Feminist Executives Ruined Hollywood Franchises; Returning Power to Men Will Restore Quality and Profitability
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Hollywood’s Feminist Reckoning: The Girlboss Era Is in Trouble | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." October 26, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that women with feminist views in charge of Hollywood sidelined male heroes and made flops that wrecked beloved franchises. He believes the current layoffs are a correction, and that putting men back in charge will bring back movies that audiences want and that make money.
Conclusion
Feminist ideology among Hollywood's female decision-makers has damaged the industry commercially and artistically, so the current executive purges, and the return of decision-making power to men, will have positive consequences for Hollywood.
Premises
- Women in Hollywood decision-making positions pushed a common agenda of sidelining or diminishing male heroes and elevating female heroes.
- Franchises that followed this agenda (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Mad Max, Black Panther, John Wick) were damaged, and films such as Furiosa, Wakanda Forever, and Ballerina bombed and hurt their franchises.
- The executives who oversaw several of these films were fired, and the recent layoffs fall disproportionately on women, which suggests a link between their decisions and the industry's troubles.
- Past male-led studios made commercially successful films that appealed to both men and women, including films co-written by women, in which male leads were a match for strong female leads.
- Netflix's handling of the Narnia franchise under Greta Gerwig, including casting Meryl Streep as Aslan, has provoked fan backlash and poor test screenings, which shows that feminist creative choices fail commercially.
Assumptions
- The commercial failures were caused by feminist ideology and female-led casting rather than by script quality, marketing, franchise fatigue, or budgets.
- The women named are representative of 'feminist' executives, and gender and ideology are interchangeable predictors of creative decisions.
- Audiences primarily want male-hero-centered stories and avoid female-led ones.
- Male executives will automatically prioritize making good pictures and will not make comparable errors.
- Mid-century Hollywood's success was due to its gender dynamics rather than to different market conditions.
- Layoffs and firings reflect performance on ideological projects rather than general industry contraction.