C'mon Hollywood: Girls geeks are people, too.
I'm actually going to make this post public because of how very angry I am right now.
This afternoon after a grueling day at work, I did my routine checking of the usual websites. IMDb tends to be a few days late in its posting of interesting links, but I've been working every day in preparation for a long-awaited vacation to sunnier climates, so I've been behind as well.
One of the links was to the LA Times piece The Girl's Guide To Comic-Con.
As a bona-fide geek, I look forward every summer to the updates sent my way from the venerable Comic-Con, hoping that I will one day be able to afford making the Trek to San Diego myself.
This "article" on what girls might appreciate at the event is anything but. In fact, it's a captioned slide show. But that was not what I found thoroughly problematic about it.
Out of twenty-two slides, TWELVE were about the "hunks" of soon-to-be-released sci-fi adventures in various mediums; plots and story-lines were only vaguely hinted at. THREE were about CHILDREN'S films that are coming. THREE were about the "tween" sort of things like the abysmally anti-feminist Twilight series and whatever the hell Vampire Diaries is. There was a mention of a movie called White-Out, but the caption only mentions the handsome main actor that is not at all famous and never even mentions the female lead Kate Beckinsale, who is not only famous for her science fiction roles but for her "serious" work as well. The only mention of the supernova-sized successful franchise of Iron Man is how "rakish" Robert Downey Jr. is. And did you know, ladies, that the only reason girls are supposed to be interested in the new Tarantino film is because Brad Pitt is in it? You learn something new every day!
Is anyone beginning to see a problem here?
"Girls kick ass" was a popular mantra in the early 2000s, but I'm not really seeing much fall-out of that in the collection of genres that are very much dominated by female fans. Why am I being dictated to? It is amazing that years after the internet has proven that there are many, many lady nerds out there are still being told what we should like. Suddenly, thanks to the reboot, it is cool to like Star Trek. Guess what? I've been a Star Trek fan since before I could walk. I grew up watching The Next Generation. And yet, even after its recent bout of pop-culture back-up, I am still looked at oddly for knowing the difference between gold-pressed latinum and dilithium crystals, and yet I am freakish for not caring even a little if Stephenie Meyer ever finishes throwing her "my book got leaked, oh no!" hissy fit and writes her next piece of mediocrity. Twilight, despite what MTV seems to think, is not the end-all-be-all of interests that young women have.
Why am I not allowed to like what the boys like? Why do I feel like if I don't follow this "guide" that I am somehow breaking some kind of arbitrary rule that Hollywood has established? Why can't I like a character for his own sake and not for the attractive former drug addict that plays him? Why can't I like a story from grown-ups and enjoy it as a grown-up?
And now I must go to sleep in order to wake up at 3:30am. I haven't found my "hunk" who can provide for me yet, so I guess I'll have to keep working until I do.
This afternoon after a grueling day at work, I did my routine checking of the usual websites. IMDb tends to be a few days late in its posting of interesting links, but I've been working every day in preparation for a long-awaited vacation to sunnier climates, so I've been behind as well.
One of the links was to the LA Times piece The Girl's Guide To Comic-Con.
As a bona-fide geek, I look forward every summer to the updates sent my way from the venerable Comic-Con, hoping that I will one day be able to afford making the Trek to San Diego myself.
This "article" on what girls might appreciate at the event is anything but. In fact, it's a captioned slide show. But that was not what I found thoroughly problematic about it.
Out of twenty-two slides, TWELVE were about the "hunks" of soon-to-be-released sci-fi adventures in various mediums; plots and story-lines were only vaguely hinted at. THREE were about CHILDREN'S films that are coming. THREE were about the "tween" sort of things like the abysmally anti-feminist Twilight series and whatever the hell Vampire Diaries is. There was a mention of a movie called White-Out, but the caption only mentions the handsome main actor that is not at all famous and never even mentions the female lead Kate Beckinsale, who is not only famous for her science fiction roles but for her "serious" work as well. The only mention of the supernova-sized successful franchise of Iron Man is how "rakish" Robert Downey Jr. is. And did you know, ladies, that the only reason girls are supposed to be interested in the new Tarantino film is because Brad Pitt is in it? You learn something new every day!
Is anyone beginning to see a problem here?
"Girls kick ass" was a popular mantra in the early 2000s, but I'm not really seeing much fall-out of that in the collection of genres that are very much dominated by female fans. Why am I being dictated to? It is amazing that years after the internet has proven that there are many, many lady nerds out there are still being told what we should like. Suddenly, thanks to the reboot, it is cool to like Star Trek. Guess what? I've been a Star Trek fan since before I could walk. I grew up watching The Next Generation. And yet, even after its recent bout of pop-culture back-up, I am still looked at oddly for knowing the difference between gold-pressed latinum and dilithium crystals, and yet I am freakish for not caring even a little if Stephenie Meyer ever finishes throwing her "my book got leaked, oh no!" hissy fit and writes her next piece of mediocrity. Twilight, despite what MTV seems to think, is not the end-all-be-all of interests that young women have.
Why am I not allowed to like what the boys like? Why do I feel like if I don't follow this "guide" that I am somehow breaking some kind of arbitrary rule that Hollywood has established? Why can't I like a character for his own sake and not for the attractive former drug addict that plays him? Why can't I like a story from grown-ups and enjoy it as a grown-up?
And now I must go to sleep in order to wake up at 3:30am. I haven't found my "hunk" who can provide for me yet, so I guess I'll have to keep working until I do.