History Main / MenAreUncultured

* Jamie [=MacDonald=], the ViolentGlaswegian spin doctor from ''InTheLoop'' is uncultured and proud:

* In ''Repli-Kate'', a journalist who comes to interview two scientists is [[AppliedPhlebotinum accidently cloned]]. The clone is a blank slate, and the lead's wacky friend decides to educate her to prefer football and beer and other blokey things. He ends up as the [[HenpeckedHusband henpecked boyfriend]] to a boorish {{ladette}} who doesn't care about his feelings. (The lead and the real Kate are much happier together.)

* Gene Hackman's famous line from ''Film/NightMoves'', when his character's wife asks him to go see ''My Night at Maud's'': "I saw a Rohmer film once. It was kinda like watching paint dry."

** Sam attempts to subvert this in one episode where he has to hang out with Diane's literature professor ex-boyfriend Sumner, so he prepares for it by reading ''WarAndPeace''. He becomes understandably furious when Sumner says he used to teach a class about Tolstoy and is sick to death of talking about him. And also when he finds out there was a [[FilmOfTheBook movie version]] he could have watched instead.

Compare MenDontCry, WomenAreWiser, BuffoonishTomcat is a related trope for cat examples. When [[GuysAreSlobs the man is a slob]], this trope is almost always included also, but the opposite isn't always true. Surprisingly, despite the fact that TheLadette is can be basically summarized as "a man's attitudes/behaviors in a woman's body", you very rarely see ladettes who have the same aversion to "culture". Contrast RealMenWearPink for manly men unafraid to show their softer side, and CulturedBadass for manly men who find your lack of appreciation for opera grounds for a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

* The role of ballet in many operas was to make the men more willing to attend ([[{{Fanservice}} lots of scantily clad young women doing acrobatic dance]]). Coppelia, where all the major male roles were played by women, en transvestie. The wealthy patrons, who were overwhelmingly male (The Jockey Club being especially influential), were interested in seeing attractive women on the stage. Eugénie Fiorce, who was considered especially fetching in men's clothes, became famous for these parts.
** This was taken to the extreme in 17th and 18th century France. Ballet was cultivated to new heights at the royal court, and the main reason was that it gave wealthy men access to young unmarried women who were flexible (both athletically and morally).

* Similar to the above example, {{Duckman}} had this happen in the episode "Exile From Guyville", where a fight between Duckman and Bernice ends up causing a national exodus between the genders when each side gets sick of the various foibles and flaws of the others, leading to the entire U.S separating down the middle, with the East Coast going to the women, and the West Coast going to the men. Its even specifically stated that the East was given to the women for its culture, apparently ignoring Los Angeles. The womens side becomes a refined, cultural place while the men turns theirs into a mix between a giant sports bar, MadMax and a cattle ranch. ''On purpose'', mind you. The men also take the opportunity to just run around in their underwear constantly.
* ''LifeWithLouie'': Louie's dad was dead-set against his son learning Shakespeare until the teacher pointed out that Shakespeare was also "a war guy," citing ''Theatre/RichardIII'' as an example.

* Often highlighted with Diane and Sam in ''{{Cheers}}'', but in particular, the episode where Sam convinces the bar regulars to go with Diane to the opera. In a genre-savvy moment, Woody is assigned to be the "keep everyone awake" guy, having drunk lots of coffee and wearing his extra-tight shoes. Cut to the viewing box at the opera, and everyone is sound asleep and snoring, including Woody ''and'' Diane.

** In another episode Diane drags Sam to an art museum. On their return, Carla asks him to name a single piece of art he saw there. He's unable to.

There are also strong class undertones to this trope - being cultured is seen as a middle/upper-class trait, and and there is a trend in media for the working classes to be depicted as more masculine (including the women, for that matter). Indeed, this trope is often used in depictions where being cultured is an implied class shorthand for the rich. Also, you'll notice that the women making them go are either completely oblivious to the fact, or don't care, that their companion is not having a good time.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' had an episode where men and women were separated. The men's half of the world turned into a barbaric MadMax style wasteland. The side with the women became an advanced civilization of fine arts similar to Ancient Greece.

[[quoteright:330:[[AnAffairToRemember http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grant_bored_at_the_ballet.jpg]]]]

* Tim Taylor of ''HomeImprovement'' is the patron saint of this trope. He often teases his more [[SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan sensitive assistant Al]]. Subverted in one episode where it turns out he actually did read and understand the copy of ''The Feminine Mystique'' that Jill gave him (though he refers to it as ''The Feminine Mistake'').
* ''MarriedWithChildren'', though most of the women aren't any better.
* Doug in ''TheKingOfQueens'' resists as much as he can when Carrie tries to take him to classical music concerts or ballet. The trope was at least played with a bit when Carrie, upon actually going to a classical music concert, wound up being so bored she fell asleep.
* A variant in ''NoahsArc'': Masculine guy Wade invites the artsy, feminine Noah to watch the movie he worked on. Its turns out to be a cheesy, low-brow BuddyCopShow film, during which Noah quickly falls asleep.

* Completely averted in ''{{Frasier}}'', where Frasier and Niles are both very, very cultured. Their father Martin, less so. Daphne also finds opera boring. But subverted behind the scenes where John Mahoney (Martin) is a very cultured man, and in fact introduced David Hyde Pierce (Niles) to opera.
* Put through the wringer in ''TheRedGreenShow'', in which in later episodes the Possum Lodge members recited the Man's Prayer at the end of every episode-- "I am a man / But I can change / If I have to / I guess." Many of the men, including Red himself, were uncultured to varying extents. The only exception was Red's nephew Harold, who was ProudToBeAGeek.

* Averted in ''BlackBooks'': Bernard is extremely cultured and despises all popular culture, while Fran has little time for high art. Manny, however, plays this trope fairly straight. However, all of this is sometimes ignored for RuleOfFunny purposes.
* Played with and averted on ''PeepShow''. Mark is quite cultured and absolutely loves History as well as loving Video games. Jez is completely uncultured but thinks he is. Ben isn't and is quite vocal about it. Most of the women (Elena, Zahra, Toni) like to act cultured but are usually shown to be just as shallow and fake as the men.

* KatyPerry's "Ur So Gay" mocks her poseur boyfriend for, among other things, listening to Mozart and reading Hemingway.

** Homer will often also subvert this whenever it's funnier for Homer to have random knowledge and sophistication when the audience isn't expecting it. A critique of the music from ''StarWars'':

* ''LifeWithLouie'': Louie's dad was dead-set against his son learning Shakespeare until the teacher pointed out that Shakespeare was also "a war guy," citing ''Theater/RichardIII'' as an example.

* The role of ballet in many operas was to make the men more willing to attend ([[FanService lots of scantily clad young women doing acrobatic dance]]). Coppelia, where all the major male roles were played by women, en transvestie. The wealthy patrons, who were overwhelmingly male (The Jockey Club being especially influential), were interested in seeing attractive women on the stage. Eugénie Fiorce, who was considered especially fetching in men's clothes, became famous for these parts.

* The second episode of ''TheSimpsons'' has Homer and Bart suffering through a performance of ''Carmen''. This is often subverted in later seasons where either Bart or Homer become involved in the arts and find to their great surprise that they actually enjoy it.

** In one episode, Lisa uses ''LittleWomen'' to teach Bart how to read (or at least, read above a First Grade level). He is later shown reading the book for his own enjoyment, when Nelson and the other bullies catch him in the act. They first tell him to read, with the implication that they won't beat him as severely if he does. By the end, they're threatening to beat him if he doesn't finish the book tomorrow. As they leave, they discuss the novel and critique Bart's narrative skills (i.e. not giving the various characters distinctive voices).
*** Granted, he was being threatened. Nevertheless, Bart does seem to follow the same rule with his dad, to a lesser extent. Whether he knows it or not, the funnier choice will be picked.

* The role of ballet in many operas was to make the men more willing to attend ([[FanService lots of scantily clad young women doing acrobatic dance]]). Now of course it is difficult to get men to go to the ballet -- by the standards of 21st century western culture, the outfits aren't at all risque or particularly titillating.
** The female outfits, that is. The other aspect of this is that the ''male'' dancers' outfits are notorious for prominently displaying their knobs.
** And then there were ballets like Coppelia, where all the major male roles were played by women, en transvestie. The wealthy patrons, who were overwhelmingly male (The Jockey Club being especially influential), were interested in seeing attractive women on the stage. Eugénie Fiorce, who was considered especially fetching in men's clothes, became famous for these parts.
* Averted by the fact that the majority of artistic works considered to be the height of Western civilization have, indeed, been created by men. Of course, socially-accepted concepts of what makes a person a "proper" man or woman are constantly in a state of flux.

* The idea of the Renissance Man was centered around the notion that a true gentlemen would be well versed in a variety of arts and sciences, so it was very much an aversion during this period.

* More or less a basic assumption in ''Film/TheHangover'', but the opening shows a jarring dissonance between the immaculately-preened bride preparing in a large and extravagantly decorated mansion, and the groomsmen on the other end of a cellphone, dishevelled and confused somewhere in the desert.

* In ''ANightAtTheOpera'', Groucho's character deliberately times his arrival at the opera house so he will ''miss'' the show.

* Henry Higgins believes in the inversion of this trope in MyFairLady, according to his song "I'm An Ordinary Man," with lines such as "You want to talk of Keats or Milton; She only wants to talk of love. You go to see a play or ballet; And spend it searching for her glove." This is probably because of ValuesDissonance from his time period versus the modern version of this trope, plus the fact that he is a member of the upperclass and thus is proud of being educated and cultured.

* Subverted in Film/BlackDynamite. The main character and many secondary characters, uber-manly militant Black-Supremacist commandos, have some pretty in depth knowledge of Myth/ClassicalMythology and symbolism. They also pretty much geek-out when discussing it.

* Inverted in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'': Jerin's grandfather was the one who taught the whole family table manners and such stuff. The Grandmas were uncultured soldiers before they acquired [[ExoticExtendedMarriage their]] husband, and became [[HenpeckedHusband roosterpecked wives]], who would do anything to make him happy.

* ''KingOfTheHill'''s Hank Hill. Dear God, Hank Hill all the way. Subverted by [[TheUnintelligible Boomhauer]], of all people.

* WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents had an episode where men and women were separated. The men's half of the world turned into a barbaric MadMax style wasteland. The side with the women became an advanced civilization of fine arts similar to Ancient Greece.

* ''Series/PawnStars'' subverted by Rick, the Old Man, and even Chumlee, who are quite knowledgeable about art, history, and culture. Played straight with Corey, who's never even seen ''Franchise/StarsWars'' and doesn't think highly of people who have.

* DonaldDuck constantly has to prove his cultural capital to impress Daisy.

* Subverted in Film/BlackDynamite. The main character and many secondary characters, uber-manly militant Black-Supremacist commandos, have some pretty in depth knowledge of ClassicalMythology and symbolism. They also pretty much geek-out when discussing it.

* {{Averted}} in NorseMythology by Odin, who, aside from being god of war, prophecy and death, is also the god of poetry. Granted, Norse poetry is basically action movies set in verse.

* Unlike the rest of his male comrades who are enthralled with the extravagance that the taxpayers' money give to the Midland aristocratic-held ball, [[{{Berserk}} Guts]] doesn't seem very impressed with his surroundings (noblewomen and all) and spends the majority of the time supporting the wall away from the commotion. [[spoiler: In fact, he only went to the ball in order to counterattack in the assassination plot against Griffith.]] Guts also isn't big on reading, so the only chance he'll be picking up one of [[DoorStopper those sleeping pills]] is if there is an [[CrowningMomentOfFunny array of pornographic art in it]]. But what do you expect? He's a mercenary.

* FairlyOddParents had an episode where men and women were separated. The men's half of the world turned into a barbaric MadMax style wasteland. The side with the women became an advanced civilization of fine arts similar to Ancient Greece.

There are also strong class undertones to this trope - being cultured is seen as a middle/upper-class trait, and and there is a trend in media for the working classes to be depicted as more masculine (including the women, for that matter). Indeed, this trope is often used in depictions where being cultured is an implied class shorthand for the rich.

* Inverted with [[MoeAnthropomorphism Austria]] in ''AxisPowersHetalia''. He loves the fine arts and music, and hates the outdoors--and is definitely more cultured than his wife Hungary.