The increasingly fragmented James Franco interviewed his feminine side for VICE magazine, touching on subjects like feminism, male privilege, and “life as performance.” It was as surreal as you might imagine, ending with the shocking suggestion by “Girl James” that “Boy James” ought to chop off his penis because his taking on women’s issues, collaborating with women on my films, teaching women, and being directed by women just wasn’t enough. Check out an excerpt below, then read the whole thing here.
Boy James: Hi. You’re the Girl James.
Girl James: Yes.
BJ: You only exist on paper.
GJ: True. But that is one of the great things about creative objects. You get to make anything you want, be anything you want. Boy, girl, alien, killer, lover, mother, brother, dog, rabbit, lion, piece of shit.
BJ: Right, art is a performance, just like life is a performance.
GJ: There you go again with all your actor shit, saying life is performative rather than something concrete.
BJ: Well, I think it is. At least who we are is performative.
GJ: Well, of course you think that, you’re a white male living in America, brought up in one of the richest cities in the county, Palo Alto. You went to high school with Steve Jobs’ daughter, and your journalism teacher is the mother-in-law of Sergey, co-founder of Google.
BJ: Yes, and your point is, Miss James?
GJ: That you’re fucking privileged. You can view life as a performance because everything is at your disposal. The biggest thing you had to worry about in high school was how popular you were, and if the girl you liked liked you back.
BJ: Well, she didn’t, by the way.
GJ: That’s fucked up, you dated a girl for two years. Are you saying Jasmine wasn’t the one you liked?
BJ: No, no, she was. But there was another girl who was out of my league who I was obsessed with, but she was secretly dating a teacher.
GJ: Well, there’s another case of a man taking advantage of a woman.
BJ: Don’t worry, he paid for it: he went to jail.
GJ: Okay, he got in trouble. But what of all the relationships that are not illegal according to the law, but are obviously based on a disparity of power?
BJ: Which are those?
GJ: I speak of the casting couch, motherfucker.
BJ: Yes?
GJ: Yes. You know that you take advantage of your position as a famous actor to meet women.
BJ: Woah, woah, woah! Please, it’s not like I’m going out there throwing my fame in everyone’s face in order to meet women.
GJ: You don’t have to, the fame and the fame-hungry world we live in does it all for you. I’m sure women are lining up on your Instagram account to meet you.
BJ: And? Why am I culpable for that? I don’t even check my DMs anymore.
GJ: Yeah, we know why… because young ladies go on there and try to meet you.
BJ: Yup. There are no age restrictions for contacting me. But I don’t contact them back.
GJ: Anymore.
BJ: Look, I never talked to anyone that was legally underage.
GJ: Okay, anyway, that’s not even my point. I’m addressing an imbalance of power. Men in your position have women offering themselves in the hopes that they will get somewhere professionally, or socially.
BJ: Okay, but don’t be fooled, there are plenty of powerful women who take advantage of their power to mess around with men in lower positions.
GJ: I’m sure it’s a fraction of the number of men that do it, simply because the number of women in power positions is a fraction of the number of men in such positions.
BJ: Okay, well, I’ll admit that I find it easier to be with women who aren’t high profile actresses, simply because powerful actresses, like anyone with power, need to be worshipped. They demand it, and I find that that kind of obeisance in the long term is untenable.
GJ: Right, because you want to be worshipped.
BJ: Okay, whatever. Maybe I am high maintenance.
GJ: And I think a lot of that has to do with feeling like you are owed something because you are male.
BJ: Well, whatever I have, I worked hard for it. No one can dispute that. And I also took the risk of leaving UCLA to go to acting school at age 18 when everyone around me told me not to.
GJ: You still had your parents to fall back on if anything went wrong.
BJ: Maybe, maybe not.
GJ: Ah, the quality problems of a white boy from Palo Alto, heart of Silicon Valley wealth and technology.
BJ: Well, that’s not fair. There is actually a huge suicide problem in Palo Alto schools, so obviously not all is well in paradise. High expectations, and the pressure to achieve in a highly competitive world are too much for a lot of very promising young people. There have been something like ten youth suicides in Palo Alto in the past ten years. They usually step in front of the train that runs by the high school.
GJ: Well, I feel for those students and their families. But I would argue that students in Palo Alto have it off a lot better than students in other places. Those high schools rate in the top one hundred public schools every year.
BJ: Okay, and what’s your point? That privileged kids shouldn’t be depressed?
GJ: No, everyone has problems. But for a long time privilege has been feeding privilege. I’m about giving some other people a shot. Like the ladies.
BJ: Another fact is that boys are falling behind girls in education. We’re losing boys in our classrooms much more than we are girls.
GJ: Okay, forget about education and Palo Alto for a minute! I’m just saying that boys are still privileged over girls in all spheres.
BJ: Yes, men get higher salaries, men get more jobs, men control things. Generally speaking.
GJ: And certainly in our business, entertainment, women are vastly underrepresented.
BJ: Well, what can I do? I am a man! How can I help other than take on women’s issues, collaborate with women on my films, teach women, be directed by women?
GJ: You could cut your dick off.
BJ: Cut my dick off, hmmmm…Yes, I guess I could. But wouldn’t that just look like a publicity stunt?
GJ: Cut it off, and don’t tell anyone.
BJ: Then everyone would still consider me a man.
GJ: Well, who decides? You or what everyone else thinks?
BJ: I guess I do.
GJ: Okay, then cut your dick off and call yourself a woman.
BJ: Maybe there is another solution?
GJ: Okay, Boy James, do you want to be in my girl squad?
BJ: Yes, I do, Girl James. What does that mean, being in a girl squad?
GJ: It means that in everything we do, we support women. We support women at all costs. And women of all types, classes, and races. The men have ruled for too long. It’s time for the women to step up. And the squad insures that.
BJ: Okay, deal. Girl power!
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