Whereas the concept of "vegetables" implies a joyless chore, and by extension seems to imply that these things CAN'T be enjoyable and entertaining.

EXACTLY that, yeah. Something good for you, but flavourless and not enjoyable. And I think that comes from taking the basic cultural default -- white, male, straight -- as a given, so anything outside that, whether it's a female Ghostbusters reboot or Mad Max with Furiosa as the lead or Black Panther, is unnatural and you have to force it, maybe.