Magic Mike was marketed as a naughty but fun girls’ night out, but the tone of the film was much more melodramatic than advertised. Although the franchise carries a collective cultural memory of being a guilty pleasure series aimed at women in the style of Fifty Shades of Grayonly the second of three films, Magic Mike XLit really lives up to its exhilarating reputation. Channing Tatum’s real-life experience as an exotic dancer actually inspired the character Magic Mike.
Steven Soderbergh directed the first and third films in the franchise Magic Mike and Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Soderbergh is known for his heist and crime films, particularly the Ocean trilogy. Soderbergh is not known for exploring female desire. The posters for Magic Mike it featured a shirtless Tatum with his co-stars, including Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomer, all bare-chested against a black background. This sexy look gave viewers the feeling that they were buying tickets to a raunchy dance film, but Magic Mikeadvertising misrepresented the film’s tone and intended audience.
Magic Mike was marketed as a raunchy comedy, but only XXL really lived up to that
Thematic disconnect between the trailers and the Magic Mike movie
Magic MikeThe company’s advertising—which placed shirtless male characters in the spotlight—made its target audience clear. This, combined with the trailer highlighting Tatum’s dancing and flirting with Cody Horn’s Brooke, was key to Magic Mike’s effort to attract female viewers. However, Magic Mike It’s not the carefree dance movie it might seembut a character study of Magic Mike trying to get out of the exotic dancing game.
Because Mike talks so much about wanting to leave dancing behind, this conflicts with the unapologetically raunchy tone the marketing promised. The script about the pitfalls of the American dream stands in stark contrast to its marketing as a sexy romantic comedy. The sequence, Magic Mike XLaddressed fan enthusiasm for the original film’s dance sequences by incorporating much more dancing and less plot, which helped Magic Mike XL attract a predominantly female audience.
Put Magic Mike XLMike left dancing behind and opened his furniture store. Now more at peace with who he is, Mike can fully enjoy dancing, giving the audience permission to have fun too. Mike agrees to join his Xquisite boys on one last adventure together, a trip to a strip convention. As Magic Mike struggled to get away from the dance, Magic Mike XL It’s about the confidence that performance brings to men and the joy it brings to the women they entertain.
Magic Mike’s marketing is exactly what Channing Tatum’s character was trying to escape
Channing Tatum’s character is trying to get out of prom on Magic Mike
Mike sees the world of exotic dancing as full of shallow, empty pleasures. Mike yearns to be creative and expresses this desire in Magic Mike XXL when he encourages all dancers to choreograph new and challenging routines rather than following old patterns. Put Magic Mike’s Last DanceMike has evolved beyond his Kings of Tampa and is tempted back into the world of dance through the prestigious world of theater. Mike’s choreography is provocative to the London theater world, but tame in comparison to his performances at Xquisite in Tampa.
Mike is frustrated that women objectify him and expect him to always be “Magic Mike” and never just Michael Lane.
Magic MikeThe film’s marketing is exactly the kind of reductive sexualization that leaves Mike so frustrated in the film. While the script explores Mike’s dreams of opening his own business, the poster shows him posing shirtless in mid-motion. Mike is frustrated with women who objectify him and expect him to always be “Magic Mike”And never just Michael Lane.
Viewers were confused because the fun, danceable advertising didn’t reflect the gritty character study it was Magic Mike. That was exactly the kind of stereotype Mike Lane was trying to escape. Each film in the franchise is radically different in theme and cast, and even though the trilogy is remembered as a raunchy dance series, only Magic Mike XL has the perverse fun that people attribute Magic Mike.