So I’m as mad as anyone that this bad art spoke to a hundred million people, but I also find it pointless to just rage against it as stupid and wrong when it actually works as a story for so many people, most of whom are women.
So I kept looking at it from every direction, and I finally came up with the answer of WHY this bad art fires on all cylinders.
Here’s my theory, in the hope that you can use it in identifying universal themes that resonate with audiences:
It’s a fable about how femininity absorbs and heals a poisonous, violent masculinity rather than being destroyed by it. It’s a fantasy that makes a massive, terrifying, overwhelming social cancer surmountable by love.
Yes, it gets everything all wrong in its execution, but I believe that the lesson you take away from this howling shitstorm of wrong is that huge themes appeal to huge audiences.