6 ms·
Fan-Baiting as a Movie Marketing Strategy?
- edo3 4y agoThis is so overtly clear it's almost disheartening but alas, it will be a few years before it's openly mocked still. Sad to see such an openly divisive strategy pays off.
- scarface74 4y agoWhy should it be divisive at all? Like when fans were in an uproar when the Titans cast a black woman to portray an orange alien from Tamaran as not being realistic? I’m surprised their wasn’t uproar about Will Smith playing a blue genie.
- throwayyy479087 4y agoThat uproar didn’t exist because Will Smith is a good actor.
- netsharc 4y agoEither the author is accurate or... they're talking about a conspiracy theory they believe in. To be honest, the write-up on the same site about the Little Mermaid[1] and how what the studio did was hypocritical "virtue signalling" makes me think maybe they're more of the latter. And I write this as someone who concluded from the trailer and the noise that female Ghostbusters suuucked, and to have it confirmed from this[2] analysis. [1] https://www.lastmovieoutpost.com/little-mermaid-reverse-race-swap/ https://www.lastmovieoutpost.com/little-mermaid-reverse-race... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsxa2tOWs6w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsxa2tOWs6w
- scarface74 4y agoWhy should there be any controversy that a Black lady is playing a mermaid. I don’t know about you. But I’ve seen as many Black mermaids in real life as White mermaids…
- northwest65 4y agoIt's always a crack up when somebody clearly didn't read the article.
- croes 4y agoThe reasons range from "in the 'original' version Arielle was white' to pseudo scientific "in deep sea isn't enough light to get a dark skin"
- throwayyy479087 4y agoPlease read the article before commenting.
- Animats 4y agoWell, Ghostbusters (2016) lost at least $70 million.[1] And killed the franchise. Thus desperate efforts to blame somebody, anybody. Probably for in-house blame-shifting purposes. Captain Marvel had a different problem. The character is so overpowered as to be unreasonable. Jump in the air and do interstellar travel? [1] https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/ghostbusters-box-office-loss https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/ghostbusters-bo...
- pushcx 4y agoIt bombed, but it didn't kill the franchise. Another movie came out in 2021, a video game is coming out in a few months, and another movie will come out next year.
- motogpjimbo 4y agoThe person you're responding to is probably referring to the plans to release direct sequels to Ghostbusters 2016, which were shelved after that film flopped.
- deadbunny 4y agoI mean Captain Marvell was always OP in the comics Power creep isn't anything new.
- cjbgkagh 4y agoControversy based marketing is timeless. This doesn't feel like anything new - just an easy cheap way to save some marketing bucks at the expense of social cohesion. Telling companies not to do it would be like telling them to make less money. I think it's incumbent on us to eschew the manufactures controversy.
- legostormtroopr 4y agoElvis's manager selling "I hate Elvis" badges springs to mind
- beloch 4y ago"Finally, what you have effectively done here, is monetized racism, sexism, and any other kind of ‘ism you can think of to your own advantage." Everyone over a certain age has concerns for the future rooted in disappointment about the present, and this is one of mine. I grew up thinking that we were making progress on racism, sexism, etc. and that these things would slowly die out over my lifetime. However, people won't be able to make money off of these things if that happens. Hence, there is a direct monetary incentive for media moghuls, politicians, etc. to keep breathing new life into old hatreds. It actually seems like society is backsliding in some areas, and there are people who are gaining money and influence as a direct result. Worse yet, you can know you're being played and still wind up being played. This stuff can really get your emotions roiling and influence your behaviour even if you know that's being done deliberately for someone else's gain.
- twoxproblematic 4y ago
- cjbgkagh 4y agoI do worry that the current political capital that African Americans have gained will likely wane with the baked in increase in Latin American voting power. I worry legitimate grievances will be pushed aside for political expediency and racial politics will get much worse - especially for African Americans. Like many I'm disappointed for the loss of what the future that could have been and worry about where we go from here.
- tsol 4y agoHonestly, I don't think they really gained that much political capital. Not since the civil rights era. What's happened as of recently? People tweeted #blacklivesmatter, talked about how awful it is that black people deal with police brutality, and then a few places voted to defund their police departments. None of that seems to be anything that actually helps that black community, or improves their situation in any way. BLM just became the political issue du jour for a month, some people protested while some journalists talked about it, and then interest fizzled out. In fact, police brutality is still just as much an issue today. It seems trans rights is more talked about nowadays, though. Looking at their racial breakdown and it's not surprising that they have more political capital.
- xwdv 4y ago
- paulryanrogers 4y agoSo until the late 90s every Disney female lead was white. With recent reboots why shouldn't they try mixing things up? Are these characters so sacred that personal boycotts aren't enough?
- oneoff786 4y ago> remake a classic film of an iconic character with well known traits Ah yes. Ariel and her well known traits: * mermaid * fascinated with the world above and it’s strange culture * warm and cheerful friendships with aquatic life * deeply connected to the white identity Somehow I just know people wouldn’t be freaking out if she had a red tail or blonde hair. > I’d rather die standing on my feet than on my knees like a coward begging for mercy. It is tragic that you think arguing over a character being portrayed by a black actress is dying on your feet
- xwdv 4y agoDon’t worry, in the future we’ll be able to modify the entire race and ethnicity of on screen actors on the fly using AI. With this data of viewer preferences, we’ll see what configurations people are truly interested in seeing.
- tsol 4y agoI was just thinking about this. This ought to be trivial on cartoons, I'm almost surprised it doesn't exist yet. People legitimately would like to change the race of the princess in the princess movie they're about to put on for their daughters; it's nice to be represented on the screen
- jsnell 4y agoOh, it exists: https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1569635559223558145 https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1569635559223558145
- orwin 4y agoI wrote a comment about this here a year or so ago. It felt like everytime the film/show was a lazy one, it was suddenly 'feminist' or 'an antiracist take on XXX'. When was a Del Toro movie last depicted as antiracist? A libertarian (not the US libertarian kind) told me when I was a young libdem (I'm not anymore) that while liberals were their objective allies in intersectional struggles, their motives were so opposite to each other that he felt they lost.
- goldcd 4y agoHold up a moment.. My very quick digest from skim-reading that: 1) Some recent franchise films have altered the demographic of the previously presumed cast 2) This was received very badly by a minority of the public 3) Who acted like complete and utter cunts and started whipping up controversy and abusing all people involved BUT!! (and this is the important revelation here) 4) This was all deliberate by the movie studios, so they're the bad people, not those covered in #3 as we'd all assumed (based on the self-incriminating evidence they love to push out under their own names) I can only hope some sort of class-action suit is launched to provide restitution to all those innocents who've damaged their throats after being forced to spew so much bile against their will for so long.
- DoughnutHole 4y agoI wouldn't take this as a reason to develop sympathy for the cunts - but I do think it's worthwhile to look at things critically and understand if you're being manipulated, because marketing strategies like these are also designed to get buy in from your anger at the people that are pissed off. I'm not sure if any of these decisions in film are actually cynical in this way or if they've all been genuine - but outside of film political outrage-marketing has been used again and again in the past decade. If you get whipped up into a rage at the other people whipped up into a rage by X corporation pushing Y hot-button agenda (eg Gillette and their foray into gender politics) it's important to remember that you're both getting played by a cynical capitalist machine. X company doesn't actually care about about Y issue - but they care a lot about the publicity and new loyal fans they can generate by cynically whipping up outrage.
- setr 4y agoThat’s not what I read… 1. Some recent franchises have altered the demographic of the cast 2. Some portion of the public doesn’t like the film, for various reasons 3. Accuse the haters of an -ism, push the narrative hard, and build the controversy through it 4. Find the worst behaving people in the new controversy, and give them a speakerphone. Construct a toxic controversy 5. Accuse everyone with a negative opinion of being part of the toxic controversy, and shut them down
- Jiro 4y agoI'm surprised that it doesn't mention Rings of Power, which is one of the most blatant examples of this to happen recently.
- throwayyy479087 4y agoBlack TikTok has been lampooning, as they call it, “Lord of the Rangz, Return of the Kang.” I only hear white people defending the casting decisions.
- lemoncookiechip 4y agoThe most interesting aspect of Fan-baiting, is how Hollywood executives have weaponized actors and other people involved in movies for profit. They're basically using them as shields against the fans, with promises of leading roles and paychecks. Recent examples of this are Rings of Power, Ariel, Pinocchio, She-Hulk, and several other shows and movies. Look beyond the racism, which is a vocal minority, and look at how they use these said vocal minorities, to counter valid criticism. Look at how Hollywood utilized Moses Ingram (Reva Sevander) from Kenobi as a shield, to dismiss the very valid criticism of how her character was written and directed, by grasping on to the few racist comments. Suddenly, if you criticized her character, you were a racist. Think about every single time a show comes out, and a handful of tweets, screenshots from places like 4chan, or some Discord servers, are used as excuses to invalidated any and all criticism a show is getting. All the while the controversy generates buzz, with the media acting like ravenous dogs putting out article after article for weeks and months (look at Batgirl's cancellation and how they milked it for a month without knowing if it was a good movie or not), all the while having the actors take a stand as shields, and the fans who act like knights in shining armor, come to their defense, oblivious to the exploitation by the Hollywood executives. Again, is there "isms"? Without a shadow of a doubt. Is it the majority of the criticism these shows and movies get? Not even close. Now think about the professional critics, and Youtubers and such, and how they walk on egg-shells. Look at how shows are getting perfect scores because of their diverse cast, all the while being panned by the fans who are actually consuming the shows. You can't voice your criticism without fear of getting cancelled, getting your access revoke, or worse, people actively going after your job.
- SleepilyLimping 4y agoRemember when the Angry Video Game Nerd said that he wasn't going to see Ghostbusters (2016) because it looked like a bad movie that didn't respect the fans, and he didn't want to subject himself to something that would make him angry and didn't respect him as a longtime fan? And how they made him out to be a sexist piece of shit because of it? You can't even say "I'm choosing not to participate because it's literally 'not for me.'" If people did that, the thing might flop. They need your lack of critical thinking and compliance.
- flir 4y agoThe comments below the article kinda give the lie to the article.
- unconed 4y agoWhen you hear about an entertainment controversy, ask yourself: would you have known this movie or show or game existed without it? If people hadn't made up a caricature of the average fan to point and laugh at? If they hadn't set out bait in the first place? If the answer is no, you're almost surely being advertised to.
- simonblack 4y agoGood movies don't require any marketing at all. If a movie is good we'll hear about it very soon. My rule of thumb is that a movie's quality is inversely proportional to the amount of marketing. Lots of Marketing == Shit Movie.