(no subject)
I randomly stumbled across a manga called Black Bird, and for some reason decided to check it out. Reading it made me notice that there seems to be a disturbing, Twilight-esque trend of abusing women in fiction going on right now. And not just abuse, but not addressing the abuse as any real issue. It's usually seen in a romantic context too. Vampire Knight is also somewhat guilty of this, but it doesn't bother me as much there for some odd reason. Maybe because the story's better. Also the fact that all of these stories are written -by women- makes it that much more baffling.
Anyway. Black Bird is about a girl named Misao. She meets, or rather is reunited with, Kyo (Unfortunately, because Kyo is an Awesome Name and idk that this guy is worthy of its Epic Power, so from here on out I'll just call him Asshat), who is actually a Tengu (Crow demon. And this isn't a spoiler cause you find out in chapter 1 =P).
He's attracted to her because Her Blood Smells Good. Sound familiar? Only difference from Edward Cullen is that Asshat is Misao's childhood friend. Also Misao at least has something of a personality, unlike Bella, and she tries to resist Asshat's advances instead of being blindly in love with him. But she still strikes me as being very, VERY Mary Sue-ish. Mainly because:
1. Guys are falling all over her for no apparent fucking reason (well ok it's probably her blood, but still, not a good enough excuse). I kind of stopped reading at chapter 3 (or maybe it was 4, idk), where the other members of Asshat's Tengu clan, who are also all bishies, meet Misao and are suddenly all "Please let us be your servants!". Not to mention this Kitsune character (I forget his actual name) also literally is like "Hi, Misao! Will you marry me?" when he meets her (the same thing was done in a webcomic I like, except it worked there. Here there's absolutely no good reason for this to be happening). D=
2. Despite being drawn to look really cute/pretty, she always says self-deprecating things about her looks and damn near everything else about herself. This seems common with shoujo heroines in general but it still irritates the hell out of me.
3. She cries on like almost every page, srsly. D=
4. She's -completely- reliant on Asshat to save her every. single. time. another demon attacks her. On top of that, Asshat "heals" her by licking her wounds. Take a second to think of just how many things are seriously wrong with that.
Asshat also all but -demands- that Misao marry him. Basically saying that she'll probably be eaten by demons and die if he's not there to protect her. Ugh. Oh yeah and aside from the licking, he also outright molests her practically every chapter. =_= She rightfully smacks the hell out of him for it, but it's still not okay.
Tl;dr- I worry that stories in current fiction such as Twilight and Black Bird are contributing to setting feminism back 50 years and enabling guys to be controlling, abusive asshats.
Also, the fact that the word "feminism" is so widely misunderstood is an issue in itself, but that could be a whole 'nother essay right there.
Anyway. Black Bird is about a girl named Misao. She meets, or rather is reunited with, Kyo (Unfortunately, because Kyo is an Awesome Name and idk that this guy is worthy of its Epic Power, so from here on out I'll just call him Asshat), who is actually a Tengu (Crow demon. And this isn't a spoiler cause you find out in chapter 1 =P).
He's attracted to her because Her Blood Smells Good. Sound familiar? Only difference from Edward Cullen is that Asshat is Misao's childhood friend. Also Misao at least has something of a personality, unlike Bella, and she tries to resist Asshat's advances instead of being blindly in love with him. But she still strikes me as being very, VERY Mary Sue-ish. Mainly because:
1. Guys are falling all over her for no apparent fucking reason (well ok it's probably her blood, but still, not a good enough excuse). I kind of stopped reading at chapter 3 (or maybe it was 4, idk), where the other members of Asshat's Tengu clan, who are also all bishies, meet Misao and are suddenly all "Please let us be your servants!". Not to mention this Kitsune character (I forget his actual name) also literally is like "Hi, Misao! Will you marry me?" when he meets her (the same thing was done in a webcomic I like, except it worked there. Here there's absolutely no good reason for this to be happening). D=
2. Despite being drawn to look really cute/pretty, she always says self-deprecating things about her looks and damn near everything else about herself. This seems common with shoujo heroines in general but it still irritates the hell out of me.
3. She cries on like almost every page, srsly. D=
4. She's -completely- reliant on Asshat to save her every. single. time. another demon attacks her. On top of that, Asshat "heals" her by licking her wounds. Take a second to think of just how many things are seriously wrong with that.
Asshat also all but -demands- that Misao marry him. Basically saying that she'll probably be eaten by demons and die if he's not there to protect her. Ugh. Oh yeah and aside from the licking, he also outright molests her practically every chapter. =_= She rightfully smacks the hell out of him for it, but it's still not okay.
Tl;dr- I worry that stories in current fiction such as Twilight and Black Bird are contributing to setting feminism back 50 years and enabling guys to be controlling, abusive asshats.
Also, the fact that the word "feminism" is so widely misunderstood is an issue in itself, but that could be a whole 'nother essay right there.