What is a “Film Bro?”
Should I take it as an insult or a compliment?
Anyone who has spent time reading about and discussing movies online is sure to have heard the term “film bro.” The term is often used disparagingly to describe (often abrasive) movie buffs who champion dark stories about violent men and herald these films as the pinnacle of cinema while showing little interest in anything older than the year 2000 or more obscure than big-budget Marvel movies. A few examples of movies that film bros will list among their favorites of all time are Pulp Fiction, The Dark Knight, Fight Club, American Psycho, and Drive. The major themes among F-Bro favorites are that they exude a dark, brooding, masculine aura and exclude women while flaunting extravagant displays of violence.
But, the popularity of these films and the proliferation of film bros is more so a product of the American movie system than the sins of individuals. With fewer films dominating greater proportions of the industry and streaming services controlling access to so many more movies, it’s easier than ever for smaller movies to slip through the cracks of public awareness. Heck, I’m a fan of most movies that fall under the umbrella of the film bro cannon, but the difference between myself and your run-of-the-mill film bro is that I don’t stop digging after just scratching the surface. As any seasoned cinephile can tell you, the movie juice is worth the squeeze of seeking it out. The feeling of getting to watch an underseen gem of a movie, expand your knowledge of the world, and recommend it to others is one of life’s simple joys, which is an idea that seems to be lost on film bros.
When the term film bro was first coined, it was used to shame uncurious people who wouldn’t shut up about how critically acclaimed, mainstream movies are actually underrated and underappreciated. But, in the past year or so, a trend on TikTok gained traction that featured users pretending to be shocked film bros hearing someone disagree with their opinion on movies. The only catch is that the imagined film bros were not championing the works of Tarantino, Fincher, or Nolan, but examples of obscure, international, older movies that a true film bro would never watch. The trend revealed the understanding of what constitutes film bro behavior has seemingly shifted from someone who only watches mainstream, male-dominated movies to the polar opposite.
Many of the complaints levied at film bros by the videos that took part in the trend were that the movies they watch are too obscure, old, boring, long, complex, pretentious, foreign, or avant-garde. So, if you would dare to watch anything other than an American-made blockbuster devoid of challenging themes or images, I welcome you to the film bro society! While it may be true that cinephiles can act pretentious when it comes to films, I believe they have earned that right. Call me crazy, but I believe that being open to understanding different perspectives and experiencing the art and culture of places outside the United States makes “film bros” more worldly. But there is a difference between someone being uncurious and someone unsure where to look beyond the world of blockbusters. So, just because someone may be a film bro (derogatory) doesn’t mean they can’t eventually be a “film bro” (celebratory).
The treatment the term film bro has gotten in the past few years resembles that of the conservative boogeyman: “woke.” Originally used by African Americans as slang for awake to basically mean “stay aware” or “be careful”, the co-opting of woke and subsequent divergence from its original meaning reflects a troubling move in culture. Webster’s Dictionary defines woke as “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice) … By the end of [the 2010s] it was also being applied by some as a general pejorative for anyone who is or appears to be politically left-leaning.” But recently, woke has been the catchall word for American right-wingers to describe anything that challenges their worldview to the point where it no longer has any meaningful definition.
Much like the term woke,” film bro” has been weaponized by the most uncurious people alive to shame those who have a broader, more robust understanding of the world. The two terms are used as defense mechanisms for people to avoid acknowledging they may not know everything and halt any progress that could be made with a simple good-faith conversation. Even worse, they can be used to bully and berate people acting in good faith into submission. In reality, I think it’s unlikely someone who uses the terms woke and film bro pejoratively will ever open themselves up to diverse perspectives. But, if we can at least keep the definitions of these words straight, we will be able to combat closed-mindedness and celebrate ideas worth engaging with and movies worth watching.