Director Zack Snyder recently took the time to answer questions from fans and previous collaborators ranging from author Max Brooks to actor Ciaran Hinds. One of the most interesting questions came from actress Sarah Polley, who worked with Snyder on Dawn of the Dead.
“A lot of people see a rightwing political undercurrent in some of your films,” Polley began. “Where do you stand politically and has that changed over the years? (Bonus hint: Don’t evade the question. Love you!)”
“I vote Democrat! I’m a true lover of individual rights,” Snyder answered.
“I’ve always been a super-strong advocate of women’s rights and a woman’s right to choose, and I’ve always been surrounded by powerful women,” he continued. “And, of course, I’m a huge advocate for the rights of all ethnicities and every walk of life. I would say I’m a pretty liberal guy. I want to make sure everyone’s heard and everyone feels included. I don’t have a rightwing political agenda. People see what they want to see. For me, that was not certainly the point.”
Snyder is a figure who will remain polarizing for many reasons, many of which don’t necessarily reflect his actions as a human, but his particular storytelling and fanbase. Some of that is genuinely unfair, since Snyder has made sure to denounce any hate that could be associated with his name, and he is one of the few cishet men in Hollywood who hasn’t had a whiff of scandal around him.
Even going back to 300, his most problematic film racially, the root of a lot of that is in the comic itself. I personally think his biggest problem as a storyteller is sticking the landing with his messages, but he is hardly the only one with that issue.
No, the biggest issue is the fandom of Snyder fans who took his name and vision and weaponized it against many people, including women and especially women of color who were critical of the choices Snyder has made as a director—to the point where it is even hard to give him valid praise without having some fans take your words out of context and try to pull hate from it.
Politically, Snyder seems to understand the climate. He has the rights to The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand but has decided not to make it. He told the Times, “I don’t know how that movie gets made, at least not right away. We need a less divided country and a little more liberal government to make that movie, so people don’t react to it in a certain way.”
I’m not champing at the bit for Rand content, but since it has a right to be made (no accounting for taste), at least Snyder can see that our individualistic society right now might need to have their worst selves validated on a Hollywood budget.
As ever, Snyder seems like a good dude, even if you don’t enjoy your comic book movies. So maybe honor the man by not doing the absolute most.
(via The Guardian, image: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
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