Granted, it wasn't the greatest movie ever, but it's ridiculous to portray Joss Whedon as sexist. Whedon has been one of the greatest advocates for strong women characters in action adventure entertainment over the last 20 years.
First, Joss Whedon wrote the script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the hilarious stereotype-shattering take on the whole damsel-in-distress horror movie genre.
Then Whedon wrote the script for Alien: Resurrection, which starred Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder, who were not weak female characters.
Then in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series, Whedon's strongest characters were female, nerds, or female nerds. They were the stars of the show, not just one-dimensional targets of derision that the male characters used for sexual or comic relief.
He continued this vein in the short-lived Firefly. Half the crew of the spacecraft in this western-themed space opera were women, including the nerdy engineer.
Then Whedon did Dollhouse, which had its flaws, but weak female characters were not among them.
Currently in production is the Marvel series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It, again, is packed with strong female characters, who have driven most of the action in the current season.
Female actors from Whedon's various series have gone on to have strong roles in other shows, such as Person of Interest, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The 100, etc.
Given this long history, no one can reasonably argue that Joss Whedon is sexist. When he has full creative control, his female characters are all over the board, from professional courtesans, to nurturing mother figures, to unstoppable martial artists and vampire slayers, to powerful witches and super-powered women with alien DNA, to vengeful soulless creatures.
Yes, the makeup of the Avengers team in the latest film is a sausage fest, with only two female characters. But that's not on Joss Whedon. That's on the Marvel Universe, and that's on the bigwigs at Marvel who have the final say on what's in and what's out in their movies: Marvel is renowned for maintaining tight control over a franchise that spans decades and includes dozens of films.
From where I sit, Whedon did what he could to improve the lot of female characters in the Marvel universe: he doubled the number of female Avengers in this latest movie. Previous Avengers cartoon series and comic books typically only have one or two women at a time. The Avengers can only have so many members, and in this movie it must include Captain America, the Hulk, Iron Man, Hawkeye and Thor. Story-telling constraints limit how many female characters can be on the team at one time.
The real problem with the Black Widow character isn't that she's female, it's that she has no super powers. She's basically just a spy, a vanilla mortal, who has to shoot the bad guys with pistols. Hawkeye is a normal too, but he at least gets exploding arrows.
The issue with feminists, it seems, is that the Black Widow character actually cares about other people. She isn't concerned solely with her own egotistical goals and blowing stuff up.
Anyway, good riddance to Twitter. I know the Twittersphere doesn't want to hear this, but it's a complete waste of time for a guy like Joss Whedon to pay any attention to what the Twittersphere has to say.
Actually, it's a waste of anyone's time...
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