Reading the article that Screenrant has been pushing it feels as though Quibi might be in damage-control mode at this point if it’s reportedly been laying off employees and then giving Reese Witherspoon a $6 million dollar payday for narrating a nature show that sounds like another feminist-leaning attempt to see what the world is like through a female’s eyes. Fierce Queens is essentially a documentary about the view of the animal kingdom from a feminist standpoint, which is funny since if there’s one system that’s constantly finding balance and not just seeking it, it would be the animal kingdom. Animals tend to know from untold generations how to balance one another out and how to continue their respective species without getting into the idea of what’s right or wrong. Humans are about the only species that feel the need to complicate things in such a way that they become more confusing once certain aspects are known than they were when certain aspects weren’t even heard of. But getting away from that, Quibi execs have denied laying anyone off and that any concerns about Reese’s payment for her services are basically foolish and not worth the attention given. Of course when layoffs happen and a big star is brought in for millions of dollars it doesn’t exactly look that great for the company’s image, and stating that execs decided to take a 10 percent cut in pay isn’t really that impressive when it’s likely that they make more than enough to weather such a pay cut.
Whether a lot of this is rumor or not as it appears to be labeled in The Hollywood Reporter and other publications is hard to say since trust in executives is in short order with a lot of people given that the higher one rises the more likely is that there are plenty of people waiting to see them fall. That’s kind of divisive and even a little cruel but it’s the truth since plenty of people happen to think that many executives tend to get where they are by learning how to lie, cheat, and steal from just about anyone they can. Obviously that’s not always the case but when there appears to be smoke a lot of people are going to cry fire even if there’s nothing that bad on the horizon. Bringing in someone for millions of dollars with even the hint of layoffs being mentioned though is probably not a great idea, though the executives of Quibi are definitely under the impression that a lot more people will be believing of them for their ‘sacrifice’ and will likely still keep subscribing. It’s not an idea that’s completely in the wrong since there are still plenty of people that have signed up or downloaded Quibi, even if it’s not in the top 200 apps at the moment. This could also be called survival mode since a new service that has the money and the material is still far from safe when it comes to competing with other brands that have been established for a while and are well aware of how to cater to the audience in a way that won’t be entirely divisive but will make them think rather than foist another feminist view on them that might not be fully appreciated.
To be fair, Fierce Queens might provide an interesting viewpoint from which to observe nature, but it’s likely going to be a spin on many nature shows that we’ve already seen since like it or not, many documentaries have focused on female animals as well as male, which is a big part of how people already knew that some females play a very different role in nature than was originally believed. Lionesses hunt, female penguins do not sit on their eggs until they hatch, female seahorses do not give birth, and so on and so forth. In a way Fierce Queens almost sounds like a redundant show that Quibi decided to dump a load of money into in an effort to continue the feminist ideal at this time with a celebrity narrator to give it a little more ‘oomph’. In essence it’s kind of a smart move, but it’s also something that tends to reek of desperation since to be realistic, Quibi might have a lot of subscribers, but they still have a ways to go until they’re really bound to be noticed like their competitors, and thought of as anything but a startup. It’s very possible that things will turn around and Quibi will make their way back up the list, but at this time it does feel as though they’re reaching in a very desperate manner to try and find anything that can help them just stick around for a bit longer. It remains to be seen just what else they have to offer, but we’ll keep an eye out.
Follow Us
