When The “Cool Kids” Are The Wrong Audience

Everytime I think about the “cool kids” that song’s chorus enters my head.

Even in a small high school like the one I went to you had your cliques. Ours got along mostly well…not counting the bullies and my people of course…but every school has their “cool kids”, the ones everyone wishes they were. Ours actually were cool and were nice to everyone, including myself, but we didn’t exactly have a large class compared to the cities. Of course we usually grow out of such things. The “nerds”, “jocks”, “artists”, “geeks”, “partiers” and what have you just become people with certain hobbies, interests, and lifestyles.

And then there’s Hollywood.

Hollywood-types still want to be the ones everyone loves and to have their inflated egos stroked, and that mentality has infected other media types, especially as corporate Hollywood has taken over so many geek culture sources. Despite how important geeks and nerds have become to our culture and way of life (for example, look at what you’re reading this on and convince me geeks weren’t somehow involved in it’s creation besides the dope writing this article you’re reading) the Hollywood mentality still wants to toss them aside. The science fiction fans, the animation lovers, and fantasy enthusiasts has been dumped on as a genre for years outside of books and games. Fantasy has never really been given a seat at the table with Westerns, rom-coms, dramas, horror, and to a lesser extent sci-fi. Superheroes, which would be part of the hybrid genre “science fantasy”, are the latest targets of the “cool kids”. I’ve mentioned them before but unlike the “everything for meeeeeeeeee” crowd, self-important backsides who insist everything popular must cater to their tastes, preferences, and worldviews, I’ve never really identified what the term “cool kids” as I use it in these articles means.

During Monday’s “Morning Nonsense” stream over at Literature Devil’s YouTube channel, I mentioned the fact that writers, editors, and producers are playing to the “cool kids” and he identified one group of what that term entails. The thing is different kinds of creators target their own “cool kids”, aka the ones that they want to most get the love and praise (and money) from. So let’s go over the various types of “cool kids”, who is targeting them, and why in some cases they’re making a mistake by targeting the wrong audience. I’m not putting down any of these groups, mind you. Everybody has a right to be entertained. It’s just that they aren’t the only ones.

“Cool Kids” group A: “Normaies”, aka “Casual Audiences”

Targeted by: the studios and money people

This is the one LD spoke of and is probably the largest class of “cool kids” because that’s what the studios and publishers all go after. The larger the company the more likely they are to not just want to make a decent profit, but to have ALL THE MONEY! The goal is of course to get as much money as you can, which you can both put back into the business and have a comfortable living for yourself, but you aren’t going to be the one solo company if you go after everyone.

I’m not saying you can’t make stories that target the casual audience. It’s a considered opinion here at BW Media Spotlight (aka…me) that demographics are bull@#$%. I enjoy a number of shows, games, and comics that weren’t made with me in mind, nor would I want them to because I already like what’s being presented. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was created with little girls in mind but Lauren Faust created a show with great characters having fun adventures, and it went past the target audience. Guys in college were admitting to liking this show, but thankfully the showrunners never reworked the show to cater to them. The big hit now is Bluey, an animated series out of Australia that targets kids but also has something for the parents in the audience without getting too adult. The closest they get is when you can tell Bandit and Chilli have a hangover but don’t want to explain that to their kids.

The thing is the casual audience or casual fans don’t need a whole lot to be entertained…as long as you don’t get insulting or lazy mind you. Like kids, regular people know when they’re being talked down or preached to and are just here to be entertained after a hard day. You can create something with continuity and not lose the casual fans while still making the die-hard fans happy. I can prove this with an episode of the original He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe called “Eternal Darkness”. The episode shows us the return of Darkdream, a threat to Eternia that was defeated by the Heroic Warriors years ago, perhaps even before the first appearance of He-Man. When did he first show up on the show? The episode “Eternal Darkness”. There is no earlier adventure but you didn’t need it. They told you everything you need to know about them, and you can do the same with a recurring character in a longtime show without needing to be bogged down in continuity and losing the casuals. Just don’t ignore it and you have the fans who care about such things happy.

Then again, some stories just need to be targeted towards a particular group, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If something needs to be heavy fantasy or heavy western, that’s the audience you’re going to get and that’s fine. Tell the story that needs to be told and let it find its audience. Otherwise you have something so bland to please everybody that it’s going to be boring to everyone and nobody will care about it by the time it’s done, like a flavorless meal. There’s a point even my taste buds will lack the ability to find flavor, and they’re rather sensitive. It’s the same with a story that is trying to please everybody. The end result will actually please nobody. Sorry, but there is no one movie/game to rule them all, that will draw every person together in peace and harmony. We’re individuals with our own tastes, some stronger or more focused than others. There will be genres we love, genres we like, and genres we don’t want anything do to with, and stories in-between that may drag someone else in if you’re lucky. Targeting everybody doesn’t work. Tell your story and let it find an audience. Then again, that’s harder with the other sets of “cool kids”.

“Cool Kids” group B: Activist…I mean The Underrepresented “Modern Audience”

Targeted by: other activists

I don’t discuss “wokeness” or “SJWs” often on this site because I discuss storytelling, not the culture war. The only time I mention activist writers, usually on the very FAR left in 2023 though there are times past the far right has made the same mistake, is when you have a case of dogma over good storytelling. Even the mainstream liberals and conservatives get this wrong. They want to write a nonfiction commentary but they try to tell a story at the same time and it just doesn’t work. The extreme activists are the ones who get it the most wrong…often because they show they don’t know what the @#$%$# they’re talking about.

This is how you end up with a story in which a black kid becomes Thor in a tale that ends up being a Norse mythology version of The Wiz. You know, the play and movie where The Wizard Of Oz was recontextualized as Harlem. An urban version of Oz makes some manner of sense as a different take, but a slum version of Asgard? That’s kind of insulting to the Norse pantheon AND to black people, that Harlem is the best they’re going to ever do and seemingly thinking they like it that way.

Then you have the latest cause du jour, the ones writers, editors, publishers, directors, and producers go to in order to prove how “with it I am, daddio”. This is not a slam on the LGBTQ+etc community as a whole, though I will slam your extremists just as will mine if they ever get back any power within the entertainment industry. Decisions are not made for the story but to make this or that group happy. Characters will suddenly turn gay or just bi if they think they can still play to the intended without the same backlash as Marvel got when Iceman, despite being depicted as straight for decades, was suddenly outed by a time traveling teenage Jean Grey in an absolutely dumb looking page padded with shrugging. You’ve all seen it. I don’t even need to post it.

The problem comes in when that community is only getting tales about them being gay, or bi, or stories about their race that of course has to involve their culture. Funny how at one point in the past people were saying “can’t we have a story about an Asian superhero who gets powers like everyone else” and fast forward a few years to say “nope, being Asian is all they’re about”…and it’s by the same group. In this case it’s actually the reverse of the casuals problem in which unless you want to see a story about being a black transgender lesbian you may not be interested in this character, and if that wasn’t the original focus of the hard hitting fantasy detective story set in the far future you end up losing that audience…including any actual black transgender lesbians who have other interests than their racial and sexual perspectives. I know I don’t wake up going “what straight white male things will I do today?”.

This is lost on the activist writer, who just wants to win the awards, promote a cause they believe in, get the praise of their community and fellow activists, and just assumes anyone who doesn’t like it is a bigot (or self-loathing if they’re part of the targeted group) despite plot holes the size of galaxies, reimagining a beloved lore–thus entering “everything for meeeeeeeeee” territory, and basically making so sense just to tell your gay character story instead of just doing your gay character story and letting someone else do something in the genre or franchise who actually cares about that genre or franchise. The “everything for meeeeeeee” crowd are usually less about ANY of the “cool kid” types and more “I want to tell this story but marketing something new is too much like work so I’ll trick them in with something already popular”, a trick also used by the activists and the next group on our list.

“Cool Kids” group C: The “Real” Movie Aficionados

Targeted By: auteurs, elitists, and other snobs

Ah, the elitist snob version of geek culture’s “true fans” nonsense. I bring up often how Todd Philips created his take on the Joker as a negative response to the DC comic villain specifically and the rise of superhero movies in general. Instead of the criminal who went insane after an acid bath messed up his skin, hair, and most likely his mind we get some schmuck in cheap clown make-up he probably got from Spirit Of Halloween one year. See also the Christopher Nolan version, which is why I’ll admit Heath Leger made a great last performance but he didn’t play the Joker. At least Nolan was trying to do a decent Batman, though one “grounded in reality”, and that’s a discussion for another time.

The auteur is a unique one on this list. If the casual targeters want as wide an audience as possible and the activists think they’re going after a wider audience with their message, the auteurs and elitists actually want to “improve your tastes” by proving their movies are better. They have a very narrow view of what makes a good movie. Francis Ford Coppola tried to convince George Lucas not to make his “silly sci-fi movie” and instead work on a movie he thought had merit. Science fiction and anything made for kids are already looked down upon by this group, but they actually want to convince you that every movie and show should have the best cinematography (good luck with that on a TV budget since that’s what hurt the original Battlestar Galactica in ABC’s viewpoint despite the high ratings and large fanbase), should make you think, or even better, cry like a baby. Because their movies don’t have happy endings that make you enjoy life, they have sad endings that make you hate life. If you can’t see the torture in the protagonists soul or sympathize with the villain they feel they’ve failed.

In a way they’re the opposite of the activist, though many activists are also part of this group. The activist just want to tell you what to think and who to hate while the usual auteur wants to make you think without openly choosing a side. Both want you to sympathize with bad people, but the auteur will actually admit it, calling it nuance. They also seek the praise of their peers, since for activist and auteur alike their peers are the real “cool kids”. Again, the auteurs just openly admit it. You’re wrong for preferring the popcorn flick or the action sci-fi so if they’re going to make science fiction (and they will insist there’s a difference between “sci-fi” and “science fiction”) it’s going to be thought provoking and lacking any action. No shootouts, no space gunfights, and as little actual fiction as they can put into the science. Look at what Quentin Tarantino wanted to do to Star Trek, by making a movie about the crew being stuck in the past and having to become gangsters. Just make a gangster picture and acknowledge not everyone is going to watch your movies. I mean, you have a strong enough fanbase. You don’t need to do Star Trek. Everyone’s happy with Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. Even fans of those movies don’t want to see Star Trek turn into that any more than they wanted Superman to be Batman.

See, Batman they can work with. Just make him a violent yet tortured soul who can’t get over his parents’ murder and is out for revenge rather than keeping others from sharing his fate. Just take out all that comic crap and make it a grimdark revenge picture. At least that’s how they think. They don’t like comics, video games, or cartoons and don’t understand how you could like something that doesn’t have live actors and real world settings. It’s not “real art” unless you talk about paintings or their movies, shows, and plays.

Now I’m not trashing them. Well, maybe Todd Philips for being openly hostile to superhero movies, as part of that group who were calling “superhero fatigue” because they honestly want to see the genre fail. Everyone I’ve mentioned has produced cinematic masterpieces and I’m okay with that. The problem is that’s all they think stories should be and anything else is beneath them and not “good cinema”. There are two things they don’t realize. One is that the casual viewers might just want something more fun, something to take the edge off of their week or just something they can enjoy with friends or even…gasp…family. The other is that if every story was like theirs then their stories wouldn’t be special anymore. Having standouts like Apocalypse Now, the movie Coppola wanted Lucas to make instead of his own science fantasy epic, is better viewed because it’s rare as well as good. (I’ve heard. I’m not really into war movies unless they involve spaceships, robots, or space wizards.) Casual movies are not worse, just different, catering to a different audience and you will not turn everybody into the type of cinephiles you want. If we aren’t into your type of movie, there are plenty of people who are, and that doesn’t make them the real movie fans or the “cool kids” you think everyone should be. Also being deep, symbolic, or that other stuff doesn’t work if the movie is bad. I’m sure we can think of at least one pretentious and self-important movie who thought it was better than it actually was.

image source: Wikipedia

What about the kids they think aren’t cool enough to play with them?

Geek and actually nostalgic filmmakers may have to come and do this stuff for themselves, to bypass the “cool kids” and make these genres right…except my worry is that they’ll form their own type of “cool kids”, the ones who will bury their work in lore, worldbuilding and other stuff we do see in some novels. I don’t want to see that go into movies and TV either. It will just be a new type of the same problem. I don’t think it’s “gatekeeping” to make a movie, show, game, or comic for a particular group, the fans who already found that genre or franchise and already love it. It becomes gatekeeping when the material actually is too heavy for casual fans, sometimes by design if not by accident, or if you have to do homework to understand it rather than being so interested in what you saw that you want to go back and find the references. Comics used to be good at this. “We first saw this guy in issue #50. Check that out later but here’s what you need to enjoy this issue.”

There’s a right and wrong way to approach a story. Like with Darkdream earlier, you shouldn’t need to know a previous adventure in its entirety to get into the current appearance, especially if there isn’t one. That keeps out new people, which is just how the hipsters and “true fans” like it but they’re wrong as well. You can make Star Trek for a current audience (the term “modern audience” has become an activist codeword for “make it for us and the group we claim to represent while embracing stereotypes”) without losing the actual fans. You can make Superman without making it only for Superman fans. In fact that’s been done numerous times over the decades. It’s part of what made me a Superman fan.

It disappoints me to see fans get upset if the “dirty casuals/normies” take an interest in something they like. Gamers and anime fans are the worst example. In this case they’re the “cool kids” and everything must be made for them. Well, there’s nothing wrong with phone games meant to waste time on the bus or in the waiting room and not everyone is as wide versed in Japanese culture as you (think you) are. I don’t want to see this audience played to exclusively, and there’s the whole deal. Playing to the “cool kids” means playing ONLY to the “cool kids” at the expense of the actual fans or those casuals who don’t mind if they don’t know every detail so long as they can understand what’s happening enough to know who to root for. If all you want is praise and awards, you’re doing it wrong. Sure, that’s nice to have, but if you only seek it from “your kind”, because they see themselves as part of the “cool kids” or just wanting to be like the “cool kids” so they can be among their alleged peers and social circles, the story is lost in the process. The people who made this popular are tossed aside because everything needs to be about you, your preferences, and the preferences of the group you want to tell you how wonderful you are. It shouldn’t be about making movies for everyone, or just a particular group who thinks the same way you do. It should about making a good story and letting the audience find it, then playing to that audience regardless of demographics or social circles, or the intended audience and welcoming the “outsiders” to something that might make them think or join in with someone outside their circle.

That’s how stories can bring us together, rather than keep us compartmentalized. I don’t wish that I could be like the “cool kids”. I want to be like myself. If the “cool kids” are actually cool, they’ll be okay with that and may even accept me saying hello now and then. Sometimes the “cool kids” really don’t get it, or want you to fit in unless you become like them. That’s not a thought pattern that leads to good stories. You don’t choose your audience, the story you want to tell does, and if that’s not for everyone there’s nothing wrong with that. If the “cool kids” don’t like it…they aren’t actually cool, kid.