Jodie Foster Claims Superhero Flicks Are Destroying the Earth

Jodie Foster might strike you as pretentious. It’s probably that auteur-Yale-bespectacled-lesbian thing. Also, a string of shitty independent movies when she takes the helm. Yet she’s not a woman without talent, or a big brain, so she’s not entirely worth writing off, like, say, 99% of similar people in Hollywood.

Foster decided to take a swipe at the endless string of comic book movie blockbusters filling our nation’s theaters in the past decade. An easy target for a takedown. Foster decided to take the annoying, self-serving, and pompous route of attack. The road not less traveled among her peers:

“Studios making bad content in order to appeal to the masses and shareholders is like fracking — you get the best return right now but you wreck the earth.”

“I feel like I make movies, because there are things I have to say in order to figure out who I am or my place in the world, or for me to evolve as a person.”

Fine by me. But you’ve officially lost any high-ground in attacking on Trump being a pompous asshole. 

It’s not unusual for artsy people to criticize popular content. In fact, it’s all they really do. Though comparing Captain America movies to hydraulic fracking is obviously overwrought. It means you want special attention for your intellectual criticism. Similar to that bit where you insist you make movies entirely for your own benefit. That’s weird to ask other people to put their money into your self-improvement program. They wouldn’t invest if your plan was Bikram yoga and French classes.

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn took exception with Jodie Foster’s characterization, though in a carefully crafted, timid, please-don’t-hurt-me level of retort:

For cinema to survive I believe spectacle films NEED to have a vision and heart they traditionally haven’t. And some of us are doing our best to move in that direction. Creating spectacle films that are innovative, humane, and thoughtful is what excites me about this job.

In short, my comic book movies are good, but those other guys are creating the crap that Jodie Foster is rightfully complaining about.

Smug critics exist because artists are so incredibly fragile of ego that they require criticism to feel comfortable. It’s the same synergy among school yard bullies and weak kids. It’s nature’s self-correction for creating lesser creatures. If guys like James Gunn had the sack to call Jodie Foster an annoying, jealous, self-entitled, twat, who can easily change the channel if she doesn’t like comic book movies, maybe she’d think twice about calling popular movies trash.

There used to be a noticeable line between cowardice and deference. No longer.