Ever since the recent release of Blumhouse’s latest horror adaptation film Five Nights at Freddy’s in late October, blood-thirsty FNAF and Josh Hutcherson fans have begun to take over the Internet. Tiktok, the (in)famous short-form content creation app that essentially acts as a breeding ground for thirst traps, has been absolutely swarming with Josh Hutcherson edits and the people are here for it. As of right now, the number of views for #joshhutcherson have reached 51608.3 billion views (and is growing).
“White Boy of the Month,” a semi-satirical yet playful monthly announcement and trend on Twitter in which users stan a white male celebrity trending in the media, has led to many debates, and even fights, within the online community over which male celeb is actually deserving of this crown. However, with the immense resurgence of a widespread Josh Hutcherson obsession, I think it’s safe to say that Hutcherson has clearly been granted the title of TikTok’s “White Boy of the Month.”
In fact, with the release of the FNAF film premiering just days before Halloween, a comedic trend making fun of this recent Josh Hutcherson obsession began to quickly catch fire (and yes, that was a Hunger Games pun). In this trend, TikTok users would caption a video with “Check Your Candy” and then cut open a piece of Halloween candy for it to reveal a Josh Hutcherson edit (and a very suggestive edit, at that). This trend became so popular that even Drumstick (yes, the ice cream company) made a TikTok about this ultra-thirsty phenomenon to show their support.
Although, if it weren’t for the immense power of fandom that accompanied the highly-anticipated video game cinematic revival of FNAF, Hutcherson may never have gotten this extreme fan response in the first place. Despite a lengthy roster of past roles, Hutcherson will forever be primarily remembered for his part in the Hunger Games franchise, in which he played the role of Peeta Mellark, a cake-baking heartthrob who had little girls all over the Capitol (and real life!) swooning.
Despite playing a very different role from that of Peeta Mellark in his new film as Mike Schmidt, a down-on-his-luck (but, sexy?) security guard who gets a job working the night shift at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, Hutcherson received a very similar positive response. Due to the existing intellectual property behind these films, such as the Hunger Games novels and the FNAF video game, tight-knit communities of fans (more often than not primarily made up of young women) tend to hold very strong opinions about their beloved content and how the cinematic adaptations should be handled (and boy, will they let the Internet know!).
Considering the immense stakes that accompany the making of a film adaptation, these communities tend to be extremely vocal about their like, or dislike, of their fandom’s cinematic revival compared to that of films without pre-existing IP. So, if this trend shows us anything, it’s that the FNAF fandom absolutely loved the casting of the film adaptation, especially in regards to Hutcherson. It is these communities who then go on to produce such crazed responses in showing their support and love for the film.
However, instead of little girls running around in their “Team Peeta” t-shirts, now we get thirst trap edits. Naturally, I’d love to tell these young women to go outside and touch some grass. But, hey, self-expression is self-expression. And who am I to put a limit on a young woman’s self-expression? While some may not consider the Hutcherson edits to be their cup of tea, making edits is an undeniably complicated art form that deserves the utmost respect. So the next time you see Hutcherson pop up on your “For You” page, soak it in! He is the “White Boy of the Month” after all, so you might as well enjoy it.