A letter to Joss Whedon...

[logansrogue]

Dear Mr. Whedon,

I am going to address two points, the more upsetting being the latter.

1. Seriously? You just killed Coulson? What the fuck, yo? Do you not understand what the slashers will do? You couldn't go ONE movie without killing someone beloved, could you? It's like a game to you. Let's see how many fans I can piss off with death and mutilation.

2. This, this is the worst. It is bad. It is really, really bad, and it's really, really unneccesary. We nearly went a WHOLE movie without one line about a woman in a derogatory or condescending manner. It was amazing. It wasn't a titty-storm, Natasha spent most of the movie seriously kicking the shit out of the bad guys and being exraordinarily awesome. I loved her. I loved that nameless second-in-command brunette lady too, she was great. The women were wearing firm, utilitarian outfits and they did a job, as well as looking sexy and fetching (which us ladies do like).

It was going along ALL so swimmingly, until Loki dropped this little nugget:

"You mewling quim!"

Did you honestly think that people were going to miss what you meant? You essentially called the one female superhero in the entire movie a mewling cunt. How fucking DARE you! HOW fucking *repugnant* of you! Don't even use the excuse that it came from a bad guy's mouth. It's classic Whedon Bullshit. Build up an ultimate woman superhero and then tear her apart. It's almost torture porn, really. The only saving grace in this movie is that the franchise didn't let you destroy Natasha like you enjoyed destroying Buffy and River Tam. She used and manipulated Loki without him even realising it, he, the God of Mischief. That was your single saving grace and the reason why I walked away from that movie with an overall positive rating for it.

But I will never let the Quim line slide. That is NOT OKAY. It is NEVER OKAY. Loki never called Captain America a weeping cock, did he? Thor a wailing whalloper? Iron Man a trembling ballsack or the Hulk a sobbing anus? No.

I am so utterly pissed, I don't even have the words. But at the same time, I'm tired. I'm so tired of your shit, Joss. And I'm tired of the kyriarchy. I'm so tired I barely want to fight this fight, cause I'm scared if I jack up, that the good that we got with this movie, the covering outfits and the women being awesome, will be a one-off.

I can't even argue the point with people, because A) Half of them don't even know the meaning of the word "quim", B) I get the "But he's a BAD guy!" line, C) Or the "It's a comic book movie!" line, and D) Did I mention I am tired of this shit? Cause I am.

I am tired of it down to my bones. You do a good job at the snappy line, but Jesus Christ, you are one ripe, misogynistic fucking jerk.

No love,
N.

Comments

[starfyre01.livejournal.com]

What you wrote above more or less explains the exact reasons why I get so pissed off as to how people say that Joss can do no wrong, that he's a god, etc.

Fuck him.

ETA to add in that I'm betting this line is going to fly over a lot of Americans' heads, since it's a British slang (let's not forget that Joss went to English boarding school) that is really not heard here in the States. In a way, it makes it more reprehensible.

[windtear.livejournal.com]

I agree that Joss Whedon is not the wunderkind he's been portrayed as for so long, but I disagree with you about the line. I saw it as characterisation; Loki was trying to tear Natasha down, and the impotent fury that word provokes is a pretty good 'in' for the rest of his diatribe. Also, getting her target to lose control enough to insult her and let her read him is one of Black Widow's favourite techniques, so she was actually trying for that. Both were aiming for the use of the word for their own (plot-related) purposes so, to me, while I hate the word, I don't think it's being used gratituously.