An advertisement is something that everyone witnesses everyday. Whether we pay attention to it or not, it is there. I chose to do my final project on a criticism of American shows and advertisements. The author Sachi Takahashi, expresses dislike of the popular TV shows and ads that are watched by Americans. The main idea behind this criticism is to show how these shows and advertisements are the back bone to showing teenagers what masculinity is, and how to express it. Little do they know that they are showing these viewers, one close minded approach to masculinity, and not leaving an area for people to become open minded about what they want to do. Takahashi compares the American form of masculinity to the Japanese outlook on masculinity. "I found the high valued masculinity in America is different from recent Japanese one because in America the men with strength, a leading skill, and masculine body are still common media image of hegemonic masculinity."

The main focus of these criticisms were two shows, The O.C and Gossip Girls. In the show, The O.C, there are many aspects of masculinity demonstrated. One of them being the typical hegemonic masculinity of the main character, whose muscles are chiseled, and whose aggressive behavior is actually accepted, meanwhile, there are other characters such as Seth who represents complicit masculinity. Seth is portrayed as a rather weak man who does geeky things and is an outcast. He is placed into a sub-group along with other characters, such as gay men, or men of color.These are the negative parts of the show that can give an extra boost in the argument of why hegemonic masculinity is the way to go. I say this because when watching it, no one will want to be the outcast and therefore will do whatever they need to to fit into this hierarchy.