Twitter Debates Boycotting "The Woman King"
Twitter Debates Boycotting “The Woman King” Over Slave Trade Criticism
Source: Courtesy / Sony Pictures
If there’s one thing that social media does, it’s finding something to be mad at.
The latest target is the woman-led movie, The Woman King, with a currently trending hashtag of #BOYCOTTTHEWOMANKING.
The Gina Prince-Bythewood-directed movie is catching hate from potential moviegoers because they didn’t think it accurately told the story of the Kingdom of Dahomey.
The film’s subject dates back to a kingdom in West Africa –which is current day Benin– that reigned from 1600 to 1904 that had a growth coinciding with the rise of the Atlantic slave trade.
And that’s precisely where the issue lies for the harsh critics who disagree with the West African country’s relationship with the slave trade. In particular, a piece by the National Review finds that the Dahomey was guilty of putting its own people into slavery after bartering for goods.
However, the film, written by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello, shows that very internal conflict as Davis’ general Nanisca character tries to convince her King, played by John Boyega, to stop participating in the slave trade because of the detrimental impact it had on their people.
Prince-Bythewood is aware of the backlash but thinks that once people actually see the film, their feelings will change.
“I learned early on you cannot win an argument on Twitter,” Prince-Bythewood told IndieWire. “And I know all of that is going to go away once they see the film. There’s an assumption we’re not dealing with it and we are dealing with it. So I have to live in that confidence. They’re going to see the film and they’re going to see it.”
However, Twitter commenced to dragging while others refused and plan on supporting the film. Check out some of the fiery reactions below.
