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AnnenbergTrojan t1_ixzpn6z wrote

Reply to comment by TheTrueRory in ‘‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ Review: Antonio Banderas in Fine Form by Sofie-Forsberggg

I'm sure at this point that Turning Red wouldn't have done well in theaters either because there would have been a big online wave about how "inappropriate" and "woke" it is for kids.

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vanillabear26 t1_ixztxtx wrote

I’m convinced that Fox News was the reason First Man flopped and I’m still angry about it.

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SuspiriaGoose t1_iy0o90z wrote

Which is frustrating in itself, not just because it’s the best Pixar film in years dealing with perfectly normal adolescence, but because there is some criticism to be made in good faith on some of that. But now it can’t be made without seeming like you agree with a Fox News Troll.

I didn’t like how it was okay for Mei to buy into the capitalist sexualizing of other children (the boy band) without any sort of questioning of that paradigm, but only celebration. Especially when the other half of the film is so critical of institutions exploiting and repressing children for its own benefit. I also didn’t like a child twerking being shown as a heroic act.

But the rest of the film is incredibly well made, and there’s so much more to discuss than just that. It was targeted just as much for being about Chinese-Canadians as it was for being about tween girls.

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mranimal2 t1_iy2p4km wrote

In fairness the boy band members might've been 18+ and I think it's normal for a 13 year old to crush on people they legally can't be with; I mean I was crushing on Angelina Jolie and an extremely beautiful teacher of mine when I was 13. Doesn't mean I had a chance with them!

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SuspiriaGoose t1_iy2ph66 wrote

That would make me feel a little better, but I’m pretty sure they were meant to be teenagers, or even pre-teens. I guess Disney does do that with their own child stars, so they were unlikely to criticize it, but it did feel weird to me. If the genders were reversed, I’d bet we see a lot more criticism of how certain dynamics were handled.

It wasn’t egregious or anything, but it was dissonant in the film’s own story and themes.

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mranimal2 t1_iy2sczf wrote

Maybe but then again most of the members of N'Sync or Backstreet Boys were 18 or in their early 20s at the height of their popularity

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SuspiriaGoose t1_iy2thup wrote

Possibly, though when I look at their designs they look like children to me. I was thinking they were the age of Disney child stars, who are nearly always in the age group they’re meant to appeal to.

If they are adults, that makes some other interactions creepy instead.

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[deleted] t1_iy138fq wrote

[deleted]

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SuspiriaGoose t1_iy148gj wrote

Personally, it weirded me out to see a kid do it. Sorry. It’s different for an adult. Generally they know what it means.

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tregorman t1_iy0t6bo wrote

Eh that kind of outrage marketing often propells movies into being more popular. No such thing as bad marketing and all that.

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AnnenbergTrojan t1_iy0x678 wrote

I think the failure of "Lightyear" disproved that. Not that the queer fear that alt-right media was peddling was the main reason that film failed -- it had many other problems -- but the film never got any watercooler talk outside that outrage.

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tregorman t1_iy1078z wrote

There was outrage around lightyear?

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TheTrueRory t1_iy10lhn wrote

There's a Disney patented blink and you miss it reference to a gay relationship

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AnnenbergTrojan t1_iy1aous wrote

Which led to 'gO WoKe gO bRoKe" gloating from the Breitbart crowd.

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RespectThyHypnotoad t1_iy4hwql wrote

I don't think the fake "woke" criticisms ever are the result of a film failing. The projects that receive the most criticism about it do just fine from a financial perspective. Star Wars and Marvel come to mind.

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