2024's ACTUAL Sexiest Men Alive? We have thoughts.
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What are the reactions to John Krasinski being named Sexiest Man Alive?
Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Okay, first things first. What is your reaction to John Krasinski is this year's sexiest man alive? Okay. People Magazine has done it again. Last month, they released their annual Sexiest Man Alive issue. And John Krasinski has been crowned the sexiest man alive. Yes, the guy who is most famous for being your average good guy on NBC's The Office 15 years ago. That guy is 2024's hottest man. I'm completely unsurprised.
I want to say that I was shocked and appalled. But after you think about it for one second, you're like, that makes perfect sense.
The person checking me out at the register was like, this pic has been very controversial.
Wait, that's funny. Oh, my God. She's like, you're buying this?
What? I know what you're thinking. John Krasinski? Controversial? He's so inoffensive. Well, that is the offensive part. It's not that he's not considered hot. I just haven't really heard his name in any conversations about sexy men this year. Sexiness has actually never really been part of his public persona. This pic left me and the co-hosts of Who Weekly, Bobby Finger and Lindsay Weber, wondering how there could be such a disconnect between who the internet is thirsting for and who Hollywood is pushing. Has Hollywood lost the plot on who's hot when they try to appeal to all of us at once? And are we maybe actually living in an era where niche sexiness is more relevant than mass appeal? Today, I'm revisiting my conversation with Lindsay and Bobby about who Hollywood thinks is sexy. We're breaking down some of this year's objects of male desire and the forces behind why you think they're quote unquote sexy. Because who you think is sexy isn't always determined by you. Hi.
Why is there a disconnect between Hollywood's choices and internet preferences?
Thanks for having us back for such a good reason.
Yes. Oh, the best reason. I'm not going to necessarily name names from the past few years, but I think we can all agree that some of the recent Sexiest Man Alive picks are people who don't necessarily feel culturally relevant for their sexiness that year. But also like over the past like 40 years, I mean, there's only ever been four black men named Sexiest Man Alive. And one biracial black and Pacific Islander man who is The Rock. All the rest of them were white. Even in this year's issue of the 12 men who actually gave interviews and had little featurettes, eight are white, including John Krasinski on the cover. Three are black and one is of mixed Latino, Middle Eastern, European heritage. I mean, it's not the most diverse bunch and not really a reflection of who our culture actually finds hot and who they're talking about.
How have diversity issues in the Sexiest Man Alive picks evolved?
No. It also seems like a thing that people doesn't really seem to care about. They get scrutiny every single year for these reasons, but they don't really ever change anything. But why do you have to pick someone so boring? The more I think about it, the weirder it seems.
Yeah. Idris Elba, who was it a few years ago, is actually really a great pick. It's like, because he has a swag and he knows that he's sexy and has played into the idea of being sexy in various funny ways.
He's been in sexy movies. John Krasinski has not been in sexy movies.
Right. No, he's not been in anything sexy before. Exactly. I also, another thought that we've been having on our team about this is, where sexiness kind of is in entertainment right now. It's kind of missing. I mean, a study found that since the year 2000, the amount of sex and nudity in films has decreased by almost 40%. So sad. A number of picks for sexiest man in the last decade have been Marvel stars where, you know, no sex is famously the vibe. We're in an era culturally where there's perhaps less of an erotic charge to some of our hot actors because of the decrease in sex on screen. How do you think that affects who we see as sexy?
I mean, half the guys on this list of past people, Sexiest Man Alive, were selling rom-coms or rom-droms at the time of their sexiest crowning. I'm looking at this covers through the years and I see Patrick Swayze. I'm like, yeah, like these were the guys that were like the swoony romantic leads. But it makes sense if they're selling a sexy movie to do that. And we have not as many of those.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What are the reactions to John Krasinski being named Sexiest Man Alive?
0:02–2:25
2
Why is there a disconnect between Hollywood's choices and internet preferences?
2:25–3:17
3
How have diversity issues in the Sexiest Man Alive picks evolved?
3:17–5:42
4
What trends are we seeing in the portrayal of sexiness in movies?
5:42–8:44
5
What is the 'rat boy' archetype and why is it gaining popularity?
8:44–10:49
6
How does the context of a role affect perceptions of sexiness?
10:49–13:30
7
Who are the hot guys of 2024 that the internet is obsessed with?
13:30–16:39