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Can we talk about how good Puss in Boots: The last wish is? It is culture war topic because unlike big projects from Disney, Marvel, Amazon and generally speaking Hollywood that underperformed (or flopped if you are into schadenfreude) it came out of nowhere, the reviews are off the scale and the movie itself is unapologetically culture war free. Simple story, tight writing, tight movie - there is barely anything to cut. Relatable and sympathetic characters you care about. Surprising depth and darkness for the more mature audience. A villain that is for the ages. Brilliant voice acting.
The message is about friendship family and trust - shave the heads of every male in the movie and it could be part from the Fast and Furious franchise.
It was a pleasant surprise and a datapoint for the theory that much of the DEI in Hollywood is defensive - to deflect criticisms.
I felt the same about Top Gun Maverick. It was good because it lacked any DEI not despite it.
It's hardly rocket science, "making good movie" at the top of the priority list produces better movies than any list where it isn't at the top.
Weasel phrase. Just talk about it. No need to ask for permission.
Movies can be great even if they go heavy on the DEI side of things: see Everything, Everywhere All At Once, which, although polarizing, definitely stands out in good ways.
I think there's pretty much no DEI -> bad quality relationship. It's more that, if a movie or show flops, there's a bunch of buck passing; gesticulating wildly at racist chuds is a useful strategy because it allows everyone involved to point to someone without implicating each other. So RoP gets to have lots of good press about how it's failing because of racism, while HotD is quietly stuck with people who want to watch it.
Everything Everywhere All At Once didn't go heavy on DEI, though. At best, it went somewhat light with some promotion highlighting the Asian/middle-aged woman/gay representation. For it to go heavy on DEI would require something more overt, like the Asian protagonist's daughter being inexplicably black or the protagonist being humiliated over her homophobia regarding her daughter's sexuality. A film that happens to feature minorities as the protagonists isn't one that's going DEI, heavily or otherwise.
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Well said.
I’m sure that someone on the Internet was bemoaning the nationalist racist propagandist whateverist style of Top Gun: Maverick. That got completely drowned out by the people excited about good art. Not high art, good art.
There’s less attack surface when something can stand on its own merits. Conversely, a design-by-committee show without vision is more likely to reach for a fig leaf because it’s more likely to need one.
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The point is that "being great" is no longer the top priority. Sure, it can still happen when it's a lesser priority, but it's going to be less likely.
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