Public History Ryan Gosling

/ Historiann

Via Leslie M-B at The Clutter Museum, we learn that someone has made a very funny mashup called Public History Ryan Gosling, in which said Gosling “seduces you with public history theory.”

Too funny.  But I must ask you:  what’s appealing or sexy about this guy?  His name means “baby goose,” and he looks like a pretty average looking mope to me.

Graduate students!  They’re always impressing me with their ingenuity and creativity, aren’t they?

24 thoughts on “Public History Ryan Gosling”

  1. That’s hilarious. Thanks for sharing, H. The Ryan Gosling feminist meme has been around for a while, but this is a great new take. I wonder what Mr. Gosling thinks about all this. (I have to admit, the “hey girl” start is what makes the whole project for me.)

    I think you have to be in your teens or twenties to think he’s sexy.

    Like

    Reply

  2. Beyond Feminist and Public History Ryan Gosling, there’s also Library Ryan Gosling and Typographer Ryan Gosling. It’s the cheesy opening with the studied sexuality of the photos that take it over the top for me.

    It’s the ultimate fantasy for women who grew up smarter, more awkward, and plainer than other girls: a good-looking man who makes his money being pretty, stereotyped as stupid, chatting up nerdy girls in their own language. In my opinion, he gets sexier with each one of these.

    Like

    Reply

  3. Hey girl! My public history friends and I have been having a lot of fun with this on Facebook, though I don’t know either what makes RG sexy or appealing. But somehow I think the meme is funnier for the fact that he isn’t the classical or Hollywood-created Cary Grant type–that is, this is just a guy trying too hard to seduce you.

    At another level, though, perhaps the seduction is all about this moment in the history/public history employment marketplace. (Love the PHRG self-referential entry: “Hey girl, combining my image with theory is an outstanding exercise in Public History praxis.”) More than ever, the profession is emphasizing public history as the practical “jobs” track, even though that sector really isn’t growing and what jobs there are pay, in some regions of the US, adjunct-level salaries (and in some cases no benefits, to boot). In short, the profession is trying to hard to persuade students that public history is a more viable career option than the tenure track, so perhaps the interpretation here should focus less on the image and more on the words–in today’s market, what in historical and museum theory and practice will get one that job? Who’s seducing whom here?

    It’s the sort of humor my grad school cohort indulged in as we faced the competition for jobs, but we did it with edited Far Side posters.

    Like

    Reply

  5. History Maven: you may be right that his average-mopeness is part of the appeal.

    It’s all good! Enjoy the laughs. As for hacking pop culture before the internets: I recall, Matt Groening had some very pertinent grad-school mocking cartoons back in the late 1980s, too.

    Like

    Reply

  8. You know, I think the RG thing actually has less to do with his looks than with the fact that he doesn’t seem especially stupid, compared with many other Hollywood actor types, in that he does seem to be interested in choosing quirky (Lars and the Real Girl) or unattractive (Blue Valentine) roles. So sure, he’s that guy from The Notebook, but he’s also that guy from Half Nelson. Which is why we can have Feminist RG or Public History RG, while we couldn’t have, I don’t know, Feminist Brad Pitt or Public History Zac Efron. And also: he’s about the age of lots of people in grad school, which I think is part of it, too. That’s my theory anyway.

    Like

    Reply

  9. He was the guy in Blue Valentine? That was a pretty good movie, although wow: super-depressing. I actually really loved his character’s defense of his drinking: “I have a job where I CAN drink in the morning! I’m living the dream!”

    (But he was extremely unattractive in that movie.)

    Like

    Reply

  13. We don’t understand because we are too old. I read that in the Washington Post when I was trying to understand the Library Ryan Gosling that’s been making the rounds.

    Post article:
    The Blessing of Ryan Gosling
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-blessing-of-ryan-gosling/2011/11/21/gIQAdIYezN_story.html

    Library tumblr:
    http://librarianheygirl.tumblr.com/

    I have to admit I do enjoy this one, “Hey girl. Sorry to bother you, but can you tell me the classification number for love at first sight?”

    Oh, also, apparently this all started with Fuck Yeah! Ryan Gosling!
    http://fuckyeahryangosling.tumblr.com/

    I’m such a librarian. I had to research this meme. And, by the way, Know Your Meme is an excellent resource for knowing your memes. http://knowyourmeme.com/

    Like

    Reply

  14. A sure sign that I’m reading end-of-term research reports: I followed Leslie M-B’s Exhibit B link. I don’t really understand who Ryan Gosling is but that video is certainly proof of something. It’s a strange set of events.

    Like

    Reply

  15. Part of the appeal with Gosling is that he was in the Notebook, I think. I myself find him somewhat attractive but not ridiculously so (I will be 30 in one month, so I’m not a teen anymore!). The feminist meme is something that will come in handy when I teach theory next semester, but the public history one can be useful in so many different ways. Thanks for sharing!

    Like

    Reply

  17. Assessing the sexiness and beauty of a man is difficult for most men for obvious reasons. Another difficult assessment is: why so many people care to comment on Mr. Gosling?

    By the way, actor’s intelligence distribution should be similar to any other group, which means that some actors are very smart while others are very stupid.

    Like

    Reply

  19. Have you ever seen him with his top off? Ripped! Try ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ if you want some examples.

    More seriously, I do think that is what makes him attractive; he is not that handsome, but makes such a huge effort with his appearance that the wiminz sympathise and find it endearing. Who doesn’t like a man who makes an effort? (A sort of desperation to be liked that makes these memes work, imo). Plus Ripped!

    Like

    Reply

  20. Assessing the sexiness and beauty of a man is difficult for most men

    That’s not actually obvious to me koshembos.

    Also, almost all of the men I know make their own wardrobe and grooming choices. My guess is that they do those things with some purpose in mind, culturally conditioned though it may be.

    More importantly, I was daydreaming about my daguerrotype girlfriend and then I woke up, checked at the Library of Congress, and got over it. Loads of daguerrotype dudes, not so many ladies.

    Like

    Reply

Let me have it!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.