Which is more important for a movie: a compelling story or ideology?
If you found yourself among those with an internal monologue, you likely answered “compelling story.” If so, I’m sorry to inform you that this means you are a mouth-breathing troglodyte — at least according to the folks over at Disney.
Responding to recent criticisms of Disney and its CEO Bob Iger, an executive at the House of Mouse suggested to Puck writer Matthew Belloni that moviegoers’ latent bigotry is to blame for the studio’s many flops in recent years.
“Everyone says, ‘It’s the movies, stupid,’” the unnamed executive said, “which is an easy thing for people to say.”
“More appealing movies are a great way to jump the political issues. But more and more, our audience (or the segment of the audience that has been politicized) equate the perceived messaging in a film as a quality issue,” the executive continued. “They won’t say they find female empowerment distasteful … but they will say they don’t like those movies because they are ‘bad.’”
He concludes, “‘[M]ake better movies’ becomes code for ‘make movies that conform to regressive gender stereotypes or put men front and center in the narrative.’ Which is what you’re seeing now, and what Bob [Iger]’s pivot is about right now.”
I love this, from Matt Belloni’s newsletter. Disney cannot fail, it can only be failed by the mouthbreathing bigots who refuse to acknowledge the greatness of their films. pic.twitter.com/83jkY4DL0x
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) February 19, 2024
