Is female-oriented media judged too harshly?

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NibiruMul
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16 Jan 2024, 6:03 pm

Do you think media aimed at women and girls tends to be judged too harshly?

Honestly, I feel like it is. Not all the time, but in some cases it is. I feel like you see it the most with music (especially pop music), but it happens with movies and TV shows too. This attitude (called the "girl show ghetto" on TV Tropes) can make it difficult to distinguish female-oriented media that really is terrible from female-oriented media that's just being dismissed because of its target audience. However, there seem to be case-by-case examples. sometimes even with different incarnations of the same franchise. For example, the original Powerpuff Girls managed to avoid the "girl show ghetto", but the reboot fell deep into it (although to be fair, I love the original PPG and hate the reboot). G4 of My Little Pony (Friendship is Magic) definitely earned a lot of fans of both sexes, though the other incarnations are considerably less popular among male fans.

I do understand, however, that if someone is not the target audience of a work of fiction, they might be more inclined to give it a negative review (for example, a religious person giving a negative review of Family Guy). But sometimes people can let their biases get carried away.



funeralxempire
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16 Jan 2024, 6:12 pm

I think a lot of men have a kneejerk reaction to dismiss any media they understand as intended for women or girls.

That said (like you say), part of that reaction is natural when people aren't part of a work of art's target demographic.

For example, I don't generally listen to or enjoy pop music. One could try to frame this as being due to misogyny or being a hipster, although ultimately it boils down to a lot of pop music triggers misophonia for me.

I absolutely have a prejudice against pop music, based on understanding exposure will almost certainly be deeply unpleasant. Is it fair for me to dismiss it without even bothering to give a listen through? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not obliged to subject myself to discomfort before conceding that I will never be able to enjoy a certain work.


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16 Jan 2024, 9:21 pm

The Powerpuff girls reboot is considered one of the worst reboots ever and for good reasons. I'd consider it worse than season 5 & 6 of the original show.


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Honey69
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17 Jan 2024, 12:29 pm

I used to enjoy the Powerpuff Girls when my daughters were little.


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