'Sexist' X-men Apocalypse poster pulled - Fox apologises.
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Original post by caravaggio2
So if it had been a female character holding a male character by its throat would everyone have been complaining and would it have been pulled?
No, because men can't be assaulted by women.
You nearly had me then.😊
Yeah, this was PC gone too far definitely, maybe there's an argument for it being a bit unpleasant for a massive billboard poster, but sexist and 'promoting violence against women' because it happens to have a man attacking a woman as part of a scene from the movie? No, I don't think so. I think some people need to step back and consider the context and use a bit of common sense when getting outraged by things like this, if it was literally just a random image of a man throttling a woman with no context and not part of movie scene then yes, that wouldn't be acceptable, but it's not. I'm not usually one to complain about political correctness that much, but this is a bit silly really.
Viewed through the lens of being sexist/anti-women I definitely agree that the poster should not have been pulled. She is the main character, them being defeated before a heroic victory is just bog standard for super hero films.
Viewed through the lens of children seeing someone being choked on a billboard? Can't say I have quite as much conviction. I don't really pay that much attention to billboards, so I can't say with full confidence that it isn't par for the course, it definitely seems more violent than your average poster.
Ultimately it's just a movie poster and I can't get super worked up either way.
Viewed through the lens of children seeing someone being choked on a billboard? Can't say I have quite as much conviction. I don't really pay that much attention to billboards, so I can't say with full confidence that it isn't par for the course, it definitely seems more violent than your average poster.
Ultimately it's just a movie poster and I can't get super worked up either way.
Can someone enlighten me on why it's sexist?
Original post by XcitingStuart
And isn't the character of Apocalypse's main purpose is the advocation of survival of the fittest? Like he wouldn't mind if other non-mutants lived providing they were strong?
The idea is that mutants are the strongest. Hence the strongest of them will survive whilst the weak will worship them.
It doesn't even say it is sexist in the article. Just ****ing click bait.
Original post by DiddyDec
It doesn't even say it is sexist in the article. Just ****ing click bait.
True, it's more about the violence of it apparently. Albeit the response is..
"We apologise for our actions and would never condone violence against women."
...which is somewhat sexist in itself? Why the "against women", why not just violence, as unrealistic as the statement would then be?
After all if we swapped the female character for a male X-men character, would anyone bat an eyelid about two men fighting? Nope. If Apocalypse was female? I highly doubt it.
As one comment says, do we want to get back to a time where women are damsels in distress on the sidelines? Because Raven is a very strong female lead in the film, she is sacrificing herself to save someone else in the film during this scene. If we had no women getting involved and leaving it to the men to fight while they just watched, we'd be told it was sexist. But if a woman is harmed when being strong and fighting...it's also inappropriate?
I'd be interested to see what would happen if they changed it to a still in the film where Psylocke (female on the "bad guys" side) is choking a male character unconscious with a whip.
Original post by joey11223
True, it's more about the violence of it apparently. Albeit the response is..
"We apologise for our actions and would never condone violence against women."
...which is somewhat sexist in itself? Why the "against women", why not just violence, as unrealistic as the statement would then be?
After all if we swapped the female character for a male X-men character, would anyone bat an eyelid about two men fighting? Nope. If Apocalypse was female? I highly doubt it.
As one comment says, do we want to get back to a time where women are damsels in distress on the sidelines? Because Raven is a very strong female lead in the film, she is sacrificing herself to save someone else in the film during this scene. If we had no women getting involved and leaving it to the men to fight while they just watched, we'd be told it was sexist. But if a woman is harmed when being strong and fighting...it's also inappropriate?
I'd be interested to see what would happen if they changed it to a still in the film where Psylocke (female on the "bad guys" side) is choking a male character unconscious with a whip.
"We apologise for our actions and would never condone violence against women."
...which is somewhat sexist in itself? Why the "against women", why not just violence, as unrealistic as the statement would then be?
After all if we swapped the female character for a male X-men character, would anyone bat an eyelid about two men fighting? Nope. If Apocalypse was female? I highly doubt it.
As one comment says, do we want to get back to a time where women are damsels in distress on the sidelines? Because Raven is a very strong female lead in the film, she is sacrificing herself to save someone else in the film during this scene. If we had no women getting involved and leaving it to the men to fight while they just watched, we'd be told it was sexist. But if a woman is harmed when being strong and fighting...it's also inappropriate?
I'd be interested to see what would happen if they changed it to a still in the film where Psylocke (female on the "bad guys" side) is choking a male character unconscious with a whip.
It would have still been pulled probably whatever the gender. It depicts violence from a 12A content film which means that parents should be deciding whether their children under 12 should see it, however if there's a bloody big billboard on view they can't exactly stop a child from viewing it.
Original post by caravaggio2
So if it had been a female character holding a male character by its throat would everyone have been complaining and would it have been pulled?
Funny thing about that, in a card game called MTG there was a bit of backlash when people found this image floating around (it's on a card in the game)
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=239962&type=card
People calling it sexist, it's a man choking a woman and about to hit her in a provocative manner (knee is between her legs)
But then the flip side using the same characters is...
http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/96/993/635032497200662360.jpg
...and nothing is said about the poor helpless man being groped by zombie hands.
Original post by Vikingninja
It would have still been pulled probably whatever the gender. It depicts violence from a 12A content film which means that parents should be deciding whether their children under 12 should see it, however if there's a bloody big billboard on view they can't exactly stop a child from viewing it.
Does let them know what to expect in the film though tbf, since she's choked for a while...as is a man.
Maybe they should have made it a 15...then maybe people getting smashed through concrete walls should actually show some realism.
Original post by joey11223
Does let them know what to expect in the film though tbf, since she's choked for a while...as is a man.
Maybe they should have made it a 15...then maybe people getting smashed through concrete walls should actually show some realism.
Maybe they should have made it a 15...then maybe people getting smashed through concrete walls should actually show some realism.
The 12A rating stating violence is already enough to tell you what the films going to involve.
Original post by RobML
They're such cucks for not broadcasting cuckold porn...Who wouldn't love to see This Morning turn into a hardcore bondage sesh?
Why does the OP consistently misrepresent what topics are about? There isnt a claim of sexism.
This was from the Hollywood Reporter for those of you wondering what the fuss was about. It was a strange image and tag line to pick imo. having seen the film I dont think its representative, its a strange choice.
As 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Apocalypse stormed theaters over the long weekend, critics took aim at billboards featuring Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse choking Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique.
Among them was Rose McGowan, who elaborated on a May 25 Facebook post to THR: "There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous. So let’s right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can’t manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?"
She continued: "I’ll close with a text my friend sent, a conversation with his daughter. It follows: ‘My daughter and I were just having a deep discussion on the brutality of that hideous X-Men poster yesterday. Her words: 'Dad, why is that monster man committing violence against a woman?' This from a 9-year-old. If she can see it, why can’t Fox?"
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox apologized for the billboard: "In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form. Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women."
The image has met with criticism on the East Coast as well. New York blogger EV Grieve posted a photo of the poster above a subway station in the city at First Avenue and 14th Street that had been covered with eight pieces of paper that connected to say, "This violence in my kid's face is not okay."
"I do see it as problematic," says Jennifer McCleary-Sills, director of gender violence and rights for the International Center for Research on Women, a global research institute that seeks to empower women, advance gender equality and fight poverty in the developing world. "I understand that some might not see it as an issue because it is a film about violence … with male and female characters who are warriors and fighting each other as equals."
She continued that even though the image depicts a fictitious scene in a fantasy film and features characters who are "mutants," it can still have an affect on anyone who sees it.
"Here's the thing: Where do we draw the line?" she asks. "They morph into humans and most of their interactions are similar to what humans would have while as mutants. … The fantasy life can involve violence against women, and that shows how normalized it is. The argument that it shouldn't be offensive because they are mutants doesn't hold any water, … and what really is the challenge here is the intentionality of it. You could have chosen any from the thousands of images, but you chose this one. Whose attention did you want to get and to what end?"
She adds that the "striking image" of Apocalypse choking Mystique is a reminder of how violence against women is used as a default and "seen as sexy for all the wrong reasons."
"There are no silver bullets," McCleary-Sills adds. "I'm glad that a bit of a stink has been raised about this and that people are being provoked to think about why this image isn't OK and why [the studio] could've done better."
Devin Faraci, editor-in-chief of the blog Birth.Movies.Death agrees, calling the billboard "tone deaf as hell."
"Images of violence against women are pretty common in the X-Men universe, which is a pretty violent universe. The problem is taking this one image out of context and having it be an image that is not fantastical in nature. Setting aside that Apocalypse and Mystique look like Smurfs, it's just an image of a big guy choking out a smaller woman. I have wracked my brains trying to come up with an example of a marketing image like this featuring two men, and I've come up empty," he tells THR.
Should the studio have picked another image? Writer and editor Jay Edidin, an X-Men expert who is one half of the podcast “Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men," says "unquestionably."
"It's gratuitous, it's offensive in completely useless ways. Offensive isn't always necessarily bad, but this is offensive in ways that serve absolutely no purpose, and while it does depict a scene from the actual film, it's also a terrible representation of the movie as a whole," Edidin notes.
This was from the Hollywood Reporter for those of you wondering what the fuss was about. It was a strange image and tag line to pick imo. having seen the film I dont think its representative, its a strange choice.
20th Century Fox has now apologized for the ad featuring Jennifer Lawrence that McGowan called "casual violence against women."
Among them was Rose McGowan, who elaborated on a May 25 Facebook post to THR: "There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous. So let’s right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can’t manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?"
She continued: "I’ll close with a text my friend sent, a conversation with his daughter. It follows: ‘My daughter and I were just having a deep discussion on the brutality of that hideous X-Men poster yesterday. Her words: 'Dad, why is that monster man committing violence against a woman?' This from a 9-year-old. If she can see it, why can’t Fox?"
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox apologized for the billboard: "In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form. Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women."
The image has met with criticism on the East Coast as well. New York blogger EV Grieve posted a photo of the poster above a subway station in the city at First Avenue and 14th Street that had been covered with eight pieces of paper that connected to say, "This violence in my kid's face is not okay."
"I do see it as problematic," says Jennifer McCleary-Sills, director of gender violence and rights for the International Center for Research on Women, a global research institute that seeks to empower women, advance gender equality and fight poverty in the developing world. "I understand that some might not see it as an issue because it is a film about violence … with male and female characters who are warriors and fighting each other as equals."
She continued that even though the image depicts a fictitious scene in a fantasy film and features characters who are "mutants," it can still have an affect on anyone who sees it.
"Here's the thing: Where do we draw the line?" she asks. "They morph into humans and most of their interactions are similar to what humans would have while as mutants. … The fantasy life can involve violence against women, and that shows how normalized it is. The argument that it shouldn't be offensive because they are mutants doesn't hold any water, … and what really is the challenge here is the intentionality of it. You could have chosen any from the thousands of images, but you chose this one. Whose attention did you want to get and to what end?"
She adds that the "striking image" of Apocalypse choking Mystique is a reminder of how violence against women is used as a default and "seen as sexy for all the wrong reasons."
"There are no silver bullets," McCleary-Sills adds. "I'm glad that a bit of a stink has been raised about this and that people are being provoked to think about why this image isn't OK and why [the studio] could've done better."
Devin Faraci, editor-in-chief of the blog Birth.Movies.Death agrees, calling the billboard "tone deaf as hell."
"Images of violence against women are pretty common in the X-Men universe, which is a pretty violent universe. The problem is taking this one image out of context and having it be an image that is not fantastical in nature. Setting aside that Apocalypse and Mystique look like Smurfs, it's just an image of a big guy choking out a smaller woman. I have wracked my brains trying to come up with an example of a marketing image like this featuring two men, and I've come up empty," he tells THR.
Should the studio have picked another image? Writer and editor Jay Edidin, an X-Men expert who is one half of the podcast “Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men," says "unquestionably."
"It's gratuitous, it's offensive in completely useless ways. Offensive isn't always necessarily bad, but this is offensive in ways that serve absolutely no purpose, and while it does depict a scene from the actual film, it's also a terrible representation of the movie as a whole," Edidin notes.
The professionally and perpetually offended win again!
[QUOTE="999tigger;65538283"]Why does the OP consistently misrepresent what topics are about? There isnt a claim of sexism.
This was from the Hollywood Reporter for those of you wondering what the fuss was about. It was a strange image and tag line to pick imo. having seen the film I dont think its representative, its a strange choice.
In other words misogynistic, in other words sexist.
This was from the Hollywood Reporter for those of you wondering what the fuss was about. It was a strange image and tag line to pick imo. having seen the film I dont think its representative, its a strange choice.
In other words misogynistic, in other words sexist.
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