Men these days just can’t catch a break. From commercials for feminine hygiene products to movies about princesses, American boys find themselves left out of the cultural conversation, their self-esteem shredded by their lack of representation in movies and on TV. That’s what Fox News host Steve Doocy thinks anyway, as he tellingly revealed in an interview with fellow crazy person Penny Nance, CEO of the Christian women’s group Concerned Women for America.
In the interview, Doocy asked a leading question about Frozen depicting men as “evil and cold and bumblers,” to which Nance replied, “Hollywood in general has often sent a message that men are superfluous, that they’re stupid, that they’re in the way and if they contribute anything to the family, it’s a paycheck.” The emphasis on positive female role models is empowering girls at their male siblings’ expense, Nance argued. (God forbid a boy have a female role model.) To which Doocy replied, in the most beautifully oblivious statement to be captured on Fox News for at least the next few hours:
“It would be nice for Hollywood to have more male figures in those kind of movies as heroes.”
Yes, Frozen is popular, so popular that it’s still part of the cultural conversation more than a year after it was first released. But listen, Steve—have you seen any other movies? Ever?
Looking at the top 20 films released in 2014, 13 of those featured at least one male protagonist, even when adjusted to remove R-rated movies and apes from the equation. But apparently Star-Lord and Hiccup and Emmet Brickowski don’t count, at least not as much as Elsa and Anna. Nobody tell Doocy that Frozen was co-directed by a woman, lest he start a charity to address the lack of male representation in Hollywood.
