Leave Katherine Heigl Alone!

Katherine Heigl, star of Knocked Up and Grey's Anatomy, has been under a lot of slack lately for comments she made in the January 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. Although Knocked Up has turned her from semi-obscure TV star to one of Hollywood's most coveted female actors, Heigl criticized the movie for being sexist. The article is not online, but here's what according to The Boston Herald, Heigl was quoted as saying “It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys,” and that she was critical of the general portrayal of women.

Even though the article has yet to really make a dent, it's always getting scathing critiques online. In The Hater at the A.V. Club, Amelie Gilette really dug deep, arguing that since she has continued to take on sexist roles such as the upcoming 27 Dresses, and has a line of designer scrubs, she has no place criticizing anything as being sexist. Over at my former employer, Erik Davis notes that Knocked Up could equally be viewed as critical of men, and that frankly, Heigl's character makes some stupid decisions as well.

While I don't necessarily agree with Heigl, I have a serious problem with all the backlash against her. I tend to treat accusations of sexism more seriously than other accusations of prejudice, simply because people are more likely to shoot down any accusation of sexism as being the product of "feminazis," while less substantial arguments on race make national headlines. Secondly, as they were kind enough to point out at the Entertainment Weekly PopWatch, just because Heigl got publicity for the role doesn't mean she has to slavishly accept it for all it's worth. We don't have a problem with Alec Guinness hating Obi-Wan or the Beastie Boys hating "Girls," so why should we have a problem when Katherine Heigl brings up criticism of the role that seem relatively benign compared to the aforementioned examples? In this case, the cure has been worse than the disease.

The best commentary on the matter, however, has come straight from the horse's mouth: Judd Apatow, Katherine Heigl's "target," noted, "I think the characters are sexist at times, but it's really about immature people who are afraid of women and relationships and learn to grow up. If people say that the characters are sexist, I say, yeah, that's what I was going for in the first part of the movie, and then they change." Another quote from the smartest man in hollywood, "I've done a lot of interviews, and when you're promoting a movie, you talk for hours and hours and hours, and so it's very easy for something to be taken out of context. I'm just happy people are talking about Knocked Up six months after it came out."

While I'm less inclined to say she was misquoted, since she has also recently spoke out against Grey's Anatomy's too, I applaud Apatow yet again for treating the issue lightly and pragmatically.