Women Tell Man Not To Mansplain “Men In Black” To Them, Turns Out He’s The Writer
Amuse me for a second. Let’s say you’ve written one of the biggest blockbusters. It becomes a cult classic and you’ve boosted Will Smith’s career. Your movie is so popular, people still talk about it 23 years after its release. You overhear one of these conversations and it turns out, two women are arguing over the story. You politely swoop in, offer to settle the disagreement but in a plot twist, they not only reject you but accuse you of mansplaining as well. Sounds surreal. Sounds like this could be a whole new movie script. Maybe a short one, but still. However, this is exactly what happened to Ed Solomon, the writer of Men In Black. Continue scrolling and learn how everything unfolded in Ed’s own words!
More info: Twitter | edsolomonofficial.com
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Image credits: ed_solomon
“They were saying that someone from where one of them works looked like ‘the old guy from Men In Black’ and the other said she didn’t know it ’cause she didn’t watch comic book movies and the first girl said it wasn’t a comic book movie,” Solomon told Bored Panda.
In reality, the iconic movie was adapted from The Men In Black comic book series, created by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers. The original storyline revolved around a secret government organization that policed various alien and supernatural threats to Earth. Only six issues were published between 1990 and 1991 before Hollywood picked it up and turned the cool story into a popular movie.
Image credits: ed_solomon
Image credits: ed_solomon
“I meant to introduce myself and tell them – but as soon as the first girl made a joke to her friend about being mansplained to (it was a joke she made, not really an admonition to me), I got a phone call and stepped away,” he explained. “When my call was over, one girl had left and the other was coming out of the bathroom.”
But that wasn’t the end of it. “The girl was a kid. In high school. She reached out to me after seeing my tweet on Reddit. She was very sweet. We had several very lovely exchanges and laughed about it. And she felt bad about her joke. Honestly, if I hadn’t have gotten the phone call, we would have continued the conversation there and that would have been that.”
Image credits: ed_solomon
The screenwriter almost never runs into similar situations. “Maybe once or twice a year, I overhear someone talking about something I worked on. I see it on Twitter more – where people will comment on something (positive or negative) without knowing I’m seeing it.”
With the script for Men In Black, Solomon entered the A-list of Hollywood writers and the hall of fame of the pop culture, setting his signature style of visually innovative, intelligent, character-based comedy. And he’s been keeping himself busy ever since. But in 2016, after decades of writing mega-budget studio science fiction, action, and comedy, Ed immersed himself in drama, teaming up with director Steven Soderbergh and HBO for the original interactive long-form branching narrative Mosaic, starring Sharon Stone.
Now, he’s writing a second project in the branching narrative format for producers Steven Soderbergh and Casey Silver.
Image credits: ed_solomon
The story instantly went viral, so Ed continued sharing his two cents on the matter
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I’m always amused when people use “white guy” in a derogatory manner, and they don’t think they are being racist.
Yup. The best is when you call them on it and they tell you they're not being racist because ONLY white people CAN be racist. I used to try to explain how the second statement was also racist, but quickly learned there was little point.
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so the woman now just saw a white men who want to say Something and says she doesn't want to hear it? just reverse it... if it was a woman who was put down like that was it ok? why it's ok then for men? some woman s**t on men like it's right but they act just like other s****y mens do.
Yes Samantha Lomb Ive personally dealt with women who knew more about kids than me when one of them had never even held a baby till she had her first with me at 29
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I love how people in the comments are defending the womens' behavior. Do they hear themselves?
They can't hear anything when their heads are way up their own asses. A Bunch of automatons.
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The women were rude. They were rude in a way I sympathize with, but do not approve of. And now they have been publicly shamed, maybe they will use their brains before they run their mouths next time their convo is intruded upon. Solomon did nothing wrong. He had legit information that the women wanted, and OFFERED them an explanation if they were willing to listen. This is how it is supposed to be done.
An old white guy? Handsome and fit, and that hair! Explain away. I've had memorable experiences talking to strangers. In fact I married one.
Not a celebrity, but a student in college. She was asked to give an oral report on an article about archaeological research having to deal with an analysis of materials left behind by local tribes. As she went on saying "This guy didn't know what he was doing" and "The author lacked real knowledge" the professor was scribbling down notes. One of which was "Please make sure to share the name of the author of the article." Had she done so, she would have realized she was trash talking her professor.
Well if she could explain why she thought so and confronted him with her findings, it would've been fine. But she didn't.
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Racist, sexist, and ageist in one insipid comment. That girl sounds like an all-around dunce.
It's the new norm unfortunately. People can get away with this stuff yet if you call them out for hypocrisy they simply can't see it and they'll blow up at you.
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People seem to misunderstand what mansplaining is. Mansplaining is when men try to explain a topic to a woman when the woman might know more about it then he does. Like a guy condescendingly trying to explain environmental science to a woman who is actually an environmental scientist herself for example.
Yes Rachel, you're right. I can see from the comment section that that is either misunderstood or people don't much care to empathize/understand. Jim, this isn't her thesis paper it's the internet. You offered exactly nothing except how small you feel inside. Snaps for Jim
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Not a famous person but my college tutor in electronics15 years ago mentioned that some girls were talking bout the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face Guitar pedal and if it was possible to make one. He tried to explain the key fact that the AC127 Transistors need to be as perfectly balanced as possible for the best effect and they looked at him and said something along the lines of "We don't need you mansplaining things" (It wasn't called mansplaining at the time) and he said fine and walked off. He had his first lesson in 2 hours and he wanted to prepare something special. Lesson started and the girls walked in and saw him and went red faced. He said they looked like they wanted the world to open up and swallow them whole when they saw the page 'How to make a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face Guitar Pedal' Which he added just for them. When I did the course I made a really good one which he bought off me because of the work I put into it. He was an AMAZING tutor and very funny too.
OP writes "It becomes a cult classic and you've boosted Will Smith's career." M.I.B. the movie was definitely not a "cult classic." It was a summer blockbuster that spawned an entire franchise. From the web- Cult classic: noun something, typically a movie or book, that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society.
I am a feminist just as much as the next woman, but I wouldn't get all upset because some guy explained a movie to me and if it turned out that he was the writer that would be awesome. I don't understand this new trend of pointing out every time a man talks as mansplaining. Can it not just be one human explaining something to another human? My dad worked for the highway department for 17 years and knows a heck of a lot about the roads than I do. When he does explain things he does tell a long story, but I don't get mad at him or tell him to stop mansplaining. I just listen. Sometimes a person( man or woman) will explain something without being asked for their opinion or they will be wrong. In that situation it is just a human explaining something that they have no knowledge about. Also we have to stop bringing race into everything. A person's race should only be an issue when they are doing something racist and not because they are simply talking.
No way are we all feminists. I'm a woman and feminism is a dirty word.
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Okay, their comment to him was exceedingly rude (I mean, have they never had a strange woman interrupt their convo with an opinion or explanation?). But how were they supposed to know he was the writer, or even believe him when he said he was? Obvs they could look him up, but without that -- I mean, I don't know how all the writers of movies/TV shows/etc that I like look. I don't even know many of their names. And anybody could claim to be the writer of something. So yes, he was right to be annoyed, and they were wrong to be rude, but the rest of it just falls short with me.
Wait what, Bored Panda didn't turn this into something bad about white males? Well, they added some apologetic tweets, but still. Id say progress.
I know, I'm shocked. Leftist racism and sexism is finally getting called out? What is happening?
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Sounds like the kind of people who could need a explanation here and there...
From the reaction and the use of the word "white" I was expecting a very different story along the lines that one of them thought that Men in Black was some kind of "what it is like to be black' story line, but it wasn't. The girl was good for contacting him back, seeing the reddit etc, takes some good grace to be humble enough to put yourself back out there like that. Good on him and I would not have known him from anyone, but I would not have considered anyone telling me their insight into anything as a Mansplanation either, so ridiculous. People use the word to invoke the concept that a Man is telling a Woman something she could not know or understand...that is not a Mansplanation that is just condescension and Women do a lot of that themselves.
Honestly, I don’t care if you are male, female, any gender, white, black etc. Rude is rude. Happy to see that the young lady in question was gracious enough to recognize herself and apologize. You can’t pay enough to learn a life lesson like that.
she only apologized after she knew he was famous. doesn't count.
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It's sad, and amusing, how so many berate men and the myth of male privilege, and behave worse than whom they accuse. Besides, where was my so called white privilege when I was homeless?
Only racists and sexists think there's such a thing as white privilege and male privilege.
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I love how there's still a couple militant responses there from women defending the misandry displayed here. "Did you tell her you wrote it? Or did you just but into their conversation?" he stated very clearly that they had formed a conversation naturally prior to discussing the movie he didn't just walk up and say "I was listening and you feeble women are wrong". And what does it matter if he's the writer or not? If he wasn't the writer does that somehow invalidate his right to know about the movie, or to form opinions about it? What the hell did either of these girls right to make their opinions more valuable then anyone else's? Hell the one of them even said she never even saw the movie, yet she can talk about it and a man can't?
I don't understand why we can't be civil. The women could have merely said "No thanks, we are having a private conversation."
and of course all the women have to jump in and tell everyone their boring stories about how they were interrupted by some man who was probably trying to stop them from looking stupid whilst talking one load of mince.
This whole thing makes a few interesting points: #1 Ideology, no matter what it stands for, eventually exhausts itself #2 There have been so many instances of jackass men interjecting in conversations that this actually makes sense on some level. #3 Ed Solomon sounds like an exceptionally chill dude #4 Ed Solomon is hot
The concept of mansplaining is not right because I'm telling you, as a man, that men do this to men all the time. Some dudes just can't keep their goddamn yaps shut. It's rarely a sexist thing.
Load More Replies... So many women taking about they've had "old men" just interrupt and mansplain... haha no you haven't stop trying to seem relevant..
There is nothing wrong with not wanting to be interrupted by a stranger. You can express your unwillingness in a polite way that doesn't humiliate the other person. Moreover, he said they had exchanged some small talk on various topics before the whole thing with *Men in Black* has started.
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I’m always amused when people use “white guy” in a derogatory manner, and they don’t think they are being racist.
Yup. The best is when you call them on it and they tell you they're not being racist because ONLY white people CAN be racist. I used to try to explain how the second statement was also racist, but quickly learned there was little point.
Load More Replies... so the woman now just saw a white men who want to say Something and says she doesn't want to hear it? just reverse it... if it was a woman who was put down like that was it ok? why it's ok then for men? some woman s**t on men like it's right but they act just like other s****y mens do.
Yes Samantha Lomb Ive personally dealt with women who knew more about kids than me when one of them had never even held a baby till she had her first with me at 29
Load More Replies... I love how people in the comments are defending the womens' behavior. Do they hear themselves?
They can't hear anything when their heads are way up their own asses. A Bunch of automatons.
Load More Replies... The women were rude. They were rude in a way I sympathize with, but do not approve of. And now they have been publicly shamed, maybe they will use their brains before they run their mouths next time their convo is intruded upon. Solomon did nothing wrong. He had legit information that the women wanted, and OFFERED them an explanation if they were willing to listen. This is how it is supposed to be done.
An old white guy? Handsome and fit, and that hair! Explain away. I've had memorable experiences talking to strangers. In fact I married one.
Not a celebrity, but a student in college. She was asked to give an oral report on an article about archaeological research having to deal with an analysis of materials left behind by local tribes. As she went on saying "This guy didn't know what he was doing" and "The author lacked real knowledge" the professor was scribbling down notes. One of which was "Please make sure to share the name of the author of the article." Had she done so, she would have realized she was trash talking her professor.
Well if she could explain why she thought so and confronted him with her findings, it would've been fine. But she didn't.
Load More Replies... Racist, sexist, and ageist in one insipid comment. That girl sounds like an all-around dunce.
It's the new norm unfortunately. People can get away with this stuff yet if you call them out for hypocrisy they simply can't see it and they'll blow up at you.
Load More Replies... People seem to misunderstand what mansplaining is. Mansplaining is when men try to explain a topic to a woman when the woman might know more about it then he does. Like a guy condescendingly trying to explain environmental science to a woman who is actually an environmental scientist herself for example.
Yes Rachel, you're right. I can see from the comment section that that is either misunderstood or people don't much care to empathize/understand. Jim, this isn't her thesis paper it's the internet. You offered exactly nothing except how small you feel inside. Snaps for Jim
Load More Replies... Not a famous person but my college tutor in electronics15 years ago mentioned that some girls were talking bout the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face Guitar pedal and if it was possible to make one. He tried to explain the key fact that the AC127 Transistors need to be as perfectly balanced as possible for the best effect and they looked at him and said something along the lines of "We don't need you mansplaining things" (It wasn't called mansplaining at the time) and he said fine and walked off. He had his first lesson in 2 hours and he wanted to prepare something special. Lesson started and the girls walked in and saw him and went red faced. He said they looked like they wanted the world to open up and swallow them whole when they saw the page 'How to make a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face Guitar Pedal' Which he added just for them. When I did the course I made a really good one which he bought off me because of the work I put into it. He was an AMAZING tutor and very funny too.
OP writes "It becomes a cult classic and you've boosted Will Smith's career." M.I.B. the movie was definitely not a "cult classic." It was a summer blockbuster that spawned an entire franchise. From the web- Cult classic: noun something, typically a movie or book, that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society.
I am a feminist just as much as the next woman, but I wouldn't get all upset because some guy explained a movie to me and if it turned out that he was the writer that would be awesome. I don't understand this new trend of pointing out every time a man talks as mansplaining. Can it not just be one human explaining something to another human? My dad worked for the highway department for 17 years and knows a heck of a lot about the roads than I do. When he does explain things he does tell a long story, but I don't get mad at him or tell him to stop mansplaining. I just listen. Sometimes a person( man or woman) will explain something without being asked for their opinion or they will be wrong. In that situation it is just a human explaining something that they have no knowledge about. Also we have to stop bringing race into everything. A person's race should only be an issue when they are doing something racist and not because they are simply talking.
No way are we all feminists. I'm a woman and feminism is a dirty word.
Load More Replies... Okay, their comment to him was exceedingly rude (I mean, have they never had a strange woman interrupt their convo with an opinion or explanation?). But how were they supposed to know he was the writer, or even believe him when he said he was? Obvs they could look him up, but without that -- I mean, I don't know how all the writers of movies/TV shows/etc that I like look. I don't even know many of their names. And anybody could claim to be the writer of something. So yes, he was right to be annoyed, and they were wrong to be rude, but the rest of it just falls short with me.
Wait what, Bored Panda didn't turn this into something bad about white males? Well, they added some apologetic tweets, but still. Id say progress.
I know, I'm shocked. Leftist racism and sexism is finally getting called out? What is happening?
Load More Replies... Sounds like the kind of people who could need a explanation here and there...
From the reaction and the use of the word "white" I was expecting a very different story along the lines that one of them thought that Men in Black was some kind of "what it is like to be black' story line, but it wasn't. The girl was good for contacting him back, seeing the reddit etc, takes some good grace to be humble enough to put yourself back out there like that. Good on him and I would not have known him from anyone, but I would not have considered anyone telling me their insight into anything as a Mansplanation either, so ridiculous. People use the word to invoke the concept that a Man is telling a Woman something she could not know or understand...that is not a Mansplanation that is just condescension and Women do a lot of that themselves.
Honestly, I don’t care if you are male, female, any gender, white, black etc. Rude is rude. Happy to see that the young lady in question was gracious enough to recognize herself and apologize. You can’t pay enough to learn a life lesson like that.
she only apologized after she knew he was famous. doesn't count.
Load More Replies... It's sad, and amusing, how so many berate men and the myth of male privilege, and behave worse than whom they accuse. Besides, where was my so called white privilege when I was homeless?
Only racists and sexists think there's such a thing as white privilege and male privilege.
Load More Replies... I love how there's still a couple militant responses there from women defending the misandry displayed here. "Did you tell her you wrote it? Or did you just but into their conversation?" he stated very clearly that they had formed a conversation naturally prior to discussing the movie he didn't just walk up and say "I was listening and you feeble women are wrong". And what does it matter if he's the writer or not? If he wasn't the writer does that somehow invalidate his right to know about the movie, or to form opinions about it? What the hell did either of these girls right to make their opinions more valuable then anyone else's? Hell the one of them even said she never even saw the movie, yet she can talk about it and a man can't?
I don't understand why we can't be civil. The women could have merely said "No thanks, we are having a private conversation."
and of course all the women have to jump in and tell everyone their boring stories about how they were interrupted by some man who was probably trying to stop them from looking stupid whilst talking one load of mince.
This whole thing makes a few interesting points: #1 Ideology, no matter what it stands for, eventually exhausts itself #2 There have been so many instances of jackass men interjecting in conversations that this actually makes sense on some level. #3 Ed Solomon sounds like an exceptionally chill dude #4 Ed Solomon is hot
The concept of mansplaining is not right because I'm telling you, as a man, that men do this to men all the time. Some dudes just can't keep their goddamn yaps shut. It's rarely a sexist thing.
Load More Replies... So many women taking about they've had "old men" just interrupt and mansplain... haha no you haven't stop trying to seem relevant..
There is nothing wrong with not wanting to be interrupted by a stranger. You can express your unwillingness in a polite way that doesn't humiliate the other person. Moreover, he said they had exchanged some small talk on various topics before the whole thing with *Men in Black* has started.
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