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“The term “sexual entitlement” was used in 2012 in reference to sexual assaults by Boston University’s hockey team, though you can find earlier uses of the phrase. I first heard it in 2013 in a BBC report on a study of rape in Asia. The study concluded that in many cases the motive for rape was the idea that a man has the right to have sex with a woman regardless of her desires. In other words, his rights trump hers, or she has none. This sense of being owed sex is everywhere. Many women are told, as was I in my youth, that something we did or said or wore or just the way we looked or the fact that we were female had excited desires we were thereby contractually obliged to satisfy. We owed them. They had a right. To us. Male fury at not having emotional and sexual needs met is far too common, as is the idea that you can rape or punish one woman to get even for what other women have done or not done. A teenager was stabbed to death for turning down a boy’s invitation to go to the prom this spring; a 45-year-old mother of two was murdered May 14th for trying to “distance herself” from a man she was dating; the same night as the Isla Vista shootings, a California man shot at women who declined sex. After the killings in Isla Vista, the term “sexual entitlement” was suddenly everywhere, and blogs and commentary and conversations began to address it with brilliance and fury. I think that May 2014 marks the entry of the phrase into everyday speech. It will help people identify and discredit manifestations of this phenomenon. It will help change things. Words matter.”

aleskot:

Rebecca Solnit on linguistics, feminism, history and change.

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What being a ‘superhero’ means continues to crop up in Futures End. It’s beginning to look like a longform meditation on the concept, what it means in the Nu52DCU and beyond. The fifth issue opens with Mr. Terrific acting like his definition of a superhero: announcing a new piece of technology. In this case, the uSphere: a floating globe that’s “your brain’s backup.” The announcement is a big media event with an over-the-top speech by Mr. Terrific that’s long on rhetorical flourishes and short on substance. “And that, my friends, is how to be a super-hero,” he says after, removing the sunglasses he was wearing during the announcement, a reversal of Clark Kent removing his glasses to assume the identity of Superman. For Mr. Terrific, being a superhero is being a successful technology magnate. We are living in the shadow of Wildcats Version 3.0 clearly.

Chad Nevett pokes and prods at some of what makes DC’s New 52: Futures End so fascinating to me.
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First reported by This Is Infamous and confirmed by The Wrap, “We’re The Millers” and “Dodgeball” director Rawson Thurber has passed on “Ant-Man.” There’s no official reason why Thurber moved on, but this is not an easy project to get someone to agree to.

Rawson Thurber passed on having “He’s no Edgar Wright“ written about him for the rest of his career. He’s coming off a hit— why would someone coming off a hit subject themselves to the scrutiny?  Just hire someone who directed some Suburgatory episodes and get it over with it.  Suburgatory looked pretty good sometimes.I don’t know— watching the Ant Man corporate flailing is more interesting to me than watching Ant Man ever would have ever been.  With Thurber, it was just interesting to me how dismissive people were of the guy because he made We’re the Millers— I didn’t see that movie because man, I don’t like Jason Sudekis and Jennifer Aniston is wretched to watch in all things.  But that guy made Dodgeball— I remember that movie as being funny. 

It just all seems like such a bad idea— it sounded like a career ender with Edgar Wright who I like quite a bit. A Paul Rudd ant-sized semi-comedy superhero movie? I like Wanderlust as much as a reasonable person could, but man, I was almost all by myself in that theater— people like Rudd in theory way more than in practice. (My guess is he burned a lot of goodwill with Dinner for Schmucks, which I didn’t see— people who I talk to have seen it get this look on their faces…).  I don’t know— the Ant Man finagling is like watching a slow-motion car accident where the people in and out of the car are all operating in normal speed and yet the slow-motion car accident is still happening…?  It’s a bad idea, with a wobbly star, a movie title that really invites insults from the audience, and Marvel doesn’t pay their directors a lot of money…?  Who’s saying yes to that? Answer: guy who directed two or three Suburgatory episodes (not the good ones, not the Thanksgiving episode).  

(via twiststreet)

Abhay, as ever, gets it right.

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Any thoughts on this Ant-Man movie stuff? Or that rumor about the Fantastic Four comics being canceled? Also books – what are some of your favorites and what are some you want to read in the future?

bigredrobot:

I’m not at all surprised that Wright walked. I’m actually surprised it didn’t happen sooner, as Marvel has increasingly become a blockbuster factory and, I mean, you can’t argue with the methodology when there are stacks of cash being flown into the DIsney Vault, right? As great as it would be for a director like Wright and a screenwriter like Cornish to do a “Marvel movie,” A) They sort of tried that with Ang Lee’s Hulk and, well, we all know how that turned out, and B) Why would they need to let Wright off the leash when they can get somebody cheaper/more willing to connect-the dots?

Honestly, I’m a little bummed Adam McKay’s out of the running, because he knows how to direct comedic actors, and really, that’s all Marvel needs at this point, somebody to photograph the actors. The other two names sound a little blah, but The Marvel Blockbuster Machine sort of takes care of a lot of those movies, so who cares? I mean, they made Jorts Wheaton look like a halfway decent director (!!!) with The Avengers, when he really just showed up and shot coverage of already-charming actors being charming. I mean, the guy who directed You, Me & Dupree directed 2 Cap 2 Furious: The Winter’s Shoulders, and that was a pretty great little action movie. They’re not looking for visionaries because they don’t need visionaries.

This piece from Alex Pappademas at Grantland breaks it down pretty well. At one point, Marvel needed this sort of thing to look legitimate and cool, but then they literally made billions of dollars using much less-talented/-fussy directors, so why bother?

As far as the Fantastic Four rumors go, I actually think it’s a good idea to maybe let them chill out on the bench, drink some Gatorade or something, until somebody can figure out how to make them work in the Year of our Lord 2014? The idea of them trying to freeze out Fox is a little much (nobody reads comics, bro), but after trying, and failing, twice in the last few years to get a “fresh look” at the FF, once with Fraction’s Fantastic Four/FF combo and now with James Robinson’s relaunch, maybe they need to go away to come back, you know?

As far as books go, like real books? Cat’s Cradle. The Crying of Lot 49. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Pattern Recognition. Cannery Row. Dune. Anything by Roald Dahl.

I have a big “to-read” list, but I have become very bad at reading real books over the last few years. I’ve been 47% through Al Ewing’s The Fictional Man since I red it on the plane to and from ECCC. I am a complete failure at life.

Re: Adam McKay and Ant-Man. I really don’t get why McKay would’ve taken the gig, outside of the obvious “Hey, money!” gig. As is obvious from the Wright situation, there’s no true creative freedom with this role, and any conflict with the studio will be one you’d lose. The script and cast are set, and the movie is already behind schedule from the moment you sign on. McKay has a pretty successful career as is; signing on for Ant-Man feels like something he’s well past by this point, to me.

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If X-Men is analogous to ANYthing in reality, it is a metaphor for the entitlement to private gun ownership.

From here.