The Old-Fashioned Virtue Signaling Of Tom Hanks
‘America’s Dad’ excels at playing men with strong moral codes
In the new war film Greyhound, Tom Hanks stars as a US Navy commander who has to escort an Allied convoy across an Atlantic ocean patrolled by German U-boats during World War II. You can stream it on Apple TV +.
Hanks’ character, Captain Ernie Krause, is a god-fearing man married to the sea. He’s humble, serious, and steady. When a pair of sailors caught fighting are hauled before him he is fair. When he gives orders that result in the deaths of Nazis, he does not cheer.
The man is self-reflective. He is thoughtful. Hanks’ Krause is vulnerable but not weak. These are old school virtues, from another time when men were strong and silent, unlike now, when men are cruel and loud.
There isn’t a minute in Greyhound when Hanks’ character isn’t virtue signaling, the popular right-wing political insult that men throw at men who publicly express upright beliefs.
Captain Krause is a leader of men and to lead men, to truly lead them, a leader must be able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. They must then live by those values. That’s an inconvenient standard for many men today, specifically those who lurk online.
