Many of you have probably heard of Paul Dini’s interview on Kevin Smith’s Fatman On Batman podcast, where Dini comments that shows on Cartoon Network with large female followings were actually being canceled, because ‘girls don’t buy the toys.’ So the network wants shows that appeal primarily to boys, at least in the superhero genre.
This is incredibly ignorant on many levels. Girls don’t buy genre stuff? Are these people THAT out of touch?
I have experienced some of this myself. A couple examples that spring to mind are:
1) The Wonder Woman animated film did not make as much money as some other DC animated films at first. However, over time, it outgrossed many of the other DC films. Keep in mind, it was competing with animated films that had major live action movies going at the same time…Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, etc. It outgrossed the Green Lantern animated films. But for inexplicable reasons, that is never mentioned…all that is ever mentioned is that it didn’t hit big right out of the gate. Neither did MOST of the animated films, but for some reason, only Wonder Woman is held accountable, despite making more money over time.
2) I also experienced some of this in talks with Disney right before they purchased Marvel. They asked me to develop tv ideas for them, interestingly NOT because I was female, not for a female audience, they wanted a BOY audience, and they felt I could help deliver that with good action stories. I bring this up because it’s interesting…people who are mad there’s no Black Widow film in the planning,(understandably) are upset.
But my meeting with Disney tells an interesting picture. The executive I spoke with put it very bluntly, to his credit. He said that at one time, Disney OWNED the boys’ adventure market on television. But over time, they had more and more success with programming for girls. To the point where boys actively started avoiding the Disney brand.
You think they bought Marvel and Star Wars for purely the intellectual properties, you would only be partially correct. They bought those properties to make Disney cool for boys again. To own the boys’ adventure market like they felt they already owned the market for girls’ programming.
In the sub-picture, not having a female superhero movie is a hole in the Marvel film brand, but in the bigger picture, Disney feels they own most of that market already.
I am not judging that strategy, it’s clearly producing excellent films and huge success. But it’s a shame for those of us who would love a Black Widow film. Happily, they seem to be a little more willing to roll the dice on television, where we will soon be seeing more superheroines, I gather.
Anyway, I was very bummed about Paul’s words. I don’t claim any insider knowledge, except for one thing—I have met many of the people working on those shows. They are fans, they want to bring in the female characters. I have seen it time and again. These decisions are being made over their heads.
One sad little side effect hit me this morning. A few weeks back, I asked how many readers had come to comics because of animated superhero shows, and the results were very telling. It was a huge percentage. I strongly suspect the reason the gender demos have changed is largely because of the animated shows, be it X-men, Batman, JLU, whatever.
But then I realized this morning that several key female CREATORS I know and love came to comics because they fell in love with the animated shows. The most well-known story might be Devin Grayson, whose entire career came about because of her love of the Batman animated series.
I wonder, if these shows start deliberately skewing away from girls to fulfill some nonsense marketing ‘strategy,’ if we will be seeing an effect in the number of female creators in the near future.
There has to be an initial contact, there has to be some connection, for love of comics to take root. Most people live nowhere near a convenient place to get comics. Subscriptions and comics shops are generally solutions for people who are already hooked. How do we get people to love comics, if they are not exposed?
The movies and tv shows are great, but if they deliberately skew away from females, will they have the same effect?
The first few Marvel films had very dicey female content, to my mind, but they clearly have gotten better about that. It looks like they deliberately are attempting to do better. DC’s bag is mixed as well, some great stuff (Anne Hathaway as Catwoman) and some terrible (Halle Berry as Catwoman). But I am not hearing people going from the films to comics in the same gateway drug effect as I often hear about the animated shows.
This is just me rambling. But representation matters, and lack of representation causes a self-fulfilling lack of interest and participation.
I hope the cartoon networks realize that ANY audience that is involved counts, and makes a difference.
Lawyers, Guns & Money:
