A bromance is a “close, nonsexual relationship between men” (Merriamwebster. com). The male friendship is shown very diversely in both the short story “Hunters in the snow” and the film Superbad. In the article, “Bring back the Bromance” the author brings attention to what everyone is thinking. “To be close friends, men need to be willing to confess their insecurities, be kind to others, have empathy and sometimes sacrifice their own self-interest. “Real men”, though, are not supposed to do these things.
They are supposed to be self-interested, competitive, non-emotional, strong and able to deal with their emotional problems without help. These are the two extreme contrasts. In Superbad, Seth and Evan are close friends, that truly care about on another, and would do anything for each other. However, in “Hunters in the snow,” Tub, Frank and Kenny are “real men. ” They are competitive, strong and independent. These two movies show differences by the way they treat each other in each, and the contrast between the so called bromance. At the beginning of the short story, “Hunters in the Snow,” the men are on their hunting trip and experience a moment of misunderstanding.
As they are following the animals into the posted property. Kenny stops walking, points his gun at a post, and says, “I hate that post. ” He then raises his rifle and shoots the post. Next he shoots a tree, then a dog. Before firing the rifle each time, he says that he hates both the post and the dog. After this, he tells Tub he hates him. Tub, being scared that he would be next, picks up his rifle and shoots first. Kenny and Tub clearly don’t have a good connection. Tub would not have really thought Kenny would shoot him, and Kenny would not have gotten shot.
What happens next is even more shocking, Tub says “I had to. ” (Wolff 5) They then begin to argue about the shooting, and Frank jokingly says, “You’re lucky, it missed your appendix” (Wolff 5). Tub then says that he should call and ambulance but Frank talks him out of it, so they don’t get in trouble. Tub and Frank are acting as if their friend Kenny was not just shot. They are arguing, making jokes and trying to avoid getting blamed for the accident. Tub and Frank don’t seem to care at all that their friend Kenny is bleeding out, and slowly dying.
This miscommunication will now cost Kenny his life. In the film Superbad, Evan reacts much more drastically when he believes his best friend has just been shot. During the shooting scene in the film Superbad, the character’s act differently when put in this situation. Seth, Fogell, and Evan are running from the cops. The split up and Evan starts to run alone. When he stops to hide from the cops, he hears gunshots. Instantly he thinks about Seth, and his safety. Evan says, with the only kind of emotions he knows how to use, “Oh fuck, oh fuck they shot Seth. They fucking shot Seth, I know it.
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit” (123moviesfree. Superbad). At this time Evan begins to tear up, because he is so upset at the thought of losing his best friend. This shows compassion and empathy; Evan is a passionate friend that can’t imagine his life without Seth. Tub and Frank also lack compassion; this is shown after Kenny gets shot in the short story “Hunters in the Snow. ” Tub and Frank try to figure out a way to get Kenny back to the truck, and they decide to put him on a board and carry him. “Just past the house, Tub slipped and threw out his hands to catch himself.
The boards fell and Kenny tumbled out and rolled to the bottom of the drive, yelling all the way” (Wolff 6). Tub saved himself rather than his friend Kenny, who had just been shot. He is so inconsiderate and self-absorbed, that when he slipped, he was only worried about himself. Kenny is helpless and now in danger of infections along with hypothermia because he was just rolled down a snowy hill. If Tub fell he would have just gotten a little wet and a few bruises. So this was inconsiderate and disrespectful. Real friends would have made sure their injured friend made it to the truck safety.
Tub and Frank don’t have any sympathy for Kenny. True friends care about one another and would do anything to ensure the safety of that friend. This is shown in the film Superbad, when Seth is outside the party talking to Jules, his crush. Seth is mad at Evan because he just found out that Evan is rooming with Fogell next year at college, and Evan didn’t tell him. All of a sudden, he passes out because he is so intoxicated. When he opens his eyes, he sees cops on the front lawn. He gets up and instead of running away, he endangers himself and runs in to the party.
He begins to look for Evan, to make sure he gets out of the party too, and doesn’t get in trouble. Seth finds Evan on the couch passed out. He tried to wake him up but Evan still showed signs of unconsciousness. Seth picks up Evan, throws him over his shoulder and says, “I’m going to save you man” (123moviesfree. com). Seth carries Evan for a couple blocks before he finally wakes up. Even though Seth was frustrated with Evan, he couldn’t leave him in the house alone. He wanted to make sure his friend was okay even if he was mad at him. This is so selfless and courageous of Seth.
This is a true friend, willing to go to extreme measures to help out the people you care about. Unlike in the short story “Hunters in the Snow,” where the characters despise each other and aren’t willing to jeopardize themselves for each other. Speaking the truth can build a relationship in more ways than one. In the short story “Hunters in the Snow,” Tub and Frank actually open up to each other for once. Frank is telling Tub about his affair with Roxanne Brewer, the babysitter. Frank says “I guess you think I’m a complete bastard. ” Tub replies “No, Frank. I don’t think that.
When you’ve got a friend it means you’ve always got someone on your side, no matter what. That’s the way I feel about it anyway. ” Frank can’t believe what Tub said, “You mean that, Tub? ” “Sure I do,” Tub reassured him. Frank smiled and said “You don’t know how good it feels to hear you say that. ” (Wolff 8) In this part of the short story, the men both finally let their guard down and open up to each other. Frank told Tub some really personal things and his first instinct was to assume that Tub would think less of him. In reality, Tub didn’t care, he just wanted Frank to know he would support him because they are friends.
This was really the only part in the whole short story when the men opened up to each other and really demonstrated a real bromance. And to their surprise, it was helpful and good to know they had support. Showing feelings towards someone you care about is not a bad thing. Men think that they have to be tough and independent all the time. This is not true, Seth and Evan prove this in the last scene of the film. They lay in bed after a long night, talking about how they are going to miss each other next year when they part ways for college.
Evan turns to Seth and says, “I love you man. ” Seth reply’s saying, “I love you too, I’m not even embarrassed to say it, I want to go to the rooftops and scream I love my best friend Evan. ” (123moviesfree. com) The bond between Evan and Seth is real, they are not afraid to show their true feelings towards each other. Evan and Seth have a real bromance are proud of it. A true bromance is only portrayed in the film Superbad, as this movie shows a successful friendship. Seth and Evan support, empathize, care, and love each other.
These two men have a real bond and connection, showing that they treat each other with respect and enjoy their presence. This is a bromance, and they are not afraid to show it. However, in the short story “Hunters in the Snow,” the characters are just acquaintances that went hunting together. This friendship, if there even was one, has failed. They argue, take advantage and belittle one another. They do not care about each other’s feelings and or opinions. They show no support for each other because they are too busy caught up in themselves. Each one of the men in the short story are self-center and lack compassion.
