"Avengers: Age of Ultron" rocks! But we're just that much more excited for "Mad Max: Fury Road"!!!

Patricia Arquette was right: Women in the entertainment industry are being backhanded!

by Flix-Men David Blanchard

posted May 13, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictured: Patricia Arquette at this year's Academy Awards, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" writer/director Joss Whedon and his original 2005 teaser poster artwork for his Wonder Woman movie.

 

OK, I think it’s time to step in and say something about the current state of affairs regarding women in and around creating movies and entertainment! It wasn’t that long ago (February in fact) that Patricia Arquette came up to except the Best Actress Oscar for her role in “Boyhood”, ultimately finding the star firmly calling for equality for women in cinema.

 

Huh? What?...most of us said.

 

Where did that come from, aren’t we much more advanced on that front than at any time before in film history? Turns out Ms. Arquette’s troubling concerns were deeply rooted in what has become a hot topic, especially during the last couple of weeks.

 

We’ve seen everything from Sony execs (in leaked e-mails) calling out movies that had women leads as poison at the box office, even ridiculously noting the 30-year-old Helen Slater film “Supergirl” as one of the culprits, to the removal of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow from merchandising for “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, including packaging for toys from a scene in the movie where her character is featured prominently and replacing it with Captain America.

 

WTF??!! With the diversity that is being demonstrated in movies and television shows today, especially when it comes to LGBT populated entertainment, why are women getting the shit end of the stick…STILL???!!! Give me a break, an argument can be made that male hero movies can also be less than successful or even duds for that matter. Try Ben Affleck’s “Daredevil", "Superman Returns" and "Green Lantern”.

 

Sony’s e-mails clearly indicate the current state of studio distrust that strong female-led films are box office poison. Such is the reason why a Black Widow movie almost seems like an empty promise now, as well as the previous talks of a standalone Wonder Woman movie (even though it seems to be firmly on the books now), which could have been made a few years back with the brilliant writing and direction of Joss Whedon steering the project.

 

BTW, Whedon has incredible respect for women and strong women characters, hello?! So don’t give him any shit because of his comments on Twitter! Whedon’s Wonder Woman movie would have become the female superhero flick that all others would have had to follow!

 

BUT NO!!! And you know why? Because the studio messed things up in their relationship. Bye-bye, Joss Whedon, hello Zach Snyder and Warner Bros. “reimagining” of WW in next year’s “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice”. We’ll see what happens with that.

 

At last year’s Oscars, Cate Blanchett said, "And thank you to ... those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films, with women at the center, are niche experiences. They are not -- audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money."

 

The studios and movie marketers need to shut up, stop being prejudice and get their asses in gear to fix this festering problem! In a word: Shameful!!!