quotes the Canadian actor Nathan Fillion. Famously, Fillion portrayed captain Mal Reynolds in the cult American scifi show created by Joss Whedon.

The Reynolds character lost everything in a galactic war for independence and is reduced to eeking out a living as a petty criminal. Fillion suggests that men like his character are discouraged by social conditioning from expressing their emotions openly. He suggests it is difficult or counter-intuitive for men to admit to failure or vulnerability because they have been enculturated to believe that ‘big boys don’t cry’.

Firrell has often quoted popular culture in the belief that mass, rather than high, culture may be the more powerful shaper of ideas.

The artist has said, ‘popular culture is often looked down on by ‘serious’ critics or commentators but I am interested in its power to disseminate very widely sound ideas about how to live productive, intriguing and valuable lives.’

The text suggests it is far harder to express feelings of sadness or fear without being judged, but it is both beneficial to mental health and heroic for men to rise to the challenge and explore those more difficult and nuanced emotions.