I don't really buy this idea that 'the signs were there'. Based on what? Plotlines in Dollhouse? By that logic Zack Snyder must be a total womaniser and David Lynch the biggest sexual predator this side of Bill Cosby. This reads more like 'we never liked Joss Whedon so now want praise because he turned out to be a dick'
"Excuse me Miss, do you like pineapple?"
I guess you haven't been paying too much attention to his characters or his writing really.
- Hey remember that random infertility plot from Avengers of Black Widows? Where she says she's a monster cause she can't have kids? Whedon.
- Charisma Carpenter was fired from Angel because she was pregnant. [x]
- He planned to have a character gang raped to feed into the character development of mal (Inara on Firefly) [x]
- The plan for WW was that she seduces the bad guy via a sexy dance? [x]
There's more than that too.
Basically, there's been a lot of things wrong with joss but he has gotten by with a very white 90's feminism outlook. Waifish woman who punches guys = feminism!
You can still enjoy shows while making commentary on what's bad with them. Buffy did a lot to move female heros to the forefront but, there were things that were wrong with it too. It wasn't perfect.
The whole 'woman gets raped which spurs the guy into action/shows how bad the situation is' trope needs to be put to bed for good.
I never saw an issue with Black Widow in Age of Ultron though. It's her guilt and self-loathing talking. The film is clearly not saying that all infertile women are monsters.
"Excuse me Miss, do you like pineapple?"
I had it earlier but lost it now but in the script it's less of guilt and more of just matter of fact.
Writing a woman as feeling guilty and self loathing because she can't have kids is still cringey regardless. It's unnecessary to Black Widow. It doesn't humanize her like he intended it to.
So many possible comments...
Had to research that "proud Joss Whedon feminist" thing just to make sure he actually claimed the title instead of it being just assumed that title.
It's hard to defend him when he's clearly a dick, but as a male he'll never live up to the impossible standards set forth by female feminists. Just two seconds ago trying to research Joss reinforced the idea that feminists will do everything in their power to drive away their male allies. For me I'll just be satisfied that they have the right intentions even if theyre smurfing up.
I'll probably watch his next show even if he's a douche. This scandal isnt enough to ruin him.
Feminists saying they dont want male allies is basically giving up males ever seeing your point of view or ever treating you as equals and hence shooting your whole agenda in the foot. So good luck with that.
Nice Catch 22 there Jinx.
If saying "smurf You. I dont want you as a friend" is enough to not make you treat me well and act friendly, then you probably werent a friend to begin with.
Sounds weird, right?
Don't be smurfing tosspots. You're either an ally or you're not; you don't switch sides because someone is allegedly mean to you. Being an ally is not the same as being a friend; I can think a woman is a terrible person, but she's still entitled to equal rights. Your deliberate ignorance is even undermining your petty tantrum.
No, it doesn't. If someone saying "I don't really want you as a friend" is enough to make you think they don't deserve to be treated with respect, then no. You probably never cared about them as a person to begin with. Nice false equivalency, by the way.
Let me say this again very plainly: if someone not wanting you as an ally is enough to make you stop believing they deserve basic human rights, you are not a good person, and you were never any ally to begin with. You didn't care about equality, you cared about the good feelies and the praise.
Man, how many jimmies did I rustle that I made a lurker come out of the works to make their very first post!
No flame wars will be had.
Official warning for no flaming of wars. Calmly discuss this topic. Or not at all.
EDIT:
Alrighty, we're going to not derail a thread with this. Please continue discussing how bad Joss is though.