Tessa Thompson on How CREED II Tackles Toxic Masculinity

Creed II hits theaters last weekend and it packed a major punch. But I’m not just talking about the ones that Adonis Creed and Viktor Drago traded in the ring. In between all the boxing and beatdowns, Creed II has an important message about what it means to be a man in 2018. While it may seem like a buzzword these days, the film puts toxic masculinity under the microscope and examines how ingrained societal attitudes and mores program many young men to channel their egos and insecurities into violent, self-destructive tendencies. In Adonis Creed’s case, it nearly kills him, and he is forced to take a step back to examine what is truly important to him in this world.To delve deeper into how the film explores these issues, I traveled to Philadelphia where I sat down with Tessa Thompson, who reprises her role as Bianca, a musician on the rise and Creed’s partner in life. In our wide-ranging discussion, we talked about everything[brightcove video_id=”5973868702001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=“rJs2ZD8xâ€]”I hope that toxic men take this away from it: The onus is not on women,” Thompson said. “We need other men that talk to their men friends and tell them to chill out and be cognizant and be compassionate humans.”For our full conversation, watch the video above.What did you take away from Creed II? Where do you want to see the character go next? Let us know in the comments below.

• Read our review of Creed II
• Find out how the villain of Creed II was inspired by The Dark Knight’s Joker
• Creed II composer Ludwig Göransson on how to score an epic fight

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Images: MGM