Joss Whedon’s Cancellation Makes No Sense, Unless It’s An Attack On You

Posted by Joshua Tyler | Published 18 seconds ago

The first two decades of the 2000s belonged to Joss Whedon, and he found that success by being the king of the nerds. His was the mind behind the most successful geek properties of all time, and he was the mastermind behind Marvel, the architect behind The Avengers. Then in 2021, it was cancelled. I still don’t understand why.

First, it must be said that Joss Whedon definitely does bad things, and he is not someone I would ever be friends with. The source of my confusion is not the debate over whether he is an honest person; there is no. What doesn’t add up is why the powers that be in Hollywood think her beauty standards should determine whether or not she’s allowed to work.

To understand how strange Joss Whedon’s cancellation is, first, we need to understand what he is being accused of. Here is a simple, bullet point list.

Bad Behavior by Joss Whedon

• Joss Whedon is accused of saying cruel things to Ray Fisher and Charisma Carpenter.
• Joss Whedon was a bad husband and had relationships with his actors.
• Joss Whedon’s sets weren’t always pretty, according to some people.

None of these things are good, but to put them in context, let’s compare that list to the things that other Hollywood stars are doing that are not canceled and can do whatever they want.

Woody Allen’s Bad Behavior

• Woody Allen is accused of molesting his daughter, Dylan Farrow.
• Woody Allen married his stepdaughter.
• Woody Allen cheated on his wife and stepdaughter.

That seems worse than Joss Whedon. Even worse. However, Woody Allen was not cancelled. Let’s try someone else, maybe Woody Allen is an off-off? What about acclaimed director Roman Polanski, who often wins Oscars and works on whatever he wants?

Roman Polanski’s Bad Behavior

• Roman Polanski pleaded guilty and was found guilty of raping a 13-year-old child.
• Roman Polanski pleaded guilty, and was convicted of drugging a child.
• Roman Polanski fled the country to escape justice.

Roman Polanski has had negative results and is instead often nominated for awards and hailed as a genius. What about a modern man, like Mel Gibson?

Bad Behavior by Mel Gibson

• Mel Gibson was arrested for DUI, which endangered the lives of others.
• Mel Gibson is on tape with sexist and anti-Semitic and racist comments.
• Mel Gibson pleaded not guilty to assaulting a helpless woman.
• Mel Gibson is on tape making violent threats.

There was, for a time, vague rumblings about canceling Gibson’s anti-semitic comments, but it never happened. He continued to work, getting payday roles in big Hollywood movies like Father’s home. At the moment, Mel Gibson is working on directing The Passion of Christ 2. Meanwhile, Joss Whedon’s Firefly the series is handed over to a talentless pirate who has done a lot of horror shows, because Whedon is not allowed to work.

Perhaps Joss Whedon’s problem is that most of his bad behavior was centered around things that happened at work. Let’s take a look at another great Hollywood director.

James Cameron’s Bad Behavior

• James Cameron is accused of saying bad things to Ed Harris and other actors.
• James Cameron was a terrible husband and had many relationships with his actors.
• James Cameron’s sets aren’t always fun, and he’s known for yelling at people, mistreating his characters, and putting them in physical danger.

James Cameron’s background seems to be similar to Joss Whedon’s. However, he is currently in production on another Avatar movie, and no one seems to mind.

Evil Thrives in Hollywood

Mel Gibson, Roman Polanski, and Woody Allen are no exception. And James Cameron, whose behavior is so good as a mirror of all successful Hollywood directors. The filmmaking business is full of people who do extreme evil in any way they can.

To be punished, you usually have to be as bad as Harvey Weinstein, a serial stalker and abuser with a slew of accusers. Now he’s in jail, where he belongs, but when he gets out (and that’s a real possibility), he’ll never work in Hollywood again.

In comparison, Joss Whedon said some trivial things, he was a bad husband, but still, like Harvey Weinstein, he will never work again. It doesn’t mix.

The Psychology Behind Hating Nerds

Until the early 2000s, intellectuals like Joss Whedon and independent audiences were treated as a joke. Intellectuals were disrespected, hated, and all movies, like them Napoleon Dynamitethey were built with the idea of ​​how funny it was to torture them and drown them.

That changed as Hollywood began to see the profit potential behind catering to geeks, but that didn’t mean the powers that be were happy about it. They wouldn’t, because of the thing called Status Identity Threat Syndrome.

Status Identity Threat Syndrome (noun): A psychological response in which people feel anxious, defensive, or resentful when characteristics or skills that support their social status and self-esteem are reduced or removed within a dynamic category.

Extended networks tend to build influence through visibility, relationships, and social fluency, traditional, human-centered approaches to power. For most of human history, these types of networks have not only worked in Hollywood, but around the world. When the “genius” types, people who win with technical mastery, focus, or systems thinking, start to outdo themselves, it upsets that arrangement.

Psychologically, it is a kind of status quo: traits that used to indicate dominance (charisma, communication) are suddenly less important than ability in domains that are not controlled by networks. That creates anxiety, because you’re not just losing, but losing in a way that makes your skill set feel outdated.

People protect the factors on which they base their self-esteem. If success comes from social skills such as anonymous communication, those invested in social media may feel threatened. So if you’re a misogynist who’s built your whole life around looking cool, seeing an eccentric criminal succeed, with a well-founded psychological theory, is pretty scary.

The Anti-Nerd Bigot Is Real

As you might expect, as the founder of sites like OFFICIAL FREAKIN A ROBOTI am a smart person. The more successful I am, the less sadists tend to dislike me, and the more they have worked hard to get me out. It’s not unique to me; it is something that happens to all introverted introverts in every industry and social corner. Ask them about it, they will tell you.

That is why educational research shows that students who enter school tend to be neglected by teachers, receive little attention and help, which leads to low grades and few opportunities. That’s why data shows that extroverts are more likely to get good results in court and receive superior medical care. That’s why naive intellectuals, on average, make 20% less than their drunken counterparts, despite data showing that they demonstrate superior competence at work.

Joss Whedon is not the only producer to be canceled due to allegations like this. Pixar wearing a Pixar shirt, John Lasseter was kicked out of Hollywood for hugging. Anyone seen Harry Knowles lately?

I’m not arguing here that Joss Whedon should be uncancelled; he appears to be a hypocrite. Also, Harry Knowles always struck me as sleaze; maybe we are better off without him. But if unlikability is the basic criterion we set for whether or not he is allowed to work, shouldn’t Woody Allen be locked up in a torture chamber, instead of being celebrated as a genius?

Make sense. Until you do, I’ll think you hate nerds and hate you back. And I will not celebrate anything about Roman Polanski. Sorry, Rosemary’s baby.