"Modern Audiences" Aren't Real
in which I address the ridiculous notion that modern people enjoy being lectured by the fiction they consume
***This story has been updated for modern audiences.***
We’ve all heard the line. It’s the one they drop as code for “this story is about to be bulldozed in order to better preach The Message”—and, honestly, who wants that?
The answer is simple: nobody. (Well, maybe Twitter Bluecheck journos and academic blowhards, but I digress.) As hard as it may be to believe, while modern fiction has been reduced to contemporary political platitudes, people don’t come to stories looking to be preached at.
In order to dispel the myth of the “modern audience” (aka, some masochistic entity seeking tactless lectures on feminist theory, gender politics, climate change, etc. rather than actual entertainment), one must look no further than Top Gun: Maverick (2022). By August, thirteen weeks into its release, the film had grossed $1.4 billion worldwide, displacing films such as Avengers: Infinity War and even Titanic as one of the highest-grossing ever. This phenomenon is explained simply by the fact that, in an industry under constant deluge by religious wokeism, this movie spared the audience its pearl-clutching—and even told a good story on top of that. And naturally, people (yes, modern people) devoured it.
Meanwhile, monstrosities of Modernity such as Rings of Power and She Hulk: Attorney at Law have, predictably, tanked.
Even some celebrities are voicing their dissatisfaction with these “modern” trends, such as Emily Blunt, who said: “It’s the worst thing ever when you open a script and read the words: ‘strong female lead.’ That makes me roll my eyes—I’m already out. I’m bored.”
Me too, Emily. Me too.
And, contrary to what Bluecheck Twitter journos would have you believe, this isn’t because I’m some monstrous sexist who “dislikes strong female characters.” I’m actually just someone who likes interesting characters, and Strong Female Characters™ have been reduced to nothing more than a cardboard cutout used to bludgeon the viewer with Girl Power or some such seventh-grade nonsense (yawn).
And as I said, it’s hard to get people—even “modern audiences”—hyped for being bludgeoned with things. It’s even harder when the things doing the bludgeoning are old beloved stories “remade” for that exact purpose.
The other day, my husband and I watched Robin Hood (2010) with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, and, while it certainly wasn’t the most impressive film I’ve ever seen, it struck me that, if this sort of thing were released today, it would likely blow competitors out of the water. Why? Because it’s fun—something modern movies for “modern audiences” aren’t allowed to be.
The more people I talk to, the more I see a general weariness with what the entertainment industry has become. This is especially true when it comes to the endless gutter flow of remakes updated for modern audiences. Everything from Mulan to The Lord of the Rings to Ghostbusters to the fifty-seventh Marvel film has been infected by the disease of woke zealotry.
The fact is, people are tired of seeing the stories they grew up with and treasured dragged through the mud by people who hate them and want explicitly to “subvert” everything within them.
“Modern audience” is a term invented by political activists posing as writers and producers to justify this affront to art, culture, and humanity.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
--George Orwell, 1984
If “modern audiences” don’t wish to be lectured and have their favorite stories erased, what do they want?
Well, the same thing people have always wanted: escape.
This is exactly why I rarely watch TV anymore! I'm not against subtle influences from the artist's viewpoints leaking into a work...it usually happens. But I just can't stand when, as you say, The Message is forced in there. I just want a good story. I've read books written by authors who are the total opposite of the political spectrum from me, but I've still loved their work because it was a GOOD STORY. And that's how it should be.