In the early running for single stupidest news segment of 2015, Fox & Friends brought on a conservative activist to make the case that Hollywood is emasculating the men in this country by placing too many female characters as the heroes in movies. Penny Young Nance, the CEO of a group known as the Concerned Women for America, appeared on the show Wednesday morning and spoke with host Steve Doocy about male roles in recent movies and how she feels they are too often cast as antagonists or idiots in an effort to make women feel superior. She specifically took aim at the Disney hit Frozen and its upcoming sequel.
Doocy started the segment off by introducing a couple of clips from Frozen, moaning that the film portrays men in a negative light and wondering if Hollywood is “empowering women by turning our men into fools and villains.” He then welcomed Nance to the show, making sure to note that she is a mother and offering thanks to her children for letting her appear on Fox when she should be getting them ready for school. Nance then proceeded to complain that Hollywood is sending a message that “men are stupid” and only good for “a paycheck.” Regarding Frozen, Nance had the following to say:
“The question for us as moms is when we bring our daughters to see Frozen, or whatever the movie is, we often have our little boys sitting there, and is this message helpful? We want them to know that they’re essential. We want to raise heroes. We want to raise real men that will stick in their families and be great dads and be great providers and great husbands.”
Doocy responded that filmmakers must think it is just easier to make fun of men than women and that they are just having a little fun with the movies they are making. At that point, Nance went off on a super-crazy tangent where she brought up the Aurora shooting and pointed out that a man saved his girlfriend’s life by throwing his body on her. According to her logic, Hollywood is “tearing down men” and trying to “villainize masculinity” in an effort to make women feel better about themselves.
Obviously, the Fox host agreed with everything she said, and added that “it would be nice for Hollywood to have more male figures in those kinds of movies.” To be honest, this is absolutely jaw-dropping. The reason this is so unbelievably stupid, and just plain offensive, is the basic fact that men dominate the major roles in films and have since the beginning of movies.
Last May, the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film determined that in the year 2013, only 15% of protagonists in that year’s 100 highest-grossing films were female. This represented a 4% increase from 2011 but a 1% decrease from 2002. On top of that, women only accounted for 30% of all speaking parts in those films, and the study revealed that there has not been any significant change in that level over the years.
Of course, for Fox News, conservatives, and men’s rights activists, there are just too many movies out there with women in featured roles and men are just getting the short end of the stick. Only in the right-wing bubble will you see people complaining that there are too many female heroes in movies these days. Because, as we all know, 15% is just way too much.
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Media Matters:
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