As artistic statements go, “Building Better Men”sums up something I’ve been looking at my whole life (without knowing it until a few years ago). Whether it was issues that I found in myself or looking at men around me in the deep red and rural agricultural/blue collar world I grew up in and now reside the majority of the time, or, the super liberal, white collar/creative world of Hollywood, I’ve witnessed issues with men dealing with the modern world. We’re not doing okay. With “deaths of despair”on the rise, college graduation and relationship rates for men declining, lack of strong social bonds, and desperate seeking of terrible influences, we need to do better.
I’ve come to a more mature understanding of what art can do (I’m not changing the world, I can nudge a few people total towards thinking about their lives and making small changes if I’m lucky). My stories tend to come from places of looking at where modern men need inspiring or warning for behavior and mindsets that are detrimental to themselves and those around them from family to globally.
This isn’t a zero sum game with women or others that don’t identify as men. I believe that once men have grown, have a different definition than the traditional of strength and wrestle with themselves, all of us benefit. Not to say there aren’t issues for every group, I’m pretty sure, if we can make some men better and set some good examples by growing ourselves, everyone else benefits as well.