Superhero Feminist Round-up
As a feminist who enjoys comics, I have some issues. For one, I love Spider-man, but Spider-girl just bores me. Same with Miss Marvel. Same with She-Hulk, Wasp, Super girl, etc. Boring, boring, boring. Even Wonder Woman only holds my interest because I know it's supposed to (which seriously calls my feminist cred into question on some sort of subliminal level). But if any comic fanboy ever tries to claim that superheroines just aren't interesting, he will quickly find himself stabbed with the nearest piece of Spider-man branded plastic crap.
This article up on Jezebel.com reminded me of all this... It's about how the producer for the Bratz: (those dolls with the bobble heads that look like streetwalkers) The Movie is pitching them as... wait for it.... "'X-Men for girls' - it's just that their superpowers are singing, fashion, soccer and cheerleading."
I certainly didn't know that cheerleading was a super power, but I also didn't know this:
Created in 2001, the line of dolls was seen as a breath of fresh air compared to the outdated, unrealistic fashion icon known as Barbie. In contrast to that doll's slim hips and ample assets, the Bratz dolls have always been characterized by oversize heads with wide eyes, full lips and shorter bodies.
"We got to meet with the creator of the dolls," Parrish recalled. "And we were told that the reason the head is so big and the body is so small is to show that you don't have to be perfect to be beautiful. We love that message."
I'll have to add that to my list of things that empower me: anorexic-looking dolls with hooker make-up are all about fighting unrealistic beauty standards! It can go right underneath what I learned from the producer of Captivity; that a woman being kidnapped and tortured to death is what feminism is all about!
Anyway, it would be easy to dismiss the producer of Bratz: The Movie as being an idiot if he wasn't also the producer of Spider-man and Fantastic Four (if you're an FF fan, maybe from now on you should practice screaming "ARAAAAAD!" like you're Kirk in Wrath of Khan, 'cause he's clearly the problem). This is a guy who's actually working on big deal superhero movies and he thinks "singing" is a great superpower... for a girl. It's like that episode of Full House where Michelle wanted to play 'superheroes' with these two other little boys and they would only let her be "super-man's mother" all over again.
Hmmm. It may not be the reason, but it could be a good lead on why superheroine solo books tend to suck: they're written or produced by douchebags like Ari Arad. I'm probably not breaking any new ground here.
But if those Bratz girlz ever want to see what a real feminist superhero looks like, they should just check out Spider-man. There are many reasons why I love him, and one of them is: he's pro-choice.
Don't believe me? Check out Spider-man vs. the Prodigy, a comic written with the help/support of Planned Parenthood which pits our hero against a mind-bending villain who wants to keep kids from getting proper sex ed.
This article up on Jezebel.com reminded me of all this... It's about how the producer for the Bratz: (those dolls with the bobble heads that look like streetwalkers) The Movie is pitching them as... wait for it.... "'X-Men for girls' - it's just that their superpowers are singing, fashion, soccer and cheerleading."
I certainly didn't know that cheerleading was a super power, but I also didn't know this:
Created in 2001, the line of dolls was seen as a breath of fresh air compared to the outdated, unrealistic fashion icon known as Barbie. In contrast to that doll's slim hips and ample assets, the Bratz dolls have always been characterized by oversize heads with wide eyes, full lips and shorter bodies.
"We got to meet with the creator of the dolls," Parrish recalled. "And we were told that the reason the head is so big and the body is so small is to show that you don't have to be perfect to be beautiful. We love that message."
I'll have to add that to my list of things that empower me: anorexic-looking dolls with hooker make-up are all about fighting unrealistic beauty standards! It can go right underneath what I learned from the producer of Captivity; that a woman being kidnapped and tortured to death is what feminism is all about!
Anyway, it would be easy to dismiss the producer of Bratz: The Movie as being an idiot if he wasn't also the producer of Spider-man and Fantastic Four (if you're an FF fan, maybe from now on you should practice screaming "ARAAAAAD!" like you're Kirk in Wrath of Khan, 'cause he's clearly the problem). This is a guy who's actually working on big deal superhero movies and he thinks "singing" is a great superpower... for a girl. It's like that episode of Full House where Michelle wanted to play 'superheroes' with these two other little boys and they would only let her be "super-man's mother" all over again.
Hmmm. It may not be the reason, but it could be a good lead on why superheroine solo books tend to suck: they're written or produced by douchebags like Ari Arad. I'm probably not breaking any new ground here.
But if those Bratz girlz ever want to see what a real feminist superhero looks like, they should just check out Spider-man. There are many reasons why I love him, and one of them is: he's pro-choice.
Don't believe me? Check out Spider-man vs. the Prodigy, a comic written with the help/support of Planned Parenthood which pits our hero against a mind-bending villain who wants to keep kids from getting proper sex ed.