Joss Whedon deletes twitter account following mass of feminist criticism

[Albetta]

Im surprised there isn't a thread about this yet.

Earlier today, Joss Whedon deleted his twitter account shortly after posting a farewell message to "all the people who've been so kind and funny and inspiring up in here". The deletion follows a wave of feminist's critiscisms on his latest Avengers move, specifically the portrayal of Black Widow. Although he did not state why he was leaving, and no reason has yet been officially confirmed, feminists on twitter have gladly taken credit. This possibility is bolstered by a tweet from comedian and actor Patton Oswalt:

Yep. There is a "Tea Party" equivalent of progressivism/liberalism. And they just chased Joss Whedon off Twitter. Good job, guys. Ugh.

? Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 4, 2015 [https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/595339749499371520]


Given the fact that Oswalt has appeared in Agents of Shield, a Whedon project, it is quite possible this could be the official reason for the deletion.

While it is of course a leaderless movement, the general consensus among feminists on the trending hashtag seems to be that if Whedon can't write strong female characters with interesting arcs, he won't be missed.


Source: Twitter

 

[L. Declis]

Is anyone surprised?

It's been like this for a few years. The SJW's turn on anyone who doesn't do exactly what they like, regardless of his past support, regardless of his experience and talent in the area which they do not possess, and they attack him. They always do.

But it's anti-feminists who are the arseholes.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Black Widow probably shouldn't exist in the first place. Nor Hawkeye for that matter.

You have a super soldier, a being with literally infinite strength, a God who can control lightning, the smartest man on earth that has one of the most advanced suits of armor on the planet verses... a guy who can aim good and a woman who has some spy training. Woo. Exciting.

Just cut Black Widow and Hawkeye from the roster. Feminists don't have to put up with a 'poor' portrayal of a female character and the Avengers plot lines don't have to be flubbed just to provide something for the non-supers on the team to contribute. Everyone wins.

 

[Saetha]

What! Someone was chased off of Twitter by a disgusting hate mob that drowned them in negativity? Well, surely there are already a slew of articles on this tragedy, a mess of journalists decrying the toxic nerd culture and the vile trolls that populate it. I'm certain that as we speak there are countless individuals pouring their heart out to this tortured soul, adding this to the long, long list of poor bastards that have been targeted for no better reason than the fact that they dared to speak up. He must-

Wait - he? You're talking about a man? Ah, fuck 'em then. Men gotta fend for themselves. I can't spin this to fit my narrative of sexism and misogyny!

(please note this post is 100% not serious. Honestly, this is disgusting but I've come to expect nothing less from those who claim to champion justice and equality)

 

[Albetta]

Just for the record I (the OP), am a proud flag waving progressive. I simply find this crucifiction and lack of battle-picking kind of a poor tactic.

 

[Zontar]

Black Widow probably shouldn't exist in the first place. Nor Hawkeye for that matter.

You have a super soldier, a being with literally infinite strength, a God who can control lightning, the smartest man on earth that has one of the most advanced suits of armor on the planet verses... a guy who can aim good and a woman who has some spy training. Woo. Exciting.

Just cut Black Widow and Hawkeye from the roster. Feminists don't have to put up with a 'poor' portrayal of a female character and the Avengers plot lines don't have to be flubbed just to provide something for the non-supers on the team to contribute. Everyone wins.

Originally it was supposed to be Ant Man and Wasp, but because Ant Man was pushed back for Iron Man 2 it caused them to need the two instead since it was easier to introduce them.

Though I have to ask, have you seen Age of Ultron? Because Haweye could be argued that despite his lack of powers he may be the single most important member on the team, not despite the fact that he's only human, but because of that very reason. He grounds them, brings them back to Earth.

Plus, in the case of Black Widow, there's just no wining when it comes to the people who complained about this. They got a strong, well written but flawed character, and that was the problem, the reason her character worked is the same one that this whole shitstorm happened. It's basically the people complaining about this straight up saying we can't have female characters who have flaws, something I stated in another thread just yesterday (or was it earlier today?) before I learned about all this.

Thankfully these people being a full one percent of one percent of the movie going audience would likely be a massive overestimate of their numbers, so hopefully writers and directors realize they are a loud and annoying minority, but a minority none the less who don't represent more then a marginal fraction of what people want to see in movies.

Off Topic: is Patt ever coming back to Agents of Shield? I liked his character(s) and we haven't seen him since the first half of the season.

 

[Darks63]

Even though the circumstances of him leaving suck you have to wonder if it is a winning move in general for famous people to pull out of twitter. It seems like Twitter is just poison for famous people and non famous people alike so just pull the plug on twitter and its 140 char limit crap.

 

[Fox12]

snip

I'm confused, what aspect of her character is being criticized?

Anyway, I can't imagine needing much of an excuse to shut down your twitter page. The only reason I keep a facebook is for work related purposes. I'll probably disable it anyway.

 

[Nirallus]

snip

I'm confused, what aspect of her character is being criticized?

Does it even matter? Any movie or character can be run through the Problem-Matic? in order to manufacture something to be outraged by. And this was a guy who went out of his way to suck up to the "progressive" crowd, and got shit on by them anyways:

Spoiler

 

[Zontar]

snip

I'm confused, what aspect of her character is being criticized?

From what I can understand it seems to be her backstory, which is both tragic and fully gels with how she has been portrayed in both Age of Ultron and the previous entries she has been a part of.

 

[Lightspeaker]

You know the sad thing? I can even predict how this is going to go now.

One group of people is going to start yelling "not all feminists", although maybe not in those exact words, and throwing no true Scotsman fallacies all over the place. Whilst singularly failing to realise the irony of doing so. Meanwhile the worst of them will be doing everything they can to turn this into a positive for "their side".

The other side is going to throw a collective wobbler (arguably rightfully in this particular case) about the fact that a much loved Director/Producer has been forced off social media. And the worst of them are going to respond by, rather than doing something constructive in support of Joss Whedon, trying to crash and burn everything (definitely wrongly) and causing even more hate and vitriol.

And then around and around we go. Welcome to the internet 2015, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy your stay. -_-

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

snip

I'm confused, what aspect of her character is being criticized?

Does it even matter? Any movie or character can be run through the Problem-Matic? in order to manufacture something to be outraged by. And this was a guy who went out of his way to suck up to the "progressive" crowd, and got shit on by them anyways:

Spoiler

The out cry about black widow is absolutely unfounded.

On the other hand making a transphobic statement like he did is pretty much patently not cool, and not acceptable.

 

[Fox12]

snip

I'm confused, what aspect of her character is being criticized?

From what I can understand it seems to be her backstory, which is both tragic and fully gels with how she has been portrayed in both Age of Ultron and the previous entries she has been a part of.

Lord, some people will complain about anything.

Has Twitter ever done anything positive? Or is it just a dumping ground for bored, outraged people?

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Just to be clear, he's only leaving Twitter, right? Because if that's the case, I don't really see the harm. Twitter seems to be nothing but trouble for anyone famous. So many times someone will tweet something and it gets taken the wrong way, or tweet something in anger, or they'll just get flooded with crap like this to the point where it's not worth the stress anymore.

Now if he was leaving Marvel movies in general, then I would be disappointed. I like how he handles the Marvel franchises for the most part.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

On the other hand making a transphobic statement like he did is pretty much patently not cool, and not acceptable.

Er, I think part of that is the nature of Twitter. Like, he just made a quick and short-sighted statement he thought was humorous without being aware of the potential implications of the statement. I don't think it was made out of malice for transfolk. I understand that it could very easily be interpreted as transphobic, but I don't think the huge backlash for a quick throwaway statement was really justified either. Does seem pretty damn immature as an answer though. And I'm not sure why you would answer such a question in a single tweet.

So basically, fuck Twitter. My favorite phrase to say.

 

[Xeorm]

snip

I'm confused, what aspect of her character is being criticized?

Anyway, I can't imagine needing much of an excuse to shut down your twitter page. The only reason I keep a facebook is for work related purposes. I'll probably disable it anyway.

Spoiler: Reasons I found

Looks like it came from 2 things from the movie: First was where Tony Stark, attempting to pick up Thor's hammer, says as King of Asgard he'll bring back Prima Nocta. Aka, he made a bit of a rape joke. Sort of.

Second was a scene with Black Widow where she talks about her past. She mentions that she was made sterile as part of her training. She also said she thought of herself as a monster in the same scene. Plenty took the monster comment to be because she was sterile. Cue hate at implying being sterile makes one a monster.

Seems like standard crap though. Little things that aren't really harmful, but everyone wants to take offense, and so they do. So standard victim complex.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I wish Movie Bob was still around just to see how the fuck he'd spin this one.

snip

I'm confused, what aspect of her character is being criticized?

For what it's worth, this is from Matt Zoller Seitz's review of Ultron:

The film will do nothing to quell complaints that the superhero genre is sexist: Black Widow is involved in yet another relationship with a male Avenger and burdened with a tragic backstory equating motherhood with womanly fulfillment, and while Scarlet Witch has some pleasingly Carrie-like rampages, she isn't given enough to do.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/avengers-age-of-ultron-2015

 

[Johnny Impact]

Famous people can't say good morning without some SJW shitting all over it. Ignore the haters and you're insensitive. Apologize to them and you're spineless. Attempt to reason with them and they only become even more enraged. Quit and they'll never stop crowing about how they beat you. You cannot defeat a determined hater on the Internet. Maybe that's why so many of them hide here.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I wish Movie Bob was still around just to see how the fuck he'd spin this one.

I checked his blog, he hasn't said anything about it yet. Nice review of Age of Ultron though, and a well deserved calling out of Nintendo too.

 

[DC_78]

Famous people can't say good morning without some SJW shitting all over it. Ignore the haters and you're insensitive. Apologize to them and you're spineless. Attempt to reason with them and they only become even more enraged. Quit and they'll never stop crowing about how they beat you. You cannot defeat a determined hater on the Internet. Maybe that's why so many of them hide here.

The entire social media thing that allows fans to voice their criticisms to the artists directly in real time is, frankly, garbage. At least with old fashion snail mail the editors/writers/artists of comics could pick a few worthwhile fan responses and discuss their merits in a response on the letters page. With Twitter, not so much. It is mostly Hate, hate, HATE, we love you, DEATH/RAPE threat. I am sure it was the same with snail mail, but the irrational hate mail was just tossed in the trash where it belonged. Not broadcasted across the entire world at the speed of light for everyone to see and comment on, join in, or bash.