The 'Dear Evan Hansen' Effect? This Man Acts Half His Age
LOS ANGELES, CA—Earlier this week, local boyfriend Dan Hardman sparked reports from those around him that he, a full-grown man, was acting like a child.
“I mean, he always acted a little immature, but now he’s just not even acting like an adult anymore” admits Marissia Cole, Dan’s on-and-off girlfriend. “He’s 30 years old and spends all of his time going out with these college guys he met at a bar and is slowly cutting out everybody in his life.”
Cole wonders if maybe there’s more to why men act like this at their big age other than the fact that they are never held to higher standards by society.
“I think that maybe he’s been influenced by seeing the representation of men play these roles that are years younger than they are, and so he feels like it’s okay to do the same thing,” she explains. “But also, maybe he’s just a dickhead.”
Researchers are now working to see if there is a link between this phenomenon and the recent blockbuster film Dear Evan Hansen, which features its lead actor not-so-subtly playing a role that is very obviously ten years younger than his actual age.
“Men have always matured at a slower rate than women. This is nothing new to us,” explains Dr. Claire Creek, a leading age psychology researcher at Stanford. “But we keep asking: why isn’t this changing? And, we always love to entertain any new ideas that give us something random to blame. So yeah, maybe the movie has something to do with it. Our findings are still very unclear.”
When we spoke to Dan, he explained he’s very much acting his age and is annoyed that everybody is overreacting and criticizing his life choices.
“So I messaged a few girls on Insta, so what? Nothing was gonna happen anyway,” Hardman claims. “And why is everybody still bugging me about needing this health insurance stuff? I’m too young for that shit and I’ll never get sick. Also, I’ve never even seen that movie you’re talking about.”
As we were leaving, we noticed Cole attempting to have a serious conversation with Hardman about his actions, who suddenly started to break into song and dance directly in the middle of their conversation.
