Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs

[Disney Irish]

"Captain America represents a lot of different things for many different people. It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable. He's someone who can be looked up to by everyone."

I don't think it's really that hard. My expertise isn't in PR management. But anyone paying any bit of attention to the world could tell you that the "America shouldn't be" line was going to make headlines for the worse.

I think what I changed gets his point across. If you don't think that gets the point across, that would mean there's truth to the assumption he has a problem with America. And I personally don't believe that is the case.

Except you made his answer not about him and what the character means to him, but what it means to others. As I said before if the question was “What does Captain America mean to others” or some variation of that, then I would have agreed with you and your response would have been fine. But this takes his personal answer and makes it impersonal, something many would find in-genuine and off putting.

 

[erasure fan1]

Does anybody know what exactly the question was?

Well, from his answer the question is very obvious in my opinion. He started with, "for me captain America represents" so unless he answered a completely different question then what he was asked. Or the question was something like, what does captain america mean to you or what does he stand for...?

It’s not just you. Any person that actually understands the character knows what he meant. But some people need to virtue signal and thus a manufactured controversy was born.

I agree completely. My whole stance on this revolves around the fact that we know there are people out there that are just looking for a statement like this to drag Disney through the mud. It's nothing new. We also know that the majority of normies don't know the histories with most of these characters. So what's the issue with helping the actors navigate this minefield?

 

[Chi84]

I guess my question would be, then why do you care when things like this blow up? If you support actors just saying what pops in their head with no coaching, then you should be expecting that certain comments are going to go south. That's just the reality of it.

I'm not sure why we still have this all or nothing mentality. Why does helping someone tweak what they are trying to say turn into "some corporate boilerplate"? Never did I suggest that's what should happen.

Speaking for myself, I don’t care what they say but I believe they have a right to express their opinions without their words being misquoted and twisted out of shape by people with malicious intent.

That’s what happened with Zegler and it’s what’s happening with Mackie. They said nothing to provoke a “blow-up” and don’t deserve to have their opinions censored by corporate.

 

[erasure fan1]

Speaking for myself, I don’t care what they say but I believe they have a right to express their opinions without their words being misquoted and twisted out of shape by people with malicious intent.

That’s what happened with Zegler and it’s what’s happening with Mackie. They said nothing to provoke a “blow-up” and don’t deserve to have their opinions censored by corporate.

I don't think the Mackie thing is out of context at all. Is the meaning of what he said what's being circulated? No, not in my opinion. I've said that many times now. Again, why the all or nothing? Why does coaching them translate to corporate censorship? Who really didn't read the quote and say, uhhhh that's gonna ruffle some feathers. At least if you're being honest.

 

[Chi84]

I don't think the Mackie thing is out of context at all. Is the meaning of what he said what's being circulated? No, not in my opinion. I've said that many times now. Again, why the all or nothing? Why does coaching them translate to corporate censorship? Who really didn't read the quote and say, uhhhh that's gonna ruffle some feathers. At least if you're being honest.

I disagree. I think it was taken completely out of context.

 

[Phroobar]

Celebrities are sent out to promote their film. They are suppose to be trained by PR to stay on script. When they screw up the script or the script is poorly worded, people instantly jump on it. Some are really good at handling these PR interviews and others like Zegler sound like morons when they didn't study their talking points.

Will Smith once asked Arnold Schwarzenegger how to become the biggest celebrity in the industry. Arnold said to get really good at promoting the film and doing additional things for the fandom. Growing the fandom was key. So Smith would do free concerts in conjunction with his latest movie and got really good at interviews. It made Will Smith one of the highest paid actors. Then he got lazy and his ego took him down.

 

[erasure fan1]

I disagree. I think it was taken completely out of context.

As I don't see it, how was it taken out of contex?

 

[Chi84]

As I don't see it, how was it taken out of contex?

I wrote a really long comment in another thread that is no longer there; I think it was removed along with the comments that turned political. I'm not going to re-state the whole thing.

But in short, he said Captain America did not represent the "term" America, "term" meaning word or name. He went on to explain that Captain America represented values and characteristics that spanned all people. People leave out the word "term" and misquote him as saying he doesn't represent America as a country.

There was more but I'm not going to repeat it so I realize it may not make as much sense.

 

[LittleBuford]

I guess my question would be, then why do you care when things like this blow up?

Because of the toxicity it reflects and engenders. I find it depressing in the extreme how far public discourse has moved away from civility, sincerity, and proportionality. I think it’s important to care about such things and do what we can to promote kindness and restraint

ETA: @Chi84 answered the question more effectively. I fully agree with her.

 

[erasure fan1]

Except you made his answer not about him and what the character means to him, but what it means to others

Not really. All I did was take out the America isn't part of it. The main body is his words. And you don't think Mackie believes that Cap can be looked up to anyone?

But this takes his personal answer and makes it impersonal, something many would find in-genuine and off putting.

So you think he is genuine in that he doesn't think America is part of it? Then you shouldn't be shocked that this has blown up. If not, then what I'm saying is valid.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Because of the toxicity it reflects and engenders. I find it depressing in the extreme how far public discourse has moved away from civility, sincerity, and proportionality. I think it’s important to care about such things and do what we can to promote kindness and restraint

ETA: @Chi84 answered the question more effectively. I fully agree with her.

It also ends up doing real harm to real people, all because people are trying to score some clout with their social media audience. It makes it even worse now that engagement (from most times insincere posts rage baiting and farming), means you make money.

We are in a society where eyeballs and engagement at any cost has been monetized, to the masses. Now anyone can profit off of the misery of others, simply by buying into a verification program on Twitter.

 

[erasure fan1]

Because of the toxicity it reflects and engenders. I find it depressing in the extreme how far public discourse has moved away from civility, sincerity, and proportionality. I think it’s important to care about such things and do what we can to promote kindness and restraint

I agree. But you know as well as I that isn't always going to happen. So again, why is what I'm saying so controversial to you and a few others? All I'm saying is if you can avoid giving fuel to sites that just want to drag Disney through the mud, why wouldn't you? And I'm not advocating for them to give some corporate canned response. Or not let them talk.

But in short, he said Captain America did not represent the "term" America, "term" meaning word or name. He went on to explain that Captain America represented values and characteristics that spanned all people. People leave out the word "term" and misquote him as saying he doesn't represent America as a country.

Then my question is what does the tem America mean to you? To a lot of people the term America is deeply tired to traditional American values. So if he just adds the word only, it's not nearly as ridiculed in my opinion. Doesn't only represent the term America... Just that would have been better. I get what he was saying, it sounds like you get what he was saying. But a lot of people will hear it with their definition of America. That's why it could be worded better, and that's Disneys PR team that can help. Not silence them, but help them.

 

[DKampy]

It also ends up doing real harm to real people, all because people are trying to score some clout with their social media audience. It makes it even worse now that engagement (from most times insincere posts rage baiting and farming), means you make money.

We are in a society where eyeballs and engagement at any cost has been monetized, to the masses. Now anyone can profit off of the misery of others, simply by buying into a verification program on Twitter.

Perfectly said… I feel Social Media has done real harm to our society…. I choose not participate in any of it… it is better for my mental health

Example Sslena Gomez badgering…. Cause she dared to feel empathy

 

[MisterPenguin]

CosmicRewind🚀 (@tomorrowventure.bsky.social)

Powerful page from Captain America #275 (1982): "I fought Adolf Hitler not because America was great, but because it was fragile. I knew that liberty could as easily be snuffed out here as in Nazi Germany. As a people, we were no different from them."

bsky.app

 

[Disney Irish]

Not really. All I did was take out the America isn't part of it. The main body is his words. And you don't think Mackie believes that Cap can be looked up to anyone?

You've taken all personal meaning out of what he said and tried to make it generic about how he thinks everyone else feels about the character. And while I think what you wrote is fine for a different question, for "What does Captain America represent to you today, as a superhero?", that doesn't provide the same response. Sorry just don't think it does.

So you think he is genuine in that he doesn't think America is part of it? Then you shouldn't be shocked that this has blown up. If not, then what I'm saying is valid.

No I don't. You have spoken about getting past absolutes, except that is what you are doing now. You're saying either you think that how I reworded is fine, or you think he truly intended what people are getting upset about. This is just a different type of absolute.

Forbes just wrote a great piece on this, and even shows how what Mackie said mirrors the same thing that Evans said about the character back in 2011 -

Anthony Mackie’s Controversial Captain America Quote Mirrors Chris Evans, The Comics

Ahead of the release of Captain America: Brave New World, star Anthony Mackie went viral with his take on what Captain America represents. But he's not wrong.

www.forbes.com

This shows that this is just the next drummed up thing that people want to get mad over. So if Mackie can't reiterate what was already said about the character by the previous actor, then again no amount of PR training or rewording is going to help. Also based on this and his response to the outrage, he already has had plenty of PR training. And has handled it with grace and professionalism.

 

[Disney Irish]

I agree. But you know as well as I that isn't always going to happen. So again, why is what I'm saying so controversial to you and a few others? All I'm saying is if you can avoid giving fuel to sites that just want to drag Disney through the mud, why wouldn't you? And I'm not advocating for them to give some corporate canned response. Or not let them talk.

Then my question is what does the tem America mean to you? To a lot of people the term America is deeply tired to traditional American values. So if he just adds the word only, it's not nearly as ridiculed in my opinion. Doesn't only represent the term America... Just that would have been better. I get what he was saying, it sounds like you get what he was saying. But a lot of people will hear it with their definition of America. That's why it could be worded better, and that's Disneys PR team that can help. Not silence them, but help them.

Except I think you're still missing the point of why its worded the way it is, it specifically gets to the core of the character. And is something that has been echoed time and again not only within the comics for decades but also by the former actor that played him. And yet its only now that people have issue with it. Are people so fragile today that they can't handle that a movie character from the comics isn't representing just a single nation but all people? No amount of rewording is going to change this faux outrage, I'm sorry but its not. People are going to be mad for whatever reason no matter what.

So I appreciate your attempt to reword it, I do, but I think this is just one time where PR rewording isn't going to make a difference.

 

[Agent H]

The reason all of this is happening is because we live in the era of the terminally online media grifter who complains about everything being “woke” for clicks they essentially brainwash otherwise good decent people into being the same way

 

[CinematicFusion]

Because of the toxicity it reflects and engenders. I find it depressing in the extreme how far public discourse has moved away from civility, sincerity, and proportionality. I think it’s important to care about such things and do what we can to promote kindness and restraint

ETA: @Chi84 answered the question more effectively. I fully agree with her.

Public discourse has never been perfectly civil.

Throughout history, debates have often been highly aggressive. In ancient Rome, senators literally fought each other. In 19th century America, a congressman once beat a senator nearly to death with a cane on the Senate floor.
Newspapers in the 18th and 19th centuries were often filled with vicious personal attacks, outright fabrications, and deeply partisan rhetoric.

What has changed is that in the past, discourse was shaped by slower moving institutions like newspapers, which imposed editorial oversight and encouraged more measured discussions.
Today, digital platforms have given everyone their own personal bully pulpit, where rapid, emotional reactions are amplified with little consequence for bad behavior. Even traditional news media has become highly commercialized, prioritizing ratings and sponsorships over balanced reporting. Every network now operates like a political version of SportsCenter, tailoring one-sided narratives to their audience based on algorithms. Instead of fostering debate, they reinforce existing beliefs, preaching to the choir in an echo chamber. And if people don’t like what they hear on one platform… whether it’s X, Blue Sky, or something else… they simply migrate to another that better aligns with their worldview.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Perfectly said… I feel Social Media has done real harm to our society…. I choose not participate in any of it… it is better for my mental health

Example Sslena Gomez badgering…. Cause she dared to feel empathy

Exactly, she posts one small video, expressing her sadness, and is then vilified by major news outlets, as if she is out there kicking small children and being a villain.

The way social media now works, wrapped into the media landscape, turning nothing into major stories / talking points, is just... it's all icky.

 

[Disney Analyst]

And before someone says we've gone off topic, I do think social media these days, paired with what stories from those platforms the main stream media decides to pick up on, impacts the box office.

Like it or not, Social Media now shapes narratives around specific films, actors, etc. It's all part of the current box office / movie industry landscape.