The problem with this movie wasn’t that “people disliked it because the actors were women;” it was that people said that if you disliked it it was because they were women. And that created some fundamental tension. The actors chosen were marketed on the basis of being women. So when people weren’t impressed, that didn’t just reflect on the movie, it reflected on its identity as a movie with women.
The studio was trying to blackmail fans morally into supporting the movie just because it had women in it, like this goofy commercialized comedy and shameless attempt at franchise development was some blow for feminism. So they marketed it as if it was a blow for feminism, and any criticism of it as an attack on feminism. It had a deliberately political identity, so responses to it could be interpreted politically as well. When people said the movie looked kinda dumb and bland and canned, they just weren’t criticizing a movie, they were criticizing a moral stance. And it wasn’t Sony they were hurting, it was women.
To which I say, #@$% you, Sony. Stop trying to profit off moralism and division (which they deliberately stoked). If you make good movies people will see them on their own cinematic, not political, merits. Sell the product, not my moral obligations toward the product. And I would like to extend that comment to all the other companies trying to use moralism to sell me financial services and towels and soap and ou door gear and home goods. #$@% off.
If you have a good product, I’m interested. But don’t try to sell me guilt or relief from guilt or moral or historical status. I’m so tired of commercials that are like, “Use our bank, you sexist pig, and maybe you’ll be less of a piece of $#!% and be pure and holy like us. Financial services with some blessings and indulgences on the side. Member FDIC.” Every time I see someone trying to sell me guilt or forgiveness and using that to try to push their product on me, I just instantly write them off. Somehow I don’t think that their heart is really in the right place.
Nor do I think my soap or lotion company is really qualified to answer the deep existential questions about my value as a human and place in society. So please politely #@$% off, Dove, Sony, and all your cronies. No, I don’t want to fight the Nazis or the Reds with my damn soap. Just make a decent product, and if it’s good at what it’s supoosed to do, I’ll buy it. And I’ll keep my morals to myself and to more qualified institutions to deal with.
Making Nobody Happy 