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Materialists director Celine Song trashes Broke Man Propaganda accusations: ‘It's become fashionable to be classist'
Writer-director Celine Song expresses concern over the intersection of feminism and classism, criticising the judgment based on income in society.
Decades ago, when I was entering the dating market, it was drilled into me by the world, the movies, by my Feminism in Literature professor at the uni that men and women are equal. It has stuck with me since. Both should pay for dates, both should run the household. Both should work and do the chores.
But now, I can't seem to mesh those ideas with what the ‘liberals’ on TikTok and Instagram are telling me. ‘May such love never find me,’ reads every other comment on every other reel about a man and a woman bearing equal financial responsibilities in their relationships. A man who is sweet, handsome, kind, and rich and doesn't let you see your purse again is the new bare minimum. Even movies in which the heroine chooses the non-millionaire kinds, are being dubbed ‘Broke Man Propaganda’. Latest one to get accused of that is Celine Song's Materialists.
It stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a matchmaker in New York City, caught in a love triangle between a broke actor John (Chris Evans) and a ‘unicorn’ with generational wealth, Harry (Pedro Pascal). Everyone did guess it right when the trailer was launched: she does go for the broke guy, as has happened so often in movies we've grown up watching. From The Notebook to Titanic, we have always swooned as the woman chose true love over the perfect rich guy. So, why are women not feeling it in 2025?
In a chat over Zoom that Celine joined from her hotel room in Paris, I asked her if she had heard about the ‘broke man propaganda’ that she is accused of propagating with her film. Hundreds of women all over the world are making TikToks about how yet another rom-com is ‘telling women to go for the broke guy’ over the billionaire. Celine was just waiting for someone to ask her about it.
Broke man propaganda: 'A brutal thing to say'
“I'm glad you're asking me because I feel like this is exactly the thing that I'm concerned about, to be honest with you. I'm a pretty radical feminist, and I'm a leftist. The truth is that a part of being a feminist and a leftist, which has been the way that I grew up, is that classism is not within the realm of what feminism was meant to be. I'm really concerned about the way it is being portrayed as a feminist thing to say something as brutal as this. It’s being very, very brutal to men who are not making enough money by their standards,” she tells me.
"I find it to be very troubling. That's the truth. I've been wondering, who's going to ask me about this?"
Glad I did, then.
Celine says emphatically, "It's really upsetting to me what happened to the way that we talk about feminism, the way that we talk about being a person and a woman. It's become that now people are going to judge each other for how much money they make. What happened? We actually think that being a billionaire is not entirely an immoral thing? What happened to the Occupy movement? What happened to the way we talk about class? What happened to the way that we talk about class gap and income gap?
“What happened to all of that? How are we talking about it, especially for the topic of love? How is it that people are talking it this way?” she asks and continues, “Everybody who made the movie are very beautiful people. In my entire crew, in my cast, everybody is showing up because we want to make a movie about love. And then I find it to be very upsetting and very sad that everybody feels very openly comfortable with being classist. It’s really surprising to me that it's become quite fashionable to be classist to each other.”
But what's the harm in going for the billionaire then? Why shouldn't Lucy the matchmaker with $80K salary go for the filthy rich equity manager Harry?
“An average American adult makes $35,000 a year, right? $35,000 a year. No matter how hard you work, no matter how long you work, you're never going to afford the $12 million apartment. Harry, who is my character, was a very wealthy person. He probably bought that $12 million apartment with help from his parents, right? Because he was a perfect equity manager. He doesn't, he's not a billionaire. A billionaire is somebody who is immoral. That's what I believe. So to me, I don't know. I just find it to be very disturbing as a leftist that, it's taking on the pretense of feminism or something that everybody feels very comfortable being classist,” says Celine.
Classism in Feminism: 'It all depends on who you are’
Celine also spoke to us about the changing dimensions of feminism and what role classism has in it.
"Hopefully, whoever you're with should be aligned with your point of view about money and gender. I think that's just true about every single thing. I think that if you're the person who would like the man to pay, then you should meet a man who does. I don't think that it has anything to do with some kind of universal roles. It's not one size fits all. It's really interesting because I feel like I'm always concerned about the way that feminism intersects with classism.
“I'm a little concerned about the way that we talk about money when it comes to gender, because I feel like there is a lot of brutality about men who don't make enough money. You're like, well, if the economic system that we live in was fair, if it was in favor of people who actually work the hardest, then I would feel one way, probably. The truth is that poverty is not the fault of the person who is poor.”
"To me, it's very brutal for you to be judging people and especially men based on how much money they make. Given that, often it's not a choice. I'm sure they would all like to make more money so they can treat you to nice things if they love you. The fact that they can't, I'm sure it breaks their heart too.
"I don't think the language should be that it's like, well, we're mad at somebody for not having enough money. It seems really brutal. I don't like that."
Materialists released in theatres on June 13.
