Hot Air noted that Hollywood has released a number of comedy stinkers so far in 2017, such as “House,” “Snatched,” ”Baywatch,” and “Rough Night” that did not do well at the box office. The entertainment media is pretty confident that Donald Trump is at fault. Others think that the movies are just bad and unfunny and hence audiences have stayed away in droves. Meanwhile, a number of other, not so slapstick films, have done well.
The Donald Trump theory
The idea being advanced by the entertainment media is that when Donald Trump was elected president, the notion of what constitutes humor suddenly changed.
Some late night comedians have had some success making fun of the president, though that phenomenon may have run its course as well. The movies that were greenlit a couple of years ago simply have not caught the zeitgeist of the times.
Ed Morrissey thinks that this idea is silly. He points out that elections not so much cause shifts in public mood as they reflect it. Trump was elected because of deep-seated anger many people feel toward elites, whether they are in Washington or the entertainment world. Morrissey posits the remarkable theory that people are not watching many of the comedies that were released in 2017 because they are bad and not funny.
And if Hollywood thinks that Trump bashing is suddenly comedy gold, it might want to chat with Kathy Griffin.
What is happening to non-comedies in 2017?
A quick look at Box Office Mojo shows that the top performing pictures of 2017 include a Disney movie, three superhero flicks, and an action film from a long-running franchise.
“Beauty and the Beast,” “Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” “Wonder Woman,” “Logon,” and “The Fate of the Furious” are the sorts of films that did well during the Obama-era and continue to do well.
What is the lesson here?
What constitutes a great movie tend not to follow who happens to be in the White House. To be sure, the election of Reagan in the 1980s presaged a number of action films starring people like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger that celebrated military glory.
But Oliver Stone’s downbeat epic about the Vietnam War, “Platoon,” also had great success in the same era.
The all-female “Ghostbusters” tanked in 2016 because it wasn’t very good, not because a bunch of Trump supporters hates women. This year’s “Wonder Woman” is a smash hit, not because hordes of female moviegoers are suddenly inspired by a feminist icon, but because it is a great epic filled with heart and depth along with the eye-popping action.
The lesson herein is evident. Make a comedy that has them rolling in the aisles, an action flick that thrills, or a drama that makes audiences think, and you’ll still pack them in. The principle was valid before Trump, and it is true now.
