Eddie Redmayne weighs in on J.K. Rowling's transphobic comments, says that everyone is equally wrong
Aux Features Film
Congratulations, everybody: We made it half a month before J.K. Rowling’s awful transphobic comments were back in the news! Ah, but good things can never last, so we unfortunately have to talk about J.K. Rowling’s awful transphobic comments again. Sorry, it’s the rules.
Luckily, though, we’re not talking about specific awful transphobic comments this time, we’re talking about another person unnecessarily weighing in on Rowling’s awful transphobic comments with a statement that is largely pointless and doesn’t help anyone. That person is Eddie Redmayne, who stars in the Fantastic Beasts movies (which are spin-offs of the core Harry Potter franchise) and recently told The Daily Mail that he has “trans friends and colleagues” who are “having their human rights challenged around the world and facing discrimination on a daily basis.” And yet… he seems more bothered by the “vitriol” that Rowling has received on social media, saying it has been “absolutely disgusting” and that he felt so bad about how she was being treated that he decided to write her what The Daily Mail calls a “private note.” (Apparently Redmayne is one of those unnamed supporters that Rowling always claims she has on Twitter, writing her secret letters about how she’s totally not transphobic.)
Redmayne considers “insults to trans people on social media” to be “equally disgusting” to how Rowling has been treated, adding that “there continues to be a hideous torrent of abuse towards trans people online and out in the world that is devastating.” It’s some very impressive bothsidesism, suggesting that everyone is equally wrong for how they’re treating each other, but he also seems to have subtly extricated Rowling and her comments from this “equally disgusting” comparison. In other words, then, it seems like the perfect statement for an actor to make, carefully sidestepping any actual stance that could alienate either the people who see his movies or the people who put him in movies (filming has just resumed on Fantastic Beasts 3, naturally), but in the end it won’t actually make anyone happy.
This is all on top of the fact that Redmayne has faced criticism already for playing real-life trans woman Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl (in addition to general criticism about how The Danish Girl handled the story of Lili Elbe, unrelated to Redmayne’s unsuccessfully awards-baiting performance). When you get right down to it, this is a situation—like most times when a famous person decides that another famous person is being unfairly criticized—where Redmayne probably should’ve just said nothing.
If you want to support LGBTQ youth, consider donating to GLSEN, which promotes anti-bullying initiatives and gay-straight alliances in schools nationwide, and The Trevor Project, which operates a confidential hotline staffed by trained counselors who provide crisis-intervention and suicide-prevention services.
219 Comments
Won’t someone think of the richest woman in England? What about her feelings?
Yes. what does the Queen think?
The Queen ain’t that rich.
Madonna?
She’s a Brazilian by way of
Of course she is.
That’s a LOT of Portuguese Madonnas!
I’m only half Portuguese, but Brazil can have her.
You mean the cut-rate Wallis Simpson?
Kirsten Rausing of the food packaging company Tetra Pak is the richest woman in England. Rowling isn’t even in the top twenty five.Is this relevant to your point? No. Did I still feel inclined to look this up and correct you? Yes. I can’t help myself.
As a fellow pedant, I appreciate you transparency.
Technically, JKR lives in Scotland so…
The queen?
I mean, it’s shitty of him, but not as shitty as any acting choices he made in Fantastic Beasts and its sequel.
God I hate those movies. The first was kinda fun the second gave me a fucking headache. I’m done.
It’s nice when a bigot makes it very easy to boycott their stuff because their stuff is garbage these days.
Huh, the first gave me a headache. I’ve no intention to watch anymore.
Oh god…my friend and I rented that and basically spent the whole time yelling at the screen. Everyone is too stupid to figure out their friend isn’t their friend, except the British newcomer! Gratuitous child abuse!!
I hated the first one (or rather, I hated what a mess of boring, squandered potential it was). My whole family went to see the second one and I, very uncharacteristically (I love watching big CGI spectacles in the theater, no matter how dumb they are) opted out.
I did not like the first one so when my fatality rented the second I got about 10 minutes and opt to go to bed instead. My son and wife finished it and said sleep was a good call
Was “fatality” a weird auto-correct for “family?” Because if so, that’s a hilarious auto-correct.
Yes it was. Guess I need to stop writing all that Mortal Kombat slash fiction on my phone, its screwing up my predictive text algorithm:)
I pretty much tapped out the second I heard that Nagini was in fact a human stuck in snake form. Like no thanks, I didn’t sign up for this.
They’re at least equally shitty. But no, defending Rowling is worse.
The word “facetiously” contains every vowel, Y included, in alphabetical order.
Everyone’s a comedian.
No, just me, I am very funny.
Well, that’s a good one. 😉
looking, maybe.
Its almost as shitty as the Danish Girl. You took an amazing story and boiled it down to the most generic feel good Oscar bait film since Crash. I mean Jesus Christ…
Never forget Jupiter Ascending. Never forget. Those are hands down the WORST acting choices the man has ever made.
Actually, his worst choice:
We, white men, will never cease to disappoint.
speak for yourself, dipshit
It’s true! It’s true! We’re so lame!
and we smell like bologna!
You’re an idiot
/read as his whisper-YELL, whisper-whisper-YELL Jupiter Rising character…
I about died laughing at the Honest Trailer for Jupiter Ascending when they’re like “And Eddie Redmayne makes the case for them to retroactively take back his Oscar.” God that movie was bad.
I enjoyed his performance more than the two leads.
More than Space Princess? More than Hover Dog?!
More than the Blueberry Pirate? More than The Boy Who Actually Saw a Woman’s Breast?
Space Princess and Hover Dog sounds like a bad “Xtreme” comic from the 90s
Isn’t this the film where Mila Kunis wanted to fuck a dog? Where Sean Bean is a Live Action Seinfeld off Bee Movie?
I took it as he knew what kind of movie he was in, and thought, “you want to go ham? I’ll show you HAM!” At least he looked like he was having fun with the role.
The best part was finding out he’d screwed himself out of the role of Kylo Ren by giving the exact same performance at the audition.
Knowing this fills me with life.
We watched it for the first time while high and it was amazing.
I think he should GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I just kind of love everything about Jupiter Ascending. Like, it is trash. And objectively awful on so many levels. But it is glorious, unadulterated trash. And I love a lot of the concepts in it. All of said concepts are executed atrociously, sure. But they are such interesting ideas.I think it’s probably my ultimate guilty pleasure movie
They really should just stop those Fantastic Beast movies.
This is what trying to please everyone gets you. Humoring the irretrievably addled just isn’t worth it.
How is *checks notes* not being transphobic “trying to please everyone”? Probably has something to do with you seeming to to be in favor of a bigot being nominated to be a Justice on the Supreme Court…
Whatever your notion of “not being transphobic” is, I’m guessing it’s too preposterous for any functioning adult to entertain.
Oh no, who gave the idiot a thesaurus?
Jesus. You need a thesaurus for that?
The implication is very obviously that you did, you dolt.Sorry that my insult went over your head. I’m sure it’s not the first time, but it’s gotta be frustrating for you.
I wasn’t aware that a single word I said was the sort of thing that any literate being needed a thesaurus to be aware of. That you believe as much says all one needs to know.
Holy shit please keep proving my point, this is hilarious.“Dare I write ‘know’ or ‘understand’ or, oh my, ‘comprehend’? No, that is the language of the Little People, whilst I am an Erudite: I ought to instead pen ‘be aware of’ to indicate my cerebral efficiency.”
Gotta love those ten-dollar words such as, um … “aware.”
Dear god, you are literally too stupid to insult. You can’t grasp why your behavior is so funny to anyone without your massive obfuscating ego.Take care, slugger.
My dude whose chosen tactic is calling out what he considers weighty vocabulary not only tries to deploy “obfuscating,” but isn’t too swift on how to use it in a sentence.
God you’re a stupid asshole
A majority of normies are probably going to be plenty pleased with the statement (if they hear about it at all). For better or worse this is probably where most of the public is; essentially wanting to be nice to trans people while not quite having the desire to shun the transphobes.
I know I worry a lot about pleasing trans people, which is why I treat them with basic human respect and dignity.Oh wait no, that’s fucking stupid. I treat trans people that way because they are human beings worthy of respect, safety, dignity, and love just like anyone else. JK Rowling is a blindly prejudiced, anti-scientific, hate monger, the kind of which is actively getting trans people (aka PEOPLE) killed every goddamned day. She deserves whatever she gets and more.Your intentions in this comment are confusing because it is so poorly thought out, but you really need to learn the difference between “existing” and “actively doing things that hinder people’s ability to exist.” Similarly with anti-BLM assholes, that is why you can’t ever compare these two types of people or ideals, why equivocating never works in any way for this shit. “Pleasing both sides” is fucking absurd on its face when one “side“ just wants to exist and the opposite view is, “What if you DIDNT though? How can we make that happen?”
Sorry; my attention kind of drifted after “which is why.” Mind repeating?
Redmayne does seem like a guy who just leaps at the most stereotypical awards-bait stuff where you win for playing “important roles” rather than having any actual talent or breadth or depth. Though to be honest, even before I read this article I was already pissed that he beat out Keaton for best actor, because I thought Keaton’s role in “Birdman” had a lot more creativity even if it was sort of Hollywood navel-gazing, whereas Redmayne just had to do a homework report on a very famous person. Has anyone seen Redmayne in anything that is actually good? The only role I can recall I’ve seen is him in a BBC adaptation of “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” which isn’t a great sample size.
This would’ve been such an obvious time to just say nothing, but he really had to get out that “very fine people on both sides” take.
This guy is a bad actor, always has been.saying transwomen being murdered and JK Rowling encouraging those murders are “equal” is fucking disgusting, and don’t be fooled that is what he is saying even if he’s too fucking dumb to know it.
he’s obviously an expert on the issue.
…being a cis man who played a trans woman in a movie.
He also played a person with severe physical disabilities!
Are we talking about his face in Jupiter Ascending? Replace his wtf acting and facial tics with a better actor and you have a quality film. I know, I know…but I’m sticking with that theory.
He gave that performance his all and I think he should be commended for it. Also there was a plotline where his throat had been torn out and it didn’t make it into the final script.
Not to mention Redmayne’s performance in TDG was less acting and more a series of tics & mannerisms. It drove me NUTS how often he employed painfully tentative smiles to communicate emotional distress.
Is it cancelling if you were never planning on watching a movie with this guy to begin with?
right, what am I complaining about, you have Rowling Depp and this guy working on the same shitty series, I hope it runs forever, quarantine them in Fantastic Beasts
Yeah cast Jared Leto in it too while they’re at it.
Get them all in one cast…and then let them make bazillions of dollars and have their stories carried on TMZ and all of that shit, 4 screens in every multiplex. Just give us the rest of the world 🙂
Apparently Ezra Miller (another actor in the FB movies) attacked and strangled someone in public.
he did, mostly on camera…I expect they will cast Emile Hirsch as his long lost brother and have Chris Brown write the theme song
More and more I get the feeling that there must be something fundamentally different about people who seek out massive fame.
yeah but HE’S AN OSCAR winner and YOU are NOT! (Am I Eddie Redmayning correctly?)
Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to ponder what the essence of an actor or an actress are? Their occupation revolves around the ability to ‘act’ as a ‘character’ in a film meant to serve one purpose – whatever the director’s message to the audience is. Condemning Redmayne in acting the part of a famed Trans-woman in a film is condemning what it is to be an actor. I don’t see you guys bombarding other actors who have played roles other than their sexuality or identity with hate comments? Let me give you some examples if it’s not clear yet… Radcliffe – a cis, straight human male played a wizard???????? OH NO HOW PREPOSTEROUS! Someone out there could identify as a wizard with all their being, but a normal human is ‘acting’ as one… how dare they… Now, I am not supporting any belittling of any gender or orientation, but when you pick on someone for an acting role that they have agreed to act in hope of bringing life to a good message? Now that’s low.
Redmayning so hardPretty sure at one point IdiotKing said he or somebody he knew had an affair with Redmayne…def would like to rewind to that comment somehow
Christ, who would want to have sex with someone who talks like a comic book panel? (That’s how you Redmayne baby, talk like you’re reading a comic book or graphic novel)
Winning a Oscar doesn’t make you automatically a good actor.
My cynical approach to this is that he wants to be supportive of trans folks but also wants to stay in JK’s good graces, since he’s still under contract for three more Flatulating Boredom movies. I may have the name wrong, but I’m sure the initials are right.
Fantastic Breasts and Where to Fondle ThemYour read on it isn’t cynical, that’s the most charitable interpretation it can be given!
Whoa, JK Rowling encouraged murder? Someone should notify the police.
JK Rowling is encouraging murders? Citation needed.
Well, that’s not what he said, so…
I hated him in the Good Shepherd which was the first thing I ever saw him in. I haven’t liked him in anything I’ve seen him in, and I did actually kind of enjoy the first Fantastic Beasts movie, mostly in spite of his weird performance.
Lol “encouraging those murders”What planet do you live on? Because this is absolutely batshit insane logic.
The only notable thing about the Daily Mail article is that there are very limited quotes and a lot of editorializing. I’m very much against JK Rowling’s comments and don’t foresee supporting her again, but I also don’t think sending her death threats is useful. Will be interested to see what Redmayne says if anything in response.
That’s not notable for the Mail.
True, but I think saying “Eddie Redmayne is on JK Rowling’s side” may be slightly skewed given the source.
Just to remind everyone, Alan Moore portrayed Harry Potter as the Anti-Christ in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
I may be in the greys here but I follow you anywhere comic talk happens and thank you so much for being you Laserface. I always make sure you come through before i say anything and you ALWAYS do.
This strikes me as a spoiler.
1. That section of League was extraordinarily awful, and came LONG after the time when Moore had disappeared WAY up his own ass with the series (please note that this is coming from someone who owns all of them, it’s not like I don’t adore Alan Moore;)2. There is no way a sane human being would identify the character in that picture as Harry Potter.
It’s pretty explicit.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is my favorite thing that Moore has ever done and given the extreme amount of intricate allusory work that he did that stretched all across the realms of Victorian era fiction, while also delivering a good story and unique turns on classic characters, I think it is probably his best even if it isn’t as eye-catching or dynamic as Watchmen or V for Vendetta. That being said, I agree with you that he should have shut it down a lot earlier in its run and quit while he was ahead. Though I did like some of the stuff in Black Dossier. Anyway, the term “hill to die on” seems to be a trend in this thread, and that could be applied to Alan Moore, dude loves his hills. Though he typically has much better arguments to die for.
Lol this has aged like a fine wine
Fuck off, Redmayne.
Fuck off, Rowling.
Too disgusting for you? Good.
Your comment or these folks in general?
Cuz I’m on your page with the fuck-off-edness.
“Everyone is being so mean to Rowling and we all should be much more respectful of her and appreciative of her work. Incidentally, production of Fantastic Beasts 3 is about to resume and it would make me and Rowling very happy if you could pay us all a lot of money to watch it soon.” -Eddie Redmayne
Apparently this young man made an acting choice where he whispered a line and then yelled the very next line at the top of his voice. I wonder if anyone will remember this?
This is the only site that reports on J.K. Rowling on a regular basis.
Here’s the A.V. Club once again smugly brandishing its woke cred, generating clicks, drawing all the self-abasing (and largely male) wokesters out of the woodwork. Golf clap?
By “awful transphobic comments,” I assume you mean (because you fail to specify) the tweet wherein Rowling says she loves and supports trans people (as she has done LGBTQ+ people since before it was fashionable), but simultaneously endorses the existence of, like, biological women? The tweet in response to which she was treated to endless epithets, including (but not limited to) “slut,” “bitch,” “c—-,” etc.? Told repeatedly to “shut the f—-” up by those with contrasting opinions? That reasonable, rational, enlightened, not in any way “divisive” discourse that (male) hacks like Barsanti and his ilk (see comments section) revel in deploying at quote-unquote “TERFs” (a pejorative stand-in for otherwise unfashionable misogynistic slurs)? Your slandering of Rowling, and anyone else who doesn’t toe this ideological BS (undergirded, need anyone be reminded, by no actual science or research), in lieu of the intense deliberation so diabolically complex an issue deserves, will, I’m certain, score you some cred with your shrinking readership. But on behalf of the rest of us who are sick to death of this thoughtless, baseless, alienating, self-destructive nonsense: You should be fucking ashamed of yourselves.
But you won’t be.
She doesn’t love and support trans women when she perpetuates lies that promote violence against them. She refuses to acknowledge that both trans women are cis women are women. She endorses excluding trans women from using women’s spaces such as restrooms by promoting the lie that by doing so, cis women (the only true women in her bigoted mind) will be endangered. TERF is descriptive and only pejorative in the same way that calling a bigot a bigot is pejorative. But fine, I’ll stick to calling her a hateful bigot if that suit you better.
I love when white men who didn’t go to college try to pretend science is on the side of their bigotry.
I was trying to figure out what was going on with the Joe Rogan transphobia controversy and got very confused.From what I can tell is that his guests who were the ‘transphobic ones’ were arguing against minors getting gender reversing surgery or hormone treatment in case it turns out to be gender dysphoria. But I read that generally doctors will put teens questioning their gender identity on puberty blockers for a few years. From what I can tell puberty blockers have little to no adverse side effects. So I don’t know where these guests were getting the idea about teenagers being given hormones and surgeries. As far as I can tell their arguments seem to fit into what’s generally the process with trans youth.
I read that the world health guidelines also recommend not getting surgery until 18 but I also read that 16 is a very important year for transitioning.Around this point I gave up on trying to figure out what was going on.
Meanwhile, Judith Butler was asked the same question by the New Statesman and positively ethered the interviewer:
AF: Threats
of violence and abuse would seem to take these “anti-intellectual
times” to an extreme. What do you have to say about violent or abusive
language used online against people like JK Rowling?
JB:
I am against online abuse of all kinds. I confess to being perplexed by
the fact that you point out the abuse levelled against JK Rowling, but
you do not cite the abuse against trans people and their allies
that happens online and in person. I disagree with JK Rowling’s view on
trans people, but I do not think she should suffer harassment and
threats. Let us also remember, though, the threats against trans people
in places like Brazil, the harassment of trans people in the streets and
on the job in places like Poland and Romania – or indeed right
here in the US. So if we are going to object to harassment and threats,
as we surely should, we should also make sure we have a large picture of
where that is happening, who is most profoundly affected, and whether
it is tolerated by those who should be opposing it. It won’t do to say that threats against some people are tolerable but against others are intolerable.
https://www.newstatesman.com/international/2020/09/judith-butler-culture-wars-jk-rowling-and-living-anti-intellectual-timesPerspective, Eddie. It’s not that hard.
In all fairness, not many people are as smart and articulate as Judith Butler.
This was worth the read. Thanks. And Eddie Redmayne can piss up a rope. On my list of actors I don’t understand the love for, he and Josh Gad are in a dead heat for first place. At least the latter seems to be a decent person and fell into his celebrity just by being in the right place at the right time and running with it and continuing to be that same decent person.I still don’t like Gad, but respect him.
As far as I’m concerned, Eddie Redmayne’s best performance was in *quiet whisper* Jupiter *incoherent screaming* RISING
I find it odd that I want to watch this every two years or so, just to remind me of how much better The Fifth Element was. Jupiter Rising is bad for the sake of being bad. At least TFE had camp across the board and wasn’t shy about it.
TFE had camp across the board for sure and then also an extra serving of concentrated camp in the form of Chris Tucker. He was really into it! Gary Oldman was a distant second and still was very high on the camp spectrum
Redmayne’s campy performance in Jupiter Rising was actually one of its highlights, which tells you much about that movie.
I will defend Jupiter Rising. It is an incredibly silly and indulgent hill that I am willing to die on. All the Warchowskis have wanted to do, seemingly since ‘Bound’, is make actual live action anime. If the Matrix movies are their version of ‘Ghost in the Shell’/’Akira’-style ‘philosophical’ sci-fi, and Speed Racer was… well… perfectly Speed Racer, then Jupiter Rising is their take on Magical Girl stories. And considered from that perspective, it… kinda works? Maybe? Sure the plot is outlandish and silly, with giant hunks of world building taking place through clunky exposition. Sure , there is not a cracker big enough to contain the cheese that is Beefy McAbs as a laser-blading wolf boy. And whatever Redmayne was doing was… I dunno.. Something like one of those Bishonen villains like Zoltar from Battle of the Planets, maybe? Ridiculous.But. Of all the very odd movies they’ve wanted to make, this, along with Sense8, seemed to me to be the project that was just a pure expression of “We’re doing what we want. We don’t care if you get it ot not.” This was them cashing all the credit they’d built up with the studios and taking a big budget and doing WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANTED. And even if it doesn’t work, it’s fascinating to watch.And the ship designs with all the detatched panels and such were just fantastic.
I will stand by you on this hill
“is their take on Magical Girl stories”Fair point. Would have been a lot better if their magical girl was actually magical, and not falling asleep most of the time.
I can certainly appreciate and champion filmmakers getting to realize their vision, but I can at the same time point out that their vision is bizarre and unsatisfying.
Not since Halle Berry put on a catsuit has an Oscar winner given such an awful performance in such proximity to their Oscar win. Actually, scratch that.
I like how no one in this thread has written the correct title of that movie. Really speaks to its standing in the pantheon of films
-checks multiple sources just because-DAMMIT. You win on this. Take your star and go away for being right.
In my defense, I was super high when I watched it.
Dewpit, Her Ass Ending
It was Jupiter Ascending, but yeah, that’s the only performance of his I’ve ever enjoyed.
Haha, thanks, for some reason when I wrote “Rising” I was like “that looks wrong but I can’t figure out why.” Should have double-checked.
It’s his most memorable. The Theory of Boredom is just him doing a bad My Left Foot impression. He’s also funny looking.
I haven’t seen Redmayne in that many things, but I haven’t been particularly impressed by any of them. I think his acting style tends to impress a particular cohort of middle-aged studio executives and industry types, which is why he keeps getting cast in things and winning awards. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone who would consider themselves a fan of his. I’ve certainly never been motivated to watch something by knowing that he’s in it.
Gad was good in a straight dramatic role in 2017’s Marshall (starring Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall). No screechy laughing, no goofiness.
It fell under my radar, I’ll have to watch. Could do for a good docu-drama film.
How is this enough to disqualify him from being a decent person?
So… Genuinely….
Is it that i overused curse words that I am now in the greys compared to your fuckin’ ass? Because I’ve been here a good goddamn minute and I remember many, many horrible fuckin’ comments from you, yet here you sit in the commentariat and here i sit in the greys. Is it 100% the “fuck” factor?
Mind you I dont say any of this in disagreement with what you’ve posted now, but in RECOGNITION ya fuck of lots of shit you’ve talked in the past.
Just don’t accuse Judith Butler’s friend of sexual harassment or suddenly she’ll sound inseparable from every Brett Kavanaugh defender.
Deets?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2018/8/14/17688144/nyu-me-too-movement-sexual-harassment-avital-ronell
Oh jeez. I remember hearing about this mess but I didn’t know she was part of it.
She signed a letter that came to Avital’s defense. She later apologized though. In the above interview, Butler mentions making public missteps, and I wonder if that’s what she was referring to.
Hm. Well her apology is a bit circuitous, but then that’s judithbutler.txt. Still, one wishes she’d come down on the side of supporting the victim a bit more clearly.
Meanwhile your opinion means nothing and never has. Everyone hates you. Die in a fire.
I can only stand bothsidesism if it’s a troll.
Daaaaaamn. Nailed it! I’m going to have to remember and paraphrase that for the future. Because, sadly, I don’t think the issues she so eloquently and completely addressed are going anywhere. Online and in person bullying specifically that of trans people.
Congratulations, everybody: We made it half a month before J.K. Rowling’s awful transphobic comments were back in the news! Ah, but good things can never last, so we unfortunately have to talk about J.K. Rowling’s awful transphobic comments again. Sorry, it’s the rules.I’m confused. Is Barsanti suggesting everyone should just shut up about this and forget what Rowling said?
Perhaps you’re not accustomed to Barsanti’s “snark first and ask questions later” approach to writing?
I am, in fact my most recent posts on Kinja are probably about him mistaking snark for wit. It’s just this particular case seems insidiously vile.
Eh, I think in this case the approach is more “ugh, do we have to talk about Rowling again” rather than “do we have to talk about trans issues again”.
Hoping people would just shut up about Rowling would just mean letting what she said slide and be forgotten.
Again, I don’t think it’s “I hope people shut up about Rowling” so much as “I hope Rowling shuts up, because it’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion.”
Read again. He said “back in the news”. It’s not about Rowling shutting up, it’s about the news shutting up.Why are you so hard on defending this?
The same reason you’re so hard on attacking it? I dunno. You proposed something that I don’t agree with. Barsanti has his faults but “I don’t think we should hear about transphobia any more” isn’t one of them. It’s pretty clearly “I’m tired of having to listen to Rowling dig herself deeper into a hole.”
While he might not have phrased it perfectly, I agree with you in the interpretation. Not feeding the Rowling-troll is definitely the way to go with this. She has proven she’s not going to change her mind in the face of overwhelming amounts of data and testimony about trans people, so giving an already obscenely wealthy person more of a platform to spew venom is never a good idea. We did that with Trump and his toxic stance on immigrants and the wall, back in 2015-16 when we thought he was obscenely wealthy of course, and look what happened.
It’s just shitty to be so dismissive about such a horrendous issue, is all. Not the time and place for him to be the way we all know him to be.
I remain super perplexed that Rowling has chosen this hill to die on. There’s no explaining bigotry, I guess.
She’s a rich white lady who doesn’t want to let go of the idea of herself as progressive, but isn’t at all down with the hard left turn progressive activism is taking. So she’s latched onto one of the few wholly conservative positions to come out of a social justice movement, so she can tell herself that’s she protecting women by turning her back on actual progressivism.
She’s basically transformed into Umbridge, a character who never went past a stupid hill that she was fully prepared to die on.
Lol imagine being stupid enough to think this is true
In hindsight, I wouldn’t be surprised if she started looking into this stuff while she was researching for the latest Galbraith book. The timeline would probably line up about right.
I think it’s because her publishers had her use her initials and imply that she was a man, lest her gender prevent boys from reading her books. I can track the idiot logic that would have her react negatively to (the perception of) leading with your gender when she was forced to deny hers.
It’s a particular brand of condescending / concern-trolling bigotry rather than garden variety hatred, and she hasn’t made the logical connection to see why that approach is *still* bigotry.
Wow, an AVClub where everyone loses: Sam Barsanti is an insufferable, unimaginative clickbaiting twat; JK Rowling is a bizarrely committed transphobic bigot, and Eddie Redmayne is a dimwitted, terrible actor whose views aren’t worth a cup of warm piss. Trifecta, everyone.
Hey, you forgot about snide assholes in the comments section.
But snide assholes need the most attention!
What up, dirts?
She probably donates regularly to Britain First and Mankind Quarterly.
Why is it that the worst commenters here loath Sam Barsanti again?
Boooooo Eddie. I knew the kid who played Ron was better then you!
I’m pleased that I saved some time by beginning my dislike of Redmayne years ago.
He stole an academy award from Michael Keaton, and he should really give it to Keaton some day.
I felt the same way. Winning for doing a historical reenactment of one of those “important men of history” should not get you a win over the more creative choices that Keaton showed in “Birdman” and I realize that film could be semi-autobiographical for Keaton given the subject matter and his history, though he still blew Redmayne out of the water. I’m not trying to disparage Stephen Hawking, just admonish Hollywood’s award bait history of disproportionately doling out awards for historical dramas that require little daring and are mostly book reports.
Keaton dug deep into his own soul for a performance that was captivating and funny and tragic. Redmayne was fine, but so much of that Hawking movie is blatantly manipulative. The difference between them is that Keaton continues to do great work while Redmayne just does stupid awards bait.
Absolutely, couldn’t agree more. Keaton doesn’t do awards bait, in my opinion. And even if it was a super hero movie, he deserves an award for that driving sequence in Spider Man Homecoming.
He’s a truly terrible actor. You can tell he’s trying to make weird choices like a young Johnny Depp, but he just comes across as an overacting creep. He has benefited from the fact that many Americans think that having an English accent means you’re sophisticated.
This seems extremely accurate. That and his role choices are always such desperate award bait are two good reasons enough to dislike him. Add in that he seemingly goes out of his way to take roles better suited to those with those lived experiences and now this unsurprising bullshit and we’ve got ourselves a bonafide clueless rich asshole.
Yeah I never really liked him and couldn’t articulate why, so I’m happy to be proven right in my dislike.
So… am I the only person who watched The Danish Girl for Alicia Vikander before that Bourne film seemingly killed her career? Redmayne wasn’t even on my radar.
She’s fine. she was a fuckin fantastic Lara Croft and we are actually getting a second Tomb Raider with her as Lara so. On the one hand you have the Danish Girl; on the other hand you have Alica Vikander playing one of the most badass gaming heroines of all time in an reboot sequel adaptation of a widely renowned game reboot.
I think honestly, Vikander is better off than the transphobic defense Redmaybe has struck now. I’d rather watch Lara Croft be cool than any shit wizard ever.
Alicia Vikander’s career is still chugging along. She’s seemingly decided to focus more on stuff like Tomb Raider for some inexplicable reason.
What’s inexplicable about getting paid gobs of money to be in an action blockbuster based on a video game?
That Vikander is capable of so much more than Tomb Raider. Or at the very least, capable of taking on significantly better blockbusters than Tomb Raider (Man from UNCLE was a paycheck, but that film is still great and she was still great in it).
I can’t believe we live in a world where stating a biological and genetic reality that in order for a homo sapien to menstruate and give birth they have to have a functioning uterus is considered hate speech and offensive.
I’d be willing to bet that the over-the-top reaction toward Rowling has done more to turn people against the trans rights cause than toward it. Even putting it mildly, it makes people who support the cause look like huge jerks who’ll turn on you if you ever say anything even slightly wrong.
The issue isn’t whether one needs a uterus to menstruate or give birth, the issue is that trans women are women, trans men are men, and JK Rowling is a bigot perpetuating the type of lies that get trans men and women killed.
Or a fucking world where people think that women who don’t menstruate — whether they are trans or, I don’t fucking know, prepubescent, postmenopausal, or have any fucking number of medical conditions — aren’t women.That’s some dumb fucking shit you’re doing apologism for, dude.
I highly doubt there are any sane or rational people that would say that prepubescent children, women with medical issues, postmenopausal or have had hysterectomies without functioning uteruses AREN’T female thats pretty retarded. If someone wants to dress and live as the opposite sex thats fine with me people can do whatever they want as long as no one is hurt i give zero fucks if someone does anything to their own body or mind. However, no matter how much surgery one has or hormones someone takes a genetic test (with some very very rare exceptions) will say definitively whether someone is male of female period. One can’t change the structure of their DNA.
To conclude, also something lost here is that people can have nuanced opinions and ideas about something and not be a bad person or transphobic or racist or whatever. If those outraged would just chill the fuck out and actually listen to what people like Rowling have said they wouldn’t need to freak out. I’m pretty sure she’s said on many occasions that she supports trans people and people’s right to do whatever they want and live a good life. But…she and others have also said that it is factually and biologically disingenuous to say that someone who was born with an XY sex chromosome and lived 30 plus years as a male can have some surgery and take hormones and be considered a female. Are they a woman?..frankly i’m not sure and nor do i care. Are they female?.. absolutely not. Plus i would think that it would kind of be a big fuck you to women’s rights for someone who lived as dude for 35 years, fathered children and lived with all the rights and perceived privileges of a male to suddenly change their sex to female and then insert themselves into women’s rights issues having not experienced any of the struggles biological women have through the centuries because for the first 30 years of their life they were a 6’2″ 220lbs dude. Doesn’t no one see the absolute absurdity of that? You mean to tell me that a 6 foot 220lbs dude who is a ufc fighter transitions to female then all of sudden still with the size strength and body mass of a male gets to get into the ring with a 5’4″ 145lbs female on equal terms? What if Lebron James decided to transition and then go play in the WNBA you really think that’d be fair? He/she would totally dominate an entire WNBA team single handedly. These are the kinds of things people in the real world are concerned about not about if someone wants to transition and live their life peacefully and normally.
I mean, TL/DR, dude, at least until you do the homework to understand what the conversation is about.Rowling’s fucking boneheaded rant about it being offensive to refer to “people who menstruate” because you should call them women is so fucking stupid on the surface.Literally nothing “biologically disingenuous” about the absolute reality that neither karyotype nor external genitalia definitively determine gender. That’s why there aren’t any biologists saying that dumb shit.
The point is that, as shown by your lousy argument, there’s actually no reason to prevent people from being who they are. If the argument boils down to, “I don’t like it,” deal with not liking it.
I never said i didn’t like people being trans. I don’t care what people do with their own bodies. However like i said stating the immutable biological fact that for a homo sapien to grow and birth a child or menstruate a uterus is required isn’t hate speech or derogatory or phobic of anything it just is. Like hydrogen has one electron it simply is you can wish and hope and protest and pray all you want that hydrogen has 4 electrons and shit in the other and guess which hand will fill up first?
Then I don’t understand what you’re arguing. Trans women are well aware that they can’t carry and give birth to children.
I’m saying that there are a lot of woke sjw activists that will call someone a bigot or anti-trans for stating that fact just like they did with Rowling. I’m pretty sure trans women are fully aware they can’t menstruate or bare children.
The usual disclaimer: it’s in The Daily Mail, a right wing conservative newspaper famous for its lies, manipulation and bullshit to twist readers’ minds around to its stance of intolerance and hatred. The comments could be taken out of context, modified or even completely fabricated. Even if they’re real, the Daily Mail really isn’t worth referencing. They publish this stuff to fan the flames of hatred and intolerance and by referencing it you’re falling right into their trap.
So everyone is equally wrong, including Eddie Redmayne. Got it.
I must be confusing Eddie Redmayne with someone else, because thru this article I was thinking ‘It’s a shame after I really liked him in that one thing I saw’ but I couldn’t remember what it was, so I looked up his filmography and it turns out I haven’t actually seen any movies Eddie Redmayne has been in. (Other than Les Miserables, which I would not be remembering him fondly from.)
So, as a grey probably impossible to get a response, but I agree that the tweets of Rowling were bordering on transphobic, but I also think that people haven’t read her letter and are all jumping on jolly bandwagon of hate. Can some of you point out the specific details of what made her a super-terf in your eyes? Because I couldn’t find that much, apart from some old fashioned ideas. I’m talking about the letter she wrote, not what you all read in clickbaity titles about the things she tweeted and therefore should agree with before reading that stuff yourselves.
she deserves nothing but scorn
I will not go see this movie, but it’s not because of Redmayne’s acting or personal choices, Depp’s issues, Rowling’s nonsense or however many Dumbledore brothers they are introducing.These movies actually and actively suck.
Redmayne speaks with the eloquence of someone desperately trying to save the foundling franchise that he’s cashing in on.
Way to say absolutely nothing at all.
“Congratulations, everybody: We made it half a month before J.K. Rowling’s awful transphobic comments were back in the news!”
It’s been a month since the letter of support that was released TWO DAYS AGO?
So she’s bad, right?
In the hypothetical Perfect World Future, the two most important things that will happen are:1. Donald Trump will rot in a cell in The Hague, and2. Eddie Redmayne will have to retroactively not win an Oscar.
Eddie Redmayne is a hetero man.
People can be upset all they like at The Danish Girl but it was the best screenplay I’ve ever read. And I’ve been a story analyst for 15 years. It was so good I’ve never seen the movie for a certainty that it can’t live up to the script.(Though when I read it it was in the hands of Nicole Kidman’s company with her attached to play Lili, which did intrigue me)
Read the book it was only a dollar. I picked it up because it seem interesting. I also noticed that it happened to be the first edition signed by the author.
From what I understand people were upset about the film because it is quite different from the historical reality of the people involved. Though as a screenplay adaptation of a novel, if people enjoy it, that’s fine. Lots of historical films that aren’t even adapted from novels mess around with the details of what actually happened and don’t get any flak.
I’m generally pro representation and pro truth. Even if the complaints are valid, though, that script was gorgeous. So many screenwriters couldn’t give less of a shit about scene description. It can be depressing to read a screenplay if you have any sense of prose artistry. Like… Yes, they are a practical document. They are by nature transitional. But there is and imo should be a way to provide a film blueprint that is, itself, a literary piece.
I haven’t been following this at all, except for the occasional A.V. club headline…Do we hate JK Rowling, now? Getting hard to keep track.
Redmayne considers “insults to trans people on social media” to be “equally disgusting” to how Rowling has been treatedWith the almost-unimportant difference that trans people insulted on social media sometimes kill themselves, and that, last we checked, JK was alive and well.
Or trans people can also get murdered by bigots. JK is doing fine.
You’re right, I forgot to mention this as well.Whereas she’s impervious to everything, even shame.
I don’t know that Redmayne is wrong. Rowlings course navigating the rapidly changing world of gender identity is not all that out of line with the confusion most people are experiencing. Apparently, Twitter warriors and scribes at the AV Club have the final say.
Can we finally stop pretending that Eddie Redmayne can act now?
‘there’s good people on both sides’
On the one hand I’m quite impressed that he’s somehow managed to piss off absolutely everyone. On the other hand, I would really prefer it if Harry Potter actors would respond to questions on this topic with “You couldn’t fucking pay me to stick my toe in this swamp, ask me about anything else.”
I have some thoughts and opinions on this.