Joss Whedon calls out the film’s latest clip
The “war of the summer blockbuster” is by no means surprising to anyone who’s ever been to a movie, but this summer, Avengers director Joss Whedon has some choice words for the makers of Jurassic World — a movie he thinks looks “’70s-era sexist.”
In response to a tweet by The Mary Sue (who said it’ll be hard to pay attention to Jurassic World since anyone attracted to men will be too distracted by Chris Pratt’s beauty), Whedon tweeted back, “…and I’m too busy wishing this clip wasn’t ’70s-era sexist. She’s a stiff, he’s a life-force — really? Still?”
And he has a point. In the aforementioned clip, Byrce Dallas Howard’s character is a serious, no-nonsense career woman arguably out to spoil Chris Pratt’s fun. (So of course, they’ll be chemistry and she’ll end up letting her hair down and blah, blah, blah.) And Whedon’s right: it’s a tired trope. But are we ready to write-off the whole movie?
Absolutely not. First, it’s one clip, and outside of what we’re seeing, there may be more to the story and/or to Dallas’ character. (Especially since the full trailer sees her bringing the noise down.) Second, as much as I appreciate a dude standing up to call out sexism (and I do, believe me I do), I’ll also decide for myself whether or not something is seventies-era misogynist. Technically, we could’ve written off the Laura Dern/Sam relationship if we’d only been given the clip at the start of the movie about Laura Dern wanting children. But instead, she inherited the earth.
So I say, thank you for looking out, Mr. Whedon, but let’s not go HAM on a universal write-off until we know for sure Jurassic World isn’t some feminist manifest in disguise.
