Yesterday I went to see “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” I was surprised at how many young kids were flooding the theater (there’s a lot more decapitation than in the books, see), and even more surprised at how many girls were with their folks. Pleasantly, surprised, that is. I’m 37 and have exactly zero fellow female Tolkien nerds, and that number has been pretty steady since I was wee. But lately I see girl geekdom everywhere; lining up at Marvel midnight movie premieres, rocking Green Lantern tees at Steak and Shake, even in my local comic shop buying actual comics.
Why, then, are networks telling Paul Dini that we don’t count?
In Kevin Smith’s recent “Fatman on Batman” podcast, Dini revealed that he’s seen more and more execs completely disregard their female viewers. Why? They don’t buy toys. I’m hurt beyond words for my single digit sisters, and I’d love to know where those numbers are coming from. I had one metric ass ton of GI Joe figures, Transformers, and GoBots (yeah, GoBots – don’t hate) when I was little, and I coveted my friend’s Star Wars collection more than anything in the world. And even if it’s true, it’s a ridiculous cycle – if you don’t give girls programming they like, they’re not going to ask for your shitty little action figures. The following transcription was done by tumblr user Vi.
DINI: “They’re all for boys ‘we do not want the girls’, I mean, I’ve heard executives say this, you know, not Ryan(?) but at other places, saying like, ‘We do not want girls watching this show.”
SMITH: “WHY? That’s 51% of the population.”
DINI: “They. Do. Not. Buy. Toys. The girls buy different toys. The girls may watch the show — “
SMITH: “So you can sell them T-shirts if they don’t– I disagree, A, I think girls buy toys as well, I mean not as many as f***ing boys do, but, B, sell them something else, man! Don’t be lazy and be like, ‘well I can’t sell a girl a toy.’ Sell ’em a T-shirt, man, sell them f***ing umbrella with the f***ing character on it, something like that. But if it’s not a toy, there’s something else you could sell ’em! Like, just because you can’t figure out your job, don’t kill chances of, like, something that’s gonna reach an audi — that’s just so self-defeating, when people go, like… these are the same fuckers who go, like, ‘Oh, girls don’t read comics, girls aren’t into comics.’ It’s all self-fulfilling prophecies. They just make it that way, by going like, ‘I can’t sell ’em a toy, what’s the point?’
DINI: “That’s the thing, you know I hate being Mr. Sour Grapes here, but I’ll just lay it on the line: that’s the thing that got us cancelled on Tower Prep, honest-to-God was, like, ‘we need boys, but we need girls right there, right one step behind the boys’ — this is the network talking — ‘one step behind the boys, not as smart as the boys, not as interesting as the boys, but right there.’ And then we began writing stories that got into the two girls’ back stories, and they were really interesting. And suddenly we had families and girls watching, and girls really became a big part of our audience, in sort of like they picked up that Harry Potter type of serialized way, which is what The Batman and [indistinct]’s really gonna kill. But, the Cartoon Network was saying, ‘F***, no, we want the boys’ action, it’s boys’ action, this goofy boy humor we’ve gotta get that in there. And we can’t — ‘ and I’d say, but look at the numbers, we’ve got parents watching, with the families, and then when you break it down — ‘Yeah, but the — so many — we’ve got too many girls. We need more boys.'”
SMITH: “That’s heart-breaking.”
DINI: “And then that’s why they cancelled us, and they put on a show called Level Up, which is, you know, goofy nerds fighting CG monsters. It’s like, ‘We don’t want the girls because the girls won’t buy toys.’ We had a whole… we had a whole, a merchandise line for Tower Prep that they s***canned before it ever got off the launching pad, because it’s like, ‘Boys, boys, boys. Boys buy the little spinny tops, they but the action figures, girls buy princesses, we’re not selling princesses.'”
It’s heartbreaking enough to be shattered back into reality by knowing that creators get gigs and fans get nourishment based on action figure sales. But I guess what really hits home here is that all those things I fight to ignore are just being confirmed. I am not valued by some of the people in charge of the things I love. No, I’ll not blanket it to say “YOU ALL HATE WOMEN.” I refuse to believe that’s true, and when it’s all said and done I’m a pretty lazy feminist anyway. But that’s exactly what I’m hearing here. Based on a presumption, I am not a valued fan. Those two girls that waited three hours to be first in line to see “Thor 2: The Dark World” – they don’t matter. Those little girls I saw this Hallowe’en in the Thor, Cap, and Spiderman costumes – they don’t deserve to be included in heroes and fantasies and comedy. All the women that write for this site, and all the daughters of the men that write for this site – not a thought to be spared. Simply because they don’t ask mommy or daddy for $9.95 for your useless piece of plastic. And I can already hear the mumbles… “They only like those movies because [insert actor here] is hot.” To which I reply: A – who gives one inch of one hot shit? That might have got the teens in the door, but quality and love of the genre is what keeps them going. And is that what got three year old girl Spiderman in that costume? Don’t be a dick. And B – given what you just read, what the hell else is going to get them interested?
Our Citizenbot has this to say:
This is majorly disappointing but not at all surprising. It’s tough to be reminded that for all of its supposed liberal agenda, Hollywood is still full of white, male privilege. And the lowest common denominator who get marketed to are men, men, men and white, white, white.
My major disappointment with this, in retrospect, is what happened to Young Justice. My daughter, who was 5-6 at the time, loved Young Justice. Mostly she loved Miss Martian. And when I told her that the woman who did the voice of Miss Martian (Danica Mckellar) had advanced degrees in math and science and was a big advocate of girls taking more math and science, that helped her solidify her interest in those subject areas.
And so I thank Young Justice for my daughter, who now wants to grow up to be a vulcanologist, but also loves dressing up as a princess and My Little Pony with the best of them.
And obviously, my first ever crush on Winnie Cooper was well-founded.
But this is how shortsighted network executives are, obviously. This is all so ridiculous, since it’s not like girls won’t buy action figures if you make some that are appealing to them. I am sick to death of Equestria Girls and Monster High, but earlier today at Target my little girl picked up an Iron Patriot and a Star Wars Black Series Princess Leia and wanted them. Girls buy toys, too. Duh.
It’s good to see, by contrast, girl-centric and feminist-friendly fare out there like Disney’s Frozen. And guess what? My little boy loved it just as much as his sister. And he wanted the Olaf plush toy.