Does someone want to remind Elizabeth Banks that first, there aren’t 37 Spider-Man movies (just saying since most people want accuracy and facts) and that with every one of them there actually HAS been a good deal of backlash and heavy criticism? After that try and remind her that there have been female-led movies that have done fairly well. True, they’ve been attached to much larger productions that are still a part of the male fantasy, but trying to come up with one reason after another as to why Charlie’s Angels flopped as it did in the box office seems a tad bit petulant when the overall outcry leading up to the release was anything but positive. Banks seems to have been under the impression that the constant criticism and lack of desire to see this movie come to fruition all across social media would blow over and people would do what they normally do, which is flip and go see the movie out of curiosity, therefore driving the box office numbers up. Yeah, it doesn’t always work like that unfortunately and digging into the critics and the public because your movie didn’t perform that well isn’t the best backup plan available since it continually alienates those that might be on the fence or might think that the director has a decent point. Also, Kathryn Lindsay of Refinery29 might want to remember that Ghostbusters 2016 was a hard flop as well, as have been a lot of reboots, and the coming Ghostbusters movie is not a reboot, but a continuation of a story that people actually liked, just to be clear and factual of course.
You can at least give Banks credit for this, the movie was able to update the angels in a few ways, but the continual ‘women are the future’ and ‘women are bada**’ vibes, despite being capable of producing some great action and driving a story line, are getting a bit old and tired. Yes, women can be great in action movies, yes, they do have a definite place that needs to be recognized and yes, women can take the lead and be great. But let’s be honest, doing this at the expense of men, by making them look somehow weak, foolish, or hopelessly clueless in many ways, is a sticking point for a lot of people. No one wants to see the damsel in distress any longer since that idea has come and gone. Enjoying the women that can get up, kick some serious butt, and be a huge part of an action film, if not the lead, is something that a lot of people can agree is highly enjoyable. But having them act like a female version of men that have taken the lead and basically sought to leave everyone in the dust and looking foolish is a bit counterproductive to the whole movement that seems to be continuing onward. Banks is still proud of her movie as Rasha Ali of USA Today has shown, and she should be. It was a bold attempt to make another movie from Charlie’s Angels and while it hasn’t paid off it definitely hasn’t deterred her from having a voice. The only issue at this point is that the voice seems to be one that a lot of people don’t want to listen to at the moment.
Unfortunately the whole idea of being ‘woke’ has become a bad joke in Hollywood, kind of like calling out people for being racist simply because they don’t believe in someone else’s point of view. There’s no denying the feminist ideals and themes in the movie, Charlie’s Angels was based on these kind of ideals from the start when it was still a TV show for crying out loud. But when Banks says something like “One of the statements this movie makes is that you should probably believe women.”, as Michael McCaffrey of RT Question More reveals, it’s bound to raise a few hackles since the whole idea of feminism being about equality is great, but when it comes to feminism giving women an unfair edge or advantage there are a lot of people that are going to make their voices heard for better or worse. Some folks will gladly laugh and point out the fallacy in such arguments while others will take a calmer look and bring factual data and ideas that may or may not be pertinent to the discussion, but the overall point of all this is that Charlie’s Angels was destined to be a flop from the start since one could almost hear eyes rolling across the country and possibly worldwide since this movie wasn’t bound for glory any more than the first two were. If it becomes a fond memory for some that might be enough mild recompense for Banks, but at this moment it does feel as though she’s trying to nurse a bruised ego by looking on the bright side while possibly wondering just where she went wrong.
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