Back in April, Avengers: Age of Ultron director and noted feminist Joss Whedon put the new sequel Jurassic World on notice for what he believed were sexist overtones in an official clip (see bottom of this post). He made his comments in a Tweet calling the scene “70’s era sexist” and portraying star Bryce Dallas Howard‘s character Claire as a “stiff” and Chris Pratt‘s Owen as a “life-force.”
Whedon later shared regret for his comments, saying he should not have shared such a comment on social media and that “it’s not what a gentleman would do.” So, no harm, no foul, right? Well, with Jurassic World‘s media tour in full swing as the June 12 release date looms, journalists got the chance to ask director Colin Trevorrow and Howard about Whedon’s sentiment. Turns out, neither are that upset about it, and both might just kind of agree.
In an interview with Italian website Bad Taste (via Coming Soon), Trevorrow shared his feelings towards Whedon’s comment and Universal’s selection of that clip. “I wasn’t bothered by what he said about the movie and, to be honest, I don’t totally disagree with him.”
“I wonder why [Universal] chose a clip like that,” Trevorrow continued, “that shows an isolated situation within a movie that has an internal logic. That starts with characters that are almost archetypes, stereotypes that are deconstructed as the story progresses. The real protagonist of the movie is Claire and we embrace her femininity in the story’s progression. There’s no need for a female character that does things like a male character, that’s not what makes interesting female characters in my view. Bryce and I have talked a lot about these concepts and aspects of his character.”
So, not only is Trevorrow fine with Whedon’s comment, he shares the distaste of the clip selection. Even later in the interview he comes to Whedon’s defense over the criticism concerning Black Widow’s treatment in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
What does Howard think about Whedon’s Tweet? She spoke to The Huffington Post on the issue. “[Joss Whedon is] a hero, he’s an amazing guy and a champion for women in this industry,” Howard said. “Marketing for a film is tricky because you release stuff without context. Of course there was a part of me being such a fan of him that was like, ‘Nooooo!’ Especially because when you see the movie it’s not at all like that, but we make movies and it’s out there for public opinion and I hope he likes the movie!”
So, there’s that. Hopefully, this can serve as an extinguisher for the controversy around Whedon’s take on the scene. The poor guy got rid of his Twitter because of the negativity he faced (though he suggests otherwise), and if the folks involved with the movie aren’t upset with his comment, that should quell any other fervor.
