The internet is pretty upset today, at two of its heroes, and I think it'd be good to have a brief discussion as to why. As you may have heard, an interview was released this morning with Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner. The interviewer asked a sorta softball question about "shipping," and how the boys felt about Black Widow being paired up with Bruce Banner, instead of either of the two of their characters. Renner responded with a joke, which you can see in the full clip after the jump.
They call her a "slut," and a "whore," and joke about a prosthetic leg and how she's leading everybody on. And now the internet is furious.
A brief note, before we get started. This is meant to be a joke. We know it's meant to be a joke. The joke is that the idea of Renner and Evans, who are known to be generally decent human beings, would ever think anything like this is ridiculous. They're playing at being dumb frat boys for a second to get a laugh, and it clearly works, at least on Evans. Nobody, at least nobody at this blog, is calling either man deliberately misogynist at all.
But this is a teachable moment, and I want to take advantage of it. You see, we all know that Evans and Renner didn't intend to be mysoginstic. But by taking one of the two women in their movie and reducing her to a worth based only on who she's is or isn't sleeping with, even as a joke, they were. Even if you feel they were lead into that reaction by the interviewer, it's still misogynistic. But if they didn't intend it that way, that's it, they're off the hook, right?
No, not really. You see, our intent is something we use a lot as an excuse. You didn't intend to hurt someone's feelings, so it's their own fault those feelings are hurt. But that's not the case. Your intent doesn't matter. Your actions do. And Evans and Renner hurt a lot of fans with their actions today. There's a lot of rage on the internet from female fans who love the Marvel and Avengers films because they depict their female characters as so much more than just who they're romantically entangled with - and that's super rare in modern mainstream cinema. To have two of the lead actors of this beloved franchise reduce a character to just a "slut," regardless of whether it was a joke, stings like hell.
I'm one hundred percent sure we'll see an apology from both these guys by the end of the week. And because of who they are, I'm ninety nine percent sure it'll be a real one, not a "I'm sorry you were offended," apology. But I also know that a lot of guys on the internet are going to be throwing around words like "It was just a joke," and "no big deal," and "grow some thicker skin." And that's not OK. Just because you've never experienced something, doesn't mean it's not real. Just because your feelings weren't hurt doesn't mean someone else's weren't. And your particular view of the universe, and what's funny and what isn't, doesn't trump everybody else's.
Take a second, listen to the people who were hurt, and then decide what you want to believe. But don't brush people off just to defend two guys who made a mistake.
UPDATE: As 100% expected, they DID apologize. Evans did it a little better than Renner, but it's there.
“Yesterday we were asked about the rumors that Black Widow wanted to be in a relationship with both Hawkeye and Captain America,” Evans said in a statement provided to EW. “We answered in a very juvenile and offensive way that rightfully angered some fans. I regret it and sincerely apologize.”
“I am sorry that this tasteless joke about a fictional character offended anyone,” Renner also said in a statement provided to EW. “It was not meant to be serious in any way. Just poking fun during an exhausting and tedious press tour.”
Mike Fatum is the Editor in Chief and one of the podcast hosts for the Ace of Geeks.
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