Art and Culture #95: BROS Star and Co-Writer, Eichner, Blames Straight Viewers for Box Office Failure!
-For the Uncensored!
The idea that every piece of art is supposed to be a success is a joke. When movies are in a steady rate of decline, even after COVID-19 was unleashed on the world, the entertainment industry had to shift to an all-digital medium. Digital books and music were unaffected in 2020, but BROS, in 2022, would have been a smash hit in 2012. But in the marketplace of ideas, the best ideas are the ones who convey the human experience. Heartbreak. Failure. Anger. Love. Lust. All the things that make a story last throughout the ages. But you probably had better things to do.
Billie Eichner, co-writer and star of BROS (2022) is the average rom com movie about two gay people finding love in New York City. That’s basically it. There’s no cow boy scenery, like in Broke Back Mountain, where subtlety and craft balanced a difficult subject. But BROS (2022), even in its trailer, fails to present any moral conundrum to the world of gay or even homosexuality. Somehow, Brokeback Mountain (2006) and The Birdcage (1996) created a story that appealed to both male and female, straight and gay audiences. Both films do strongly create a story about two clashing ideas. What is traditionally masculine and what is traditionally feminine in a story between two male homosexuals by humanizing their life. Which is what Billy Eichner thought he was doing with BROS.
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But Rom Coms can’t and always don’t answer the moral conundrum of human emotion. It’s meant to be pop corn food for couples. But Billy Eichner, in a tweet, ranted that BROS failure wasn’t because the film was good, but blamed “straight audiences for it not being successful.” Pulling an Elizabeth Banks blaming men for not watching her 2019 Charlie’s Angels reboot.
Oh boy, the typical Hollywood response. It’s easy to blame an audience for any piece of arts failure. Did Ridley Scott go around blaming the audience when Blade Runner failed in 1982? No. The impossible question is that nothing is ever meant to succeed. Art, if it holds the test of time, can always find a way to reach new audiences.
But Billy Eichner, in his stupidity, thinks that straight people are to blame. The question is: who really wanted BROS (2022)? Variety’s Zack Sharf and William Earl’s “Why Did Billy Eichner’s ‘Bros’ Bomb at the Box Office? Straight People aren’t entirely to Blame” almost says it all in the title, as “4.8 million” box office receipts show that the film didn’t have the “star power” and “LGBTQ viewers didn’t show up to see the comedy in theaters either.”[1]
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Even Jacob Smith’s October 3rd, 2022 “Bros Review, Narcissism, Degeneracy, and Grooming, Oh My!” even stated, “As a film critic, I am willing to look past a lot of questionable content within the context of a film’s storytelling, but sometimes there comes a point where even I have to draw the line and recognize that a given filmmaker is operating entirely in bad faith.” As he even gives credence to “Love Simon” being released in 2018, which debunks the gay rom com theory “released in over 100 years.”[2] Because if two men are masturbating together, detailing the shame of being on Grynder, then that’s nothing new. But it’s not entirely accurate of what gay couples actually go through. Of course, it’s a fake film, a rom com, but it’s all rather boring. And while I don’t exactly agree with Jacob Smith, it’s interesting to point out how flaccid the film represented actual life of two people in love. And don’t think the gay community can’t be tone deaf, because they can, sometimes.
It’s so incomprehensible that Billy Eichner didn’t even bother to check with his own people what could have saved the film. But a bad craftsman always blame his tools. The will to talent is often akin to Nietzsche’s line “the will to power” which in art, must hold both talent and power together through one cunning visionary. And BROS is certainly not that.
To understand Art is to be self-aware of what will survive and what won’t. But then, who is really going to blame Eichner for his dumb response on Twitter? He didn’t have the money to pull a Captain Marvel and buy out theaters across the country. So, what does it mean for the future of Rom Coms that were once filled up with men going to see Cameron Diaz Rom Coms? Because she is talented as well as attractive.
It’s always the audience and never the artists fault? It may take time but Billy Eichner must learn the hard way that representation will not always translate to box office receipts. Even glowing reviews don’t matter anymore. It’s hard to change society when art itself must somehow encompass two halves of society. Male and female. So, if the LGBTQ audience didn’t like it, straight people aren’t the problem. Well-crafted art, even when celebrated, can stand the test of time and find new audiences. For “BROS” (2022), it doesn’t mean it might or not. But it shows that gay culture might be taking three steps back in films and art, too. Besides, if Billy Eichner’s film concerned a gay art thief stealing art while maintaining a relationship, that might have helped sell the gay aspect. And my final message to Billy Eichner is, live with the finished product.
But asking to be entertained is akin to war crimes these days.
[1] https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/bros-box-office-bomb-why-billy-eichner-comedy-flopped-1235391341/. Found 10.04.2022.
[2] https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/10/03/bros-review-narcissism-degeneracy-and-grooming-oh-my/.
-Louis Bruno is the author of more than 20 books, including, The Michael Project, The Michael Project: Book 2: The Lost Children of Eve, Thy Kingdom Come, The Disintegrating Bloodline Part 2: Chaos, The Data Chase, The Disintegrating Bloodline part 3: Solvè, The Disintegrating Bloodline (and the original text re-released in 2019), Apocalypse Soldier, The Data Chase, Selection: The First Book of the Life and Death Saga, and Blinking Eyes: The Second Book of the Life and Death Saga, Hierarchy of Dwindling Sheep, The City of Sand, The God of Curiosity, To the Moon and Back, The Villain Lives and The Villain Lives: The Divided Pinpoint, Come Home, Young One. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Phoenix. His books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Lulu. He can be found on Gab, https://gab.com/thereallouistbruno, Minds https://www.minds.com/lbruno8063/. Instagram @lbrruno8063 and @louisbrunoofficialbook. Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouisBr88881650. He has written for the Intellectual Conservative and Ephemere. His newest book, The Voices Are Alive is out now: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/louis-bruno/the-voices-are-alive/hardcover/product-mvggdg.html?page=1&pageSize=4. Also, if you can’t subscribe so that you can get members only content, please be sure to share the articles, as well. If you do Subscribe, you have long term access to the paid articles that some readers won’t get to see or access after the articles/books go private. If that doesn’t tickle your pickle, I am also selling merch from t spring, if you want to help support me in other ways. I sell hoodies, shirts, phone cases, and trying to find something there loved ones would like. Links here: https://thereallouistbruno.creator-spring.com/listing/too-many-strings-not-enough. https://thereallouistbruno.creator-spring.com/listing/duck-fuckery. https://thereallouistbruno.creator-spring.com/listing/headless-corpo. Every little like, subscribe share, helps. Thanks for reading.