Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/26/702865.html
…
11 Likes
Emma Thompson is a National Treasure.
29 Likes
Good on Emma Thompson. I have no intention on watching anything this studio makes.
12 Likes
Emma Thompson
I wanna have her kittens, with her permission of course.
8 Likes
I’d love to see it inspire a general strike at Skydance - like to see them make a movie without any women.
6 Likes
Nothing but trouble.
It was named after John Lasseter, a talented friend and collaborator of Joss Whedon.
sigh
11 Likes
The treasure of at least two nations and prolly more!
5 Likes
Also. I am rather torn. I think the best Pixar and Disney films are the ones that Lasseter has had a hand in creating. And to now know he’s sketchy and has used his power to harass and perpetuate the tired issue of men in power treating women as objects…ugh.
And to parrot others in regards to Thompson. Yeah. She’s one of the greatest people on this planet.
6 Likes
Let’s be honest. That probably had nothing to do with him. Jokes aside.
Every movie he worked on was pretty amazing in my book.
It sucks when great creators and artists end up being sub par humans.
2 Likes
In other words, she’s right. He learned nothing and will only behave himself if he feels his employment or perks are in jeopardy.
Good for her.
5 Likes
Well he WAS the writer and director of that short, so it’s hard to see how he couldn’t have been involved in the way that character was designed and presented on screen.
But yes, his films have been amazing. Even Knick Knack was groundbreaking for its time. However I also have to wonder if Pixar would have taken a quarter century to finally make a film with a female character in a leading role if people at the top had a healthier attitude toward women.
9 Likes
To be fair (to Pixar if not Lasseter), they re-rendered this short for later releases to give her less preposterous breasts.
1 Like
Very true. And even when they did I can’t say that Brave was one of their best. I liked it just fine but it isn’t a household fave.
Especially with my very strong willed daughter (now 18) who was DYING to see Brave and in her words “well. That was meh”.
It sucks. I just will never understand why some men feel the need to behave this way.
2 Likes
Given Whedon’s outspoken views on the subject, I gotta wonder if they were friends for very long after Toy Story.
Random Emma Thompson story:
So I was in undergrad when filming was taking place for “Junior”. Part of it was filmed at my wife’s alma mater, Berkeley. Of course all the star struck undergrads were trying to see the filming etc… Each of the stars had their own little hidey area with a visual barrier preventing the students from seeing them sit/rest. Apparently Emma Thompson was the only one who avoided the seclusion, and mixed with the students, signing autographs and talking with them.
My wife’s impression was that she is a very kind and genuine person.
8 Likes
3 Likes
Not giving Whedon a pass on being an asshole to his ex-wife, but there is a broad gap between infidelity and #MeToo. I haven’t heard any reports that he’s abused or harassed women.
Based on the previous post, it does seem that he did carefully and tactically position himself to seem more sympathetic and unquestionably feminist. Which to me is still pretty reprehensible, and his treatment and depictions of women hasn’t exactly been very stellar.
1 Like
I believe what Kai Cole wrote. It sounds like Whedon was a shitty husband and partner. I also take it with a grain of salt, in that it was written by someone who clearly felt betrayed.
I don’t think Joss Whedon’s feminism is fake. I think his work speaks for itself in that regard. He consistently writes and directs shows with strong female characters who are 3 dimensional and have agency. They are strong in different ways, too, not always just super-powered and fated to save the planet/universe/high school.
The thing that would make his feminism hypocrisy, that I’m reading between the lines in Cole’s article, is that it sounds like he abused the power of his position as director/producer to have relationships with young actresses. Even if it’s consensual, it’s still an abuse. There’s an asymmetry there that makes it creepy and wrong. If that’s what happened, it needs to come out clearly. The problem with the Cole article is that it is too vague. If he was a predatory boss, that is a story that needs to be told, not hinted at.
3 Likes
