The trigger warning at the start of Hulu’s “Not Okay” created one of the most embarrassing social media storms after the film’s release Friday.
“Content Warning: This film contains flashing lights, themes of trauma, and an unlikable female protagonist. Viewer discretion advised,” reads the warning, an obvious joke about the content of the film. Although it wasn’t so obvious that a heap of social media users still thought the warning was legitimate, according to IndieWire.
Most of the backlash came from female social media users, which doesn’t really do anything to cultivate that equality thing we’ve been working towards for a few years now. If we can’t be trusted to understand such blatant humor, how are we ever supposed to get equal pay, ladies?
“Why is Hulu warning me about ‘an unlikeable female protagonist’? Do unlikeable male protagonists need content warnings?” wrote one user, who received 11,000 likes on the post.
Why is Hulu warning me about “an unlikeable female protagonist”? Do unlikeable male protagonists need content warnings? pic.twitter.com/gHTmzgJaIW
— Christina Buttons (@buttonslives) July 31, 2022
“The content warning was borne out of, to be honest, our test screening,” filmmaker Quinn Shephard told IndieWire. “We un-ironically and consistently got responses from — I’m not going to say what demographic, but you might be able to guess — people who were quite literally like, ‘Why would someone make a movie with an unlikable woman?’”
“It’s something I’ve repeatedly heard, and a lot of my other writer friends have as well. If you portray flawed women or women who reflect societal flaws, you get notes like, ‘I literally don’t understand why you tell a story about this character,” Shephard continued, according to IndieWire. (RELATED: You’ll Delete Your Social Media After Watching The Trailer For ‘Not Okay’)
Does this essentially confirm that we’ll never have to see a biopic on other unlikeable women such as Vice President Kamala Harris or twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton? If so, what an amazing win for all mankind!