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Does Olivia Munn hate women?

September 10, 2021

This week, Daysia will not be adding to the John Mulaney discourse but will share some *choice* passages from Olivia Munn’s memoir that have haunted her all week. Meanwhile, Hannah also won’t be contributing to the John Mulaney discourse but highlights an important Twitter thread that unpacks why people are feeling the way they do.

Also, we have reviews of “Fallen Fruit” and “Leader of New Regime” this week.

It’s hard out there right now and we hope you take some time for yourself this weekend.

<3

Daysia and Hannah

This Week's Fixations

What's taking up our brain space this week?

Daysia: Because I respect myself, I did not read Olivia Munn’s 2010 memoir Suck It, Wonder Woman. I did, however, listen to the Celebrity Memoir Book Club podcast episode about it, which I recommend if you want a *taste* of what Munn thinks is funny. Misogyny, fatphobia, slut shaming, ableism, and a variety of pick-me anecdotes, galore! Ashley and Claire, the hosts of the podcast, succinctly sum up the types of women that Munn describes in her book: “Gold diggers who are too dumb to stand up to their director boyfriends and then other friends who are too stupid to be an assistant.”

Munn also describes several stories about creepy Hollywood men who share objects and photos of their sexual exploits with her, and instead of being upset with the men, she drags other women’s bodies. I’ll spare you the details (again, more in the pod), but in one story she calls an actress’s vagina “musty, dusty, and closed-up.” In another, she says her agent’s girlfriend’s vagina looks like a “messy, open-faced Reuben sandwich.” Yeah, gross.

I think Munn is a complicated person. She built her image off being a perennial male fantasy, and I’m sure it is very hard on one’s self-image and self-esteem to create an identity rooted in misogyny. Her memoir is clearly written for a male “geek” fanbase. On one hand, I can respect her securing her bag, but ultimately, she didn’t need to bring women down in the process! It’s been a decade and in that time, and perhaps ironically, she has become quite a vocal figure in the #MeToo movement. She came out with an experience of sexual misconduct from director Brett Ratner, a story she shared without names in her book. She did a lot of press for Times Up but... also went on The View to say that E. Jean Carroll needed to provide “proof” that Donald Trump assaulted her? (Trigger warning for sexual assault, but if you haven’t read E. Jean Carroll’s account of her experience, she published an excerpt in The Cut in 2019.) There is no doubt that Munn has experienced a lot of trauma and sexism in her life, but even now, it seems like she has so much work to do to unlearn the internalized misogyny that has plagued her image for so long.

I don’t feel the need to speculate on timelines or changes in heart on the John Mulaney-Olivia Munn relationship—that’s personal and life is messy! My only half-baked take: I think the notion that Munn and the baby “saved [Mulaney] from himself,” as he said, is a lot to unpack.

Hannah: I have had many feelings on all the John Mulaney news despite my best efforts to not get invested and have an opinion—after all, it’s not my life! I try to keep in mind that ultimately I only care that people are happy and healthy and we will never know the full story. But I did see a great thread on Twitter that helped me understand my feelings better about why I felt so many things as a fan of Mulaney.

Has Lorde Dropped a New Album?

Lorde is the cover of October Vogue! She dropped a cover of “Break the Ice” by Britney Spears in tandem with the profile.

She also released a Maori-language version of some of her Solar Power tracks, with proceeds going to New Zealand charities.

Today’s mini-reviews include “Fallen Fruit” and “Leader of a New Regime.”

“Fallen Fruit”: I was immediately drawn to how textured and blissful this song is. In the music box booklet, Lorde said she’s always wanted to make a song with layered acoustics like Lykke Li’s “I Never Learn.” “Fallen Fruit” is probably the most explicit climate change song in the whole album. She has previously said how she is addressing older generations in this song: “Do you know what you’ve done? How could you have left us with this?” And the climate grief is palpable—but it’s not absolute. There’s an overall forlorn tone to the song, but she adds a dash of hopeful escapism in the bridge. It’s a solid track (albeit, a strange choice to perform after her Britney Spears cover in the above video).

“Leader of a New Regime”: The album’s shortest track, clocking in at 1 minute 33 seconds, “Leader of a New Regime” is filled with provocative imagery: “wearing SPF 3000 for the ultraviolet rays” and “Got a trunk full of Simone and Céline, and of course, my magazines.” Sonically, it’s in line with the slower-paced tracks on the album, such as “Stoned at the Nail Salon,” or “Oceanic Feeling.” I like to think of the relationship between “Leader of a New Regime” and the next track on the album “Mood Ring” as the “Chromatica II” into “911” of Solar Power. Lorde has said that this song is about a future where the environment is unlivable and she “liked the image of a former popstar packing nothing but magazines and designer dresses”—bleak but make it chic!

ICYMI: Little Mix released their first single post-Jesy last week, “Love (Sweet Love)” and it’s fantastic. Possibly one of their best. Plus, Chloë Bailey released her debut single “Have Mercy.”

Too Many Tabs

Vulture’s resident comedy writer Jesse David Fox interviewed dozens of comics on their first sets post-9/11.

Regé-Jean Page talks to Stuart McGurk about stepping away from Bridgerton and what’s next in GQ UK.

Andrew Garfield discusses his new project, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, portraying Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick… BOOM!, and loss with Variety’s Matt Donnelly.