Suggestion: Hunk

I just noticed the existence of Hunk when someone made a side comment about how "Americans like the Hunk, Japanese like Bishōnen" or somesuch. And noticed there isn't an image.

I was thinking maybe a composite image of three Brawny Paper Towel guys would work:

• Two of the "Old" Brawny guy◊
• One of the "Old" and the "New" guy◊

Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any images "in the wild" that include all three, but I think it'd be a good illustration, because he's essentially an evolving mascot scientifically designed by advertisers to meet the evolving North American image of the Hunk.

I like the second.

Second works.

If You're going to picture a trope entitled Hunk, I think it'd make the most sense to use the man himself, Fabio◊; the face that spawned a thousand (or at least several hundred!!) trashy romance novels.

Or for a more current choice, there's also Isaiah Mustafa◊ from the Old Spice commercials whose premise was pretty much this.

edited 1st Apr '12 3:16:10 AM by peasant

The long hair is really a strike against him there as most of the ones that fall under The Hunk dont have that

A Collage of some hunks would work like Hugh Jackman, Aragorn from Lord Of The Rings, and such.

edited 1st Apr '12 5:15:43 AM by Raso

You mention that long hair is a strike against them, and then suggest Aragorn yourself?

Aragorn's hair is not nearly that long its just unkempt and such unlike fabio who's hair is longer than most girls and far better cared for.

IMO, the genius of the "Brawny" ad for this trope is that you don't have the YMMV problem of whether you do or don't consider Hugh Jackman or Fabio or whoever to be an example. The Brawny Guy is specifically engineered to BE an example.

You can still YMMV it by disagreeing on whether they succeeded.

Vote for brawny, but I'd probably just go for a single image. The comparison isn't necessary.

What I like about the comparison is that it shows the standard evolving. As it's a sort of "ideal man" trope, I think that's useful.

I don't think it matters if someone disagreed they succeeded in making a "hunk". This is about a generalized archetype and ideal. There's a difference between a character like Aragorn that people may or may not agree on is a hunk, and a character specifically made to represent that idea. A painting or a commerical featuring that kind of guy works. A character with their own motivations and personality probably doesn't. At least as a picture.

+1 to the 2nd Brawny guy.

edited 13th Apr '12 5:06:48 PM by helterskelter

How did no one think of Saxton Hale◊? He's basically designed to be the epitome of western male body standards.

I disagree. I think he's supposed to be a manly man, but not necessarily an attractive one (in-universe, of course he is, because he's so manly and everything, but out-of-universe I don't think he was meant to make any ladies swoon). Certainly that picture isn't a good example. He's the perfect example of Testosterone Poisoning (indeed, he's the page image), but not of Hunk.

edited 13th Apr '12 6:49:44 PM by helterskelter

Also liking Brawny ads, the flannel shirts and forest background help sell the association.

edited 15th Apr '12 7:10:42 AM by Earnest

Here's the second, with some cropping to get it to wiki size. I remember the old style when it was on the shelves.

Good.

Those don't really show much of the person. This one◊ of the new Brawny guy (man, it's weird to think that we still call him the new guy when he's been the mascot for almost a decade) shows more of his arms and torso.

edited 15th Apr '12 3:29:54 PM by nman

Honestly, I have a hard time imagining either of them not having a hunky body frame.

I'd like to also include the old old Brawny guy if possible, but just the two looks pretty good.

I don't think having just the headshots is a significant problem. As Feather said, you can pretty much infer the body shape.

I don't like the Brawny ones, mainly because their muscles aren't obvious.

I like the Mustafa one. Maybe you could link to a video of "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" to get the point across that he's really that manly.

I like the single, larger Brawny one.

Their massive jaws and necks and shoulders imply muscularity. I think anyone whose ever seen a muscled guy drawn or in real life would assume muscles.

How about Gaston?◊

Looks a little too arrogant.