Final-- Our Superficial Society: One Tatum at a Time

Former fashion model, Channing Bryan Isaac Tatum, has made a controversial impression on moviegoers today. Born on April 26, 1980 in Cullman, Alabama, 30-year old Tatum is the oldest of eight siblings. He attended military school and received a college football scholarship, only to drop out shortly after. His casting in Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” music video launched his modeling career with agencies such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Armani. In 2004, Tatum began his acting career on the set of “C.S.I: Miami” as well as starring in numerous commercial ads. Nonetheless, his performances over the years have personified emptiness, which are emphasized through his cold body language and indifferent facial expressions. His dull acting is regurgitated in every one of his films, as he plays particularly similar roles as a misfit badass. However, society’s predictable infatuation with such films encourages Hollywood to employ such superficial actors such as Tatum. Thus, the vicious cycle of shallow film production keeps spinning in a feeble and terrifying direction.


Channing Tatum is an extremely unversitle actor. He always playing the same tough guy in either a drama or romantically categorized film. He plays Jason Lyle in “Coach Carter” (2005), a wanna-be gangster with a jail-bound father. Jason is a character who is too cool for everyone; walking around with his shirt off, backpack over one shoulder, and his hands in his pockets. Likewise, Tatum plays Antonio in “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” (2006) where Antonio’s natural instinct on the streets is fighting after his abusive father goes to prison. Antonio walks around like a “hot shot” with unbuttoned shirts, big muscles, and anger issues. Pin 2006’s “Step Up”,” Tatum plays a very similar character—Tyler Gage. Troubled and defiant, Tyler struts around in baggy pants, hooded sweatshirts, and wife beaters stealing cars for money until he finds a better outlet of dancing. His character in “Stop Loss” (2008), Steve Shriver, is a hard-core military fighter whose rough and hostile nature led him through a successful armed forces career. Tatum is also portrayed in an afflicted and mysterious light in “Dear John” (2010) as he plays John Tyree, a soldier who maintains a strained relationship with his father. Overall, Tatum is consistently playing the distressed and burdened character who seems mad at the world given his difficult upbringing. His steadily guarded nature makes him appear rigid and overdone in film, and such redundancy conveys him as an inauthentic actor. Interestingly, Tatum is usually in strong movies with a strong cast but even in his small supporting roles, he fails to live up to basic expectations. It wasn’t until recently that Tatum was cast playing main roles such as in “Step Up” and “Dear John”. Nevertheless, Tatum’s lack of versatility reinforces his surface-level acting.


As Tatum refuses to branch out and test new ranges within the acting field, he limits himself to a one-dimensional actor. His insecure body language confirms his awareness of the camera. Primarily, he offers very little eye contact with other actors making him distant to his own character and his audience. Secondly, he is generally standing at an angle to the camera, looking at others in the corner of his eye, over his shoulder (if he is looking at them at all). In addition, his face expressions are tight and unemotional making him extremely uncaptivating. This impersonal demeanor makes him a very unconvincing actor and character. This is especially clear in one of this year’s top box office films, “Dear John” (2010). Typically, a classic romantic film is known to thrive off of connections between characters as well as deep emotions. But instead, Tatum seems bored and distracted appearing interested in everything but his co-star, Amanda Seyfried. This naturally causes a lack of chemistry between the two lovers and ultimately causes a fake relational bond. Tatum’s very few face expressions are usually centered on a very focused and serious one. Most commonly, Tatum adopts an angry and intense attitude throughout his films. He often seems in deep thought with pointed eyebrows, his chin turned up, jaw muscles pulsing, with his head held back, gazing. But don’t let him fool you into thinking he is multifaceted when in fact he stares so intently out of narrow talent and fake confidence. He appears to be looking through people rather than actually looking at them. This blank and frozen face is a clear example of him trying too hard, eventually coming across as ingenuine and un-relatable. If he ever looks slightly happier than usual, transforming into what Tatum thinks is a charming a half-smile, it often comes across as awkward and out-of-place. It seems that everyone except Tatum understands that in the end, it shouldn’t look like acting, because with him it almost always does.


As Tatum seems to use one overarching facial expression for numerous types of emotions, so is the case when he speaks. He embodies a monotone voice for all types of emotions—whether it is two extremes such as excitement and depression. It is obvious that he doesn’t believe what he is saying because his words and expressions don’t coincide. While many good actors pride themselves on their ability to maintain a hold over their audience, Tatum does not have such an ability to express human emotion that would allow for such a connection. His actions and words say nothing and everything about his acting career—that he makes a better model than he ever will an actor.


However, his re-appearances in films are not entirely his fault. Society appears to crave Hollywood’s endorsements of such poor performance. Consumers today seem to value good looks over good acting. In her interview with Francis Davis, Pauline Kael comments that “what you see is a movie industry in decay, and the decay gets worse and worse”. Unfortunately, with the support of society, Hollywood is becoming less and less authentic and more and more superficial. In fact, it took the author of “The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer,” Phil Carlo, to recognize Tatum’s lack of fit for his casting as the main character of the film. Carlo called for the production to be cancelled. He explained, “I had to turn him down. I really hated the idea of Channing Tatum. I told [producer] di Bonaventura that this is not the guy to play one of the most feared killers of the 20th century”. Fortunately, someone was able to stall Hollywood and Tatum’s circus show, even if just for a short while.


Therefore, Tatum is one perfect example of Hollywood’s weak and pompous system. While Hollywood proves ignorant of recognizing skill, society positively reinforces such mediocrity by continuing to make actors like Tatum repeatedly rise at the box office.