There is more to the medium than the message. The Woman King is a case in point
It’s a peculiar sign of our times that filmmakers feel the need to damn the public for having the nerve not to praise their work. In years past, a film’s success was dependent on its reception with audiences. While some gems were lost on initial release only to be rediscovered as cult classics, flops were more often than not totted up to bad luck or poor execution. But now the film-going public are those at fault.
Leaving aside Amazon’s complaints about the altogether chilly reception of its dud series, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, there is another ready example of filmmakers’ derision of the public in actress Viola Davis’s preemptive condemnation of the public vis-á-vis her latest film, The Woman King.
