Three Things I Like About Jesse Eisenberg

1. He is a good actor who tends to pick projects I enjoy watching.

2. He fosters cats. If you can't watch the whole interview, the summary is Conan O'Brien asking him if his "life has changed considerably since Social Network came out," to which Eisenberg replies, "Well, I've got more cats," and then goes on to explain: "Well, you know, I'm a foster parent for cats, and, um, um, the more movies I do, the more guilty I feel, and, um, the more cats I feel the need to get to alleviate the guilt from doing the movies, and then if a movie is, god forbid, popular, then I have to get even more cats… I have two now BUT I'm on kind of a list where they can deliver them to the house, so it's two at the moment. … And, if you haven't been to New York, the apartments are tiny, and so, to be a foster parent for cats is basically to have, like, you know, tenants coming in and out, like, if you live in a house, it'd be like the equivalent of having, like, a lot of people coming and staying over, uh, because my apartment's so small. So, I have a lot of cats, a lot of cat food, a lot of litter, and, um, nothing else in the apartment. … My life is basically just, you know, feeding and cleaning cats. And then I get to be the Sexiest Geek Alive."

3. He does not like rape jokes:

LMD: When a comedy [like 30 Minutes or Less, Eisenberg's new film] is this raunchy, is there such a thing as going too far?

JE: There is stuff in this movie that I'm uncomfortable with. I don't like to use the "R" word, for example. Rape, for example. I'm very uncomfortable with that word, personally, because I do work with domestic violence organizations and I'm very aware of the alarming statistics of women who are abused. So I'm very uncomfortable with that. I'm not uncomfortable with the sexual jokes. Sometimes I think they're less funny than others, I don't care about that, because it doesn't harm anybody. I'm uncomfortable with saying "rape," I don't like saying that, I never say it in my life. If somebody says it, I cringe. I don't like it when people make jokes about that word.

Eisenberg is, in addition to being an actor, a writer. It would be swell if he started writing some of his own material, sans rape jokes, because I suspect there's some significant bit of crossover between survivors and people who appreciate self-deprecating, slightly neurotic, highly intelligent actors who dig cats.

[H/T to @fakeplasticstar.]

Rape Is Hilarious, Part Wev in a Neverending Series

[Trigger warning for rape "humor," fat hatred, sexual assault, violence.]

Deeky texted me last night after he saw a new TV spot for the previously discussed upcoming film Horrible Bosses, in which murder and sexual assault are central "comedic" themes. This spot ran during a primetime re-run of NCIS.

"Tool Boss" Colin Farrell tells "Disrespected Employee" Jason Sudeikis, "We've got to trim some of the fat around here." Sudeikis says, "What?!" to which Farrell replies, "I want you to fire the fat people."

"Maneater Boss" Jennifer Aniston, who is a dentist, suggests to "Harassed Employee" Charlie Day that they have sex on top of an unconscious female patient. "Let's use her like a bed," she says, to which Day exclaims in response, "That's crossing the line!"

"Psycho Boss" Kevin Spacey tells "Abused Employee" Jason Bateman, "I own you, you little runt," to which Bateman sheepishly replies, "Thank you."

At a bar, with "murder consultant" Jaime Foxx, one of them says, "I guess we're just gonna be miserable for the rest of our lives," and Foxx offers, "Why don't you kill each other's bosses?" Sudeikis says, "That's actually a good idea."

Montage of someone flying out the window of a highrise building; the three men in a car spinning out of control; police cars with sirens blaring.

Cut to Sudeikis and Bateman walking down the street together, evidently discussing the murder plan. "I can't go to jail," Sudeikis says. "Look at me, I'll get raped like crazy."

"I'd get raped just as much as you would, Kurt," says Bateman, in a sort of hurt voice because rape is totes a compliment.

"No, no—I know you would," Sudeikis reassures him.

Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes.

And, no, the fact that it is a prison rape joke between men does not make it funny. There is nothing funny about prison rape.

Call Time Warner and let them know that you don't think rape jokes, especially rape jokes that suggest rape is a fucking compliment, are funny.

If you're on Twitter, you can tweet directly at Warner Brothers Pictures: @WBPictures.

On Rape Jokes and Anger

[Trigger warning for discussion of rape jokes; ableist language.]

Ta-Nehisi Coates has a follow-up to his post in which he defended a Louis CK rape joke by asserting: "Very few people would (publicly) claim that there are 'good reasons' for rape." (My post in response to his original post is here.)

I'm not sure I understand the point of the follow-up, in which he reprints a letter from one of his readers (who sounds like zie reads Shakesville, too), who identifies hirself as a survivor, only to reassert in response to the letter that he hasn't changed his mind and still considers the joke defensible. He additionally posts video of the joke, and opens it up for discussion with the admonishment to "walk away, have a drink and come back later" if you "find yourself typing out of anger."

Rape apologists are not singled out. Anger of any sort is deemed unwelcome.

"This is a really sensitive issue that should not be handled with kid gloves, but should be handled with a modicum of respect," he explains. "Don't be an idiot."

I am reasonably certain that Coates did not intend that to be read by survivors as, "Let's not get all emotional about how some of us like to laugh at jokes about someone disregarding your agency, bodily autonomy, dignity, and essential humanity in order to brutally assault you," but only because I imagine he didn't consider how (or that) it would be read by survivors at all.

It's incredibly hostile to survivors, especially survivors who are triggered by rape jokes, to tell them that their emotions, even if those emotions include anger, are unwelcome in a discussion of jokes about the thing that they have survived.

We want to dispassionately discuss jokes about this incredibly personal and intense thing that happens to people, but we don't want it cluttered with all your icky emotions about it.

Again, we witness the apologist's construct that people who have survived sexual assault cannot be objective (or rational, or calm, or some variation thereof) in discussions about "rape humor" (unless, of course, they're the ones saying they laugh at rape jokes).

The implicit suggestion, of course, is that only people who are perceived to have no personal reason to be angry about rape jokes are unbiased—which conveniently ignores that lack of experience can make one's opinions incredibly subjective, too.

No one, on either side of the survivor divide, is more intrinsically disposed to be more objective. We're all biased—either because we are unwilling experts on the act of being raped, or because we are not.

To exclude unqualified anger, in favor of some anodyne discourse whitewashed of all evidence of the ugly consequences of rape, is to exclude survivors.

And, frankly, it seems to me that any discussion of rape jokes needs more anger, not less. After all, rape jokes work to empower rapists, and thus tacitly abet the act of rape.

Which, ostensibly, we are all reflexively against, right...?