At least that is what I imagine is the attitude in most comic houses. "What there are people reading who don't just want anorexic teens in skimpy outfits bending over page after page?" You might think that is a silly thing to say , but go to various blogs discussing the depiction of women in comics and see how quick the guys pop up to tell you that girls in skimpy outfits is the point of comics, so shut up. It is almost enough to laugh.
So how does the industry try to reach out girls. (Not bothering to note that girls generally love the main books, which would only be more enjoyable with a bit more thought to their wider audience.) Why, by just putting out some grrl books. Oooooooooo.
We all see those coming out. But for every Birds of Prey, we get, what, 10 Divas.
Yes, for the females out there Marvel wants you to know they care and they want you to buy Divas. About 4 hard working girls, struggling with work an love. A Sex in the City for the female comic reader. Yeah 4 women, gossiping, griping about work, that's the same as that TV show. Joey Q over at Marvel really does have his finger on the pulse of womanhood. Geez, like so many times before this really does look more like poor writing where the writer struggles to imagine what a woman would talk about with other women, other then men they love, men keeping them down, women they don't like, and fooood. Can't wait.
Geek Girls Rule:
...Hot fun? Nice to know after talking about your book for the girls you make sure to assure the reading base that it will be hot still. Oh...goody.
He describes it as “Sex and the City in the Marvel Universe.”
Personally, I think Mr. Quesada never got past Samantha’s tits to understand exactly why women actually liked the show. I admit to an unhealthy fascination with the first two seasons on HBO, only partially because Chris (OMG, DREAMY) Noth played Carrie’s boyfriend, Mr. Big. These were four women who were strong, independent, had jobs I would KILL for, and owned their sexuality. They didn’t sleep with men to please men, they slept with men to please themselves. Even Charlotte, the most timid and puritanical of the four, realized that owning her own sexuality and pleasure was neccessary to her mental health and happiness.
So I look at that image above and compare it to this shot from the intro titles to “Sex and the City,” [PICTURE HERE] where the four women are engaged with each other, not posing pornaliciously, and I find Mr. Quesada’s vision sorely lacking, as well as his comprehension of what made women, even nerdy women like me, enjoy “Sex and the City.” These women have agency and friendship. They aren’t all posing sexily in their own little world, completely separate from one another. Even in the promo shots for the movie that were more posed, they still look more powerful than those superheroines above.
After the “Sex and the City” comment, he adds: “I also think the series is going to a deeper place, asking questions about what it means…truly means…to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns. (And I mean both the super hero industry and the comic book industry.)” You’ll forgive me a sardonic laugh at this point, because he immediately follows it up with this gem: “But mostly it’s just a lot of hot fun.”
...
...
Seriously, Joe, hire some women and let them write. It’s the only way you can come out of this without looking like a complete sexist pig. Ok, it’s too late for that. But seriously, women like comics, women like superhero comics, women WANT to like superhero comics, and women want to not cringe every time they buy an X-title and think “Wow, I feel dirty that any of my money is going to support someone who doesn’t think I’m a real person.”
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment