Sexist Straw Man
Remember how I hated Juno? Turns out, this makes me some sort of sexist and/or misogynist asshole**. See, because I’m a male, and I found fault with a screenplay written by a woman — and a feminist woman, author kvoynar is quick to point out in the comments! — this means that my problems with the movie have no merit. It’s really just a “thin guise” covering the quiver-inducing rage I feel whenever I think about or discuss anything having to do with women. Many of the comments I received came from women in total agreement, and although I’m sure I haven’t joined the ranks of “male-dominated film blog[s kvoynar] read[s] regularly” (possibly because this is not really a “film blog”), this did not stop me from leveling some criticism at Reitman — but put that aside for a moment. I have a confession to make about how much I hate women.
Would it also make me a woman-hating thug to find fault with kvoynar’s blog post about how much I hate women because I did not fall in love with Diablo Cody’s screenplay and do not know her personally? I only add that last part because, apparently, if I took the time to get into one of those deeeep late-night dorm-room conversations with Ms. Cody, she would charm me to such a degree that I would forgive the many flaws in her Juno screenplay and say, “Yup, she deserved that Oscar on account of being so darned nice.”
In particular, I take issue with the baffling argument that I’m a sexist asshole because I didn’t hate the scripts for current movies like Burn After Reading or Tropic Thunder, because clearly they’re worse movies because they have slightly lower ratings on the Tomato Meter. Wouldn’t a more apt comparison be the variety of other Oscar-winning screenplays? Because nobody took issue with Crash or Little Miss Sunshine or The Pianist or A Beautiful Mind. These were movies not just universally beloved — but beloved because of their flawless screenplays written by members of the clearly superior male gender. Let me turn off the sarcasm for a second and ask: are you kidding? For Christ’s sake, as recently as five months ago, I took another look at American Beauty and retroactively trashed its screenplay with as much — if not more — vitriol as I did with Juno. Some of them (Crash) instantly reveal themselves as about a thousand times worse than Juno*. And even if the idea of sampling summer popcorn fare instead of making it go toe to toe with fellow Oscar winners, you only have to go back in time as recently as a month for “current releases” to fare better on Rotten Tomatoes — WALL·E, The Dark Knight, Iron Man. Doesn’t this make the “legitimate” critical establishment sexist, as well? They gave more positive reviews to movies about rich white dudes who fight crime! O, the injustice! Even the female critics are merely unempowered husks trying to make it in a man’s world by kowtowing to their desires… Right?
So I guess I ought to just take Ms. Cody’s “defense” lying down. I made no valid points, had no real reasons to dislike her objectively great movie, I am both a sexist and a misogynist, and I should apologize right now. And I should not, at any time, point out that I only stumbled across kvoynar’s post because Ms. Cody links to it on her blog, which suggests she fully buys into the notion that her flawless screenplay is under attack by the evil cabal of misogynist male bloggers and that, if we really got to know her, we’d take back all the nasty things we’ve said about her. That doesn’t, in any way, weaken her position as a feminist! In fact, with an attitude like hers, she’d make one hell of a vice-presidential candidate!
(And for those who notice the dates on all these blogs and believe I’ve spent the past few weeks stewing in my own juices — think again! Despite my usual obsessive tendencies, my caring about Juno and the misguided people who love it ebbed by, let’s say, May. Now, a few people did send me links to Ms. Cody’s initial “outburst,” but at that time I just chuckled at the stupidity and moved on. Today, that popped in my head, I decided to check out the blog for any potential blowback-related hilarity. Instead, I found an obnoxious defense of her own defense, plus the link to the other blog, and it got my rage boiling.)
Edit, 11/9/08 — It would appear kvoynar’s site has disappeared, perhaps in shame (actually, a cursory Google search reveals that she’s now writing the same blog for some other shitty film site, with no explanation of why her actual site disappeared into the ether), so I am using Yahoo!’s helpful caching powers to provide the text of the article I ramble about above. Enjoy!
Diablo Cody (names have been changed to protect the innocent) has taken a lot of shit since “Juno” premiered at last year’s Telluride Film Festival. Months before anyone cared who Diablo Cody was, before the script she wrote went from “that little Fox Searchlight film Jason Reitman’s directing” to a box office super-hit and Oscar winner, “Juno” did a sneak at Telluride.Telluride’s known mostly for showing artsy films for cinephiles. It’s a picky fest, though their choices are sometimes a bit befuddling (for instance, last year’s slate included prominent foreign flicks “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days” and “The Counterfeiters” alongside Alison Eastwood’s “Rails & Ties,” which had some festgoers buzzing about pedigree over quality). Nonetheless, any filmmaker would be thrilled to premiere their baby at Telluride, it’s a very prestigious fest and the audiences tend to be smart folks. And last year, once “Juno” had its sneak, it became the talk of the festival.
There are usually a few films getting better buzz than others at Telluride, but I was a bit astonished by how the “Juno” buzz seemed to take over the fest. It was all anyone was talking about: Had you seen “Juno?” Were you planning to catch Jason Reitman’s conversation with Tamara Jenkins (“The Savages”) at the Courthouse? Had you seen how cute Diablo Cody was, with her red sunglasses perched on her head? The only detractor of the film I heard at Telluride was from one film journalist (who shall go unnamed) who proclaimed that he didn’t intend to even see the film because he had “a Jason Reitman issue.” To which I say, whatever. I was at that premiere, I saw and felt the audience reaction, and I walked out of that screening telling a film journo friend, “This film is going to be huge.” You could just feel it.
I had the pleasure of meeting Diablo at Telluride last year. We sat on the bench near the gondola, soaking in some Telluride rays and chatting about her film. Most interviews, there’s publicists hovering and giving you the “2 minute” sign 5 minutes into your 20-minute slot, but I was lucky enough to catch her before the film became big enough (and the journalists snarky enough) to warrant all that.
Diablo and I sat and talked about the film, life in general, teenage pregnancy, and the difficulties of the teen years for girls, for over an hour. She struck me as a warm, open, very smart young woman who was thrilled to be at Telluride with the film. She hadn’t yet been burned by the assholes who would come—I don’t think she even sensed yet that it would happen -but the Diablo I met that day was also a tough cookie, and when the bashing started in, I knew she’d come out alright, though I inwardly cringed at the thought of that bright, open-faced young woman I’d chatted with at Telluride being fed to some of the assholes she’d be dealing with at junkets and roundtables.
The strong buzz from Telluride helped the film pop at Toronto, where it was generally well-received, by both critics and regular folks. The film is still sitting at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes—a better rating, I might note, than any of the films in current release, including “Burn After Reading” (87%), “Tropic Thunder” (83%), “Ghost Town” (87%) or “Flash of Genius” (83%). And yet, search the far corners of the film blogosphere all you will, you’ll find none of the vitriol Cody has endured in the past year leveled at the screenwriters of any of those films (or pretty much any other screenwriter you could think of off the top of your head).
I spent way too much time in the last year reading the Diablo-bashing that went on in just about every male-dominated film blog I read regularly, and way more time than that calling the bashers on their bullshit. If the issues these (mostly male) bloggers and blog columnists had with “Juno” were truly with the merits of the film, you’d think they’d have been equally bashing Jason Reitman, who not only directed the film, but believed so strongly in Cody’s writing that he had her on the set through much of the shoot, rewriting or adding lines as needed while filming was going on. But not one of these guys ever bitched about Reitman, it was all Diablo-hating, wrapped in a thin guise of quibbles about dialogue, or believability, or cloyness. It was even worse was when some prominent female voices in the film blogging world took up the “Juno Sucks” cause as well.
Cody has weathered much of the Diablo-bashing, some of which was rather nasty and personal, mostly in silence, directing her energy towards her next projects. Until last Wednesday, when she unleashed a big old can of whup-ass on her detractors over on her MySpace blog. My favorite bit:
I know my name is fake and that it annoys you. What, do you hate Queen Latifah and Rip Torn, too? Writers and entertainers have been using pseudonyms for years. Chances are, you’re spewing bile under an assumed screen name yourself. I’m sorry if you think I’m like some inked-up quasi-Suicide Girl derby cunt from 2002, but I like my fake name. It’s engraved on an Oscar. Yours isn’t.
Bip! There’s more, much more, which you can go read for yourself over at her blog. And Diablo? You just keep doing what you do, girl. Screw the haters.
Also, here are all the comments from the post date through October 2nd!
Jerry Jaz Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 7:21 amMy wife and I were energized by Juno. Writing, direction, and edit felt aimed at the top of our intelligence. My sweetie is pro-life and I am pro-choice. We were excited to get and eyeful of Diablo at the Oscars.
When people get scared they tend to lash out. I am okay with disagreement as I come from a naturally chatty family. While I won’t vote for Pale and Palin, I don’t have to turn them into demons to do it.
I love Diablo’s retort. Big witty teeth.
Phil Says:
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 amI didn’t like Juno, simply thinking it was a poorly-written film built on quirks rather than anything substantial, but as far as I recall it was one of the most critically acclaimed films of last year, it launched Cody’s career, and it won her an Oscar. Maybe I’ve missed a wave of anti-Diablo Cody feeling, but it seems to me that this “my name’s on an Oscar, your’s isn’t” rant leaves her looking rather immature and neurotic.
Surely it would have been more dignified to rise above whatever criticism she has received, and to focus on enjoying her new-found success, instead of writing an ultra-defensive whine about it all months after the event?
kvoynar Says:
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:22 am“I didn’t like Juno, simply thinking it was a poorly-written film built on quirks rather than anything substantial”
See, this is exactly what I’m talking about, Phil. In what specific ways did you find “Juno” to be poorly written and insubstantial? It was a film written by a feminist woman, about a smart teenage girl who makes the unusual (especially for a movie) decision to give her unborn baby up for adoption. It dealt with teen pregnancy and issues around an unwed mother trying to find a home for her child in a unique way, and I’d challenge you to name any other film that’s dealt with those issues with such warmth, honesty and humor.
As for the writing itself, the scenes with Juno’s family are some of the best family scenes I’ve ever seen in a comedy; Juno’s family was portrayed as both supportive of their daughter, while wryly humorous about dealing with the situation. The characters of Mark and Vanessa were perfectly arced, with Cody setting up Juno (and the audience) to feel more sympathy for Mark at first, then spinning things around to show another side of things that suddenly revealed Mark as less sympathetic, and Vanessa as having more depth than she seemed to have on Juno’s first meeting with her.
Mark and Vanessa’s characters, in particular, were a well-drawn portrait of a man who doesn’t want to grow up and a woman who can’t wait any longer for her man to get his shit together, and then her finding the strength to do on her own what she’d always thought she needed him for.
There was nothing poorly written from a structural standpoint about the screenplay, although I do think that a lot of people who responded negatively to Cody’s dialogue tend to judge the film only on that level, without looking more deeply at how the story and characters were actually drawn.
As for Cody herself, Phil, I’d challenge you (or anyone) to endure the avalanche of negativity and bashing she’s endured on the film blogs especially in the last year with the grace and poise she’s shown. She’s had more criticism leveled at her than any other screenwriter I can think of in recent years, much of it personal attacks. She’s been focused on several projects and is just trying to move forward and keep writing; frankly, though, I’m surprised she waited this long to finally vent back some at her detractors.
Nick Plowman Says:
September 24th, 2008 at 6:45 amWhat Kim said!
Matthew Lucas Says:
September 25th, 2008 at 7:31 amI’ll admit I’m not a fan of JUNO, it just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t actively dislike it, but I didn’t really care much for it either. But I respect Cody’s story and her rise to success…it should be an inspiration to everyone. She’s obviously talented and has a unique and fresh voice and I wish her luck.
sevencostanza Says:
September 30th, 2008 at 8:18 amListen, dudes… I have met Diablo before she was ever Diablo. We had friends in common, and were drunk at the same wedding together. She was a rad chick back then, and unless she’s had an unpublicized lobotomy, there’s no doubt she’s still that awesome. Success doesn’t squash that. So there…
mailanonymous Says:
September 30th, 2008 at 9:17 amPhil is totally offtrack. the movie is very well written, that’s why the other screenwriters awarded it an oscar, and it is substantial. The substance of the film is evidenced in its effect on audiences. Those feelings are very real, even when their source is a fiction. If Phil has difficulty connecting to the movie, this is in an internal process failure on his part. Phil might not like emotions other than those expressed by male angeractors or think the only meaningful female character is a tortured drug addled prostitute, but thats because he’s internalized the male dominated bullshit so much he cant see straight.
The dialog and rest of the movie is very well written. Its idiosyncratic approach to defining the characters is handled extremely well, which is very rare for someone of Diablo’s experience. Usually people dont get to writing dialog that well till they have a ton of movies under their belt. Juno is at least as well written as anything David Mamet or Woody Allen writes, two other folks who use a similar approach of highly identifiable dialog to signify their characters inner life and narrative motion of the work as a whole.
Now, as far as being dignified, why should anyone have to meet your standard of dignity when you cant meet it yourself?
Cody Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 12:00 amYeah Phil, you’re a fucking douchebag.
You’ve missed a wave of Anti-diablo cody feeling? No shit sherlock. Funny you felt compelled, and qualified, to weigh in on this very topic here then.
Surely it would have been more dignified to ignore the whine and stick to knowing fuck all.
Cody Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 12:02 amCody is actually my name by the way…. not a superfan or some other representative.
Teddy Tanner Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 7:52 amWow, I can’t believe what a bunch of insecure whiners some of the responses to Phil are.
Phil stated his opinion of the film and you all jump down his throat like it’s a fact that Juno is great. He didn’t post anything personally damning Diablo and you all get all butthurt and overcompensate in your overblown defenses of Diablo. His voice of dissent against the movie is of the more reasonable kind and you pounce on him. So basically you’re all the Diablo Cody police I guess?
“It was a film written by a feminist woman, about a smart teenage girl who makes the unusual (especially for a movie) decision to give her unborn baby up for adoption. It dealt with teen pregnancy and issues around an unwed mother trying to find a home for her child in a unique way”
That doesn’t mean it’s a good movie and it doesn’t mean people who don’t like it are anti-feminist. This is a callow shield to put in front of Cody.
“As for the writing itself, the scenes with Juno’s family are some of the best family scenes I’ve ever seen in a comedy; Juno’s family was portrayed as both supportive of their daughter, while wryly humorous about dealing with the situation. The characters of Mark and Vanessa were perfectly arced, with Cody setting up Juno (and the audience) to feel more sympathy for Mark at first, then spinning things around to show another side of things that suddenly revealed Mark as less sympathetic, and Vanessa as having more depth than she seemed to have on Juno’s first meeting with her.”
Again, these are opinions, which you are entitled to, as is Phil to his.
“it seems to me that this “my name’s on an Oscar, your’s isn’t” rant leaves her looking rather immature and neurotic.”
This is a valid opinion of Cody’s piece. I think she easily could have taken the high road if she felt the need to write such a piece and not praised her own accolades. It comes off as insecure (like some of the above responses).
Theodore Tanner, PhD.
Filliam Lombardi Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 8:13 am“The substance of the film is evidenced in its effect on audiences. “
Because the masses have always been a great meter by which to measure substance.
Paul Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 9:10 amI really enjoyed Juno. It was the only film last year that made me really feel some true emotion - all in all, a great movie!
I like Diablo Cody too, and the main reason was because she was a self-proclaimed “Holywood Tourist.” She wasn’t into being a Hollywood recluse, and wasn’t blunt about her excitement over the whole ordeal. She never gave into it, never got an ego, and that was classy. She knew who she was - a pop culture sensation, and she also knew exactly how fine the string of fame she was hanging by might be.
But all of that suddenly changed. She evidently wasn’t prepared to take the bad with the good. She went from “Hollywood Tourist” to just plain “Hollywood” with her little rant on MySpace, proclaiming herself sick of the blogging culture. Well, Diablo, then don’t bitch about it on MYSPACE! I mean, is there a more fickle, teenage, blog culture-filled website than that?!
I want Diablo Cody to be better than that; above it. I understand that celebrities are human beings, but at least temper yourself a little. It sounds like she’s a 25 year vet in the business, crowing about everything she’s done. But instead, she’s a 2 year pop-culture sensation who no one has mentioned anything about since Juno. Sounds like a self-important, self-esteem boosting rant to me.
I really hope Diablo Cody does well. She’s a solid writer and YES, she is better than me. She CAN handle the pressure better. But I don’t need my heroes to tell me about it.
Doug Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:50 amGod message boards get venomous fast. I think everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and Phil is not a flaming fuckwad for not like Juno. However, that being said, I have noticed what kvoynar noticed, that most of these detractors are male, and I don’t feel that they are bigoted necessarily, but that they are less likely to “get it.”
They are also more likely to feel threatened by the writer herself, and her origins, and thus have a prejudice going into the film. It’s not absolutely why, but I think most guys who arent nerds would have a hard time understanding and relating to a young girl dealing with a teen pregnancy in a world where everyone speaks like a hipster nerd, that being super clever, where one of the primary males is shown to be a stunted adolescent. I think a lot of us guys saw ourselves in Bateman’s character and then felt slapped in the face when he acted like a jerk (in a good, wake up call sort of way for me). Guys like me, who are nerdy and in touch with our animas, relate to Michael Cera and Juno and all the dialogue styles and love Diablo Cody for being a strong, hip geek who came out of the cubicle. And everyone who gets it feels like they’re being teased in high school again and takes Diablo hate personally.
Doug Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:57 amOh, and in the past 2 years Diablo’s had more attention, good and bad thrown at her than any screenwriter in history. Woody Allen you say? He was a director who wrote. Traditionally, screenwriters are invisible. It is only in the information age that anyone other than aspiring writers care who they are. The post Joss Whedon world where writers are as celebrated as actors and directors, and in the info age, the cycle for love to backlash has sped up, so she’s experienced an entire career in only a few years, all before a second project has seen light. The fact that anyone even reads her blog is testament to that. Is anyone here complaining about what James Gunn does on his myspace? No, everyone’s reading because Diablo had sex stamped all over her before anyone had seen Juno, and some people were enticed, while others were mortified. But like Howard Stern, the haters talk about him just as much or more. I just can’t help thinking some people don’t want to believe that a stripper could write a goddamn thing, and others really want her to be good cuz she’s hot. I see her as the little copywriter-turned stripper-turned screenwriter she is, and I don’t really care. Maybe It’s cuz I’m from New Orleans, and I’ve met both coked up whores and beautiful, smart, hip chicks who worked at strip clubs.
*And the only reason I didn’t spew hatred into the crusty sock of Crash at the time was because I didn’t see it until about a year after mocking it stopped being relevant. [Back]
Posted by Stan on October 12, 2008 7:06 PM | Permalink | How Not to Write a Screenplay, Random Musings | Digg It
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