SUICIDE SQUAD Director David Ayer Responds To Overly-Sexualized Harley Quinn Backlash

SUICIDE SQUAD Director David Ayer Responds To Overly-Sexualized Harley Quinn Backlash

People are still getting on David Ayer's case over a few gratuitous shots of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn in his Suicide Squad movie, and the director has now responded to the latest dig via Twitter...

By MarkCassidy - May 08, 2020 06:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad director David Ayer was heavily criticized for his movie's depiction of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), and almost four years after the film was released in theaters, the filmmaker is still getting flak. 

Responding to the announcement that Ayer's next project will be an adaptation of Harlan Coben's Six Years, a Twitter user tagged the director and wondered if he was going to "have the women in the movie in super booty shorts and give us gratuitous ass and tit shots?"

Ayer responded with the following Tweets:

Harley's outfit was a little on the skimpy side, and there's no denying that the camera did gratuitously linger on Robbie's body on a couple of occasions. But Quinn has never shied away from employing her feminine wiles to her advantage in the comics and has often used her sexuality to manipulate those around her, so it wasn't like this was a massive liberty to take with the character.

At any rate, Robbie reprised the role of Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey and wore slightly less revealing outfits, so all is right with the world.

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Se4M4NSt4ine
Se4M4NSt4ine - 5/8/2020, 6:19 AM
SerKurtWagner
SerKurtWagner - 5/8/2020, 6:25 AM
This has absolutely nothing to do with how Harley dresses or acts. It does have to do with how the scene is directed, and half the shots in Suicide Squad were following Robbie's butt.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 5/8/2020, 6:28 AM
@SerKurtWagner - I acknowledged that in the article. Still doesn't justify this level of backlash.
Kumkani
Kumkani - 5/8/2020, 7:03 AM
@RorMachine - Well, the movie was garbage, so every single flaw deserved to be picked apart 🤷🏾‍♂️
SerKurtWagner
SerKurtWagner - 5/8/2020, 7:50 AM
@RorMachine - Oh, yeah, I get that 100%, I was just responding to Ayer's response of ignoring the critique of his actual direction and going straight to "You don't want women to show skin".
soberchimera
soberchimera - 5/8/2020, 6:29 AM
Pretty sure Amanda Waller wasn't dressed scantily in that film, Harley Quinn is basically The Joker's concubine, so it makes sense that she would dress in a sexualized manner, it accurately portrays her downfall from respected psychiatrist to psychotic criminal. Obviously not all women should be dressed in a provocative manner, but it does fit with some characters.
Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 5/8/2020, 6:34 AM
He certainly deserves a ton of flak for a lot of the movie, but for Harley's outfit? The booty shorts and excessive cleavage was DC's when they Deadpool'd her for Nu52. Hell, if anything putting her in a shirt was actually reducing what the comics had established.

Enchantress, though? Gig him on that.
vegetaray
vegetaray - 5/8/2020, 6:37 AM
@Reeds2Much - Exactly! With all the glaring issues with that movie...Bootie shorts and lingering shots of Harleys backside are the hill some of these people are going to die on for it?
regularmovieguy
regularmovieguy - 5/8/2020, 6:41 AM
Isn’t this movie like 5 years old?
regularmovieguy
regularmovieguy - 5/8/2020, 7:04 AM
@RageCipher

Haha I mean, you would think there would be more recent movies to complain and bitch about when it comes to feminism.

But David Ayer is dumb for even responding to these guys. If I were him I’d probably just troll them or leave them alone entirely.
theFUZZ008
theFUZZ008 - 5/8/2020, 6:41 AM
Why does he answer the trolls?

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