Why Hank Moody is THE MAN

"To my dear beautiful daughter,

I’m writing you a letter, that’s right a good old fashion letter it’s a lost art really, like

handjobs.

I have a confession to make: I didn’t like you very much at first. You were just this annoying little blob, you smelled nice, most of the time. But, you didn’t seem to have much interest in me, which I of course found vaguely insulting. It was just you and your mom against the world, funny how some things never change.

So I cruised along doing my thing acting the fool, not really understanding how being a parent changes you. And I don’t remember the exact moment everything changed, I just know that it did.

One minute I was impenetrable, nothing could touch me, the next my heart was somehow beating outside my chest, exposed to the elements.

Loving you has been the most profound, intense, painful experience of my life, in fact its been almost too much to bear.As your father I made a silent vow to protect you from the world, never realizing I was the one who would end up hurting you the most.When I flash forward my heart breaks, mostly because I can’t imagine you speaking to me with any sort of pride, how could you? Your father is a child in a man’s body, he cares for nothing and everything at the same time. Noble in thought, weak in action, something has to change, something has to give.

Its getting dark, too dark to see."

The man who wrote this letter to his daughter is, despite what you might think or say about him, the epitome of the man of the XXIst Century. Hank Moody, the fictional main character from the SHOWtime television show "Californication" embodies all the troubles, complex contradictions and wild fantasies of the modern day adult males in the western society.

This is a man whose life was devoted to the satisfaction of his primal and basic instincts, in total unawareness of consequences for him or others. In a world he knows is crumbling down, he said to himself: "I might as well make the best of it" and burn life by both ends, knowing that it will eventually end up in ashes for every single one of us. But amidst the chaos of his alcohol- fueled-sex-driven existence, there is this little oasis, this silent quiet peaceful space: his daughter. I wouldn't go so far as to enlarging this space to Karen, his "baby momma", because even though he seems to genuinely love her, he never ever seems to try to act according to whatever feelings he says he has for her. As for Becca, the beloved daughter, it's a different story. He is far from managing to protect her from the world (or himself, for that matter) but she is the only one who seems worthy of his efforts or signs of repentance. She represents an ideal he seems to have given up on, yet can't let go. She is what is left of his will of improvement, of his faith in his own humanity, empathy and ability to do good. His moral standards, totally distorted by his bohemian life of an artist, only try to come out right so he can limit the extent of the damage he provokes on his daughter.

But in what does all of this make Hank THE MAN, the one who represents all of us, in any way?

We live in a society that increasingly emasculates its men. The XXth Century opened the way for women to go to school, stay there as long as men, have equal opportunities at jobs, make as much money and be as free as only men used to be regarding their sexuality. I am not saying these were necessarily BAD changes, only stating the fact that it left men a little bit lost as to what was their role to be in this New World Order. The almighty penis doesn't set the tone anymore, strength has been replaced by brains for the establishment of dominant status. Not only men have to be bright, successful, passionate, wealthy, good looking, caring and sensitive, yet remain physically and emotionnally dominant, sexually satisfying and respectful of their "space" in order to have the top females of the bunch, they also have to come to terms with the fact that all that MIGHT NOT BE SUFFICIENT! After centuries of certainties, we men are simply lost, and have yet to adjust ourselves to the situation...

Facing this dilemma, Hank solved it by chosing to be all and none at the same time! He is a bright writer whose books have sold millions of copies, yet he chose to live like a bohemian artist, not caring about the status, money or any type of responsibilty that comes with fame and glory. He chose the (mild) Bukowski way, having as much sex, booze and rock and roll as he possibly can. Not that he always choses things to happen the way they do, but he takes them as they come. A young woman picks him up in a bookstore and want to have sex with her favorite author? OK. A hooker (which detail he did not know at the time) invites him up to her hotel room to snort coke on her ass? It would be ungentlemanly to decline. A random surfer girl at the supermarket steals his rock collection after he brought her home for sex? Oh well, it happens! Better luck next time...

This erratic behaviour is, in a way, one that all men dream of having. Who hasn't dreamt of having the type of freedom Hank displays one episode after another, and still have a beautiful caring wife and daughter to go home to? Even when they go hard on him for being such a hazard for himself, he gets away with witty wordplay and droopy eyes begging for forgiveness. And even after he lost the love of his life and disappointed his daughter in every way imaginable to the human mind... he still acted like he was in charge, despite his ex beig married to another man...