Outrage over 'Apocalypse' billboard shows Hollywood's disdain for men
A depiction of Apocalypse (played by Oscar Isaac) choking Mystique
(played by Jennifer Lawrence) in "X-Men: Apocalypse" has caused outrage
among some. (Image courtesy screenshot)
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/outrage-over-apocalypse-billboard-shows-hollywoods-disdain-for-men/article/2593052
Forget gorillas and North Carolina bathroom laws. Internet outrage warriors found a new obsession over the weekend when once-famous actress Rose McGowan noticed a billboard depicting — gasp — a scene from the new movie "X-Men: Apocalypse."
The scene chosen for the billboard showed Apocalypse (played by Oscar Isaac) choking Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence). Because the scene showed a man harming a woman, outrage ensued.
We could all place pretty large bets on the idea that McGowan would not be upset if the billboard depicted a different scene in the movie — one where Apocalypse beats Dr. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) to a bloody pulp.
"There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled," McGowan told the Hollywood Reporter. "The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society."
She added: "Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous."
Really? The outrage was enormous for the male-mutant versus female-mutant, but there would certainly be no outrage from anyone if a white man were the one being strangled.
Beyond the absurdity of finding outrage in a fictional scene, it also shows how little the outrage warriors — and Hollywood actors like McGowan — think of men. No otherwise nonviolent man drove down the road, saw that billboard, and thought to himself: "Hmm, maybe I should try strangling my wife tonight." And no man who was otherwise inclined to do so needed a billboard as a final push.
It was just a billboard, calm down people. And seriously, this is a movie about someone called "Apocalypse." A lack of violence or destruction in the marketing campaign would have seemed odd. I thought we had moved past the days where we thought people were stupid enough and gullible enough to follow everything they saw in movies and pictures. I guess not.
An interesting question as to what types of images should qualify for the protection of political correctness.
Personally, I think the fact that Lawrence's character is a supervillain in an action movie removes her from the protected class.
Agreed Lady Dowser. Is there a new "correctness" being created here. Is this considered social correctness rather than political correctness. So now we're going to start trying to decipher the hidden messages of movie billboards. This is simply misguided censorship.
I am not Dowser, although my new avatar for today, a photograph of the Americans landing on Omaha Beach , Jun 6 1944, does have a similar color scheme to Dowser's cat.
Hahahaha - I noticed it after I posted. You keep changing your avatar so I can't keep up. I guess I really do need to get my eyes checked.
Their outrage is kind of funny. I mean not only is it a fantasy film, but he is choking a bad gal. What's next? Rooting for Cat Woman? LMAO... Holy Political Correctness!
The outrage is ridiculous. However, for the record, the blue girl is actually the hero of this movie, not a supervillian.
Thanks Cerenkov. I never followed the X men. But I did go to see Captain America and it was fun, if not a bit light on story line.
I have never seen any of the movies, nor much care to.
According to wikipedia, Mystique is a villain with superpowers.
Mystique is a member of a subspecies of humanity known as mutants , who are born with superhuman abilities. Mystique is a shapeshifter who can mimic the appearance and voice of any person with exquisite precision, and her natural appearance includes blue skin and yellow eyes. She is typically portrayed as a foe of the X-Men.
Throughout most of her history, Mystique has been a supervillain , founding her own Brotherhood of Mutants and assassinating several important people involved in mutant affairs. At one point, she mentions that she is over 100 years old
That's the comics. The movies are different.
Silly Faux outrage.
I'll bet Buzz could find us a 1,000 movie posters like this supposedly offensive X-men one.
You mean like these?