‘Scent of a Woman’ is Really About the Scent of a Man
“Scent of a Woman” is really About the scent of a man: Frank’s defense of Charlie captures the ideal of manliness, which PM exists to nurture, defend, entertain and serve. Tweet
Frank’s defense of Charlie captures the ideal of manliness, which PM exists to nurture, defend, entertain and serve.
All women should love the idea of Charlie. Ladies, if Charlie’s character is not good enough for you, reconcile yourself to the fact you simply cannot be pleased. Charlie is the quintessential good son—with high potential written all over him, in terms of an ethical co-worker, leader, father and a great husband.
All men ought to find Charlie an honorable example of Manliness—the furthest thing from a fair-weather friend. He’s “not a snitch!”
Courage, the virtue on display here, is a mean that exists between the excess of foolhardiness—like juggling a live grenade to show your contempt for death, which is how Frank lost his sight—and the deficiency of cowardice, exemplified today by, say, bending one’s knee to expedite and sell one’s soul to become a Whatever Man.
Screenwriter Bo Goldman is credited with this masterful testament to Manliness. The PM is leaning on film and comedy in part because poets are better teachers at scale than philosophers.
There is a 250-word limit on these, so here is a parting thought: the institutional, tight-ass character who set the stage for this great moment in Manliness is an archetype for how we all can fail in the activity of character formation and wind up producing men without chests. (Let’s not be that guy.)
Let’s instead create a movement that is “going to make you proud someday.”