It’s More Than The James Gunn Firing, It’s A Worldwide Problem

Life as we know it is over. We need to just stop talking. In case you missed it, James Gunn has been ousted by Disney due to a series of tweets he issued some time ago. I’ve kept my mouth pretty quiet about the James Gunn firing. I’ve watched, read and listened to countless people, articles, and videos describing what happened and the punishment he’s received because of it. 

To anyone who reads this, I ask, “Do we live in a world that people are persecuted for actions conducted a half a generation ago? Do we live in a world where people who have admitted fault and apologized cannot be forgiven? And do we live in a world where people go out of their way to hurt another?”

In a word…yes.

In two others…that’s bullshit.

Our world

Chris Pratt said it best when he quoted James 1:19, “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” 

Why for all the advancements we have made, do we still go out of our way to knowingly cause harm to another? For a race as forward thinking as ours, we continue to send ourselves back to the age of sticks, rocks, and fire. It’s not even just about the James Gunn firing and his undeniable effect on the MCU. No, it’s about the wars, the hate, and the hostility we have for each another.

It’s here. It’s there. And, without trying to sound like Dr. Suess, it’s everywhere.

Not for a second do I think that anyone grew up wishing to be malicious. Sure, as children we all did things we wished we could undo but we were supposed to grow out of it. Children hurt others. We aren’t children. I’m embarrassed for the children growing up watching us turn a world that we fought so hard for, to shit.

At a young age, I wanted to be one of two things; a race car driver or an animator. Neither of those panned out so I chose the silent option three…to be a good person. But that isn’t really a choice, is it? It is our duty to be good people. People who, as I tell my son every night, spend their time making the world a better place.

Inside and outside the comic book world, we are failing.

Social media

Social media has its place. It’s a great connector, a platform for sharing thoughts, keeping up with those closest and farthest from us, among other things. However, it’s also a house for things that we wished we didn’t say or do and a constant reminder of our inability to move forward. 

Unfortunately, social media has become the focal point for past mistakes. Mistakes, that we wish we could redo, make go away, and never think about again.

Now, because of a mistake James Gunn is without the franchise that he took from obscurity to Knowhere. If not for him, “I am Groot”, Dave Bautista and Chris Pratt would never have cemented their place in pop culture history. In fact, Marvel had plans to have him at the helm of their universe once the Avengers wrapped up in 2019. 

After the James Gunn firing, that’s gone.

Next steps

I have no doubt that he will land on his feet. The outpouring of support and over 300,000 signatures on a petition for Disney to bring him back tells me this. But it shouldn’t have come to this. The world shouldn’t be in a place where we hurt one another and are unable to move past our history. 

As far as I can see it, the best case scenario for James Gunn is not to go to rival DC, (although the thought drips with hilarity) but go back to making the movies that got him hired by Disney in the first place. 

Oh, and it probably wouldn’t hurt for him to delete all social media accounts and never speak a word again…to anyone. Although cynically, I believe that someone will find a way to bring up a time when he flipped someone off out of frustration.

But it shouldn’t come to this, should it?

Cheers,

Joel

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