Now, to get to the real thing I wanted to talk about. James Gunn. You may or may not have heard of James Gunn. He's a talented writer-director (his two best movies arguably being Slither and Super) who is set to direct the upcoming Marvel The Guardians of the Galaxy. Recently, Mr. Gunn has gotten into some hot water after a nearly two year old blog post titled "The 50 Superheroes You Most Want to Have Sex With" has resurfaced amongst certain feminist and gay rights websites where they accuse Mr. Gunn of being sexist, homophobic, and of slut-shaming. You can find The Mary Sue article here. Gunn's post has since been taken down, but you can view the cached version here. Now, looking at the title alone would tell you that this is going to be a pretty disgusting article...and it totally is. But, then again, that was kind of the intention.
You see, if anyone who has been criticizing Gunn actually took the time to do some research into the man, they would find a very strong and vocal proponent of gay rights, feminism, and hatred of all things Chris Brown. All you have to do is look at his twitter account. This is the last person you would find to purposefully make disparaging remarks about gays, lesbians, or women, and mean it. He is someone who, time and time again, has fought on their side and has also had the habit of writing very strong female characters into his movies.
So, what's with the blog post then? Gunn was addressing a problem that has plagued Fanboyism for a long time now, and has only just recently been getting more and more attention now that geeky girls and other geeky things like comic book movies are becoming more and more mainstream and accepted. That problem is this oversexualization by ignorant fanboys towards female characters in comic books, video games, etc.
Look at this photo:
This is a photo that James Gunn, himself, used on his blog post for the apparent winner of the contest: Wonder Woman. Pictures like these are everywhere in geek culture. You'll find them in comic book blogs, video game blogs, and in the mediums themselves. Lists, like the one Gunn posted, are also a common occurrence. Blogs will rank female characters based on their sex appeal for really no purpose other than to appeal to young teenage boys. Here is one example (which includes men characters, but so did Gunn's post), or how about a video counting down the best boobs in gaming? Really all you have to do is do a google search for "sexiest video game/comic book characters" (that's what I did) and a plethora of lists will show up and you can have your pick. Shit like this goes on all the time, and it has turned off many would-be geeky girls from the whole thing because we all look like a bunch of lonely 12 year old boys sitting in front of a computer screen who fantasize and objectify women in any possible way we can.
This is the real problem, and what Gunn was trying to do is use satire to point this out. To hold up a mirror to those ignorant fanboys out there and say, This is what you sound like to the rest of the world, and you make us all look like this you when you do it. He used outrageous language and things that sound like something most people wouldn't say to expose this issue. Was it very clear? Admittedly, maybe not to everyone. It was to me, but then again, I've seen this issue everywhere, and I know how James Gunn actually feels on the subject. Admittedly, it wasn't that well written, and isn't that funny when you actually read it. It may not have been entirely clear what his intention actually was, and that's a shame. I think for those blogs that are taking the story up and condemning him, they need to turn their focus on the very real problems facing gays, lesbians, and women because Gunn's post certainly isn't the problem.
For those that did take offense, I'm sorry that happened. You're getting mad at the right mindset though, your heart is in the right place. But, this isn't the thing to get mad at. Get mad at the still prevalent mindset that these characters have to be sexualized in order to be appreciated. And for those who have suggested that Gunn be fired from the Guardians of the Galaxy project, go home. James Gunn really deserves this project. He has worked for years not garnering the attention he deserves and this could be his big break. It shouldn't be spoiled for him for a two-year-old poorly written joke with good intentions.
Meridith Borders over at Badass Digest does a great job of explaining her reasoning for defending Gunn, despite being a feminist herself, and I think its definitely worth a read.
What I ask readers to take away from this is to take the person's intent into account before you take offense to something that they have written or said. It's like calling Mel Brooks a racist for using the N-word in his movies when he was really making fun of the way those racists must think.
Quick Edit: James Gunn has since apologized, and I think it's a very classy apology. Now we have to move on from this.
