Seth Rogen & Misogyny

I’m purposely linking to different articles about this issue to show how the comment threads vary in opinion. The gist of it all is a Washington Post critic, Ann Hornaday, wrote an op-ed piece about the shootings in Santa Barbara and Elliot Rodger where she slammed pop cultural media (mainly the film entertainment industry) for possibly leaving misguided impressions on Elliot…and all of us. One of the films on which she focused was Judd Apatow’s Neighbors starring Seth Rogen.

How many students watch outsized frat-boy fantasies like “Neighbors” and feel, as Rodger did, unjustly shut out of college life that should be full of “sex and fun and pleasure”? How many men, raised on a steady diet of Judd Apatow comedies in which the shlubby arrested adolescent always gets the girl, find that those happy endings constantly elude them and conclude, “It’s not fair”?

Evidently, Seth Rogen read Hornaday’s piece and he responded, and where else but on Twitter, the typical venue of the Hollywood privileged and elite.

Rogen tweeted this, among other things:

.@AnnHornaday how dare you imply that me getting girls in movies caused a lunatic to go on a rampage.

This one particular tweet has garnered a few heavy online discussions about misogyny, one of which seemed to think Rogen really missed the point altogether.

For the love of Judd Apatow movies, GIRLS ARE NOT A THING YOU GET. They’re not the goody bag at the end of the frat party. It honestly feels like Rogen could not miss the point more if he were participating in some kind of point-missing contest.

According to NY Daily News, Judd Apatow retweeted all of Rogen’s tweets.

As I said earlier, the comment threads with these articles are interesting to read.

My only comment is that the world is still run by straight, white, privileged men like Rogen and Apatow. That’s just a fact. As far as I know it can’t be disputed. They say what they want, do what they want, and even give us the content they want to give us. I would have thought Rogen had the capacity to respond in a more professional manner.

When Seth Rogen started doing the gay parodies I laughed along with him at first. I didn’t think it was harmful. But it reached a point with the last one where I even posted that I think he should know when enough is enough. From my post…

 There’s more here with a photo. I think it would be wiser for Rogen to focus more on those painful roles he’s been taking on in recent years rather than focusing on drag as a straight man. If you don’t believe me just try to sit through The Guilt Trip or This Is the End. A few wasted hours of my life I’ll never get back.

Bianca Del Rio on Tranny Word

The tension with the tranny word debate continues to evolve. This time Bianca Del Rio of Rue Paul’s Drag Race is going after transgender, Carmen Carrera.

“There’s all this madness about sh*t we can say and sh*t we can’t say, and I’m sure most of you saw on Twitter today that Ru was speaking her mind. And I think this is actual proof — I’m a man in a dress, and if it brings out straight people, black people, Asian people, then come and f*cking celebrate. It’s not that f*cking serious.

And let’s face it. We wouldn’t know who the fuck Carmen Carrera was if she didn’t f*cking get on Drag Race. Maybe she should take what’s left of her d*ck and stick it in her mouth and shut the f*ck up.”
I think this is going to continue, and it may even devolve to a lower level than the most eloquent quote above.

You can read more here. This comment thread is interesting, too.

In full disclosure, I’ve never actually seen RuPaul’s Drag Race, so I don’t know either of them. But I don’t use the word tranny either.