Don’t Worry, 5 Seasons in and Men Still Miss the Point of ‘The Boys’
The Boys is getting ready to end, and after five seasons of the Prime Video series, men are still missing the point of the show.
Showrunner Eric Kripke and the writing team have lived through a lot over the past five seasons. (Haven’t we all!) Through that period, The Boys team has not shied away from pronounced satire and critique of power in its many forms. It’s been blatantly obvious from the jump that this series was going to take aim at our political climate.
However, that hasn’t stopped scores of men from either not getting what those writers are putting down. Or worse, feeling like they’re being betrayed by the source material somehow. It’s an interesting state of mind. Social media grabbed hold of a take from Auron MacIntyre that sounds like some of these dudes.
“About 4 episodes into the first season they reveal that the main girl is an evangelical Christian but everyone she knows is a hypocritical pervert or an ignorant redneck you should laugh at,” “MacIntyre recalled. “The Boys was poison from the beginning, it just got more woke from there.”
Conservative men grapple with The Boys
I don’t know if I would classify The Boys as getting more progressive or diverse over time. But, the commentator did actually isolate a good example of the kind of satire that the show finds interesting. For better and for worse, Prime Video’s signature series is obsessed with hypocrites, racists, xenophobes and the like. Unfortunately for us, they never even ran out of material during these five seasons on-air.
A “fan” named Wyatt also felt betrayed by the show. “Final season of the boys is just a look into the libtard mind,” they said. “Concentration camps are built with border wall sections lmfao”
How could you look outside everyday at the news and think anything could be too far-fetched for our current reality? Seriously asking, because I would love to know what life these people are living outside of posting on social media.
Satire’s limits
Across all this time with The Boys in its shared universe, I have pondered the limits of political satire in the current era. A lot of my friends love the show, and delight in the ways that it skewers the current political structure. But, I confess I’ve never been swayed quite as easily by what they’re doing. Firstly, I think the response to the most recent seasons bears out the idea that the audience isn’t understanding the satire well.
One Bizlet offered this observation, “The best part about ‘The Boys’ is no matter how hard they try it will always be ‘The Homelander Show’.”
So, if you’re trying to make this big political statement. And, a large segment of your fan base is outright refusing the literal text of the show. Then, what exactly are we doing here? Is it even possible to use these tools to deliver any messages to people who don’t already believe in what you’re putting down?
Very seriously, you have people betting on Homelander winning or dying by the finale episode. And, don’t be fooled, some fans do want him to win! It’s a weird world out there. I’ll say this much, you have to thank the show for exposing just how dire it is out here in the TV streets.
(featured image: Prime Video)
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