The Four Color Media Monitor

Warner Todd Huston at Breitbart announced the pretentious CW network is remaking the classic Zorro tales (which were to some extent an influence for Batman) by changing the protagonist from male to female:

Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez is developing an updated, gender-swapped version of the classic old southwest vigilante tale Zorro for the CW network.

[...] Created in 1919 by American writer Johnston McCulley, until now, the story has always featured a man in the eponymous role of Zorro, i.e. “The Fox.” But along with writer-director Rebecca Rodriguez and Sean Tretta, Robert Rodriguez is planning a new, female-led Zorro in association with Howard T. Owens’ Propagate, CBS Studios, and the CW Network, according to Variety.

Now, here's where the new take on McCulley's tale seems to really differ from the original premise:

This Rodriguez iteration features “a young Latinx woman seeking vengeance for her father’s murder joins a secret society and adopts the outlaw persona of Zorro.”

No matter what the secondary status of women at the time in the 19th century, it's still odd they want to make it look like, in contrast to Don Diego de la Vega, this new female protagonist isn't well off financially, to the point she'd join a secret society, whereas in the live action film and TV programs I'd seen years before based on the tale, Vega usually worked independently (IIRC, he had a mute servant at his estate providing assistance), without being part of secret societies. So what good is this as a result? It reeks of another product that can't seem to decide whether it wants to take a surreal approach, or a more "realistic" one. And why do they keep using a slang that's not popular for promotion?

The report also notes:

There are also several other gender-swapped films in the planning stages, including a female Thor currently set to star Natalie Portman, who is finally coming back to the Marvel movie scene after refusing to reprise her Jane Foster role in the past few films. Disney has also been looking to re-boot the 1991 film, The Rocketeer, but starring a black female lead instead of the white male of the original movie and the comic book upon which it was based. Also there are plans for a remake of 1984’s Splash, as well, but instead of a man meeting a mermaid, the film is to feature a woman meeting a merman.

According to Midwest Film Journal, the new Rocketeer-based project may be about a Black lady pilot trying to defend the device during the Cold War, but it wouldn't shock me one bit if any such production turns out to be flooded with political correctness to the point where even that much wouldn't work (besides, how many films and TV shows today make a convincing case against communism?). Something tells me the 1991 adaptation of the late David Stevens' comic wouldn't be made today, based on his doing cheesecake artwork (he once lamented in a TwoMorrows interview that Disney Corp. dumbed down everything because all they really cared about was toy merchandise sales), and most modern artists don't admire his style these days, which is the saddest takeaway as it is.

It's vital to note the CW network, according to the Wall Street Journal, (via Bounding Into Comics) is now on the verge of being sold off because of its collapsing ratings, as the superhero fare they've produced is clearly not delivering anymore. So, what good does it do to produce a gender-swapped Zorro if chances are it'll be as PC as anything else they've broadcast to date?

Labels: history, indie publishers, licensed products, politics