Jurassic World was a dealt a pretty serious blow early on in its marketing campaign when Universal unveiled a clip from the action-adventure blockbuster that many, including Avengers director Joss Whedon, accused of sexism toward star Bryce Dallas Howard. Now, director Colin Trevorrow is tackling the controversy head on.
Talking to Bad Taste, the helmer was asked about his thoughts on Whedon’s reaction, which was encapsulated in a tweet reading, “I’m too busy wishing this clip wasn’t 70’s era sexist. She’s a stiff, he’s a life-force – really? Still?” Trevorrow told the Italian site that he did see the comment, and he had a mixed reaction:
“I wasn’t bothered by what he said about the movie and, to be honest, I don’t totally disagree with him. I wonder why [Universal] chose a clip like that, that shows an isolated situation within a movie that has an internal logic. That starts with characters that are almost archetypes, stereotypes that are deconstructed as the story progresses. The real protagonist of the movie is Claire and we embrace her femininity in the story’s progression. There’s no need for a female character that does things like a male character, that’s not what makes interesting female characters in my view. Bryce and I have talked a lot about these concepts and aspects of his [sic] character.”
That’s a smart stance for Trevorrow to take, especially given that no one really rose up on the interwebs to defend the film after that clip debuted.
[zerg]Acknowledging that the impact wasn’t quite what he expected and explaining that it was taken out of context is one way to try to minimize any pre-release acrimony toward the picture, and I’m inclined to give Trevorrow the benefit of the doubt on this one – especially with Howard backing him up when she spoke to The Huffington Post a few days ago:
“[Whedon]’s a hero, he’s an amazing guy and a champion for women in this industry. Marketing for a film is tricky because you release stuff without context. Of course there was a part of me being such a fan of him that was like, ‘Nooooo!’ Especially because when you see the movie it’s not at all like that, but we make movies and it’s out there for public opinion and I hope he likes the movie!”
Jurassic World opens July 12. We’ll know then whether the clip was an unfortunate instance of an out-of-step marketing department or an indication of the film’s narrative tendencies as a whole. Here’s hoping for the former.
