Netflix Has the Biggest Movie Ever...And It Doesn't Matter? Hispanics Find "Latinx" Offensive, Congress' Gun Christmas Photos, Consumers Hunger for Vinyl Records...Insatiable. (The Five for 12/10/21)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
Let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
The mega-team up between top shelf brands Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, The Proposal), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Jumanji, Fast & Furious franchise) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman, Justice League) hit 277,900,000 hours of total viewing on Netflix (that’s over 31,000 years, by the way).
The whole thing does seem like a can’t-fail formula—three mega stars in a popular genre film (heist/thriller), releasing just as it’s getting cold outside on a streaming platform, so viewers can check it out with no additional buy-in.
I started to watch Red Notice and fell asleep 20 minutes in…not because it’s a bad movie (or maybe it is…how could I know. I only saw 20 minutes?!), and never quite got back to it.
Keep in mind, I really like movies like this (which all more or less follow the Ocean’s 11 formula) and enjoy all three lead actors. I was looking forward to Red Notice.
But it’s been a month, and I still haven’t finished watching it…which may point to a larger shift in what constitutes a “big” movie. Part of the reason I haven’t rushed back to Netflix to finish this flick is that Red Notice may be the biggest movie of all time (by viewership), but it’s the biggest movie of all time…that nobody talks about.
I follow multiple Film & TV Facebook groups, and nobody had much to say about this one. I haven’t seen any of my family or friends post about it on Facebook, and nobody I follow on Twitter is talking about it.
If I had to wager a guess, this is due to the fact that there’s no sense of urgency…the movie is just kind of “there,” around for you to throw on while folding laundry if you’re out of good podcasts and don’t feel like re-watching The Office again just yet.
And Red Notice…is pure fluff (unless something deep happens after the first 20 minutes), and apparently resolves without much to talk about.
This is a heavy contrast with Yellowstone, arguably the biggest weekly TV phenomenon since Game of Thrones (extremely disappointing) conclusion in 2019, and the topic of constant social media posts and water cooler chatter.
Probably because the modern day western is…actually about something.
Our fathers, and their fathers before them, could point to something tangible they had done. We, on the other hand, had drafted company memos and booked radio interviews. (“You put that man on TV?” my dad asked once. “Why does anyone pay someone to do that?”) Joe and I came to the grim determination that if your job couldn’t be described in one sentence or less, it was probably BS in the grand scheme of things.
The jarring shift in capabilities demanded of working adults probably helps account for the popularity of Yellowstone, a contemporary western on the Paramount Network that is presently one of the most watched programs on television. In a world in which Home Depot has had to produce video tutorials on how to perform such tasks as using a tape measure, it’s refreshing to see depictions of good old-fashioned skill. “Been doing cowboy shit all day,” reads the slogan on merchandise from the show’s official shop. Completing spreadsheets hardly qualifies as “cowboy shit,” but it is a visceral thrill for office workers to watch the real McCoy.
Red Notice may have moved the needle on viewership, but the Netflix thriller flatlined on cultural impact.
By contrast, Yellowstone may be the biggest weekly TV hit since they heyday of The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, but the viewership (14 million live viewers per week) is tiny compared to Red Notice. But the fan base is incredibly engaged.
Netflix got a lot eyeballs with Red Notice…but nary a think piece was written about the streaming blockbuster.
Yellowstone seems to alter the course of the national social media dialogue week-to-week, and is either driving or reflecting (probably both) questions around why modern day Americans are just so…dang wussy. And how they seem to long to be something more than city and suburban dwellers.
Yellowstone shows us the modern day cowboy mystique has been reborn. Or maybe never really went away.
Red Notice shows us people like The Rock punching people and Ryan Reynolds dropping…Ryan Reynolds one liners. They just don’t like those things enough to talk about them.
In the era of endless entertainment options, discussion and dialogue, rather than ratings, is the best metric of cultural impact.
[two]
Well, this got weird fast.
This week, Kentucky rep Thomas Massie posted a Christmas photo with his family all holding guns.
Three days later, Colorado Rep Lauren Boebert created a very similar post.
Left-of-center Evangelical Elizabeth Bruenig responded in the Atlantic.
Boebert’s and Massie’s photos suggest that we have moved past the point of a kind of firearm respectability politics. Here, the very meaning of guns is to make liberals hysterical; liberal hysteria is no longer an obstacle to good policy making or even an irritating by-product of the democratic process, but rather the desired outcome of almost all right-wing political rhetoric. It doesn’t matter if the guns make sense for sport shooting, collecting, hunting, or any other plausible pastime beyond killing people or putting pictures on the internet. Their owners don’t intend any confusion on that point. Being photographed for the internet is their raison d’être. If they were just typical-looking guns with potentially reasonable uses kept in a safe, how would they make liberals cry?
On one hand, Bruenig claims (in the piece) to know about guns, because her parents and grandparents own them. But she misses a key factor here…the Modern Sporting Rifle is likely the most popular hunting rifle in America, because it’s light weight, accurate and easy to accessorize.
Here’s a pic from earlier this week, when I was hunting deer and wild boar in the Mark Twain National Forest.
If you’re asking “why don’t you use a gun that looks…less, military inspired?”
Well, one reason is that I was alone, miles and miles from another person, in an area with wild boar and bears…and packs of 30+ wild hogs have shown to be aggressive to people…so something with more than five rounds is practical.
I didn’t own (or have much interest) in an AR-15 until I moved to Missouri, where rifles are legal for deer hunting (in IL and WI only shorter-range shotguns were allowed)…and the AR was simply the best tool for the job, and more budget friendly, because I built my own.
Bruenig is (somewhat) correct here…some conservatives do post pictures just to whip liberals into a hysteria (not cool)…but that hysteria is (in part) due to the fact that the east coast elite don’t venture outside town limits much, and don’t understand that hunting has evolved and adapted with modern weapons.
One of the biggest advantages to the AR platform is weight. If you’re hunting on public land, you’re covering rough terrain on foot, and the weight of your gear becomes a factor in how far and fast you can travel.
Here’s a friend of mine hunting elk in Montana with a similar style rifle.
“But they don’t look like the guns my grandparents owned.”
Yup.
And your Honda Pilot doesn’t look like a 1956 Chevy pickup either.
Times change, but a “scary look” doesn’t necessarily mean a gun is “more terrible” or something. Case in point, there’s no hysteria around the Ruger Mini-14.
However, I do have a serious issue with Boebert’s photos.
Although I grew up hunting and shooting, I would have never been allowed to touch any gun at the age of her youngest son (who looks to be about six). Posing with a rifle for a family photo is just as inappropriate as putting bottles of bourbon, cigars or marijuana in the hands of elementary school age sons for a Christmas photo…there’s no reason for young kids to have access to any of those things in elementary school.
Boebert’s photo bothers me, not because she’s “trolling” (and she is trolling), but because firearm related incidents are the #2 cause of death in minors, behind car accidents.
A large percentage of those are from teens killing teens in areas like Chicago with high rates of gang violence…but many others come from the combination of A). kids who haven’t been taught proper safety and B). adults who don’t properly secure their guns in a safe, and leave them laying around (loaded).
The “hysteria” here is misplaced, but not totally inappropriate. Rifles are used in roughly 300 murders per year, (less than hammers, knives, other blunt force weapons and bare-handed murders from punching and kicking alone), so the fear around them…doesn’t hold up to the stats.
But when children aren’t properly educated on guns, some of them will inevitably die in accidents.
Boebert’s family photo is an example of what not to do when it comes to kids and firearms education, and shows that some gun owners do not have the proper respect for deadly tools they keep in their homes.
And that can have catastrophic consequences.
[three]
The new term “Latinx” (I’m still not sure if it’s pronounced ‘Latin-X' or “lat-inx”) started as a term to de-gender referring to people of Hispanic heritage, since Spanish uses masculine/feminine pronouns…not just for people, but for other nouns and objects as well.
Latinx is a term that came from Academia, and is supposed to be more inclusive/less offensive.
The only problem?
A new study shows Hispanics really, really hate that term.
Politico reports:
As Democrats seek to reach out to Latino voters in a more gender-neutral way, they’ve increasingly begun using the word Latinx, a term that first began to get traction among academics and activists on the left.
But that very effort could be counterproductive in courting those of Latin American descent, according to a new nationwide poll of Hispanic voters.
Only 2 percent of those polled refer to themselves as Latinx, while 68 percent call themselves “Hispanic” and 21 percent favored “Latino” or “Latina” to describe their ethnic background, according to the survey from Bendixen & Amandi International, a top Democratic firm specializing in Latino outreach.
More problematic for Democrats: 40 percent said Latinx bothers or offends them to some degree and 30 percent said they would be less likely to support a politician or organization that uses the term.
It’s interesting that in a modern culture where a segment of people are absolutely obsessed that a person’s pronouns, and singer Demi Lovato admits to “self-misgendering,” it’s interesting that the largest minority group in the U.S. are NOT allowed to choose their pronouns if that choice runs contrary to what the cultural elite have deemed to be.
My personal belief is that we’re better off being kind to people and referring to them how they want to be referred to…preferred name, pronouns, whatever. I’ve got bigger things to worry about.
Which is why I find it so odd to live in a country where we can’t extend that courtesy to Hispanics, who have always been Hispanics, and who still wish to be referred to as Hispanic, Latinos or Latinas.
[four]
One of the most unexpected side effects of the COVID pandemic…is how many music fans have turned to collecting vinyl records, with record pressing plants unable to keep up with the demands, particularly with Millennial and Gen Z fans.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
Marvel may be the most powerful brand in TV and movies at the moment…but the entertainment giant doesn’t control all of it’s characters. Most notably, Spider-Man is a co-brand, due to the comic book company selling the web-slinging teen to Sony in the 90’s.
Another complication comes from characters Marvel licensed to Netflix, for the acclaimed streaming shows Daredevil and Jessica Jones (and the less acclaimed Luke Cage, Punisher and the absolutely hated Iron Fist). Once Disney announced it’s own streaming network, Netflix immediately canceled all four shows, despite being (mostly) loved by the fans (sorry, Iron Fist). Netflix had a two year clause on the characters, which means Daredevil, et. al couldn’t move back to the House of Mouse until…this year.
This week, Marvel boss Kevin Feige announced that Charlie Cox, who portrayed Daredevil in the hit Netflix series, would continue as Daredevil in the MCU…if Daredevil is used in the future (spoiler alert: of course he’ll appear). Whether or not Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad, Big Eyes) and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, Fury) will return to their roles as Jessica Jones and The Punisher, respectively, is TBD.
It’s possible (probable?) Cox appears as Daredevil in Spiderman: No Way Home this month. Despite recent box office woes for blockbusters due to the pandemic, some analysts predict No Way Home may surpass Avengers: Endgame as the biggest theatrical release of all time, based on tickets sold.
Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman, Justice League) is stepping into the shoes for one of the most famous figures in history—Cleopatra. However, director Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman 1984) is stepping down as director and will be replaced by Kari Skogland, best known for helming the Disney+ streamer Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The official presser said Jenkins is “focusing on other projects,” but she was also recently fired from her Star Wars film, so it’s possible the director just…doesn’t have much trust after fans rejected Wonder Woman: 1984.
More than a dozen movies have been made about the Egyptian queen, dating back to a silent film in 1908…but the queen hasn’t graced the big screen since 1963’s Cleopatra.
Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water, Wind River, Sicario) continues to be one of the biggest hit makers in Hollywood, dominating TV with Yellowstone, new prison drama Yellowstone: 1883 (debuting this month—starring Tim McGraw and Faith Hill) and the new prison drama Mayor of Kingstown, starring Jeremy Renner (Avengers, The Hurt Locker) and Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Argo).
Apparently running three TV shows at the same time wasn’t enough to keep Sheridan busy, Sheridan is also co-creating a new mobster TV show with Sopranos writer and Boardwalk Empire creator Terrance Winter, and starring Sylvester Stallone in first role leading a TV series.
Kansas City follows a New York City Italian mobster, played by Stallone, forced to relocate to the most unlikely of places—Kansas City, Missouri. Set in present day, legendary mobster Sal (Stallone) is faced with the startling task of reestablishing his Italian mafia family to the modernized, straight-shooting town of Kansas City. There, Sal encounters surprising and unsuspecting characters who follow him along his unconventional path to power.
This is a tough one to summarize, but looks cool. Earlier this year, Netflix experienced a hit with the mystery/thriller The Woman in the Window, starring Amy Adams (Arrival, American Hustle). Now, Netflix is following up with The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window starring Kristen Bell (The Good Place, Veronica Mars). The absurdly named new show is both a spoof of the Amy Adams film (which just released 11 months ago) and a deadly serious mystery of it’s own.
On paper, the whole thing sounds terrible…but dang, the first trailer looks great.
MUSIC NEWS: Rapper Drake withdrew his name from the Grammy nominations for the 2022 event, without citing a reason for the decision. It’s possible the move is a result of being named in lawsuits over the deaths at Travis Scott’s AstroWorld festival earlier this year.
Either that or Drake listened to a Drake album and realized Drake isn’t that good.
Which I could have told him, he just forgot to ask me.
Until the next one,
-sth