Diapers Off!

Are students at the UK’s most prestigious universities more likely than their American counterparts to seek a career in the arts? Anecdotal evidence suggests that fewer of America’s top graduates are willing to take a gamble on a life in the theater, on camera, writing, or directing. In the UK, pursuit of the theatrical arts is celebrated, with many fine examples from the upper reaches of society: Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston. Acting in America appears to enjoy a more democratic intake. Why the difference? The men discuss. Then, Paul asks Where, or from whom, did men previously learn how to move through the different stages of life? What institutions and/or figures used to influence men? He speculates that direction used to come from the Church and from Fathers around the dinner table. Now, those influences are often missing from young men’s lives. Does the new freedom have a price? Finally, we discuss the 5-week UK drama, Dr. Foster. Paul came away impressed by the uniquely British view on sexual transgression. His read is that British commitment to the idea of “fairness” makes human failings, such as infidelity, hard to psychologically process. French and Spanish cultures would have made less of the events, it seems to Paul. The men discuss.