Less spoiler-rific AVENGERS comment, about Joss Whedon's Problem

[xiphias]

Yeah. The movie doesn't pass the Bechdel Test. At all.

See, this is the disappointing thing about Joss Whedon. He so totally wants to be a feminist. But he just . . . misses. And I feel so bad for him. I'm always rooting for him to get it right, because he WANTS to get it right, and WE want him to get it right and he just doesn't.

He's got multiple female characters with agency. It would be so easy to actually put some of them in the same room at the same time and talk about things, other than men, that move the plot forward. But he doesn't. Even though he writes female characters with agency, they're usually interacting with men, reacting to men. His worlds are patriarchal, even though it's not his intention, or his desire, and he WANTS to do better.

Please, Joss. Get it right. You want to. We want you to. It just hurts that you don't. We're pulling for you, Joss! Please.

Comments

[burgundy.livejournal.com]

Does Firefly really pass? Zoe tends to talk to Mal and Wash, and Jayne to a lesser extent. She doesn't talk much to the other women. Kaylee and River get pretty friendly by the end of the series, but the first conversation that comes to mind, at the end of Objects in Space, they're talking about a boy she had sex with. Kaylee and Inara talk, but about their respective sex lives (or lack thereof). Inara doesn't interact much with Zoe or River.

You might be able to pick through the series and find a conversation here or there, but that's hardly "flying colors."