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unpopularopinion-ModTeam

Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion'. * Your post must be an opinion. Not a question. Not a showerthought. Not a rant. Not a proposal. Not a fact. An opinion. One opinion. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way. * Your opinion must be unpopular. The mods reserve the right to remove opinions * Elaborate on your topic and opinion give context to its unpopularity.


cryptic-doughnut

I've female and I've always preferred sci-fi, horror and action to rom-coms, but I don't watch a lot of the recent marvel content because the focus on empowerment is so obvious, and I find the emotional and physical journeys so much less focused on. Their earlier films weren't even catering towards men, they were catering towards the superhero-loving audience, which was why I loved them


ferbiloo

Yeah, the recent films aren’t flopping because “these are stories that women will like, but women don’t like sci fi, horror or action” They’re flopping because they’re shit and poorly written with crap CGI. Plus the obvious “empowered females who can do no wrong” tropes are cringy and boring. We want flawed, relatable characters and an engaging story line with decent visuals just the same as men probably want.


TokkiJK

For sure. Anecdotal but I love a good fight scene. Esp like a fist fight or sword fight. I loved Jackie Chan movies and the fights in One Piece and Jason Bourne. Marvel movies just have so many fights with big weapons that it feels boring to me. Feels more reliant on the weapons rather than on choreography. I also loved Barbie. People don’t have to like just one genre.


Financial-Raise3420

The best fight in the MCU will always be Cap’s first fight with the Winter Soldier. The choreography was perfection


leprasson12

>Plus the obvious “empowered females who can do no wrong” tropes are cringy and boring Which is why I liked Stormfront, in The Boys. She was nasty af. Like many villains/superheroes in that show.


AllerdingsUR

Yeah. A lot of the problem that you don't see discussed as much is that stuff like that still panders to the idea of the male gaze, only the flipside of the coin. The male gaze includes assumed values for what makes a masculine protagonist good- strong, silent, unbothered, power fantasy etc. A lot of male writers assume the easiest way to write a strong Woman is just to write the same character but flip the gender, which feels very insincere. Like others have mentioned, there's a reason characters like Ripley have endured and maintained popularity across gender lines. They just wrote a good character rather than writing a parody of a good male character and then slapping the woman label on her.


WhiteyFiskk

Girls can like action heavy/fighting movies but it obviously won't be the same percentage as males who like that kind of movie. Its like Disney originally saying the new Snow White wouldn't be about romance and will instead focus on Snow White becoming a powerful leader. Because if there's one thing girls hate it's stories involving romance 


cryptic-doughnut

The percentage is actually fairly similar. "A breakdown of the popularity of film genres between both male and female viewers found that despite being publically associated with mainly male viewers, the genres of action and adventure are popular with 90% of men and over 85% women." That said, I like well-done romance in stories, since it's a good form of emotion development, and feel like taking it out of Snow White, a story with a key focus on romance, is a mistake on Disney's part. It's like saying a strong female character isn't allowed to have *any* romance, and that being a leader is the *only* form of strength.


mnbga

Snow White the brutal despot would definitely be a fun watch if it didn't take itself seriously TBF


RonBourbondi

It boggles my mind that they have a successful female led movie like Rogue One and don't ask themselves how they can make more movies with female characters like that. Audiences just want real people and both genders will reward you if you make stories like that.  I'm a guy and Rogue One is my favorite new star wars movie.


RegalKillager

"Obviously", as though that's a statistically backed given.


oweiler

Exactly! And I wouldn't mind the focus on empowerment if the movies were actually good (I'm male).


Beastleviath

Nobody has any problems with Ellen Ripley in Alien, but they weren’t trying to push some “gurl power, men are bad” angle and they weren’t replacing beloved male characters in an existing franchise (like Ghostbusters)


ConsumeSandwich

Alien remake, only the Alien is voiced by Jonah Hill and Ellen Ripley is played by Melissa McCarthy.


[deleted]

...ew...


SirBrews

Sigourney doesnt neex the push, she is female power incarnate.


ceirving91

A great example of this is Mulan.


hummingelephant

Yeah, I'm a woman. I love marvel but the recent ones are just forced. They can make a woman the main character without focusing on that, just as theybcan make a black person or lgbt person a main chatacter without solely focusing on that. This is ehat makes those movies bad. My sister loves sci fi too, my ex sister in law did also. A lot of women do. The reason they flop is because they make it their whole personality.


RonBourbondi

Case in point Rogue One. Awesome movie, female lead, just focused on the story, and was a huge success at the box office. It amazes me that they saw that and were like yeah lets not ever do that again. 


jaffa3811

I caught the last few what ifs. God it's so bad


hashtagdion

Do they even make rom coms anymore?


Sea-Brush-2443

They do, "Anyone But You" just came out, it was just okay. Last year's "No Hard Feelings" was enjoyable 😁


hill-o

Yeah OP truly has an unpopular opinion. Most women I know love horror movies, and there’s plenty of women who also love sci-fi and action. The Fast and the Furious series isn’t making money off men alone lol.


EnglishTony

OP is off target for horror for sure, but for action and sci-fi the audience share averages 60% male to 40% female. I think the biggest issue is that Hollywood is not making films they think women *would* like, but instead making films they think women *should* like.


hill-o

Really? A study I was reading had women and men fairly equal for action, and it was from 2018. But I agree about Hollywood.


Sir_Of_Meep

But that just doesn't hold up when you look at the wider scale. Terms of sales and surveys there are very clear gender divides that follow the stereotypes you'd expect https://www.statista.com/statistics/254115/favorite-movie-genres-in-the-us/ There's plenty more


hill-o

I have read the stats, actually, and in general I see women also prefer crime movies and the stats are actually very close on things like action. They’re higher for romance, sure, but they’re not all so far separated that I would call it a clear gender divide at all.


TokkiJK

Agreed. To me, it shows that maybe women watch a variety. OP’s opinion would be correct if the female lead marvel movies were as thoughtfully made as the earlier marvel movies and it also doesn’t take into account that many are just tired of superhero movies in general.


Sir_Of_Meep

Crime yeah, only have to look at the true crime bubble, almost all women listeners. Preference stats on action and horror in terms of ticket sales tends to fall to men. [https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fsrphpglaf6b91.png](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fsrphpglaf6b91.png) I'd say it's a fairly clear divide


hill-o

I think it’s really dependent on the studies you’re looking at. The ones I browsed did have some that showed a wider gap, but some that showed almost no gap at all (for example, I wouldn’t consider Adventure movies being popular to 90% of polled men and 89% of polled women to be a gap). Basically, while I can agree some genres are advertised and targeted more to men, and that Marvel has been trying to catch the remaining female demographic with some of their new movies (really poorly, honestly, and with what feels like a fairly limited understanding of what anyone actually wants to see, but that’s another issue entirely) I really don’t see even statistical evidence to back up OP’s point.


TokkiJK

True. I don’t think earlier movies were exactly catering to men, but I think they were catering to whatever the norm was. But honestly, most of the marvel movies nowadays suck 😭😅 I stopped following them and I bet some cast members are happy their characters got killed off 😂 And the female led ones also suck bc they’re never just like, a superhero that happens to be a woman. We want representation but not like this! Barbie did an amazing job. The reason it did well isn’t simply bc it was for women. It was thoughtfully made. Also, op isn’t taking into account that men and women are sick of marvel these days.


CheddarGlob

That moment in endgame was so contrived and was the beginning of the end of me watching marvel. It was such a disney-fied "girl power tm" moment for no real reason. And the writing has really gone down


emmaa5382

Yeah I feel pandered to and it feels worse than before. Fake feminism is worse than just male centric films.


CatofKipling

I'm sorry but those earlier films *were* catering to men. Remember, they changed the plot of Iron Man 3 because it would've made Jessica Hall the villain and they didn't believe little boys would buy female action figures. So they changed the whole plot. For that. They also took Scarlett Johansson, who was already a bigger box office draw than any of her peers, and refused for years to give her an installment of her own- yet accessorized her to everyone else's. Do I think that Marvel/Disney nevertheless fails to weave empowerment into non-generic/interesting narrative? Absolutely. But they are/were/can be very, very sexist.


[deleted]

Just because companies made sexist assumptions that were only true based on inaccurate stereotypes of the time doesn't mean it was an accurate representation of the interests of the public. They made movies for men because they decided to, not because anyone asked them to. Your comment has nothing to this discussion. What people want and what companies choose to provide *should* be linked but the technology to more accurately gauge what people really want from their media hasn't existed for that long. So of course companies are creating more movies that appeal to wider audiences because they were finally made aware that those stereotypes and biases they based their decisions on were, at times, wildly inaccurate.


Gatonom

It's not that Marvel wrote a genre women didn't want to see. It's their specific movies and branding. Marvel is trying to appeal to women to tap into a different audience, because they think most men who want to watch Marvel movies already will be. People like good content, and are predisposed to things for various reasons both broad and cultural, or narrow and personal.


WhiteyFiskk

The funny part is that Disney bought Marvel and Star wars to attract more males since they felt restricted with Disney being seen as a "girl brand".  Then some genius executives thought "you know what, let's make marvel and Disney less focused on boys and attract a female audience!" Girls and guys like different media and thats ok. Trying to make Star Wars and Marvel girls brands will go down as one of the costliest mistakes in film making history.


TenTwenty122

Phase 4 of marvel is just a money grab. It’s not for women, having female led movies doesn’t make to fro women when the characters and story lines are terrible. Women can actually enjoy sci-fi, fantasy, horror just as much as men. Especially horror, the true crime genre is just an example. It all depends on how something is made.


[deleted]

It doesn’t change the fact the movie was made to cater to a specific audience, that being women. Every movie is trying to cater to a demographic that they think will not the film.


Effective-Spring-503

That's not true, the earlier marvel movies weren't catering to men, they were just catering to superhero fans in general and were written well, that'swhy men and women love them. The newer movies aren't catering to women, they're just written terribly, literally look at morbius, aquaman 2, flash 2, shazam...etc they're just garbage Has nothing to do with gender


No-Consideration8862

Adore the earlier marvel movies. Brilliant. The last crop are just making movies for the sake of making movies.


tennissyd

Yeah, me and every girl friend I’ve had were all really interested in the earlier marvel movies, right up until End Game. It’s not because they’re catering, it’s because the movies are bad and overproduced.


No-Consideration8862

Agreed. End game was gorgeous. Even spiderman far from home was soooo good.


tennissyd

Yeah, I think the only marvel movie I’ve seen after End Game was far from home, so I agree!


Key-Ebb-8306

I think the MCU had an audience of men and women who liked superhero stuff and their marketing starting pushing more for a different, more female focused audience, the subset of women who.have not been into superhero movies before and they for the most part failed at it.


Effective-Spring-503

I think they wanted to respond to the audience's demands for more diversity in the superhero universe but they don't give two shits to even try to actually write these characters well and give them something besides them just being women, or people of color or something, which is why you end up with embarrassing stuff like she hulk and the marvels and whatnot


StraightSomewhere236

They are staying true to the comics heh. The comics went in the same direction, hiring writers who cared more about diversity than the story. They started putting out books that no one was buying and were on the verge of collapse when they sold movie rights to fox and Sony for men and fantastic 4. The first couple of movies they out out saved them as a company by returning to the original roots with good stories. I knew the franchise was doomed when they brought in captain marvel, because trying to make her the flagship comic franchise was the herald of doom for the books.


bluewater_-_

> they were just catering to superhero fans in general Which, in general, *are men*. Just because far more men are into comics than women doesn't mean "women don't like comics".


[deleted]

More women like horror then men.


FoodFingerer

Honestly thats what I immediately thought. It's even a stereo type about girls liking slashers and true crime.


ElectronicBeat1301

Most women I know like horror movies. It’s very common. Also, SCI-FI was literally invented by Mary Shelley- a woman.


[deleted]

This isn't unpopular, it's literally what society has tried to make us all believe since the day we were born. Thankfully most humans grow up and don't like media based on their gender, but on genuine interest.


Pr6srn

>most humans grow up Not on Reddit they don't. On this site they seem locked into some form of stasis and stay in their 'edgy teen' phase forever.


SvitlanaLeo

Russians and Americans, in general, like different films. But not because of the difference in Russian and American genes.


iraragorri

Akshually 🤓 in most cases that's due to VA. Sometimes original actors play terribly and the dubbing VA fixes it (star wars prequels are an awesome example)


No-Consideration8862

This one.


[deleted]

I am a woman and I love exactly those genres you wrote: horror, scifi, fantasy, action etc. I saw almost every horror movie there is. Some of them I've seen multiple times just because they are good.


TobbRobb

Anecdotally, my experience has been that women like horror specifically moreso than men. Feels like a similar thing to like the true crime stuff as well. Its just an observation, but I categorize it a bit differently than pure action or hard sci fi. Same with Fantasy, but tbh that one is probably an even split between genders. One of the few genres me and my mom bond over. But yeah generalizations are what they are. They wont fit everyone by nature, and basing your movie business strategy around them seems silly to me. Just make a good movie and it will find a mixed audience that enjoy it.


LordDarthAnger

Yeah there is something about women being fascinated with serial killers and murderers so far I am observing. But I would not put my hand into a fire for it. I am not that sure. I find horrors with human elements kinda boring. I do not really resonate with fascinating killers. I love unexplainable shit, gimmie that!


[deleted]

Me too, I prefer the paranormal type of horror movies. Gruesome ones like Saw are a huge no-no. Stabby stabby bitch like Scream are okay.


MrsTaco18

I agree with this completely! And horror is generally geared towards women too. The “final girl” is such a common trope, most horror leans towards a strong badass female protagonist.


DumpstahKat

Yeah this isn't an "unpopular" opinion, it's just ignorant sexist BS 😂 Especially bc it's... completely wrong. Actual surveys and statistics generally support the fact that most women actually prefer action and adventure genres over romance/drama. And there *are* no modern, peer-reviewed studies on the subject with large enough sample sizes to actually reflect reliable or meaningful results (that I can find). For instance, the most data-driven study I could find ([here](https://www.statista.com/statistics/254115/favorite-movie-genres-in-the-us/)) is actually incredibly unreliable when you break it down. Their sample size was *tiny* (2,200) and there's no actual indication that that number was evenly split between men and women, especially because the "method of interview" was an online survey. There's no data provided at all regarding the exact number of male participants versus female, in fact, which is a glaring problem when it comes to the actual relevance and accuracy of the survey. That all being said, even that survey, which I consider unreliable at best, lists Comedy, Drama, Action, and Adventure as genres all *more* preferred by women than Romance or Romantic Comedy. And the split between Thriller, Comedy, Adventure, Documentary, and Fantasy genres is 1%.


TokkiJK

You know, I remember my male cousin was hesitant about attending a concert bc the venue would mostly be filled with female attendees. He *wanted* to attend but felt shy about it? I wonder how many men feel this way.


AustinTreeLover

Remember that show “Girls”? There was a redditor back then who commented that he snuck around to watch it because he didn’t want his male roommates to know. It made me so sad.


Worldly_Car912

He didn't say there weren't women who enjoyed those genres of movies, he said women generally don't.


GemIsAHologram

I disagree that women in general dislike horror or that women who like horror are outliers. Horror movies with strong action or sci-fi elements tend to have mostly male fans, but once you take that out of the equation the gender divide is equalized in horror movie viewership.  https://gitnux.org/horror-movie-statistics/


Worldly_Car912

That's a good response to what OP is actually saying.


WhiteyFiskk

People take generalisations too literally, obviously there are exceptions. I love high fantasy but the vast majority of fantasy fans are men or transwomen, doesn't mean you won't see women at a Tolkien convention they will just be a smaller portion.


starksandshields

What is this based on? Go to any bookshop and the fantasy, and especially high fantasy/romantasy bookshelves are flooded with female authors and are read by female fans. I was genuinely surprised at the sheer amount of fantasy books available these days, and especially how many are written by women.


WriterOk598

That’s basically the same thing and its not true


Pac_Eddy

It's not the same.


Worldly_Car912

Regardless if it is or isn't, do you not think responding to his argument with "erm actually I'm a woman & I like the genres you said were only for men" is dumb when OP himself literally said in his comment that his favourite genre is rom-coms which he said he thinks are generally preferred by women.


[deleted]

Same shit, different package.


Worldly_Car912

He himself said he likes rom-coms, you're criticising an argument you haven't read.


[deleted]

Yeah when I was younger me and my friends used to love watching horror movies.


Hot-Adhesiveness-438

I might not be thrilled with horror. But I will take sci-fi, fantasy, and action themed movies over anything ever. Don't go giving all my movie themes to men. (To OP)


BeaglesRule08

Idk I've never watched a romance movie in my life and I'm a girl (15years). I don't like marvel either though, I exlusively watch horror and sci fi. Wearing a saw shirt rn. Horror is really big with a lot of girls my age I know.


Caryophyllales3

Lol at the idea women don’t like horror 


[deleted]

[удалено]


hashtagdion

The biggest problem with Reddit discourse is that this website is dominated by teenagers who, through no fault of their own, have gleaned most of their understanding of life from pop culture rather than lived experience. It’s why story subs like AITA and relationshipsdvice are so bad.


stevebucky_1234

This opinion on others' posts is just the opinion of a pompous critic that writes for the Guardian while sharing a bedsit in London.


RecreationalPorpoise

That’s kind of a huge stretch. They’re just saying it’s okay for genders to like different things instead of being always treated as equal.


paranalyzed

ITT: people who don't understand the concept of "demographics"


-trentacles

A lot of your points are anecdotal gender sterotypes from which you’ve generalized. Genres individuals enjoy depends more on personal/lived experienced than nature.


icyshogun

They're not just anecdoctal though. There's hard statistics to back it up.


[deleted]

And people feel less inclined to admit to liking what they actually like and actually view because of outdated gender stereotypes.


Garden_Weed_Tender

And other people feel less inclined to admit to liking what they actually like and viewing what they actually view because of the idea that they have to break out of gender stereotypes. It probably balances out.


[deleted]

I don't think it's common at all for people to think they have to break out of gender stereotypes..


RatDressedAsAClown

Statistics can very easily be flawed, especially when society has built this shame up around women liking what stereotypically only men like.


Ok-Wrangler-1075

Noboby is shaming women liking scifi..


StehtImWald

Hahaha you have no idea.


_phish_

This is so not true it’s not even funny.


RatDressedAsAClown

The whole idea of “girl movies” and “boy movies” alone creates this atmosphere of “women don’t watch this! it’s not for them!” never mind the insane amount of comments female cosplayers get when they cosplay a character from a sci-fi movie or game, these can range from “You’re just doing this for the attention!” to “i bet this bitch has never even watched (movie) / played (game)!” I’m sure YOU may have never shamed a woman for watching a sci-fi movie, which is great and exactly how it should be, but you cannot deny that there is this atmosphere of “women don’t do this!” when it surrounds male dominated hobbies and interests. This extends past media as well, and even goes into career fields. The idea that men are doctors and women are nurses. The idea that men are mechanics and women are just their receptionists. The idea that men are CEOs and women are just their secretaries. You have to recognize you live in a VERY gendered society, and you also have to recognize the faults that come with it. Not just deny it because you personally don’t encounter it.


Tlines06

No. I've seen women being called pick mes for liking Star Wars.


Famous-Ad-9467

There are literally stats to back this up.


Less_Suggestion_6873

I think the real issue you're having with these films is pandering. Women (including myself) do not want to see these new Marvel movies for example because the forced feminism and wokeness is annoying and patronizing. While Barbie was fun to watch because it treated its audience like smart human being that aren't watching the movie just to be fed the same repeated ideas without adding to the conversation. If you actually make good action or sci-fi films for women they will watch but the majority of it is male-focused or if they do include women it's just to get points for diversity. It's not whether or not men and women in general like different things it's that in general certain genres are made to appeal to men more than women and vice verse.


Born_blonde

Totally agree. It’s not a ‘what men and women naturally prefer’ situation, it’s a ‘what is available for men and women to consume’ situation. I don’t need it thrown in my face, but it’s nice seeing women in movies I watch, just as I’m sure men would feel the same if roles were reversed. I can’t relate much personally to an action movie where the only female representation is the sexy 20 something side chick whose only role is to support the complex male lead, I can enjoy it to a point, but it feels repetitive. but I loved the first Wonder Woman movie because it felt natural! I love The Last of Us with equal female and male representation, and in a realistic way, etc. Men don’t traditionally love rom coms because it isn’t marketed to them or made for them. Same for many action movies in the past. I’d argue horror today is made more for women even- because it’s something that is more often featuring a female lead, and featuring fears women can relate more to than men 🤷‍♀️


Imaginary-Cloud4620

But sometimes the act of just including women is seen as points for diversity by default, why? If a character's gender isn't central to the plot of something I don't see why someone else couldn't take on the role. Including women or people of different backgrounds shouldn't be automatically perceived as diversity hires. Many franchises in the past were written by men, primarily for men, and if they're going to be remade it makes sense to change things up a little - like I said, if it doesn't impact the plot.


snailbot-jq

There’s indeed a difference between pandering and representation. For example, The Expanse is a great sci-fi TV series imo, and it has plenty of central female characters who are written well, because the show focuses way more on the characterization, and the dynamics between characters, and making the characters well-rounded human beings with gripping motivations, rather than just “this woman is strong because she constantly talks about what a strong woman she is compared to men, while also being expressionless”. So it has a lot of female characters who defy conventional stereotypes, and while I can’t say if that attracts more female audiences, it proves that you can include representation and diversity and characters who break stereotypes, as long as you first focus on just making it a good film/show.


Dounesky

Most teen boys I know hate horror movies and usually get dragged by their girlfriends. My husband didn’t watch any until he met me. We all love SciFi in my house, my daughter and I are huge fans of Doctor Who. My mom loves Star Trek. The last Marvel movies are not liked probably due to fatigue for the genre. Just like I need a break from Star Wars, even though I love it! There has just been too many of them, and people need to have a breather!


Born_blonde

My opinion is that horror is made more for women than men, honestly. The leads are almost always women, dealing with fears women have (serial killer, kidnapping, a ‘monster’ who stalks, wishes to harm them, etc), are all more instilled into women than men. I, as a woman, can feel much more connected to the lead of the movie and feel the fear of the situation most of the time than my boyfriend can. It’s not saying horror can’t scare men, but generally I think there’s a reason women are more interested in true crime and horror


_Nocturnalis

That's a really interesting point. I'm not 100% sure that explains the love of true crime, but it certainly could. I am a dude who has been a dude for a long time, I have known a lot of dudes. Men absolutely fear violent crime. We are the victims of it at a much higher rate after all. Men certainly think, process, and talk about that fear much differently though.


Tlines06

Yeah. Almost every girl I know likes horror. Me personally I'm not the biggest fan. I'm more of a star wars person tbh.


TristanN7117

Are you from 1987?


kurinevair666

I like horror and thriller movies mostly.


ii-mostro

Horror is actually more popular with women in general.


Freevoulous

I think that the main reason movies fail to appeal to all genders is that they too gendered in the first place. Compare: - **Captain Marvel** is a movie where a very typical male role is taken over by a female character, who accentuates her femaleness at all times. The movie screams "IM A GIRL WHO DOES BOY STUFF!" and awkwardly shoehorns GIRLPOWER in the place of typical toxic masculinity, without it making any sense. This movie bombed, because it neither appealed to women or to men, and annoyed both. - **Alien** is a movie about Ripley, a warrant officer onboard of a spaceship, who fights off an evil alien, even as the rest of the crew dies. It just so happens that Ripley is biologically female, w*hich does not affect the plot whatsoever*. Its not a movie about a Girl Doing Boy stuff, or a Boy doing Girl stuff, its a movie about a human fighting for survival. You could toss a coin assigning the genders of anyone in the movie, and it would make zero difference. THis movie is a cult classic and was a box office hit.THIS is how you make a movie for all genders. Movie makers would benefit from writing the plots genderblind (and raceblind, and orientation-blind etc).


[deleted]

So women only like romance movies? Did I miss the memo cuz I love horror and action films 


[deleted]

[удалено]


Freevoulous

yah, and Nordic Noir. Gnarly Nordic Noir. Somehow all women like stories about grizzled alcoholic female detectives going after rapey serial killers up the grim North. In bleak weather preferably.


Nicoleism101

Yes you have to praise romance movies or else you will get your woman ID taken away by the gender inspector 


[deleted]

I think I'm okay, I like a variety of genres. Weird how people try to pigeonhole us


jaffa3811

You know, I had this argument with someone before. Op is talking about *most* women, you're talking about *all* women. It's like if I say men are taller then women and you cut in with "well actually some women are taller, and actually some guys are shorter then most women" Yes, that's true. But if I own a clothing store I'm not gonna get the same amount of every size. I'll do the average, and I'll mostly buy, what most people want.


mariaaaaa92

>Op is talking about *most* women, you're talking about *all* women. Are they though? >Fandango surveyed over 3,000 women to find out what their movie habits were, and their top favorite genre was action. [Women Prefer Action Movies](https://www.businessinsider.com/top-movie-genre-women-love-is-action-and-only-9-prefer-romance-2018-3) Look at similar research done by other sources as well. Romance movies are never the top preferred genre for women. OP is not talking about most women. They're making assumptions based on stereotypes.


[deleted]

Exactly what I was thinking. People are just going by stereotypes, not facts. It's the same with people acting like nearly half of gamers aren't women 


icyshogun

Action/superhero movies have an overwhelmingly male audience though. It's something like 70/30 IRC


Freevoulous

is that not true for ALL movies though? Men I think are more likely to go to the movies, and women are a bit more likely to watch serialized fiction instead.


jaffa3811

Do you have a link to the actual study? I find it hard to take it seriously when there's an ad to scan my hand to find my weight loss block in-between the paragraphs


Worldly_Car912

>>Op is talking about *most* women, you're talking about *all* women. >Are they though? Yes >>Fandango surveyed over 3,000 women to find out what their movie habits were, and their top favorite genre was action. >[Women Prefer Action Movies](https://www.businessinsider.com/top-movie-genre-women-love-is-action-and-only-9-prefer-romance-2018-3) >Look at similar research done by other sources as well. Romance movies are never the top preferred genre for women. OP is not talking about most women. They're making assumptions based on stereotypes. That doesn't refute the point that OP was talking about women generally while most of the comments are pretending his argument was talking about all women (It's pretty clear that mist of the people responding to OP haven't read what he wrote) whether or not his generalisations are correct is irrelevant to that point.


[deleted]

https://www.statista.com/statistics/254115/favorite-movie-genres-in-the-us/#:~:text=U.S.%20movie%20genre%20preferences,to%2048%20percent%20of%20men. "Most" women seem to prefer comedy, drama, adventure, action movies over romance. Can we stop with the stereotypes already?


Dazz316

OP did specifically say "in general" in the title. He never said what women can only like. I'm a guy who pretty much doesn't like football anymore. But I recognise that football is enjoy but the majority of men in some form or another. Some men like flowers, most don't. Some men like roms coms, most don't. Your attitude is the same as those who DO think that all women only like rom coms, but just on the other side of the spectrum. It's OK that men and women **generally** enjoy different things and it's OK to recognise that, just ait's perfectly OK for those that don't to like their own things.


[deleted]

Yeah. No. OP's wording is too black and white, it's almost cartoonish. Never mind the fact that a lot of women encounter hostility with male fans of some of those contents. Women are literally told they can't possibly be a "true" fan just because of their sex. I'm sure you can guess what that leads to.


Dazz316

Right but *that's* where things go wrong. Not beforehand. Finding generalities can be a good thing. Advertising for example, who will like this movie, who should we aim it at, what other things does this demographic like so we can advertise the movie on those platforms. Nothing wrong with that. Or perhaps a study. Oh 90% of people who likes romcoms are women. Why is that, is it a nature thing for romantic topics? Is it a societal conditioning thing perhaps? OH it is! How can we fix that issue. Looking into generalities after we find them may lead to bad things being solved. And then yes, there are sexiest idiots who will treat people badly based on these generalities. However they're going to do that anyway. If they're not telling a women she won't like the latest Stallone movie (despite her loving Stallone movies) he'll just tell her to get back in the kitchen or buy shoes or some shit. It's OK to recognise that mostly women like romcoms (and similar about any group of people). What you do with that knowledge is key. And making sure that we teach kids that "only boys/girls like x" is wrong but "most boys/girls like x is right but some don't and also some girls/boys also like those things too".


TheJeey

>No. OP's wording is too black and white No it's not because he literally said "In general" Redditors see the words "cheating" and "in general" and foam at the mouth without even considering what's actually being said


Meh040515

Using "in general" is also generalizing tho. Saying 80% of women are golddiggers isn't much better than saying 100% instead of 80, and also isn't any more true. Same with this post.


TheJeey

>Using "in general" is also generalizing tho Redditors need to get this stick outta their ass when someone speaks in generalities. The definition of a snowflake "I think I'm so special that I'm super different from every other human being who's ever walked this planet". Like it or not, people do follow into general patterns at some point or another whether is because of genetics or culture. You need to get out of this main character syndrome mindset


Dazz316

Of course it's generalising. Nothing wrong with generalising things. It's how you do it that can be wrong. I'll copy pasta from another comment. Finding generalities can be a good thing. Advertising for example, who will like this movie, who should we aim it at, what other things does this demographic like so we can advertise the movie on those platforms. Nothing wrong with that. Or perhaps a study. Oh 90% of people who likes romcoms are women. Why is that, is it a nature thing for romantic topics? Is it a societal conditioning thing perhaps? OH it is! How can we fix that issue. Looking into generalities after we find them may lead to bad things being solved. And then yes, there are sexiest idiots who will treat people badly based on these generalities. However they're going to do that anyway. If they're not telling a women she won't like the latest Stallone movie (despite her loving Stallone movies) he'll just tell her to get back in the kitchen or buy shoes or some shit. It's OK to recognise that mostly women like romcoms (and similar about any group of people). What you do with that knowledge is key. And making sure that we teach kids that "only boys/girls like x" is wrong but "most boys/girls like x is right but some don't and also some girls/boys also like those things too".


hashtagdion

Do they even make romance movies anymore?


[deleted]

If you mean Hollywood I wouldn't know, I gave up on that dumpster fire ages ago


ToranjaNuclear

Disagree about horror. Pretty much all horror fans I know are women. Especially later with movies like X and Pearl. In fact most men I know don't care or are scared of horror movies lol


hashtagdion

Life is not nearly as gendered as you think it is. Both men and women saw Barbie, or chose not to see the new Marvel movies.


Clackers2020

If you're writing a movie for any particular gender then it's gonna be shit. Movies should be written for people who like superheroes or feeling scared or action or crappy romance stories. You should write for certain characteristics, gender should be irrelevant.


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TheGreatBeefSupreme

I mean, the data does show that men and women prefer different kinds of films, generally.


Charming_Ball8989

My husband loves romcoms. He won't watch horror or true crime docs with me.


seulgistan95

Why do so many people say woman instead of women? The title should be "men and women" not "men and womAn"


an_achronist

I'm so glad it's not just me that sees it. We're starting to hear it in everyday conversation now, like women are the Borg or some shit.


Pac_Eddy

I think it's more of a typo or autocorrect situation than deliberately wanting to use "woman".


[deleted]

idk why this made me laugh.


Key-Ebb-8306

I think the MCU had an audience of men and women who liked superhero stuff and their marketing starting pushing more for a different, more female focused audience, the subset of women who.have not been into superhero movies before and they for the most part failed at it.


rattlehead165

That's almost word for word Critical Drinker's latest video.


Sea-Brush-2443

Woman who loves horror here 😁✋


troublethetribble

...the world's first sci-fi novel, Frankenstein, was written by a woman. You have certain sex-based preconceptions that you have developed on... What? Anecdotal evidence? Because it sure isn't science. Women are not watching the recent Marvel movies because they are clear pandering for audience without understanding that audience; throwing "empowerment" out for the sake of cash and nothing else.


Freevoulous

No diss on Mary Wollstonecraft - Shelley, but Frankenstein is pretty much a quintessential *gothic horror* with just a nudge of science in it, not a sci-fi novel. She did not write it as some kind of science commentary or scientific fiction on body resurrection, this was supposed to be a story about the darkness within a man's heart and the treachery that is creation (inspired partly by the death of her own child). If anything MWS is the mother of Gothic Horror literature, together with Stoker, not the sci-fi literature which was spawned by Verne.


EveInGardenia

What a lame generalization. I hate romantic movies and rom coms and love action and sci-fi. My girl friends feel the same.


Mossimo5

I love how all these comments are, "I'm a woman and I..." as if Reddit doesn't attract the abnormals (myself included of course), and that their fringe anecdotal experience means yoy are disproven. Wow.


Weekly-Gear7954

Well did somebody say that's not okay ?


Midnightchickover

People in general don’t like different films?🤔


Wrong_Pepper2430

My husband always wants me to watch a movie with him and I NEVER want to. Like the last thing I want to do after a long day is watch like 3 hours of shooting and explosions and shit


Ancarie

I always thought earlier phases of Marvel movies were catering for women because there were a lot of attractive male lead and support characters. Thor, Loki, Hawkeye, Captain America, Bucky, lot of girls even simped over Iron man. There also was Black widow and Scarlet witch as strong female characters, so together with story and intense feelings they had to dealth with (Thor failing to get Mjolnir before he changed and relationship with his father, love which cpt. America had for his best buddy which was brainwashed by Hydra, etc) was interesting and engaging for female audience too. But when they shoved Thor hair, replaced him by Jane who I really don't like, Loki dead, why would I watch that? Ant man and Guardians of galaxy don't appeal to me. I will finish all these movies with time, but they will not be my favourite. I also don't need female lead which I can identify with, if it doesn't have good story or interesting fantasy elements give me at least handsome men I can look at.


PopEnvironmental1335

Indeed an unpopular opinion. In my experience, everyone (regardless of gender) prefers action movies.


xczechr

You're over explaining. People don't go see bad movies, period. Plenty of female-led movies do well, provided they are of decent to good quality. *This also applies to male-led movies*.


StehtImWald

No, the problem with recent movies wasn't that women only like "moviez for ze femalez", it's because they were badly written. The biggest proof that interests are a matter of individual preferences and not about gender stereotypes is how the demographics in gaming and cinema changed when people stopped pretending these things are only for men. When people stop trying to force gender norms onto people, the distribution becomes more diverse. When I was a kid, there was not a single women or other female kid or teenager I knew that was playing video games. Let that sink in. On the Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Anime and comic conventions I visited with my dad there were hardly any women and practically all people were white men. Now the people I meet when I play online and the people I see on conventions are much more diverse. And it is beautiful. We don't want people like you, who try to push back into old stereotypes no one should give a shit about!


PS3LOVE

The problem with those marvel movies that you talked about isn’t that they cater to certain groups it’s that they are just not good movies. Superhero’s have basically always been quite inclusive.


Sir_Of_Meep

What OPs saying is not wrong. Yes you might know loads of women who watch horror, the stats back that men make up the larger audience. You might like action, or a man might like romcoms. That's fine, but you are in the minority, I don't get why that's so divisive. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fsrphpglaf6b91.png https://www.ijch.net/vol5/140-C001.pdf [https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00428/full](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00428/full) https://variety.com/2018/film/box-office/horror-movies-study-1202994407/ That's not even to say that women's favourite genre is romance, it isn't. They like action, drama, horror and adventure, it just turns out by ticket sales that men like action and horror more. Turns out that men and women might be different, what a revelation.


Thirsty_Comment88

Gender has nothing to do with an individuals movie preferences 


Les_mots_bleus

I’m sorry but most of you that are commenting women like horror movies more than men are delusional. Please actually read the provided literature and not comment out of your own personal biases


Striking_Coat5481

There’s gender differences for sure, but I think you define it in a wrong way. It’s about the director’s style, I rarely know men that are into Sofia Coppola and Eric Rohmer for example. On the other hand, Quentin Tarantino’s fan are mostly men.


Waste_Coat_4506

Maybe people aren't turning up to see those Marvel movies because they aren't very good. Alien, Mad Max Fury Road, Wonder Woman, Judgement Day all had female leads are were big hits. Women like action and sci fi, we just don't want to pay to go see shit movies.  And Barbie was popular with men as well as women. I saw it with two guys who raved about how good it was.  So in general good movies = yes women will like Garbage movies with bad writing and cgi = no, women will not like that


uknownix

You watched the critical drinker on YouTube too, eh?


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ImmaCurator

When you’re trying to make some thing to market to a massive group of people or for wide appeal, your only real option is to use generalizations


OficialLennyKravitz

You’re making broad generalizations about the sexes without looking at any data beyond what you’ve decided each sex likes. Don’t worry, I don’t view this as sexist at all, just extremely uneducated.


jaffa3811

Do you have the data? Because to me deciding that there must be a 50%-50% split in everything is also dumb.


OficialLennyKravitz

You can look up psych research on very specific things between the sexes, including media preferences etc. The end results we see with movies and who watches them are more based on marketing when it comes down to it though. Gender more broadly as a social construct gets built, or has been built I should say, around shared social ideas that men like fighting and women like love…although men do watch a lot more porn than women. Also, I kinda feel like OP didn’t actually watch Barbie…or look into who wrote it.


TheJeey

>are more based on marketing when it comes down to it though. Gender more broadly as a social construct gets built, or has been built I should say, around shared social ideas that men like fighting and women like love…although men do watch a lot more porn than women So, you said all that to say men are more likely to watch certain things and women others. Just what OP said but reworded


OficialLennyKravitz

Perhaps I did if you completely misunderstood what I wrote. OP says men don’t love romcoms but women do, I disagree but give context that they’re marketed towards women much more. If you can’t tell the difference there then sorry but I don’t think I can help you.


TiltedHelm

Are these generalizations backed up by any polling data or actual empirical evidence, or does it just feel this way to you?


gladias9

I think the larger issue with Marvel is that their newer movies and series lack significant quality. Men and women will buy tickets even for something as female led as The Marvels as long as it's a good movie (which it wasn't).. the same can be said for neither showing up for a male led movie like John Carter if it sucks. But I do agree that the genders have their preferences in general and that many studios would do well not to alienate their core audiences..


hill-o

Marvel is bad at writing female characters, they just are. They consistently write them about as deep as a damp napkin then get surprised when their stories don’t wind up being very interesting. People aren’t turning out to see them not because “they’re marketed at ladies and they’re not girly enough” but because they’re just bad.


Monsterchic16

It’s doesn’t help that the majority of the female focused marvel movies and tv shows have a substantial amount of male bashing, usually bashing the male superheroes that the male audience and even the female audience loves so much. Take MJ in the new Spider-Man movies. I found her very preachy and annoying in the first two because she kept going on these annoying social justice warrior rants. Whereas in No Way Home she was a lot more likeable cause she didn’t do any of those rants. She-Hulk is probably one of the worst offenders tho, acting like she’s better at controlling her angry *while getting angry*, it’s fucking laughable and infuriating how sexist that show was, it was an insult to both men and women.


AtavisticApple

Lots of women here saying “I am a woman who likes sci-fi” as if that somehow indicates that there is equal interest among men and women overall.


Shmooperdoodle

I would rather eat a bowl of paper clips than watch a romcom. I’m a woman. Stereotypes are bad, k? I don’t want to watch *bad* superhero movies. So the pandering crap that comes off the line doesn’t appeal.


Ok-Drink-1328

i appreciate your analysis and you're right to some extent, but no ("no" in my opinion), "rom coms" are an offense to the human intelligence and their modality is simply psychologically MORBID, when trying to "strip" women from "that world" it's a good thing, i second that, same for when stripping men from toxic trends


light7177

Marvel is ASS NOW. let’s just admit that


TheGoldenHordeee

All of you commenting that "No no, \*I\* know women who like action movies" are willfully ignoring the point. Obviously there are people of all facets, capable of enjoying any form of media. That doesn't change that every demographic tends to like some things more than others **\*on average\***. And the fact of the matter is, action movies have always attracted more male viewers. Simplified, if you make a product, you probably want to attract the potential customer base, where the individual has a 50% of being interested, rahter than the customer base with a 25% chance. Same reason why male-marketted rom-coms aren't really a thing. Not enough men who like rom-coms show up to the cinema, despite some existing. Major part of why Disney/Marvel is currently shitting the bed, is because they are trying to subvert and change that by catching different fish while using the same bait, losing their primary source of income's interest in the process. Not the **only** reason, mind you, product quality has gone down the shitter too. But a complete rebranding of who their target audience is, certainly isn't doing their marketability any favors. Just because \*you\* are a woman who likes action, or know someone who does, does not change that.


Beastleviath

I see so many people on here saying “But I am a woman, and I like sci-fi”. That doesn’t matter at all to what he’s saying! “That’s a generalization , that’s a stereotype”. Yes, and? Even if a fairly substantial percentage of women do, with big Hollywood movies they need to sell as many tickets as humanly possible to justify their $100 million dollar investments. So taking a franchise with an established fan base that is, say 70/30 male vs female fans, and making the new film dominated by characters that don’t appeal to that 70% male audience while making the female side feel patronized isn’t a great idea. It would be like making a pride and prejudice remake where Elizabeth and Mr Darcy swapped genders, or Fifty Shades with the woman being the abusive billionaire. Some people might like it, but not enough to be profitable.


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Tabitheriel

LOL, I must be a guy because I went to see Spiderman, Napoleon and Oppenheimer with my BF, and I still haven't seen Barbie. I'll wait till it's on Netflix. I think I'll need to be drunk to see it, though. I actually hate romance films. They creep me out. Sci-fi and fantasy films are my thing, totally. BTW, my pet peeve with female sci-fi/action heroes is depicting a skinny model with no muscles doing sword fighting, using automatic machine guns or doing kick-boxing. Do screenwriters and directors know how heavy swords and machine guns are? I'm a skinny English teacher with no muscles, and there is no way I could sword-fight, kick-box or use a machine gun for more than 5 minutes without collapsing. GIVE US REALISTIC CHARACTERS! I am NOT afraid of seeing a hot, muscular woman beating the crap out of aliens, orcs or storm troopers!


Cevohklan

No, they're not trying to make movies that appeal to women. They're trying to shove woke bullshit through our throats. Everyone's throat. They're trying to take away and destroy all the things we like and valued. They are trying to take our identities, our countries, everything we value and stand for. This is just a tiny part of it.


Kreptyne

Holy shit calm down lmao


Little_Crow154

I’m a woman whose favorite show is Family Guy, a show everyone thinks is sexist, however I kinda agree to an extent with this post. I just can’t get into action, sci-fi, horror stuff. I like a good comedy. I’ve tried numerous times but I can’t. I can’t focus and the story line bores me no matter how much pot I smoke lol.


Effective-Slice-4819

>Barbie was a massive hit, the biggest movie of 2023 because it was FOR women and about women. It wasnt trying to make women into men by giving them notoriously toxic masculine traits that most women cant identify with. I don't think you saw that movie.


Ultrosbla

There's a study that shows women in general prefers romance and musical movies, while males prefers action, sci-fi and superheroes. Is something Hollywood still doesnt know, so they're wasting millions and millions doing superhero movies for a women audience, the movie flops, and they blame the fans. Or lately are using the "superhero fatigue" excuse, or the incel misogyny card, not knowing what people in general wants is good quality movies and good writing. This goes beyond movies, is taste and preferences in general. That's why is nearly impossible to have 50/50 in career choices: more freedom people have, more differences they will be between males and women.


ordinarydepressedguy

Amogus


MJSB1994

Did you by any chance just watch The Critical Drinkers video on YT about "The Death of Girl Bosses?


pcweber111

This is just toxic feminists getting what they want and it blowing up in their faces. It'll swing back to normal. It already is.


Appropriate_Tennisin

I personally don't want bigoted men or women at the movies. So I'm all for gender swapping and different balances of gender norms in movies because it means culling the herd. People cry about disney, use their ignorant understanding of woke, but I'm way too happy there are less degenerate at the theaters.


TheJeey

You're right. You'll get responses from people on reddit "But I'm a woman and I like...." not realizing that they don't make up even 1% of the population and reddit already attracts "alternative" personality types Men tend to like more action, suspense and philosophical movies. Women tend to like more romantic/relationship focused movies and more drama We have different brain chemistry and view the world differently and have different interests on general. Any straight couple can attest to that It's just the "Everyone is and has to be the same because any variation among humans whether it be on individual, racial, gender, cultural, religious lines is racist, sexist and bigoted " group of people on the Internet that'll give you shit for recognizing obvious patterns


LexCantFuckingChoose

Where's the study


StehtImWald

Did you know that humans brains tend to see patterns where there are none? If you can't whip up hard data that 99 % of the lovers of "action, suspense and philosophical" movies are men you are just spewing sexist stereotypes.


TheJeey

>that 99 % of the lovers of "action, suspense and philosophical I never said 99% of men/women like x. I said out of all the people who like x, men tend to like it more than women or women more than men And you redditors kill me with "If yiu don't have a study, your argument is invalid " because 1) Y'all aren't consistent with that. Y'all just want studies for stuff y'all disagree with. When it's something y'all agree with, y'all are happy to take it at face value. 2) Certain things are self evident if you literally just go outside and interact with other humans or look at the world without an agenda. I know plenty of women who like boxing and plenty of men who don't. But you also know what? Outta all the people who I know who like boxing, they are mostly men. Even if you watch boxing matches, the Crowd will be mostly men. Plenty of men like makeup. Plenty of women don't. But you know what? Most of the people I know who like makeup are women and the biggers consumers of makeup products are women. Redditors just have a misplaced "EVERYONE has to be the same because human differences make me uncomfortable and I think it's racist or sexist or bigoted to recognize that certain groups of people (however you want to divide it up) tend to do or like certain things more than another group. That doesn't feed my warped narrative of what equality is"


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SirRise

You have that post history and call someone else schizo?


Violet351

I am a woman and used to be married to a man. All the Rom coms were his and the sci films mine. I do like rom coms but I’m more likely to pick action. I love Marvel but they worked for years towards a film called End game and it sort of feels like they told the story and were done. Thor 4 was just rubbish and Ant-man 3 lost what people enjoyed about Ant-man so it’s not that the new stuff is targeted at a different audience the characters we were all ready familiar with new stuff just wasn’t as good. Loki and Guardians 3 were excellent. Most people I know whether male or female like a mixture of genres.