Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first scandal of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
On July 19th, 2018, The Daily Caller dug eight years deep to call out Guardians of the Galaxy director and key MCU figure James Gunn on his really bad, really old, really pedophilic and homophobic slur tweets. The following day, Walt Disney Studios fired James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, making the man who was supposed to lead Marvel’s next cosmic slate of films the latest victim of the #TimesUp movement and a vast cultural reckoning in Hollywood.
Ever since Weinstein’s 30-year history of workplace and sexual harassment and assault was revealed, a lot of people have been rightfully torn down and shut out from their respective positions of power, mostly from Hollywood. However, more than anyone exposed and expelled during the #MeToo movement so far, arguably James Gunn’s case is one of the movement’s most divisive. It has been a day since Gunn was fired and nearly a year since “the Weinstein effect” began, meaning that it is about damn time that we need to analyze this movement at all perspectives, and apply it to the current situation right now.
A PR Analysis of the Mouse House
In our most recent episode of AP Marvel, I had mentioned how Disney’s political stances expressed in Iron Man 2 are similar to Taylor Swift’s silence during the 2016 presidential election. By remaining either firmly in the middle or, in Swift’s case, just completely and problematically silent, she avoided alienating her politically diverse fanbase. Had she voiced support over any particular candidate, she would have been adding to her brand and image, gaining immense favor with one side and setting a tone for her albums and songs to come. But she could have stood to potentially lose millions of fans (and more importantly, sales) from her opposing side.
No matter if you’re 9 or 90, The Walt Disney Company and its subsidiaries have played a part in most, if not all, of your childhood. Like Swift, Disney’s fans are incredibly diverse in a variety of ways — race, religion, and political party. After nearly 95 years, Disney is very much aware of this fact, and have their own ways of handling any type of conflict.
I’ve been remarkably shocked at how airtight and somewhat pristine The Walt Disney Company and their assets, most especially Marvel, have been during the #MeToo movement. None of Marvel’s big stars, executives, or writers have been exposed to an alarming level. The closest that The Walt Disney Company has come to this is John Lasseter, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ and Pixar’s former chief creative officer, who took a six-month leave of absence before being fired by Disney for sexual harassment complaints.
As a small recap, alt-right figure and men’s rights activist Mike Cernovich alongside a concentrated, organized Internet campaign helped to resurface 8-year old tweets of James Gunn, in which he made jokes such as “Three Men and a Baby They Have Sex With #unromanticmovies,” and “The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!’ Discovery of these tweets were not recent news, and Gunn has apologized for them in 2012. Gunn apologized once again on Thursday, but this did not stop Disney from making their final decision.
Let’s look at Disney’s statement on James Gunn’s immediate termination, made by Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn:
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.”
I want to compare this scandal to another similar situation The Walt Disney Company faced back in late May. It is impossible to forget the swift renewal and cancellation of ABC’s monster hit Roseanne after lead star Roseanne Barr tweeted “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” targeting former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Now let’s look across the company at Disney’s statement on firing Roseanne Barr, made by ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey:
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
Hmm. This looks familiar.
There are few similarities between these two situations. One of them, obviously, is Twitter’s role in it. The other is that both Barr and Gunn chose to share their incredibly vile and offensive opinions. The big difference is timing and maturity. Roseanne Barr, a 65 year old woman, neglected to keep her mouth shut in 2018 and decided to compare Valerie Jarrett to an ape. Despite apologizing, Barr would go on to continue to spout her own racist nonsense just to put her name in a story.
James Gunn, 41 at the time of the tweets was also trying to put himself in a headline back in 2008, so he would say anything and everything. In the past ten years, he has matured to produce some of his best work and to become a better person, apologizing for his words numerous times. Gunn was targeted by conservative politicians who frequently conjure up #fakenews stories and “enjoy just the raw human visceral reaction of jumping into the arena and just swinging the hammer and seeing what is left over afterwards,” Cernovich said to TheWrap.
Unfortunately, this is how The Walt Disney Company handles scandal. It is cookie-cutter and meant to be as passive as possible, making you focus on the news itself than their words and what they say. Adamantly, Disney stays neutral. If forced to make a decision, Disney would prefer to give the louder dog a bigger bone.
But as for Lasseter, whom I mentioned earlier? Towards the end of his six-month leave of absence, there were reportedly still talks of the man responsible for ushering Disney’s animated films to the top of their class returning to work for Disney. In fact, despite being formally released in June, Lasseter will take on a consulting role until the end of the year. Disney’s statement did not acknowledge the reasons for John Lasseter’s departure from the company, and no indication of an investigation into his conduct was made. It seemed like the Mouse House was trying to have their cake and eat it too by putting Lasseter on time-out before he could come back and play.
It is worth emphasizing that this was a decision made by The Walt Disney Company, and not Marvel Studios themselves. Kevin Feige did not release a statement — Alan Horn did. More importantly, as of now Kevin Feige has not said anything, either choosing to take time and process what’s happening in order to respond (or take action) later, or to adopt Disney’s silent, neutral strategy.
The Future of Guardians of the Galaxy and James Gunn
In both his apologies, James Gunn cites how he and his humor have matured, and how he’s become a changed man overall. On Facebook, he takes the time to answer as many questions as he can in the best way he possibly could. He’s open about his creative process and stands up for the little guys. He is humble and candid about his mistakes so others can learn from his example. Anyone looking at his movies can clearly see his development as a filmmaker, creating his own unique style of weirdness and humor that was able to land him Guardians of the Galaxy in the first place. And that decision has resulted in one of Marvel Studios’ best films and a concrete, beautiful vision of a whole different corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This is probably not the first case of a good man being taken down by his horrendous past. The Weinstein effect empowered people to speak up to right up to 30 years of wrongs, helping to take power from those who have abused it. In its infant year of conception and implementation, supporters of #MeToo and #TimesUp are shifting the power landscape as quickly as they can to make sure sexist, racist people who use people for their own means and gains never are put in a position of power again.
As time has passed, the efforts of #MeToo and #TimesUp are now proving to be a mishandled double-edged sword. Conservatives and alt-right supporters have used the movement to gang up on people in power they deem dangerous to their position, like outspoken political liberal and Trump critic James Gunn. Others have used the movement as an excuse for attention and foot traffic, such as babe.net: a site with no credibility nor class inflating a narrative on Aziz Ansari’s sexual misconduct, thus resulting in sloppy journalism.
Having to equate James Gunn today as a man who joked about child molestation ten years ago is difficult but just. Maybe it has been hard for us to process because of who James Gunn is in general, a man who literally dances like Baby Groot and relates the most to a talking raccoon than any of the characters in his blockbuster hit film. This scandal is another reminder, among the countless we face every day, of the reason why we watch superhero movies: to escape from realities like these, that the hero we thought would always be there for us has been nearly as bad as his archenemy.
Seeing James Gunn fall swiftly from grace has been hard for any Guardians fan or Marvel fan. No matter who comes under fire, these kinds of scandals force us to question who that person really is who they portray themselves to be. But the nature of these movements is Dredd-like, and has always been to find said abuser, quickly expose them, and snuff them out. Cernovich saw this and expected it to happen, and he was right.
However, to quote AP Marvel co-host Anthony Paone, taking Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 from James Gunn is exactly like stealing a baby.
Kevin Feige hired James Gunn to make a “James Gunn movie,” not a completely obvious and blatant Star Wars ripoff. After news first broke out, we at Marvel News Desk threw out some potential names we’d like to see: Nicole Perlman in her first directing stint, Rian Johnson, Taika Waititi, Brad Bird, Gina Prince Blythewood, Kelly Fremon Craig, or Jordan Peele. But the reality is, no one could ever replicate a “James Gunn movie;” no one will ever be able to do as good of a job with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as James Gunn could have.
While it was stupid for Gunn to keep his older tweets even after he apologized for the first time in 2012, Disney knew what they were getting into when hiring James Gunn, who has now delivered above and beyond for the company.
Now, James Gunn and Disney have put the #MeToo movement under a microscope once again. Unlike other Hollywood men who have fallen from grace, James Gunn is a born-again liberal, a man who has recognized he was wrong and has always sought to redeem himself, repenting by helping to teach others and fighting for what is right. #MeToo has targeted one of the movement’s own and has been weaponized by conservatives. Followers now need to step back, and consider how redemption plays a role in #MeToo.
In order to continue to thrive, the #MeToo movement needs control. #MeToo started as a hashtag meant to unite victims of sexual harassment in their solidarity and struggle. Now that we are united, we all need to focus those efforts into keeping that movement alive. The #MeToo movement needs to have clarifications, and needs to stop addressing justice in a swift black and white matter. The #MeToo movement needs to understand the difference between calculated attacks and signs of a person’s true nature. It needs to recognize cases of redemption, and should not take people away from a second chance if they are deserving of it.
Words cannot describe the impact #MeToo has had on not just the entertainment industry and on my personal life. It has made me feel empowered to speak out and hopeful in my future. However, I am terrified that it will die out quickly if we cannot control it to be used justly.
But Could Disney Have Actually Done Anything?
Unfortunately, no. In order to appease their neutral image, Disney had no choice but to bow into the demands of the conservative alt-right. A part of me, the one that still believes in the goodness of the world, hopes Kevin Feige will swoop in, save the day, and #RehireJamesGunn. The realist in me knows that for the first time, Feige’s hands are tied on this front. The realist in me was also appalled by what Gunn has said in the past, and hasn’t felt this way since Weinstein’s allegations were first brought to light.
However, this does not stop me from saying that I believe Disney made a swift, irrational decision.
In the wake of Gunn’s exit, Marvel faces a slightly Edgar Wright-like situation: no matter who they decide to hire, their announcement is going to receive a ton of hate. Within the Guardians franchise, Gunn will always seem irreplaceable. At best, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be another Ant-Man: an attempt to try to mimic Gunn and find a replacement for a core component they have lost. At worst, Marvel has their first Cars 2. But while I love Ant-Man, I loved Guardians of the Galaxy a lot more.
Furthermore, without realizing it, Disney has harmed their neutral image.
I’d like to remind everyone that Mike Cernovich was charged for raping a girl in 2003. He’s supported date rape, and even after getting James Gunn fired he is still attacking other figures that aren’t in his alt-right path. And me slandering him right now is exactly what he wants, because all he wants is attention.
This is the man that Disney has chosen to align themselves with, rather than a man who has helped the company generate billions of dollars in profit. I don’t know about you, but I would rather side with a person who has joked about rape than with a person who has actually committed rape.
I don’t blame Disney for trying to stay neutral. I’m trying to do the same. But sooner or later, a Kim Kardashian will find you and is going to see through your bullshit.
While Scott Lang is in jail during Ant-Man, Hank Pym tells him, “Second chances don’t come around all that often. I suggest you take a really close look at it. This is your chance to earn that look in your daughter’s eyes, to become the hero that she already thinks you are.” Ant-Man is one of Disney’s many tales of redemption, and one that is an example of Disney’s current hypocrisy. At the same time, James Gunn still needs to re-earn that look of heroism among the eyes of his fans over what he’s said in his past. But he should not have to do it alone.
On Twitter, Lindsay Ellis started the self-explanatory hashtag #RehireJamesGunn, expressing how “this is bigger than Gunn. Gunn was fired for bad tweets that the left already railed against YEARS ago, and for which he apologized…YEARS ago. This is just validating bad faith conspiracy theorists who are strangely obsessed with pedophilia.” The hashtag now has hundreds of tweets, with users expressing how much Gunn has matured and calling out Disney’s hypocrisy in employing people like Johnny Depp and banking off Robert Downey Jr.’s rise to fame after his battle with drug addiction. It is unlikely that Disney would ever backtrack on monumental decisions like this, but #RehireJamesGunn is helping to make everyone’s voices heard and helps point out a much larger problem.
James Gunn’s scandal shows how #MeToo is in danger of being misused and misidentified. #MeToo is an important and necessary movement the world needs right now. But to truly become what it wants to be, #MeToo needs clear guidelines. #MeToo needs to be more grey rather than distinctly black and white. By siding with Cernovich, Disney has undermined the #MeToo movement and everything that they have stood for. And in the wake of this scandal, it is absolutely vital that we regain control of it to help further its purpose.
After all, if we were all faulted for our mistakes, instead of being taught to embrace them and learn to grow, why would we do anything?
Originally published at marvelnewsdesk.com on July 21, 2018.
