Ageing in DIY and alternative cultures: Exploring forms of masculinity and adult play in Jackass forever

Abstract

This article explores ageing in alternative cultures and co-existing forms of hyper and alternative masculinity in the US film Jackass Forever released in 2022. The film is a continuation of the original Jackass show launched in 2000. Although a highly profitable franchise, we argue Jackass is part of an alternative culture through its playfulness and pranks that are also dangerous and revel in self-humiliation. Most of the stunts and skits also adopt a DIY approach and reflect forms of perceived masculine and adolescent pranking and clowning. We argue that such alternative and DIY-influenced activities allow men to keep enjoying alternative, ‘carnivalesque’ forms of adult play well into middle-age and can have a pro-social and beneficial impact across men's life course. Yet even if subversive, Jackass can still also reproduce masculine constraints, including suppressing the expression of boundaries and vulnerable emotions.