The Last <i>Real</i> Man: Foreshadowing Men’s Social Issues and Movements in Matheson’s <i>I Am Legend</i>

Abstract

We interpret I Am Legend as a metaphor for the sociopolitical collapse of patriarchal hegemony, and as foreshadowing several contemporary issues and movements affecting and involving men. In our interpretation, Matheson’s last real man is immune to the ideologically infectious “wokeness” that transforms almost everyone else into “un-men,” leaving him the equivalent of a modern socially and sexually isolated “MGTOW monk” or “Incel.” He is so feared for his “toxic” views and behaviors by the emerging ideologically moderate “quasi-men,” that he must be “cancelled” along with the equally extreme un-men as destabilizing threats to the new society. He experiences the same loss of control, powerlessness, alienation, and estrangement experienced by many so-called “traditional” White men today. This includes his sexual frustration and reactive violence which reflects the misogyny exhibited by the Incel movement and his ultimate manipulation and betrayal by a woman which reflects the fears of the MGTOW movement.