Michael Rababy – american bachelor

Review by Hans Hickerson ·

One way to decide if a photobook is successful is if it gives you the experience of a different time and place, if it immerses you in its world – just like with a novel or film. Michael Rababy’s american bachelor works like that. Open it and go on a guided tour of American bachelorhood in the 1990s and early 2000s. A warning though: it’s a guy’s world in there.

In terms of what we see, there are plenty of twenty-something men partying – with drinking, dancing, and rowdiness – along with messy bedrooms and closets and kitchen sinks full of unwashed dishes. Plus playing poker, tennis, and air guitar, crashing post-party, phoning, smoking, surfing, hanging out, being vulnerable, and doing things you would be embarrassed about if your parents found out.

The men we see are middle-class and mostly white. The women are viewed from the man’s perspective – as bodies, girlfriends, dates, dance partners, and potential mates. There are no mothers, sisters, aunties, or grandmothers around to spoil the fun.

Complementing the photos are extensive texts taken from interviews with bachelors. They comment on their jobs, body image, girlfriends, relationships, dating, friendship, love, sex, commitment, marriage, parents, growing up, feelings, and their past. The texts do not correspond to the nearby photos but they do mirror and complement them.

Given that american bachelor was published in 2003, it is legitimate to wonder why one would review it now. One reason is that is has not been reviewed here, as it pre-dates the existence of this magazine. More importantly, however, its non-toxic if pre-woke take on being young and male remains relevant today when we are confronted by extreme gender role models; it serves as a reminder of a possible option for “normal.”

american bachelor offers a light-hearted, unvarnished, unapologetic insider documentation of young men enjoying their freedom while also tiptoeing towards the scary scenario of commitment. An original and captivating project and book.

PhotoBook Journal previously published a review of Michael Rababy’s Casinoland: Tired of Winning.

Hans Hickerson, Co-Editor of the PhotoBook Journal, is a photographer and photobook artist from Portland, Oregon.

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Michael Rababy – american bachelor

Photographer: Michael Rababy (lives in Los Angeles)

Language: English

Design: Damon Robinson

Hardcover; 182 color photographs: perfect binding; ISBN 0-9729954-0-4; 138 pages; 9.5 X 9.5 in.

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Articles and photographs published in the PhotoBook Journal may not be reproduced without the permission of the PhotoBook Journal staff and the photographer(s). All images, texts, and designs are under copyright by the authors and publishers.