Johnny Drama: Are those real, or are they implants?

The highly acclaimed HBO comedy series Entourage became notorious its exposition of the lives of key players in the acting industry in Los Angeles. Central to the show is a childhood group of friends who accompany their best friend, Vincent Chase, an on-the-rise moviestar, to Los Angeles. Within this group is Johnny Chase, Vinny’s half-brother, a representation of the struggling actor who can't book a job and relies on having one-liners in Vincent’s movies. Though Vinny is a more highly regarded actor, Johnny takes his trade much more seriously, resulting in his nickname “Johnny Drama”. From the moment Drama is introduced, his insecurities with his physique are apparent. The importance that male body image plays in the media and broader society are highlighted in various ways throughout the reign of Entourage, but never more than when Drama tells his friends he is planning to get calf implants (see clip below).

Furthermore, the character of Johnny Drama becomes a model for the struggles and insecurities that can result from mainstream media's expectations of male appearances. Additionally, in highlighting this struggle, Entourage may be further enforcing these expectations on its viewership.

For example, from the clip it is clear that Johnny Drama is affected by the expectations that lad culture has demanded of men. Being an actor, he is very invested in his appearance--he is notorious for healthy eating, going to the gym, and of course, his desire for calf implants. The priority that physical appearance plays in Drama’s life is consistent with Aubrey & Taylor’s study of media effects on male body image (2009). In the case of Drama, he lives in Hollywood, a place where he is constantly surrounded by people that work in the media industry, thus having no escape from the standards it sets. At the center of this is the concept of priming, for which Aubrey & Taylor conclude, “exposure to idealized images of men will result in greater accessibility of a particular male appearance ideal” (2009). This can be observed in the clip, where Drama is infatuated with the “perfectly sculpted” calves of the NBA players at the Lakers game and, again later at party. Therefore, with society’s ideal physical appearance readily in front of him on a daily basis, the desire and perceived need for calf implants takes on an exaggerated importance in Drama’s life.

Thus, the same way that Drama reflects the negative effects lad culture can have on men, his character on the show may be further instilling these concepts in the minds of its viewers – suggest that a perfectly sculpted physique is essential. This is furthered by the insecurity Drama displays in subsequent episodes when he goes on auditions. He truly starts to believe that he is not getting parts because his legs are too skinny. Therefore, while it has clear comedic value, the storyline surrounding Drama and his appearance could further instill the importance of an ideal male physique in viewers. Adding to this is Drama’s very unsuccessful acting career and success rate with women, which could be perceived as having to do with his lacking physical appeal. This representation also emphasizes heterosexual scripts of masculinity and the role that sexualized elements, such as appearance play in masculinity (Kim et al., 2007). Drama’s inability to accomplish ideal-looking calves could be damaging his sexual conquests, thus damaging and questioning his manhood. Therefore, all the struggles Drama faces both in his career and personal life can be deduced as repercussions of his failure to align with the ideal male body standards, which could in turn prime audiences to take on a siimilar mindset, reinforcing and validating lad culture (Aubrey &Taylor, 2009).

References:

Aubrey, J. S., & Taylor, L. D. (2009). The role of lad magazines in priming men's chronic and temporary appearance-related schemata: An investigation of longitudinal and experimental findings. Human Communication Research, 35(1), 28-58. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2008.01337.x

Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157. doi: 10.1080/00224490701263660

The Weekly Pause [The Weekly Pause]. (2009, October 6). Entourage – Johnny Drama has a hard-on for manly legs [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uhzuEeAIgw