X-Men: Apocalypse is in theaters, which is totally YAY! because everything Jennifer Lawrence touches is golden, and also YAY! because mutants are cool. But the film's ad campaign, while a valiant attempt, is best described as 😬 .
The movie poster shows Apocalypse strangling Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique, which, to be fair, is apparently something that happens in the film. But as Rose McGowan points out, without any context, we're just seeing a man strangling a woman as an ad campaign. It's iffy, weird, and NAGL (not a good look).
I know it's a movie scene, but they're also putting it on ads. 😕 pic.twitter.com/conG7YkhNtMay 11, 2016
"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," Rose tells The Hollywood Reporter. (opens in new tab) "There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. 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. 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. So let's right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can't manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?"
Pretty powerful point of view, but McGowan's closing statements are particularly thought-provoking:
"I'll close with a text my friend sent, a conversation with his daughter," she said. "It follows: 'My daughter and I were just having a deep discussion on the brutality of that hideous X-Men poster yesterday. Her words: 'Dad, why is that monster man committing violence against a woman?' This from a 9-year-old. If she can see it, why can't Fox?"
Not to take sides, but dear god, people who run the X-Men ad campaign, look at your life, look at your choices!
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