Safety and support can be found in unexpected places, even in a women’s bathroom.
In a press conference for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law held on August 12, Jessica Gao — the head writer and one of the executive producers for the show — revealed that a scene where women help out the distraught female protagonist in the washroom almost didn’t make the final cut.
The scene in question took place when a confused and dishevelled Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) found herself in a bar’s restroom, her clothes and hair in a mess and her shoes missing after blacking out from becoming the She-Hulk.
A group of women enter the restroom and seeing the state Jennifer is in, they immediately offer their support, cleaning her up and arranging her looks, even giving her shoes to wear.
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She-Hulk Writer Explains Why She Fought To Keep This Scene
Jessica, 38, explained:
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“That scene was so important to me. There were so many times that it was on the chopping block because a lot of people didn’t understand it. [But] this is the single most important scene to me in this entire episode.
“Truly, the women’s bathroom — in any club or strip club, I don’t care, any public women’s bathroom — is the safest, most protective and supportive environment.”
She added that women are usually depicted as being “catty or bitchy”, and while that may be true sometimes, the moment women are in the bathroom they just want to help one another.
“If you went into a bathroom and said, ‘This man was bad to me’, you’d have an entire army of women ready to go kill him.”
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is an upcoming series produced by Marvel Studios that will be available on Disney+ from Aug 18. It covers the story of Jennifer Walters, the titular She-Hulk, who tries to negotiate her life as a lawyer and superhero.
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In the past,
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Other Marvel titles have had problems with the portrayal of women, such as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) referring to herself as a “monster” for not being able to give birth, and the “superficial pandering” to women that Avengers: Endgame was criticised to have.
Adding on to her beliefs, Jessica also shared an anecdote about a wardrobe malfunction she had at the Emmy Awards.
Unable to fix the malfunction herself, she messaged everyone she knew who could help her. Unfortunately, they were all preoccupied with the ceremony and didn’t check their phones.
Jessica then pulled in the first woman she saw, who happened to be a producer she’s only known in a professional capacity.
She said to the producer: “Come with me to the bathroom. We are about to get closer than any writer and producer should get.”
Despite barely knowing each other on a personal level, the producer helped Jessica fix her outfit — all within the sanctity of the women’s restroom.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which also stars Ginger Gonzales, Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth, is available for streaming on Disney+ from August 18.
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Text: Khoo Yi-Hang/AsiaOne
