The Curious Psychology of the Batgirl Cancellation
The job of studios is almost invariably to make their movies seem as entertaining and unmissable as possible regardless of their actual quality, or lack thereof.
That’s the essence of capitalism: to get the public to buy what you’re selling even if you know and they know it’s garbage.
When I was a video store clerk as a teenager and college student it fell upon me to inform customers that despite what the blurbs on the boxes might insist, Pure Luck was not, in fact, a laugh riot for the entire family.
So I can’t help but be amused by the kooky reversal of HBO Max/Discovery+ more or less telling the world that they most assuredly DO NOT want to see the Batgirl movie or even live in a world where something that dire could be released in any form.
HBO Max/Discovery+ apparently feels so strongly about the unbelievable shittiness of a more or less finished superhero movie that apparently cost ninety million dollars to make and costars beloved fan favorites like J.K. Simmons (as Commissioner Gordon), Michael Keaton (as Batman) and Brendan Fraser (as bad guy Firefly) that they have made the bold choice to not release it in theaters OR on HBO Max.
Usually, a studio says, “You’ll DEFINITELY want to see our movie. It’s fucking great” and audiences reply, “Actually, no, it looks like it fucking sucks. No thank you.”
This time out, however, it’s the studio that is saying “Batgirl fucking sucks. You do not want it” and audiences that are saying, “Actually, we think it might be fucking great and important and you’re lying to us.”
It’s a real switcheroo but this is 2022 so there is a lot more going on here than issues of quality and releasability. It’s 2022 so the discourse around Batgirl is inherently political.
Batgirl defenders see the studio’s decision to bury the movie as rooted in anxiety about a superhero with a Dominican female lead, Moroccan directors and trans actress Ivory Aquino playing a trans role.
Is Batgirl just too goddamn diverse and progressive for executives? A Lot of folks seem to think so.
Batgirl’s controversial non-release may be rooted in a backlash against identity politics but it undeniably has a lot to do with corporate politics.
Batgirl apparently does not fit into Warner Bros. Discovery’s vision for D.C Films. They’re once again nakedly aping the more successful Marvel model and vowing to make nothing but big, theatrical, crowd-pleasing superhero movies that are part of an ambitious ten year plan.
There’s also talk of Warner Bros. Discovery killing Batgirl primarily as a tax write-off. At this stage it would apparently be cheaper and easier to write off Batgirl completely than to distribute it theatrically or sell it to another studio.
People are angry on behalf of the cast and crew of Batgirl because they think it’s wrong that they worked so hard on something that might never see the light of day.
Will the groundswell of support for Batgirl lead to the film being released in some form? I honestly don’t know but as long as we can’t see the movie it will continue to possess the odd, irresistible appeal of entertainment that is forever out of our grasp and consequently can never disappoint us because we’ll never be able to actually experience it.
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