Joss Whedon, we really hardly knew ye

There is something about celebrity break-ups that makes people choose up sides, despite the fact that virtually everything we know about the dirt is being spoon fed by press agents.  I don’t know who is right in the Woody Allen/Mia Farrow brouhaha; all I know is he used to make great movies and she wanted to adopt about 150 kids, so which was more emotionally stable?  People say Allen seduced his step daughter, but he and Farrow were never married, and in fact didn’t even live together, so there was no taboo relationship between him and Soon-yi Previn.  I’ll grant the ick factor, but that’s about it.

The past two days have been filled with the revelation that sometimes-genius writer and well-known feminist Joss Whedon has been accused of serial infidelity by his ex-wife, Kai Cole.  They were divorced in 2012 but this week Cole posted a blog addressing Whedon's infidelities.  This led one commentator to declare that given his actions, Whedon should forfeit his title as "feminist."

I noticed something after the huge success of The Avengers, a stupendous triumph for Whedon after helming a low rated TV series (Buffy), a short-lived series (Firefly), and a low-budget internet sensation (Dr. Horrible’s Sing a Long Blog); fans of Whedon took his accomplishment personally.  Whedon has a unique relationship with his (dare I call us) followers, one that makes us think of him maybe not as a friend, but someone who knows us and writes material directed to us personally.  That makes these revelations difficult to hear, but truth will out.

As disappointed as I am to hear of Whedon’s alleged philandering, even taking it at face value I don’t think that it makes Whedon a hypocrite for claiming to be a feminist.  The commentary by Laura Browning at AV Club, linked to above, mocks Whedon’s claim that he was surrounded by “beautiful, needy, aggressive young women” by saying those are the words of a predator.  But is it “feminist” to apply the term “victim” to the women Whedon strayed with, if any?  Were these women not adults, capable of making their own choices?  Isn’t claiming they were powerless against Whedon taking away their, um power?  We’re not talking about what Whedon is, we’re talking about who these women were, and calling them victims just because they are female seems demeaning.

Once again, we don’t know any specifics.  There was another well-known TV science fiction producer who had a well-documented libido, Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek.  For years he accused NBC of demanding that Majel Barret’s character be eliminated after the pilot episode because of their sexism; I’ve read that the real reason was that NBC executives knew that Roddenberry was cheating on his wife with Barret and they didn’t want him putting his mistress on the NBC payroll.  I’ve also read he had a casting couch and that virtually all of the actresses on the show were on it (I’ve always assumed this referred to the extras and not guest stars like Joan Collins and Diana Muldaur). 

If Whedon had a similar casting couch, that’s an indefensible abuse of his power.  If, as Whedon seems to be saying, young women threw themselves at him and he failed to get out of the way, that’s another matter.  Roddenberry often linked his views on male-female equality with a rather carefree approach to sexual activity; he once said he wanted the crew of the Enterprise to be 50-50 male female but NBC balked as it would look like something was going on, and they compromised on a 2/3 male, 1/3 female combination.  Roddenberry said he assumed that if the 1/3 of crew were relative healthy young women, they could handle the 2/3 who were men.

Or maybe Whedon is claiming the Krusty the Clown defense; when Bart Simpson asked Krusty why he endorsed inferior products, Krusty sobbed and said, “They drove a dump truck of money up to my house; I’m not made of stone!”  Again, not great, but not necessarily anti-feminist as it goes to Whedon’s weaknesses, not the strength of the fairer sex (kidding).

I can’t even start to comment on Browning’s claim that women of color object to his portrayal of the First Slayer as a Black woman whose status as a vampire-slayer was forced upon her by white men.  In the context of the show, the portrayal was seen as akin to rape and evidence of the weakness of men who can’t fight evil themselves but have to conscript a young woman to do their dirty work.  I’m not a big fan of season 7 of Buffy, but even I got how that plotline reinforced the concept of The Slayer was one of female empowerment.

Whedon famously said that with Buffy he intended to create an icon.  That’s amazing.  Most people in the entertainment industry just want to make a paycheck, not create an enduring symbol.  Maybe the split with Cole explains his drop in production; since The Age of Ultron (in my opinion easily the worst thing he’s ever written/directed) two years ago he’s hasn’t had anything in the pipeline.  At the risk of sounding selfish, I hope he gets back to work soon and comes out with that Dr. Horrible sequel he’s been promising for years.  There are lots of artists whose personal life I may disapprove of, but I still admire their art.