7) Social Media: James Gunn

In the modern age of internet and social media, we as a society have hit a crossroads when it comes to its use and when to take it seriously or to dismiss it entirely.

Social media is used as a means to get everyone as connected as possible. Whether it be Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, all are used to present an idea of yourself to people you may or may not know. Because of this, social media has been identified as something that must be done carefully because it can potentially make or break not only your ability to market yourself to potential employers but also to your entire friends and family.

In the Summer of 2018, one of my favorite directors, James Gunn, was fired off of the film franchise Guardians of the Galaxy for tweets that had been rediscovered from his past after getting in a political argument with a Republican journalist (Gunn tends to lean left as his social media has come to prove.)

After James Gunn's firing, social medias went crazy. For one, Gunn had apologized for the tweets before he was officially brought on to do the project. Secondly, his reputation, his work with Marvel aside, had shown that, though the tweets were very much in poor taste, he as a person was more developed than he had once been. (also the work he was doing at the time of the tweets highlighted his comedic attitudes of the day.)

Fans took to Change.org and Twitter and all over the place proclaiming their frustrations with Gunn's firing, even so far as ordering a billboard outside Disneyland clamoring for Gunn's reinstatement for the franchise.

Gunn, immediately after the firing, apologized for all the tweets for a 2nd time and left his Twitter inactive for the duration. He stayed media quite the entire time, even when it was announced that he was going to be taking on the Suicide Squad franchise for Warner Bros.

It wasn't until March of 2019 when it was announced that James Gunn had been reinstated to direct the third Guardians film which was only confirmed when Gunn posted, for the first time in months:

The Take Away:

I wanted to bring up James Gunn because we are in a weird time in culture and our understanding of the internet. While I personally didn't want Gunn fired and thought the thing was bogus altogether, how Gunn handled the situation I think spoke more than the outpouring of support for his name. Would he have been rehired if fans and actors didn't speak up for him? Maybe not. However I do think the non-reactionary response, just sitting quietly and patiently to let other people speak to your character was the smartest move, one that people like Rosanne Barr and Kevin Hart should take note on. 

At one point, James Gunn lost everything. The Guardians movies were his babies. But now, he gets to run two major comic book franchises instead of one. If anybody came out of the situation on top, it was James Gunn.