"Fallout," the Male Gaze, and My Dumb Experiment (OBSESSED #19)

A close examination of every male character in "Fallout," and why that matters.

Ella Purnell as Lucy in “Fallout,” wishing she had WiFi so she could read OBSESSED.

When I sat down to watch Fallout, Amazon’s adaptation of the immensely popular video game, I immediately clocked the objective hotness of its lead. Then, I got to thinkin’.

Lucy is played by Ella Purnell, who you might recognized as Jackie from Yellowjackets. Purnell played Jackie with that confounding blend of disarming warmth and snide iciness that makes the high school “it” girl so powerful. And in Fallout, Purnell is charismatic and charming, bringing a sunny naïveté to an otherwise dark and chaotic cast of characters.

Purnell is also, objectively, stunning. She’s in possession of several trademark Hot Girl traits — big doe eyes, a delicate bone structure, thinness, tanness, full lips. She’s “male gaze” beautiful — that is, she’s the kind of beautiful that aligns with patriarchal beauty standards and traditional femininity.  

And let’s call a spade a spade: Prime’s Fallout is an adaption of a *video game*, a medium that’s still dominated by cis men. And if Fallout is going to have a female protagonist, it makes (gross) sense that the studio suits would want to cast a woman who appeals to men in as many ways as possible. 

Of course, there’s no way of knowing how many men vs. women vs. nonbinary people play Fallout, or any other video game, but this Steam community post has one dude suspecting that “as many as” one in five players are female. “If you feel ok about it post if your a female gammer,” he implored. If you feel OK about it. Shivers. Dark stuff.

From there, I became obsessed with the idea that every Fallout casting decision was, ultimately, made for the male gaze. Could that be possible? If so, who the hell is qualified to examine any of this?  

Enter: me. I am qualified. Because, as luck would have it, my specific cocktail of erogenous tastes makes me the ideal judge of whether a male or female character (cisgender or otherwise) is catering to the male or female gaze.  

First, some background. 

Defining the male gaze vs. the female gaze

Let’s start by quickly defining the male gaze. In film and television, the male gaze is pretty much what it sounds like: art made from a traditionally heterosexual, masculine perspective. On screen, the male gaze looks like a slow camera pan up a female character’s body for no apparent reason. It can also look like the jacked male hero sidling up to the tough girl in the black tank top, who’s been watching him beat up bad guys the whole time because he’s the center of her universe, and her brain is boring.

On the flip side, the female gaze is a bit harder to define. It’s a little more nuanced than art made from a female perspective. Vulture describes it as “emotional and intimate. It sees people as people. It seeks to empathize rather than to objectify. (Or not.)” My quick dummy definition states that the female gaze is inclusive of everything the male gaze strips from its characters. Through the female gaze, all characters (whether they be male, female, trans, nonbinary or any combination of the above) have full inner lives, and aren’t presented purely as objects of sexual consumption. 

Now, to my horny tastes. (Dad, you can continue reading.)

My scientific (horny) qualifications

When it comes to men, my tastes are very much in-line with the female gaze. I’m typically unconcerned with a hotness based on height (specifically: tallness), physical strength, or a five o’clock shadow. (With one exception: this dude.) Instead, I tend to go for the bass player, the one in glasses, the “artsy type,” for lack of a more creative phrase. Chris Hemsworth literally does nothing for me. Dev Patel could kill me with one glance. (As could my hunky spouse!)

As for women, I’m mortified to say that my brain and body were programmed with the male gaze as my erotic compass. Like a boring, horny seventh grader, I go for the high femme head cheerleader, the good ol’ fashioned American bottle blonde. Is she stacked and in heels? Great! Then I’m dehydrated. Hayden Panettiere’s performance in Heroes was deeply important to 15-year-old me.

Suffice it to say, this erotic wiring makes me an excellent judge of whether a character was cast for the male or female gaze. I can just check my physical reactions to each character! And since Purnell’s casting convinced me that the women in Fallout would largely align with the male gaze, I turned my attention to a more interesting question.

If a show is designed for the male gaze, would its male actors *also* be cast in accordance with the male gaze?

My final hypotheses

My hypothesis: yes. This is based on my (uncreative) theory that hot men who subvert traditional masculinity — whether by wearing jewelry, fun hairstyles or vaguely unisex clothing —  scare the shit out of traditionally tuff & buff men who live in Oakley sunglasses and Magellan shirts. Why? Because women find these men attractive. And to a dyed-in-the-wool alpha bro, this must be scary. 

“If they’re gettin’ girls without doing that other buff stuff,” their thoughts must go, “is none of this shit necessary? ‘Cause I thought guys like that were gay! But these guys aren’t gay! They’re just … expressing themselves? Which you’re allowed to do? What do I do to express myself? Do I even know myself?” And then they go take out their frustrations in Sydney Sweeney’s Instagram comments.  

Because of this, my hypothesis is also this: that none of the men in this show will be female gaze hot. Nary will there be a Dev Patel, Paul Mescal or little Tom Holland sight. 

With our hypotheses established and my deeply personal proclivities laid bare, let’s take a close examination of every male character in the pilot of Fallout, a show that didn’t ask for this level of idiot scrutiny and, frankly, doesn’t deserve it. (It’s a good show!)

Moisés Arias and Dave Register

Let’s get these two out of the way. On the left is Arias, who plays Lucy’s brother, Norm. On the right, it’s Register, who plays Chet, Lucy’s cousin.

Arias is many things: tiny, worthy of love, the inimitable Rico from Hannah Montana. And while his stature may suggest he’s a female gaze guy, don’t be fooled — his consultant’s haircut makes it easy to clock Arias as a product of the male gaze.

And, obviously, Register is male gaze hot — he looks like a mix of Chris Pratt and Matt Gaetz, both of whom trigger nausea in my spirit. One, for the acute threat his perspective and body of work pose for the health of our nation. The other, because he’s a conservative prick.

Kyle MacLachlan

This is a tricky one. Because while MacLachlan seems male gaze hot — crisp, clean, square-jawed — the twinkle in his eye makes him pretty damn close to female gaze hot. Plus, MacLachlan has a *lot* of fun on Instagram. (Here he is, making a wine pun. Here he is, covered in googly eyes. Here he is, copycatting Lorde.) For a man his age, something this whimsical threatens to solidify him as female gaze hot.

Unfortunately, there’s something vaguely … construction and woodworker-y about him? And you can’t imagine him having a single tattoo. Plus, I’m not very attracted to him. So, for the purposes of my nonsense experiment, this solidifies him as a male gaze sweetie.

Zach Cherry

Nothing makes me smile like seeing this motherfucker on screen. Cherry’s characters are often skeptical know-it-alls, conspiratorial stoners or dry weirdos. They often lack the self-awareness and emotional availability that would make them female gaze fellas. And they tend to dominate their environment. So, whether Cherry is, physically, male or female gaze hot doesn’t matter — from an energetic sense, it all feels very male gaze-coded.

Cameron Cowperthwaite

This is confusing, because Cowperthwaite is just plain hot. The hair is great. The eyes are great. It all really works for me. But, then, I find myself wondering if they made his hair *that* greasy to appeal to greasy-haired dudes watching Fallout, as if to tell them, “It’s fine if you haven’t showered in several days! Neither has this guy, and he’s about to sleep with the lead!” For that reason, he is disqualified.

Aaron Clifton Moten

All right, folks, here’s our exception to the rule! As far as I’m concerned, Moten is undeniably female gaze hot, and my reaction to his presence onscreen confirms this. But since Moten is also physically strong, he still feels palatable for a traditionally masculine audience. Therefore, he isn’t a *truly* challenging female gaze cutie patootie, and the theory remains intact. (But congratulations on booking the role, Moten!)

Power Armor (Worn by Unspecified Male Knight)

Robots (always boys!!) love gender stereotypes. Male gaze.

Michael Cristofer

Crisofer always serves major “blow up the village to raise the share price!” energy, which is woven into the fabric of the male gaze. Not a wink of reaction on my end. Next.

Michael Emerson

Glasses? Female gaze. Rude-ass ‘tude?! You already know the answer.

Walton Goggins

This is Fallout’s male gaze masterstroke, and it reveals the show’s hand. You see, normally, Walton Goggins would render my nonsense theory entirely moot, because Goggins’ raw dynamism and general air of insanity are just chaotic enough to make him female gaze hot.

Which is why the bastards cut off his nose.

Because Goggins is female gaze hot, the producers had to neutralize his effects by mutilating his face, which is covered entirely in radiated scar tissue. Or do you think it’s a coincidence that the only female gaze hunk in Fallout has a hole in his face?

CX404 (German Shepherd, Male, Age 4)

CX404 is played by a female German Shepherd, and her character is constantly objectified for being such a good girl. Classic male gaze; I rest my case.

---