The Fox studios aren’t really delighted to see global box-office numbers of the latest mutant saga X-Men Apocalypse directed by Bryan Singer who was at the helm of successful films in the franchise like X-Men, X-Men 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Apparently, we see the usual which we have already seen in previous X-Men movies – Apocalypse (an ancient creature played by Oscar Isaac) who was the most powerful and the first ever Mutant to have walked the Earth is now set to unleash the wrath, calls for a new world order, invite mutants who believe that Prof. Xavier has failed them. He has amassed an army of mutants for thousands of years. On the other hand, we see a bunch of Mutants led by Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence) preparing new recruits for the inevitable war to save the mankind.
Rose McGowan (of Planet Terror fame) pointed out the insensitivity of Fox towards women as there is a billboard which depicts the mighty villain Apocalypse choking Mystique in a brutal way. She told Hollywood reporter “There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film, There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous. So let’s right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can’t manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?”
Fox released an official apology in a statement – “In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in the print form. Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women.”
