]

See also

[edit]
Look up bromance in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "This Is Why the Obama-Biden Bromance Is Surprising". Time. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  2. ^ a b c d Elder, John (2008-10-18). "A fine bromance". The Age. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  3. ^ a b c d Strudwick, Patrick. Sherlock Holmes: Boy Story Bromance. The Independent. 17 Dec 2013. [1]
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DeAngelis M., ed. (2014). Reading the Bromance Homosocial Relationships in Film and television. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0814338988.
  5. ^ a b c d e f San Filippo M. More than buddies. Wedding Crashers and the Bromance as Comedy of ReMarriage Equality in Timothy Shary (editor) Millennial Masculinity: Men in Contemporary American Cinema. Contemporary approaches to film and media series. Wayne State University Press, 2012. ISBN 9780814338445
  6. ^ a b c Chen, Elizabeth J. (Spring 2012). "Caught in a Bad Bromance". Texas Journal of Women and the Law (University of Texas Press) 21 (2): 242–266. [2] Archived 2018-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Elliott, Tim (2007-08-23). "A grand bromance". The Age. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  8. ^ a b c d Yalof JA. Contemporary Male Friendship: An Exploratory Study on Comradeship, Bromance and Casual Friendship. Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. 2014. 157 pages
  9. ^ Deresiewicz, William (2009-12-02). "Faux Friendship". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  10. ^ Tenden, Per Aubrey Bugge (2007). Male Imitation: A Look at Gender Performance and the Representation of Masculinity in The OC. Oslo, Norway: Universitetet i Oslo. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  11. ^ a b Knight, D. Why do guys find it 'weird' to embrace bromance? stuff.co.nz December 13, 2014. Fairfax New Zealand Limited. [3]
  12. ^ Faderman, Lillian (1981). Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present (1998 ed. ed.). New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0688133304.
  13. ^ a b Alberti, John. ""I Love You, Man": Bromances, the Construction of Masculinity, and the Continuing Evolution of the Romantic Comedy." Quarterly Review of Film and Video 30.2 (2013): 159-72. Taylor & Francis. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10509208.2011.575658#.VEqmlfnF-s0
  14. ^ "Our romance with the "bromance" - The McGill Daily". 19 January 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  15. ^ Alberti, John. Masculinity in the Contemporary Romantic Comedy: Gender as Genre. Routledge Advances in Film Studies. Routledge. 2013. ISBN 9780415630658
  16. ^ Jacey H. And the screenwriter created man: Male characterisation in bromance and bromedy. in Screenwriters and Screenwriting: Putting Practice Into Context, edited by Craig Batty. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. ISBN 9781137338938
  17. ^ a b Bindley, Katherine (2008-03-24). "Here's to 'bromance'". Columbia News Service. Archived from the original on 2010-01-30. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  18. ^ "Badoo Corporate - Everything about Badoo". badoo.com. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  19. ^ Munroe, Randall. "Friendship". XKCD. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  20. ^ Xojane. "for the love of god, please stop saying "bromance"". the good men project. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  21. ^ Krutnik, Frank (Spring 1995). "The Handsome Man and His Monkey". Journal of Popular Film & Television.Vol.23 Issue 1
  22. ^ Yaskua, Mitsu (2008-10-29). "11 brands of 'bromances'". dailypress.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-24. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  23. ^ Casablanca, Ted (2008-10-29). "Hollywood Bromances: From Leo+Kevin to Matt+Ben". E!. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  24. ^ Burr, Nate (2009-04-19). "The Quinto and Pine Bromance Interview". Ponder Pop. Archived from the original on 2010-07-04. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  25. ^ Synnot, Siobhan (2008-10-18). "I'm a loser in love, admits Hollywood star George Clooney". Daily Record. Scotland. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  26. ^ Bristow, Thomas (6 October 2016). "Dele Alli and Eric Dier's bromance reaches record new heights while playing the water bottle challenge". Mirror. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  27. ^ Calvo, Amanda. "Usain Bolt's Happy Face Blows Up Twitter Again". Time. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  28. ^ Alladin, Unus (31 August 2019). "I will always miss you Franco". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  29. ^ "Clarence Clemons Mourned by E Street Nation". Billboard. 2011-06-19. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
  30. ^ Timothy Egan (2011-06-23). "Bromance With the Big Man". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
  31. ^ Joan Walsh (2011-06-29). "How big was the Big Man?". Salon. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
  32. ^ Billboard, http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/267058/clarence-clemons-tells-springsteen-tales-in-big-man-book
  33. ^ "Of Bromance and Homoeroticism". SeoulBeats. 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  34. ^ "OTPs – The Real Deal?". HelloKPop. 2011-10-28. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  35. ^ Aterovis, Josh (2008-04-06). "Interview with Ronnie Kroell and Ben DiChiara". AfterElton.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  36. ^ Juergens, Brian (2008-10-17). ""Survivor: Gabon" bromance update: Marcus likes his fruit". AfterElton.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-27. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  37. ^ TVguidemagazine.com Archived 2010-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
  38. ^ Carbone, Gina (2008-08-09). "Pineapple Express review: Stonerhood of the traveling pants". seacoastonline.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-26. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  39. ^ Russo, Vito (1987). The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies (revised ed.). New York: HarperCollins. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-06-096132-9.
  40. ^ Setoodeh, Ramin. "Isn't It Bromantic?" Newsweek 8 June 2009: 73. Academic OneFile. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.
  41. ^ White, Susan. (2010). "I Felt Like, 'This Guy's Really Hurting Me.' And It Hurt." in Funny Men in Pain from Zoolander to Anchorman. Popping Culture. 6th ed. Pearson Custom Pub. p. 125-33.
  42. ^ a b c Harbidge, L. Redefining screwball and reappropriating liminal spaces: The contemporary bromance and Todd Phillips' The Hangover DVD. Comedy Studies (Routledge). January 3, 20143 (1): 5–16. doi:10.1386/cost.3.1.5_1
  43. ^ "Top 10 Movie Bromances". Time. 2009-03-20. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  44. ^ Zielinski, Sarah (28 October 2013). "The bromance of the fossas". Science News. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  45. ^ Cheney DL. (2010). "Primatology: Monkey bromance". Current Biology 20 (24): R1074–6.doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.11.014. PMID 21172626
  46. ^ Lavelle, C. Polar bears bromance blossoming at Scottish animal park. Independent. [4]
  47. ^ Sexy 'Bromance' Dance Piece Explores Intimacy Between Guys. Instinct Staff. February 24, 2015. [5] Archived 2015-02-26 at the Wayback Machine
  48. ^ Kelly, David (2008-06-02). "One Long, Failed Bromance". Paper Cuts. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  49. ^ Florida, Richard (2008-10-17). "Ahead of the Curve". The Gazette. Montreal. Archived from the original on 2010-08-18. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  50. ^ Campbell, Murray (2008-10-03). "McGuinty and Charest: a fine bromance". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  51. ^ Horgan, Colin. Australia and Canada: a conservative bromance. The Guardian. Tony Abbott and Stephen Harper. Thursday 19 December 2013. [6]
  52. ^ Horgan, C. Tony Abbott in Canada: the climate bromance continues. The Guardian. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott. 10 June 2014. [7]
  53. ^ Parsons C, Bengali S, Hennessey K. The White House has high hopes for U.S.-India 'bromance'. LA Times. Jan 26, 2015. [8]
  54. ^ "Obama enjoys a Modi bromance during his India trip". Public Radio International. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  55. ^ Agrawal, R. Is Obama-Modi 'bromance' a turning point in U.S., Indian relations? January 27, 2015. CNN. [9]
  56. ^ Newcomb, A. A Look at Vladimir Putin's 'Bromances' With World Leaders. ABC News. April 29, 2014. [10]
  57. ^ Molloy, Mark (15 January 2017). "The incredible Obama-Biden 'bromance' memes are back". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  58. ^ "Health Benefits Of Bromance: Male Friendships May Help With Stress Management By Promoting Release Of 'Cuddle Hormone'". Medical Daily. 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
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