Disney’s “Boy Trouble”

A few days ago, Vanity Fair dropped a piece called, “Disney’s Boy Trouble: Studio Seeks Original IP to Win Back Gen-Z Men Amid Marvel, Lucasfilm Struggles”:

Leadership at Walt Disney Studios has been pressing Hollywood creatives in recent months, multiple sources tell Variety, for movies that will bring young men back to the brand in a meaningful way. “Young men” is defined here by sources as ages 13-28, aka Gen Z.

First, duh. Every film studio is looking for better ways to convert young audiences into habitual moviegoers. Numerous studies show that Gen Z men in particular are a lonely, gaming-obsessed group who were hampered in their formative years by COVID-19 lockdowns — not the easiest segment to grasp. But what’s surprising producers, writers, and other partners in the larger industry is that Disney has been calling for original concepts to lure the demo back to the movies.

...This is the same Disney whose multibillion-dollar content engines, Marvel and Lucasfilm, have sated men of all ages over almost two decades since the company acquired them. The sources say Disney has been seeking new IP and pitches such as splashy global adventures and treasure hunts, as well as seasonal fare like films for the Halloween corridor. The calls come as the Star Wars machine struggles to produce any film project, and the superhero genre sheds audiences by the minute.

...“I never thought I’d say it,” the exec muses about the Magic Kingdom’s boy troubles despite its gem box of iconic IP, “but it looks like Disney is going to have to start trying.”

First of all, it’s worth noting that Disney isn’t completely flopping or about to go out of business. They are still producing wildly profitable movies like “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and “The Minecraft movie,” although it does seem possible that, happily, every studio in Hollywood, including Disney, could end up being put out of business by AI in the coming years.

Once AI can write the scripts, create a seamless world, make its own actors up from scratch, and produce something in two hours comparable to what it takes Hollywood two years and two hundred million dollars to create, the whole world will change. Probably for the better because Hollywood has become a malevolent force in the world, although who knows what horrors AI may create because it realizes deep in our hearts, that’s secretly what we really want.

However, consider what we’re talking about here. The studio that owns what are probably the two best franchises to pull in young men on the planet, Marvel movies and Star Wars, is struggling to attract young men.

How can that be?

Well, part of that is they fumbled the bag.

Some of their movies were just poorly written, but they’ve also started creating a lot of “girl boss” characters that are portrayed as being amazing without ever having to struggle to get there, while many of the men are portrayed as bumbling, incompetent, non-serious, or comic relief. Just to give you a sense of it, I actually asked ChatGPT to quantify this. This is what it said:

Just to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with competent female characters or action heroes.

In fact, “Ripley” from the Aliens franchise, “Sarah Connor” from the Terminator franchise, and even Wonder Woman are spoken highly of by both men and women. Aiming movies at women or having well-written female characters isn’t an issue.

So, what is?

Well, let’s take a look at some famously sexist ads from the past to help illustrate the point:

As a man, I like ALL OF THOSE ADS. I find them entertaining and enjoy the fact that they cater to me.

So, should companies be running ads like this to reach male consumers like me? Probably not because although I like them, it’s quite understandable that women might not like the idea that it’s okay to spank them for getting stale coffee, that they need to get down on their knees and serve their husband like a slave or that it’s normal for the men to play battleship while the women are relegated to washing dishes.

The thing is, although Disney specifically and Hollywood in general perfectly understand the problem with these ads, they see zero problems with going in the exact opposite direction.

One of my favorite film critics, the Critical Drinker, discussed this vibe in a video about this article:

Leadership at Walt Disney Studios has recently been pressuring Hollywood creatives to develop movies that will meaningfully bring young men back to the brand, multiple sources told Variety. Seriously—why would that be necessary? After years of messaging that men are irrelevant, that “mean, stinky boys” pollute culture with toxic masculinity, that male and pale is stale, and that the future is female, why the sudden interest in attracting men? And therein lies the rub: a company might disdain men and everything they represent, but when the next meeting with accountants rolls around, it becomes clear that their presence—especially young men—is crucial. This demographic, it turns out, is increasingly powerful and influential in shaping box office success.

...They have been hampered by an entertainment media complex that spent most of the past decade systematically trying to erase them from modern culture. They’ve been berated, insulted, deconstructed, mocked, lectured, misrepresented, and gaslit into believing that their natural instincts were wrong or evil. At the same time, they were labeled as useless and irrelevant, yet somehow blamed for every negative thing that ever happens in the world, depending on which explanation was most convenient. And every time they dared to defend themselves or push back in this completely one-sided war, they were dismissed as sexist, misogynistic idiots and bullied into silence. Is it really that surprising that, after realizing the deck is so hopelessly stacked against them—not only can they never be allowed to win, but they’ll be actively punished for trying—they finally decided, “Enough. I’m just not playing anymore?” They struck back with the most powerful weapon left in their arsenal: their wallets. If companies like Disney use their platform to hammer home the message that everything male is inherently bad, then it’s no wonder young men simply stop watching. It’s not rocket science—but, as this article and others like it will show, every possible explanation is explored except the simplest and most obvious one.

The problem with Disney and our wider culture today is that they want what men bring to the table, but they don’t want to cater to men at all.

* Masculinity is bad, but somebody is threatening that woman, so defend her.

* It’s a man's job to provide AND to split the housework 50/50.

* A woman can handle anything a man can, but it’s good that she’s suing for sexual harassment because someone at work made an off-color joke she laughed at.

* Successful men need to mentor women and help them get ahead, but if she accuses him of doing something sexual, even if it was decades ago, everyone should just believe her out of hand.

* A man a woman doesn’t know approaching her in public is creepy and off-putting, not courageous, but also why don’t men approach women in public anymore?

* I don’t want to date a man who isn’t as educated as me, but who cares if men are falling behind in getting college degrees?

* Chivalry is actually insulting to women, but also, how about being a gentleman and giving up your seat on the subway?

* Women and men are equal, but we still have to give women every advantage in divorce court because what will the poor dears do without a man to support them?

You want young men to flock to your brand? Have you tried not treating them like sh*t? Have you tried treating them with respect, listening to their concerns, and trying to make products they’ll like? If you don’t know to do that, maybe you should ask these guys.

It’s hard to understand how so many people in our society can trash men all day long, make it clear that they hold us in contempt and sneer at our concerns, then turn right around and scratch their heads about why we don’t like them. It’s not rocket science.

Also see: The Left’s War on Straight, White, Masculine Men.

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