By David Futrelle
The right-wing snowflakes are out in force, clogging up the internet with gloating comments about the alleged utter failure of Birds of Prey, a comic book movie about a lady super-gang headed up by Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. In its opening weekend, you see, the film earned $33 million in domestic box office instead of the $45 million Warner Brothers was expecting.
To its angry-dude critics, the overwhelming majority of whom have not seen the film, this was proof that studios that “get woke go broke” because true comic book movie fans will reject this sort of “feminist propaganda” in favor of movies that don’t have quite so many ladies in them.
Naturally, some of the leading lights, such as they are, in the far-right griftosphere had things to say about Birds of Prey.
The right wing culture critics aren’t just mad that there are too many women in the film; they’re also mad that these women aren’t wearing skimpy enough clothing, thus making them ugly in the eyes of men who watch films with their boners. “They are so ugly,” complained one Twitterer, “why they dont choose pretty females? They seems like shemales, strong and masculine.”
BREAKING: Margot Robbie is ugly.
“[F]uck your gay ass woke birds of prey,” wrote another. “Sexualize Harley Quinn forever.”
You may or may not be shocked to discover that the film’s detractors include literal Nazis and at least one equally literal piss-drinker.
In a post on Sunday, The Daily Stormer trashed the film as “Another Gyno-Ghostbusters” with women not only in front of the camera but behind it. As the Stormer’s Andrew Anglin whined,
The film doesn’t just star women, it was also written, produced and directed by women. Even the soundtrack features exclusively female artists.
Actually, seven of the nine executive producers for the film are men, but it’s not like the Daily Stormer ever checks its facts..
Anglin sarcastically mocked the film’s less-than-perfect performance at the box office.
Basically, they are going to need laws forcing men to see these films. Because it is unacceptable for these women to go through all the trouble of producing these $100+ million films to lecture men and then men not show up.
Actually, as Variety notes, the majority of those who went to see the film were men, mostly over the age of 25.
And while most of the critics of the film’s not-sexy-enough-for-angry-dudes ladies focus most of their ire on Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, Anglin is more troubled by the inclusion of, ahem, “afro-kike” actress Jurnee Smollett-Bell, though even Anglin admits she’s easy on the eyes.
Gotta say, for combining the two least attractive races – black and Jew – into a single individual, Jurnee Smollett-Bell did alright. Definitely bests Meghan Markle on the old “male gaze-o-meter.”
Meanwhile, Birds of Prey has also drawn the attention of YouTuber and former novelty congressional candidate Joey “Salads” Saladino, perhaps most famous as “the guy who literally peed in his own mouth on video”
In fairness to Mr Salads, he says he didn’t actually swallow any of the piss that he deliberately pissed into his own mouth, so he’s got that going for him.
Film criticism is weird.
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I get the feeling that part of the reason the movie underperformed was bad advertisement- I didn’t even know it existed until now, honest.
The quality has stayed about the same despite lack of funds.
For some reason the “Go Woke Go Broke” crowd is nowhere to be found when a “woke” movie is a huge success. They only show up for movies like this.
I haven’t seen Birds of Prey so I don’t know if it’s any good, superhero films aren’t really my thing. But my favorite Twitter take was Alexis Filth’s response to an incel tweet.
I’m fine with piss-drinkers. As long as they’re not nazis. Or anything close to that.
It underperformed nationally but it hit its budget internationally over the weekend and will continue to grow, and most likely will get a Valentine’s Day uptick.
It’s an R16 February release, about characters who are less well-known, and it’s up against several Oscar winners/nominees currently. For the most part, it’s been getting really decent reviews and I really enjoyed it.
Joker was an absolute fluke at my theatre, and at most of them. It was a surprise hit considering the marketing tactics and it played for weeks.
Avengers/BvsS/Aquaman etc had the bonus of very well-known big name dude stars, and were about characters that people – for the most part – knew a lot about. They were also mostly M rated films, which allows for a child audience.
idk films aren’t that complicated just see stuff that you like.
Or maybe it bombed because it IS a DCU film, which have mostly been known for being absolute garbage, save for a few exceptions (Wonder Woman and Aquaman).
Let’s be honest here: DC has been trying to play catch up with Marvel instead of trying to develop its characters in a coherent and well-paced manner. It took Bruce Timm well over a decade to slowly develop the animated DC universe in order to allow for the inclusion of the Justice League.
Let’s also note that the biggest reason why both the Superman solo film and BvS bombed was because of the Randyan ideology driving the films.
BvS was greatly inspired by Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns”, in which the collectivism, represented by Superman, enters into conflict with individualism, represented by Batman. And ofc, Miller being a Rand fan, somehow Batman pulls off the win.
But the aforementioned films are even more garbage than that because, being the Randyan fanboy that he is, Zack Snyder said to himself “Hey! Wouldn’t it be great if I portrayed Superman as a Randyan Übermensch too?!!” Which is why in “Man of Steel” Clark’s dad is insistent upon the fact that when you act out of altruistic tendencies you also cause damage to others, to the point he lets himself get killed by a tornado.
And the Superman in BvS also carries on these beliefs, despite it being completely out of character for Superman. Not to mention, without the conflict between collectivism and individualism you essentially have no fucking reason why the two of them would be fighting in the first place. The conflict is entirely manufactured.
So if anything, the reason why DC films keep on bombing is because of the sort of ideologies these idiots espouse and elevate to cult status.
@Diego Duarte
I didn’t watch Batman vs. Superman, but I did think it wasn’t a very good premise. A friend tried to explain why it’s good in their eyes, but frankly it still sounds stupid.
Birds of Prey was not lead by Harley Quinn in the first place.
They did that bc out of everything in that movie, Robbie’s acting was relatively critically acclaimed and hugely culturally popular (influencing cosplay and probably even comics)
I always felt like BoP should have had better writing. but yea, Barbara “Oracle” Gordon was the leader, Harley wasnt even in a lot of them.
Thanks for reminding me that I must go watch this ASAP. I think Diego Duarte has it right, if Birds of Prey is underperforming it’s probably because the movie that it acts as a sorta-sequel to, Suicide Squad, was rightfully panned.
@Naglfar
Congrats on not wasting over two hours of your time. The premise was terrible, and the plot was even worse.
In fact the plot was so bad that it has gotten stuck, like a booger, to all the DCU movies and keeps on bringing them down with it.
At this point they need to reboot the whole franchise and get the guys who write the comics direct the movies (like Marvel does).
And what’s so good about having tons of money except using it to ruin the Earth, enslave people and eventually kill us slowly by depriving us from what we need (or more quickly but gruesomely if you’re an arms company)?
I’m planning on seeing it at the weekend. It’s allocated the most sessions at the cinema I go to and Gail Simone loved it.
Mind you these guys hating it is probably a sign it has been done well.
I’ve seen nothing but good things about it from more reliable people.
I mainly haven’t watched it because of what a shit show suicide squad was. Only part I really liked about suicide squad was when Harley quinn got kicked in the crotch and she had a human reaction of falling to the ground and holding her crotch. This was the first time in any film or show have I seen an acknowledgement that yes that would hurt women as well. People act like that if a woman gets kicked or kneed in the crotch she doesn’t feel anything
I’ve been accidentally knees, kicked, and dropped on shoulders to tell you that isn’t true and it knocks the wind out of you
Oh, and why don’t maliciously comply to their demands? Release a film that’s got mostly men in it, but have them all heavily sexualized – I don’t think they ever mentioned wanting that. IDK, maybe take some dudebro military themed film but have them wear more skimpy clothing than the likes of something than what Rambo had. In the future, if anyone makes a film with men, have them only in this role to piss them off since they don’t want to see men like this.
Geez, I bet BoP was the FIRST MOVIE to EVER underperform
@Weird Eddie
Unlike that super-high grossing Red Pill documentary last year! Or that box office smash “The Sarkeesian Effect.” Now those are real movies! /s
I’m also enjoying how Parasite winning Best Picture apparently heralds the downfall of the west, according to angry guys on the Internet.
As Emma explained above, it seems to be more of an angry white guy narrative than it bombed than an actual reality.
It also sounds like the movie is on its way to being a cult classic, like Tank Girl. That’s cooler than a billion dollar box office IMO.
I find it seriously sad when someone measures a film’s quality by box office. That’s really not a good measure.
To continue, sorry if I’m going to be ranty, it’s seriously disturbing that anything less than a hundred million opening is considered a bomb now. Box office flop used to mean the film didn’t make its budget back. It just shows how consolidated and Disneyfied everything is that only ridiculously large box offices are considered successful.
It seems like it wasn’t that long ago, like 15 years or so, people still talked about independence and more modest budget movies. Now, it just doesn’t happen.
This isn’t a knock on people who go see blockbusters or anything. I watch those too. I just really want there to be an indie resurgence.
Part of why I love horror, BTW is that there’s a wealth of smaller movies that still get discussed. Even studio movies still have modest budgets.
I think Hollywood accounting becoming somewhat more common knowledge has factored into this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
@WWTH
I agree that this is frustrating. This is part of why I watch mostly foreign and independent films, because it seems like in other countries or with some independent studios there is more creativity and attempts to put out something unique that isn’t primarily engineered to line pockets.
I admit I don’t watch too many movies these days, so maybe I’m out of touch with American cinema, but this is my assessment.
@Lainy: I second that a crotch shot hurts sans dick. Get hit hard in the pubic symphysis and your knees forget which way to bend.
@wwth
They find it a straightforward measure. Also, capitalism can reward anything even if it’s totally fucked up.
*Shudder* That’s so weird and scary. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight. /s
Ha, yes. It’s not like cis women don’t have, say, pelvic bones.
I’m not the biggest superhero fan, but I did enjoy the recent-ish Black Panther and Wonder Woman. Perhaps because they were origin stories, and so they were more fantasy/sci-fi than superhero-y…? (Not that either film would be beloved by Andrew Anglin, I’m guessing.)
Culture these days is merely a factory of business ideas. One way I think it can be destroyed is by significantly reforming or destroying copyright law so content can’t just be a shit excuse to make money. It can exist, but you can no longer use profit as a measure of its worth when everyone can technically have it for free legally.
@Epitome of Incomprehensibility
I’m not going to wander into his cesspool to find evidence, but I can just picture him writing an angry rant about either of those films and how they emasculare western civilization or something like that. Standard Nazi fare.