On May 11 we published Why You Should Not Go See “Mad Max: Feminist Road” by Aaron Clarey. Since then, dozens of media outlets including CNN, Vice, The Guardian, and Huffington Post have attempted to denounce Clarey’s article with snark, feminist logic, and adolescent insults.
Clarey’s concerns about Mad Max should be nothing new to ROK readers. Here are two excerpts:
Fury Road was not going to be a movie made for men. It was going to be a feminist piece of propaganda posing as a guy flick.
[…]
So do yourself and all men across the world a favor. Not only REFUSE to see the movie, but spread the word to as many men as possible. Not all of them have the keen eye we do here at ROK. And most will be taken in by fire tornadoes and explosions. Because if they sheepishly attend and Fury Road is a blockbuster, then you, me, and all the other men (and real women) in the world will never be able to see a real action movie ever again that doesn’t contain some damn political lecture or moray about feminism, SJW-ing, and socialism.
The article, now with over 3,400 comments, has not blown up organically through social networking, like our previous viral articles, but through deliberate and simultaneous promotion in the Anglosphere media. The articles claim we’re wrong to complain about how Hollywood has been co-opted by feminist ideals and is actively using movies and other media as vehicles to program impressionable young people around the world to incorrectly believe that women are physically and mentally equal to men, if not outright superior.
Here’s a selection of the more than 25 articles that were written (mostly by women):
Men’s rights activists call for boycott of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road,’ citing feminist agenda (CNN)
The blog the post is published on is known for trolling feminists. Its “about” page, for example, says, “Women and homosexuals are prohibited from commenting here. They will be immediately banned.” The article has received more than 2,000 comments. One commenter wrote, “Women and feminists in general have without a doubt, proven that they are dysfunctional by nature and cannot be trusted with anything. And this movie helps to prove it.”
Men’s Rights Activists Don’t Want You To See ‘Mad Max’ (Huffington Post)
Mens rights activists have given you another reason to get excited to see “Mad Max: Fury Road.” On a blog called Return of Kings, Aaron Clarey asks men to boycott the film because of all the feminist propaganda. Cool, bro.
Mad men mad at Mad Max for having mad women (AV Club)
Despite Clarey’s warnings about these feminist morays, burrowing in the sands of our action movies and eating all our masculinity and cuttlefish, Fury Road is projected to make around $40 million in its opening weekend. And if that happens, someday, some movies may not even be about men at all.
The ‘man-o-sphere’ is outraged about Mad Max? Hand me my popcorn! (Guardian)
Clarey is proposing that the man-o-sphere boycott the film. Which is all the more reason to go, get a large popcorn, satisfied in the knowledge that it’s salted with reactionary tears.
Why men’s rights activists hate Mad Max: Fury Road (Telegraph)
Clarey’s feelings of betrayal are shared by his commenters. One, who uses the commenting alias of “truth”, wrote: “Women and feminists in general have without a doubt, proven that they are dysfunctional by nature and cannot be trusted with anything. And this movie helps to prove it.”
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ draws the ire of men’s rights activists (Daily Dot)
It must be said that Mad Max isn’t without its faults; Clarey rightly pointed out that Ensler isn’t exactly the best person to represent sexual enslavement in the Congo. And the film has already come under fire for allegedly having only one non-white actor in the entire movie, despite being filmed on location in Namibia.
This Guy Wants You to Boycott ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Because He Doesn’t Like Feminism (Vice)
I reached out to Clarey—who also runs a blog called Captain Capitalism—via email with some questions about the boycott, Charlize Theron’s mechanical arm, and whether or not explosions were gendered. His initial response was, “You want to get rid of the snark/fake questions and then I’ll take you seriously?” Which, fine. Asking if a robot arm is gendered is at least light trolling.
There was a lone favorable article: Why ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is the feminist picture of the year (NY Post).
What should struck you is how similar the articles are to each other. The media we have is one full of “journalists” who essentially plagiarize each other without adding any additional reporting or value. If you read one of the above articles, you’ve read them all.
Lost count how many times we’ve had to say “We’re not a men’s rights site.”
— Return Of Kings (@ReturnOfKings) May 15, 2015
Even though we were incorrectly identified as a men’s rights site, the idea that Hollywood is spreading feminist propaganda has for the first time reached the ossified brains of over one million new people this week, perhaps more. Most of these individuals will never allow themselves to accept how unnatural and phony it is to have female heroes who are as strong as men, but a few of them will encounter another movie in the future that portrays women as so comically masculine that they can’t help but remember the site with the word Kings in the title that described that very phenomenon. Once these individuals reject the existing narrative, they already know where to go for more answers. (They are encouraged to start here: Top 35 Most Important Articles On ROK.)
In the end, I wanted to thank all the talentless media typists for taking the time to spread the word about our message. I have no doubt that many men are relieved to have encountered it.
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