Is This Clip Sexist?

[IOwnTheSpire]

I don't know if this has been addressed elsewhere on the forums, but anyways, this is a clip from the upcoming Jurassic World.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfZwU24LWIA

Joss Whedon on Twitter called this sexist, and frankly, I just can't see it, and I think he (and others) throw out the word sexist way too casually. I wanted to know what others think, do you think this is sexist? Why or why not?

 

[Redryhno]

Something something, Pratt's character insinuates one thing about sleeping with the woman, therefore misogynist? I dunno, guy didn't look like he was doing it to be anything other than joke about it.

Overall though, just don't listen to Whedon when he's not working on something, he's like Miyazaki and Lucas in that he really seems to have no idea about anything that isn't something he isn't directly involved in. And even then, the things he criticizes is sorta the reasons he even still makes a living doing what he does. I mean, if that's sexist, half of his work have much worse things than that laced through them that he apparently doesn't see. Glass houses and all that.

 

[tippy2k2]

First off...

Second off, it's clear that these two know each other in the clip. I suppose if one would really stretch it, you could call the character sexist but I'm guessing it's just the nature of their relationship.

If she was a total stranger that he was talking to I'd be much more willing to call him a sexist person but it seems pretty clear to me that these are two friends (or at least two people comfortable enough with each other for her to not mace his face immediately).

Hell, even if it WAS a sexist scene, it means the character is a sexist person, not the movie.

 

[DementedSheep]

Not really unless there is some other context I'm missing. The guy is an ass and not in an endearing way but I'm pretty sure we are meant to think he's an ass. Unless they mean sexist to the guy in which case I don't see it either.

Edit: there is a difference between having a sexist character and a piece of work being sexist. For example you can have characters all over the place talking about how woman are weak, inferior and only good for sex but the work itself isn't sexist unless we are suppose to agree with that and it implies it's truth by making the women in it match or having them "learn their lesson".

 

[Queen Michael]

It's a sexist character. (EDIT: Or at least a character that tells a rude joke.) And yes, he's probably a protagonist, but that doesn't mean we're supposed to agree with everything he says and does. Look, people, we can't go through every second of a movie with a fine-tooth comb, and calling it "problematic" the second not everybody is perfectly non-offensive. In real-life that would be an inappropriate comment, yes. In a movie about fictional people, characters are supposed to have failings. That kind of inappropriate joke is his.

 

[Redryhno]

It's a sexist character. And yes, he's probably a protagonist, but that doesn't mean we're supposed to agree with everything he says and does. Look, people, we can't go through every second of a movie with a fine-tooth comb, and calling it "problematic" the second not everybody is perfectly non-offensive. In real-life that would be an inappropriate comment, yes. In a movie about fictional people, characters are supposed to have failings. That kind of inappropriate joke is his.

Eh, I wouldn't say it's a sexist character. Sexist comment? Sure, I'd agree to a point, but even then it's not like it's completely inappropriate considering her reaction to it.

 

[Elfgore]

Sexist? Nah, not really. Sarcastic asshole, Yep. But I think we all need to see the real problem with this here event. This thread let me to watch this video


which made me think they were going to release another dinosaur fighting game. Nope, it's a shitty iPhone app! Fuck me!

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yeah, I'm not seeing it.

I mean sure he acted like an ass at the start but once it made clear they knew each other beforehand it somewhat became somewhat acceptable. Ok yes he is still an ass but since they know each other, she pretty much knows how he will act when compared to a stranger.

 

[Aerosteam]

The audience is supposed to see that he's an asshole and what he's doing isn't charming or funny at all. So no.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Hmmm, it's just the 'Han Solo/Princess Leia' routine; He's the brash dude who's loose with the rules, and she's the stern lady who's all business and no pleasure. Put 'm together and oh the awkward shenanigans and inescapable attraction that is bound to ensue. It's there to make us laugh, with him trying to get a rise out of her with purposely insinuating comments, and her frustrating him with her rules and intellect.

Yeah, Chris Pratt is kinda sexist in this scene, but I'm sure that's what they're going for. He deals with animals so he's kind of a womanizing alpha male type guy. I think they're also trying to capitalize on his character from Guardians, which was similar.

Was Malcom's 'pull up the dinosaurs' skirts' line in the first movie sexist? Sure, but it's there to reflect his character as kind of a lady killer.

 

[mecegirl]

He's being a sexist asshole. She's there to talk about business and he won't stop hounding her over past relationship shit. So they had a bad date, big deal. They will probably get (back?)together in the movie, but in real life his attitude would be a big indication to her that she dodged a bullet by not going on a second date.

Not sure if I'd call it sexist, but it has been done to death. Right now they seem to be setting the female character up as what TV tropes calls a Defrosting Ice Queen. Its been done to death, can she not just simply be a scientist lady that's good at her job? Do we really need to imply that she's emotionless and cold instead of just neat and focused? If she were male they wouldn't be so quick to try and force feed us a romantic subplot. The two characters would just not like each other because their personalities were too different. Not because of unresolved sexual tension or whatever.

 

[HardkorSB]

Whedon supports Anita Sarkeesian so this doesn't come as a surprise.
Not in the slightest.

To me, it seems like Pratt's character is butthurt that he didn't get to have sex with her in the past so he's making stabs at her.
Just another cliche in a movie that will probably be full of cliches.

 

[Lilani]

I do find her character to be an insufferable and overused one. At least Princess Leia had a sense of humor and could both take it and dish it out. This lady is just a *****. And no doubt she'll learn out to have fun because of him, mindlessly attracted to his charisma against her better judgement, because she's lived her entire life not knowing what humor is. This sort of thing is based in sexist assumptions, on both her and his ends. For her it's the general idea that women of business or science are cold and have lost touch with their humor and humanity, and for him it's that men are irresponsible man-children with little respect for women whose purpose for existing is to teach such cold women how to be fun.

 

[Redryhno]

He's being a sexist asshole. She's there to talk about business and he won't stop hounding her over past relationship shit. So they had a bad date, big deal. They will probably get (back?)together in the movie, but in real life his attitude would be a big indication to her that she dodged a bullet by not going on a second date.

Not sure if I'd call it sexist, but it has been done to death. Right now they seem to be setting the female character up as what TV tropes calls a Defrosting Ice Queen. Its been done to death, can she not just simply be a scientist lady that's good at her job? Do we really need to imply that she's emotionless and cold instead of just neat and focused? If she were male they wouldn't be so quick to try and force feed us a romantic subplot. The two characters would just not like each other because their personalities were too different. Not because of unresolved sexual tension or whatever.

What made you think she was emotionless and cold...the only indication of that would be Pratt's character's spiel about her not seeing them as anything more than a scientific advancement. Which honestly is probably true, and it's not like neat and focused are the opposites of that. I mean if she was a bleeding heart, people would be complaining about how she's crap at her job because she wasn't focused enough.

And even then, I didn't see her as cold or emotionless, she just doesn't have the same perspective as he does since she works in a lab(presumably) and he works with them directly. Like, c'mon, how many times have they pulled the "scientist doesn't have the same thinking patterns as the normal guy working with their creations because they don't interact with them" in sci-fi? Or how many times have you run into hardcore book-smart nerds that just don't work as well outside of a controlled environment in real life?

Unless of course this is supposed to be a joke post, in which case, I laugh too.

 

[Fox12]

Sexist? No.

Poorly written? Yeah, you could probably argue that one.

 

[Phlap]

Pratt's character is a bit of a pig, but to call the movie sexist based just on that is stupid.

It would be equally valid to point the "sexist" finger at some of Whedon's own movies. The man is a being a hypocrite, and I'd be kidding myself if I didn't believe he was aware of it.

 

[Flames66]

I do find her character to be an insufferable and overused one. At least Princess Leia had a sense of humor and could both take it and dish it out. This lady is just a *****. And no doubt she'll learn out to have fun because of him, mindlessly attracted to his charisma against her better judgement, because she's lived her entire life not knowing what humor is. This sort of thing is based in sexist assumptions, on both her and his ends. For her it's the general idea that women of business or science are cold and have lost touch with their humor and humanity, and for him it's that men are irresponsible man-children with little respect for women whose purpose for existing is to teach such cold women how to be fun.

Those do indeed seem to be the tropes in action here. I noted her high heeled shoes (completely inappropriate for the terrain) indicating her closed nature and the knife on his belt showing that he is a mans man who don't take shit from no one. If they weren't fictional characters and I witnessed this conversation, I would assume she was an idiot and he was a knob.

 

[FPLOON]

...I was waiting for the women to say to him "The past is in the past..." or something like that...

Anyway, based on that clip, they are opposites of the same dino-coin that just can't see eye-to-eye, both literally and figuratively, even if a third party has one send a message to the other... In the words of one of my favorite songs: "Tales as old as time..."

Other than that, I feel like there's some missing context involving this particular setup, but then again what movie doesn't love to have pseudo-exposition-based moments in their movies, am I right people?

Spoiler: Also, this clip needed more dinos being alive and shit...

http://herodistrict.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/dinosaurHATS.gifhttp://media.giphy.com/media/vrKUtJNMtB3Y4/giphy.gif

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Can't we have assholes in movies anymore?

 

[lord canti]

Don't you know? Absolutely everything that happens to a female character, unless positive, is horribly sexist.