The Man - Television Tropes & Idioms

I think you'll find that I'm in charge everywhere.

— The Man, Kingdom of Loathing

You've heard of him. He controls everything. Emperors, ancient conspiracies, gods, student councils.... All answer to him.

Sometimes he means to keep people down For the Evulz, and put squirrels in every birdfeeder. In short, he is the definitive Magnificent Bastard.

The Man is much less specific than The Syndicate or the Ancient Conspiracy. It's a personification of establishment itself, even if no one person or organization makes up that establishment.

Expect Chaotic Good characters to stand and stick it to him. Expect The Man to have The Men in Black on staff, and for The Man, every day is Tuesday.

Nowadays, it's largely a Discredited Trope, with very few straight uses.

But of course, that's just what The Man wants us to think.

It can overlap with The Man Is Keeping Us Down and The Man Is Sticking It To The Man.

Despite the names, The Man Behind the Man rarely involves this trope.

Examples

Anime

Excel Saga had "That Man", the actual leader of ACROSS, instead of Il Palazzo, who was more of an Evil Overlord.
King Zahard from Tower Of God.

Comics

In No Hero, Carrick Masterson had been able to control the world since the sixties. He was responsible for having Nixon only stay one term in office, the Great Iran Oil Fire, and the destruction of South Africa.
Max in The Losers.
The kids in Bryan Lee O'Malley's Lost at Sea decided to head for another diner when they couldn't find a Wendy's, because "sometimes it's good to give your money to somone other than The Man". Cue laughter.

Film

Used as a Black Comedy joke in Dont Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood.
The unseen Big Bad in Undercover Brother.
Jack Black's character in School of Rock rambles about The Man, prompting the kids to stick it to The Man.
- This leads to one of the kids telling the principal that "[she's] the Man." She thinks it's a compliment.
Captain Industry, the Big Bad of Defendor. Subverted, though, as in reality he doesn't actually exist, the protagonist confused a comment about his mother being "killed by the captains of industry" for his mother being "killed by Captain Industry."
The unseen Man in The Friends Of Eddie Coyle, who personally orders the hit on the titular character.

Literature

Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis. Holmes describes him as "the Napoleon of Crime... the organiser of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected in this great city..."
One of Cao Cao's official titles was "The Man".
In A Calculated Magic by Robert Weinberg, protagonist Jack Collins poses as an agent of The Man, who is a very real figure of modern origin among the living legendary and mythological beings that populate the Logical Magician series of novels.
The infamous "Big Brother" in the novel and movie 1984.
Walker from Simon R. Green's Nightside books. Of course, at the end of The Good, the Bad and the Uncanny, John Taylor is manoeuvred into taking his place.

Music

John Lennon correctly blames The Man for trying to kick him out of the country in "New York City".
The Man is usually referred to as they in Supertramp's music. Good examples of this include School and The Logical Song.
The Roy Orbison song "Working for The Man".
The They Might Be Giants song "Working Undercover For The Man".
"Left a good job in the city, workin' for The Man every night and day..."

Television

Homey the Clown pretended to sell out just to get close to the Man and whack him on the head.
Mad Tv once featured a PSA from The Man.

Video Games

"The Man" turns up in Kingdom of Loathing.
The Illusive Man in Mass Effect 2, played by Martin Sheen. He communicates with Shepard to provide them with info via hologram and is always shown in dim light while smoking a cigarette and/or drinking. His name and backstory are only explained in a tie-in comic; none of the characters, including his right-hand-woman Miranda, have any idea where he came from or how he got where he is. All they know is that he has staggering resources and big, big plans for his species.
The Half-Life "G-Man" is always lurking around in the backscenes, armed with a briefcase that could contain anything, dressed in a perfectly anonymous suit. He may take a train to the opposite of your direction, he will still be at your destination before you.
In Alpha Protocol, Henry Leland thinks he's The Man. Potentially, however, Mike Thorton can become The Man through careful manipulation and control of his contacts.
Mr. House of Fallout New Vegas, the mysterious ruler of New Vegas.
In Deus Ex, Bob Page serves as The Man in charge of the MJ12 conspiracy.
"The Manh" is a possible name for a general of Zhuang culture in Victoria 2.