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Dad Bod: Portraits of Pop Culture Papas
A brisk, humorous collection of essays that redefines the mythos of fatherhood depicted in film, television, and video games.
What do dads tell us about the world? Not your real dad, but dads in general. Dads are everywhere. Lurking in our movies, television shows, and video games. Spouting homespun wisdom and atrocious jokes, wallowing in might-have-beens and back-in-my-days, or rigidly defending the status quo. These fictional dads fuel a myth of fatherhood. What is that myth trying to tell us? And what is it trying to sell us?
Dad Bod is a clever, riveting collection of essays about father figures in popular culture. From Gandalf to Homer Simpson, Die Hard to The Mandalorian , these essays unpack the tropes that inform our collective image of fatherhood. Follow Cian Cruise, newly minted dad, as he riffs on the stereotypes and lore of fatherhood, traces a contemporary art history of dads in popular culture, and journeys to the heart of dadness to become a better father.
A RARE MACHINES BOOK
What do dads tell us about the world? Not your real dad, but dads in general. Dads are everywhere. Lurking in our movies, television shows, and video games. Spouting homespun wisdom and atrocious jokes, wallowing in might-have-beens and back-in-my-days, or rigidly defending the status quo. These fictional dads fuel a myth of fatherhood. What is that myth trying to tell us? And what is it trying to sell us?
Dad Bod is a clever, riveting collection of essays about father figures in popular culture. From Gandalf to Homer Simpson, Die Hard to The Mandalorian , these essays unpack the tropes that inform our collective image of fatherhood. Follow Cian Cruise, newly minted dad, as he riffs on the stereotypes and lore of fatherhood, traces a contemporary art history of dads in popular culture, and journeys to the heart of dadness to become a better father.
A RARE MACHINES BOOK
- GenresEssaysNonfiction
272 pages, Paperback
Published July 5, 2022
3 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 12, 2022
. . . every single dad that I have ever seen in a TV show or movie helped inform my idea of fatherhood. Those images are burned indelibly into my mind's retina, albeit vaguely, whether I want them or not. They inhabit a similar space as my friends' dads growing up.
I guess I need to start paying closer attention to the descriptions before I request a book from NetGalley. I expected this one to be a series of humorous essays about dadding, something akin to Dave Barry. Instead we're treated to what is essentially unfunny, critical reviews of films and television programs, with the commentary wrapped around a fatherhood theme. The biggest problem with this approach is that Cruise's recaps of films I've seen, like Locke, made for tediously repetitive reading, while his dissertations on works I was unfamiliar with weren't engaging enough to catch my interest; basically, all the essays bored me.
Also, the author's overuse of footnotes was maddening, especially since most of the comments were asides rather than actual links to source materials.
In short:
Bad Dad
Homer Simpson
Good Dad
Johnny Rose from Schitt's Creek
My enjoyment level was about a two, but I'll add an extra star since it was my misunderstanding that led to my reading this in the first place.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the read.
I guess I need to start paying closer attention to the descriptions before I request a book from NetGalley. I expected this one to be a series of humorous essays about dadding, something akin to Dave Barry. Instead we're treated to what is essentially unfunny, critical reviews of films and television programs, with the commentary wrapped around a fatherhood theme. The biggest problem with this approach is that Cruise's recaps of films I've seen, like Locke, made for tediously repetitive reading, while his dissertations on works I was unfamiliar with weren't engaging enough to catch my interest; basically, all the essays bored me.
Also, the author's overuse of footnotes was maddening, especially since most of the comments were asides rather than actual links to source materials.
In short:
Bad Dad
Homer Simpson
Good Dad
Johnny Rose from Schitt's Creek
My enjoyment level was about a two, but I'll add an extra star since it was my misunderstanding that led to my reading this in the first place.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the read.
June 7, 2022
Thanks to Netgalley and Dundurn Press for the ARC of this!
This was a fascinating look at Dads in pop culture, with an easy conversational tone that I really enjoyed. Papas ranged from the classic (Calvin’s Dad of Calvin and Hobbes) to the most modern (Bluey’s Dad) and ran the gauntlet of media, genres, and archetypes. My biggest complaint was the footnotes, which I get are a thing in non-fiction but with the formatting (moving them off page from the line they went with) I found it really disruptive to go to them or to remember what they’d been referencing when I got to them, and I think most could’ve just been part of the paragraph? Overall interesting and easy to read, and I’d recommend it to those interested in masculinity and parenthood in the media.
This was a fascinating look at Dads in pop culture, with an easy conversational tone that I really enjoyed. Papas ranged from the classic (Calvin’s Dad of Calvin and Hobbes) to the most modern (Bluey’s Dad) and ran the gauntlet of media, genres, and archetypes. My biggest complaint was the footnotes, which I get are a thing in non-fiction but with the formatting (moving them off page from the line they went with) I found it really disruptive to go to them or to remember what they’d been referencing when I got to them, and I think most could’ve just been part of the paragraph? Overall interesting and easy to read, and I’d recommend it to those interested in masculinity and parenthood in the media.
June 5, 2022
Local author alert!!
So this was a very intriguing book, and I read it with a bit of a different lens.. as a step mother. I've watched my partner grow and become a father and have all these same worries, concerns and thoughts as Cian. How fathers and men in general are portrayed is disastrous for our society and for men. Because of this my partner is raising his son differently, in our household we try to reverse roles often and share the workload evenly.
I think that this book is incredibly well written and very important for not only dads but everyone. Dads not only deserve better and should aim as high as they can. No one is perfect but I think being aware is an incredible place to start.
Thank you to Cian and Dundurn press for my copy I'm exchange for an honest review.
So this was a very intriguing book, and I read it with a bit of a different lens.. as a step mother. I've watched my partner grow and become a father and have all these same worries, concerns and thoughts as Cian. How fathers and men in general are portrayed is disastrous for our society and for men. Because of this my partner is raising his son differently, in our household we try to reverse roles often and share the workload evenly.
I think that this book is incredibly well written and very important for not only dads but everyone. Dads not only deserve better and should aim as high as they can. No one is perfect but I think being aware is an incredible place to start.
Thank you to Cian and Dundurn press for my copy I'm exchange for an honest review.
June 2, 2022
Before I dive into this book review, I’ll offer a definition for the term ‘dad bod’ as not everyone will be familiar with it. According to urban dictionary, “a dad bod is a male body type that is best described as ‘softly round’. It’s built upon the theory that once a man has found a mate and fathered a child, he doesn’t need to worry about maintaining a sculpted physique.” Despite this word’s focus on the external, what Cian Cruise dwells on in his first book Dad Bod is most definitely fixated on the internal mechanics of a Dad, and what makes a Dad a father. Was I the target audience for this book? Probably not, especially considering all the pop culture references to tv shows and video games I didn’t understand (I will remind you my favourite shows are Murder She Wrote and Golden Girls), but as a mother I did find the exploration of the father figure quite fascinating when considered next to the ideals of motherhood.
Book Summary
Dad Bod starts off with a memory; Cruise waiting in line at a movie theatre in -20 Celsius weather with friends to watch Die Hard, one of his favourite movies. With his wife due any day, this is most likely his last outing for quite awhile. Cruise admits that like so many of us, parenthood is a mystery until we become one ourselves (and for many of us, continues to be a mystery, because how do you know you’re doing it right?). He argues that the portrayals of fatherhood in movies, video games, and television shows shapes society’s idea of how a father should be, so he categories these distinct father types using examples from different media sources. He dissects lots of characters I’ve never heard of, but because he’s around my age, he also explores many I do know, including Homer Simpson, Indiana Jones’s Father played by Sean Connery, Peppa Pig’s Dad, the Dad in Calvin and Hobbes comics, and Johnny Rose from Schitt’s Creek. He also references male figures that aren’t Dads at all, like Sylvester Stallone in the Rambo movies, but still uses these figures as examples of how the expectations of men are shaped by pop culture portrayals.
My Thoughts
I sound like a terrible wife when I admit this, but I rarely think about the challenges of fatherhood, and how men try to live up to the standards of being a ‘good man’ and ‘good father’. I have a wonderful father, so to me it seems easy, but of course that isn’t the case for everyone, and many men struggle with the idea of what a ‘good father’ is, including this author. Needless to say, this book offered me a brand new perspective I have never considered, so I’m grateful for that.
Surprisingly, the author admits that memories of his friends’ fathers helped shape his idea of fatherhood, in addition to the portrayals he absorbed from the big and little screen, but he never speaks about his own childhood with much detail. My assumption would have been that one’s idea of a father would come primarily from their own father (which Cruise does have, and was alive at the time of writing) but he rarely speaks about his own childhood. Instead, he is focused on outward examples of fatherhood, which shouldn’t be surprising considering he is a cultural critic, but it’s definitely a clear choice made in this book.
I’m not a big video game fan aside from the simple Nintendo games I played as kid, and then a bit in university back when I had time (how I miss those days!!!) so the majority of the references to games flew over my head, but he recounted a particularly compelling story that I read aloud to my husband as it was quite affecting. A very famous and successful video game producer uploaded a grainy, amateur video of himself that recorded his first reaction to the reviews of his big new project of which he was very nervous about. When he realizes the reactions are mostly positive, he lets out tears of relief, admitting how terrified he was to fail, and how happy he was that other people liked it. Apparently the description of that video was an explanation of why he had posted it; his young son never allowed him and his wife to see him cry, so he was trying to demonstrate the importance of showing emotions, that crying in front of others is simply part of being human. Don’t you love that story? I let out a great big ‘awwww’ when I read it for the first time.
What I appreciate most about this author is his acknowledgement that women have it much harder, and the standards are considerably lower for father figures then they are for mother figures. Of course he’s right, but he also points out that the standards for men are changing, of which he is also right. My husband does all the laundry in our house now that I’ve gone back to work full-time, and when I tell people that, they generally just nod their head because they understand I work full-time too, so why shouldn’t we share the chores? Imagine this was 1972, and I told people my husband did all our laundry – no doubt the reactions would be much different.
So this is a book I wouldn’t necessarily recommend to my local book club, but I’m sure I could put it into the hands of quite a few dads out there that would definitely appreciate this perspective. Yet another great Father’s Day gift idea too!
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
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Book Summary
Dad Bod starts off with a memory; Cruise waiting in line at a movie theatre in -20 Celsius weather with friends to watch Die Hard, one of his favourite movies. With his wife due any day, this is most likely his last outing for quite awhile. Cruise admits that like so many of us, parenthood is a mystery until we become one ourselves (and for many of us, continues to be a mystery, because how do you know you’re doing it right?). He argues that the portrayals of fatherhood in movies, video games, and television shows shapes society’s idea of how a father should be, so he categories these distinct father types using examples from different media sources. He dissects lots of characters I’ve never heard of, but because he’s around my age, he also explores many I do know, including Homer Simpson, Indiana Jones’s Father played by Sean Connery, Peppa Pig’s Dad, the Dad in Calvin and Hobbes comics, and Johnny Rose from Schitt’s Creek. He also references male figures that aren’t Dads at all, like Sylvester Stallone in the Rambo movies, but still uses these figures as examples of how the expectations of men are shaped by pop culture portrayals.
My Thoughts
I sound like a terrible wife when I admit this, but I rarely think about the challenges of fatherhood, and how men try to live up to the standards of being a ‘good man’ and ‘good father’. I have a wonderful father, so to me it seems easy, but of course that isn’t the case for everyone, and many men struggle with the idea of what a ‘good father’ is, including this author. Needless to say, this book offered me a brand new perspective I have never considered, so I’m grateful for that.
Surprisingly, the author admits that memories of his friends’ fathers helped shape his idea of fatherhood, in addition to the portrayals he absorbed from the big and little screen, but he never speaks about his own childhood with much detail. My assumption would have been that one’s idea of a father would come primarily from their own father (which Cruise does have, and was alive at the time of writing) but he rarely speaks about his own childhood. Instead, he is focused on outward examples of fatherhood, which shouldn’t be surprising considering he is a cultural critic, but it’s definitely a clear choice made in this book.
I’m not a big video game fan aside from the simple Nintendo games I played as kid, and then a bit in university back when I had time (how I miss those days!!!) so the majority of the references to games flew over my head, but he recounted a particularly compelling story that I read aloud to my husband as it was quite affecting. A very famous and successful video game producer uploaded a grainy, amateur video of himself that recorded his first reaction to the reviews of his big new project of which he was very nervous about. When he realizes the reactions are mostly positive, he lets out tears of relief, admitting how terrified he was to fail, and how happy he was that other people liked it. Apparently the description of that video was an explanation of why he had posted it; his young son never allowed him and his wife to see him cry, so he was trying to demonstrate the importance of showing emotions, that crying in front of others is simply part of being human. Don’t you love that story? I let out a great big ‘awwww’ when I read it for the first time.
What I appreciate most about this author is his acknowledgement that women have it much harder, and the standards are considerably lower for father figures then they are for mother figures. Of course he’s right, but he also points out that the standards for men are changing, of which he is also right. My husband does all the laundry in our house now that I’ve gone back to work full-time, and when I tell people that, they generally just nod their head because they understand I work full-time too, so why shouldn’t we share the chores? Imagine this was 1972, and I told people my husband did all our laundry – no doubt the reactions would be much different.
So this is a book I wouldn’t necessarily recommend to my local book club, but I’m sure I could put it into the hands of quite a few dads out there that would definitely appreciate this perspective. Yet another great Father’s Day gift idea too!
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
Sign up for my newsletter here: https://ivereadthis.com/subscribe/
Or follow me on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ivereadthis/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivereadthisblog
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivereadthis
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD6E...
June 19, 2022
In Dad Bod, Cian Cruise dives deep into various social notions of fatherhood by examining tropes and archetypes in pop culture father figures (the titular 'dad bods'). His essays are all framed within the experiences of being a new father himself, which adds a lovely sense of personal stakes to his ideas.
When for example he complains about the bumbling sitcom dad trope (Homer Simpson from The Simpsons, Al Bundy from Married...with Children), his language may be somewhat detached, a professional arts critic commentating on an artistic trend. But his concern isn't just academic, it's personal. His perspective is that of a new father trying to figure out how to be a good father to his own son, and frustrated by the dearth of good role models in popular media.
Full review on my blog: https://literarytreats.com/2022/06/19...
When for example he complains about the bumbling sitcom dad trope (Homer Simpson from The Simpsons, Al Bundy from Married...with Children), his language may be somewhat detached, a professional arts critic commentating on an artistic trend. But his concern isn't just academic, it's personal. His perspective is that of a new father trying to figure out how to be a good father to his own son, and frustrated by the dearth of good role models in popular media.
Full review on my blog: https://literarytreats.com/2022/06/19...
May 25, 2022
2.5. Essays on iconic fathers in pop culture and their influence on the myth of fatherhood-all just in time for Father’s Day. An overall hit or miss for me- although I’ll blame myself for some parts, as I was unfamiliar with some of the dads (eg, Major Briggs). But the ones I did know and like (Mrs Doubtfire, Tywin Lannister, Johnny Rose from Schitt’s Creek vs. Homer Simpson,) were generally insightful and entertaining.
Of course, just sayin, Cruise could have offered more explanations for the non-fans, but that would have cut down the hip, breezy geek-factor that this book was obviously going for. To be fair, im not talking about his uber-super analysis of Australian cartoon Bluey. That essay was a palaverous thesis in and of itself, and easily quadrupled the length of the others in the book. )
Of course, just sayin, Cruise could have offered more explanations for the non-fans, but that would have cut down the hip, breezy geek-factor that this book was obviously going for. To be fair, im not talking about his uber-super analysis of Australian cartoon Bluey. That essay was a palaverous thesis in and of itself, and easily quadrupled the length of the others in the book. )
August 28, 2022
The essays in DAD BOD are funny, insightful, and touching, and made me rethink classic father figures and the way fatherhood itself is portrayed in pop culture. Not just for dads, I think this book will appeal to all parents/caregivers of small humans, as well as anyone interested in the ways media reflects (or distorts) societal roles/structures, especially for men. From Mrs. Doubtfire to Geralt of Rivia and from the dads of GoT, the Simpsons, Die Hard, Bluey (spoiler alert: Bandit is the best of dogs and the best of dads!), and plenty of papas in between, DAD BOD offers sharp cultural commentary that's full of humour and heart.
April 14, 2022
A short and compact book looking at movie and TV dads. Examining how they are perceived and how they come across to our author. I found the writing of this book a little haphazard, a bit disorganised and not like work I am used to reading. That being said, I am stepping out of my comfort zones with chosen work. I found myself flicking through some of the chapters that were of less interest. Not bad but not the best.
July 22, 2023
I didn't like this book. I feel like the examples literally ranged from video game franchises and action movies to Peppa Pig and Bluey. Then the author kept trying to relate to the examples I mentioned.
June 5, 2022
Finally a book that appeals to a new generation of dads.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews