Channing Tatum: Millennial Winning
I mistakenly thought this film would take place in Paris. I saw the commercial and believed it was a Cabaret and they were putting on a high end performance of Mike’s show from the first film — I was wrong, not only about the location, but also about what this trilogy is about.
I make fun of Magic Mike — in a loving way. I think everyone in my age group has a few Magic Mike’s as friends — things didn’t really work out the way they planned and they’re trying to find their way, but no one writes them off as a sad case because they’re a ten. They’re allowed the safe space to explore and fail in their bubble of hotness. It’s entertaining for their friends, but it has to be sad for them at times, no tears though, they’re tens.
The first film came out at the height of True Blood. There was a lot of beautiful going around. Skarsgard with the fangs, the Magic Mike group. The early aughts was a time where I casually used the quote from Pam on True Blood to describe a certain subset of men that we were all attracted to, “they were born a hooker and a hooker is all they were ever gonna be.” It was a callous dismissal, but I was wrong.
The first Magic Mike came out in 2012, four years after the collapse. I was a year into a marketing job and I can’t recall what city I saw the film in, but I remember thinking that I knew a lot of people that fit the bill of the main character and things weren’t going to be pretty for a lot of them. 2012. In a movie theatre. Thinking Magic Mike’s life wouldn’t pan out. I also thought I was moving to Los Angeles the following year to work in textiles while continuing to write, so it shows how clairvoyant I was.
In the first film he really wanted to own his own business. The scene where he has the cash, but he just doesn’t have the credit score or history to finalize his loan was heartbreaking. Out of every scene in that film, that’s the one that stays with me the most. Being liquid in a way that wasn’t beneficial to setting up shop. The film ends on a hopeful note and I remember wishing that he would eventually get that loan and start his business.
In the second film, his business is up in the air. He takes a road trip with his friends and gets reacquainted with old flames. It’s a trip down memory lane where he spends a good portion of the film cheering up a young woman that had a photography gig fall through. What I took away from the second film was an elder millennial letting a younger millennial know that failure was okay and it was just part of the territory, but we had to find a way to smile. If you thought you had just booked a photography gig in NYC, only to have the job pulled out from under you at the last minute, could you be cheered up by velvet cake and a pep talk from Magic Mike? I’m not sure, but I doubt it would hurt.
I don’t think of Magic Mike after this point. Then during Covid, I started to see photos of Channing Tatum show up on my timeline. Good pictures. Pictures where you forwarded it to friends to ask what he was doing and were they real or photoshop? The GQ spread with Tatum wearing nothing but a speedo and talking about open water swimming is the equivalent of seeing the high school quarterback from your graduating class on Facebook and all of a sudden he’s back in peak fitness. It raises questions.
He looks better than he did ten years ago. Tatum’s Hollywood 40 is the equivalent of 25 on the streets. A real Tatum would look more like his character from Ten Year. The guy that you had the hots for in high school who looked decent, but was going through a rough spot at the ten year high school reunion doesn’t get to show up at the twentieth high school reunion looking like it’s the year 2000. That’s exactly what Tatum did. That’s the American dream he is selling.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance opens with the line, “Like most white American males in their 40’s trying to find themselves…” I applauded at this point because that’s the masterpiece of what Tatum put together. There’s a large demographic of American males entering “adulthood” now and the last ten-to-fifteen years have been a curveball. Magic Mike represents them, but he’s also the lotto ticket in the bunch.
The character of Mike did everything he was supposed to do. He worked odd jobs, he stayed employed, he followed his passion. When we meet up with him in the third film, he’s 60k in the hole and doesn’t have a clear path. He’s still a decent guy and he’s still trying, there’s no bitterness or finger-pointing, he just keeps going.
The first ten minutes of the third installment is real life. That’s the thesis statement for 80’s babies. A lot of shit happened and everyone is just trying to find their way through a road that was chopped up with a few recessions and a pandemic. The minute he dances for Salma Hayek, the film takes on the fantasy element and he gets his Edward Lewis scholarship fund.
Where I think Tatum brings his own unique voice is his lived experiences. Magic Mike is loosely based on his days as a stripper before breaking into film. With the first film, he shows his physical talent — he goes beyond what he did in Step Up and is essentially the Dirty Dancing of the 2000’s. Instead of falling for a girl headed to the Peace Corps. his love is equity and the elusive calm of financial stability.
I give him props for being honest with the second film and showing that the majority of his dance moves were inspired, if not taught by the African American community. He acknowledges his influences and his privilege and showcases how he utilized both to create something that belonged to him.
They had Tatum doing GI Joe and other tough guy roles that mirrored the Die Hard path that Bruce Willis took. What else could you possibly do with a guy that had the action physique, but was also funny? Tatum is different from Reynolds and the other leading male stars in that he’s an 80’s baby. He grew up right at the crossroads of being a 20th century guy and being allowed to be who he wants. He belongs to the last group of white males that will have memories of a world where the American dream wasn’t global.
We’ve witnessed what a lot of guys will do in this ever-evolving world. Some carry Tiki torches and try to overthrow the government. Others create hate groups and try to ban books in schools. Magic Mike? He keeps dancing and he keeps trying to find happiness. If we all just did a little bit more of that — open water swimming, smoothies with minimal fruit, laughing, maybe we can all be a little happier in this ever-evolving world. A world that in the 80’s birthed a whole bunch of people that were brought up to believe that life would be one massive party and forgot to hand out the memo that there was a dust bowl up ahead and no way to avoid it.
Magic Mike shows that it’s okay for us to keep dancing and dreaming because nothing much is promised any more and we have to do something. Everyone wants the Pretty Woman ending (minus the prostitution part), but if that won’t happen, let’s just keep open water swimming so we can look our best regardless of what’s happening. Whether you’re headlining a show or heavily in debt and trying to get your business off the ground, the sting of failure doesn’t hurt an ass that is still as tight as it was in high school. Everyone hit the water.
