As I was looking for the general public’s opinion of female superheroes online, I stumbled upon a website that was very thought provoking. The article talks about the recent debate about the role of females in the comic book industry. It also discusses the portrayal of men and women in comics, and shows a few clips from Joe Philip’s gallery of iconic male superheroes. His gallery portrays these male superheroes with “blatantly provocative poses and outfits as female superheroines.” The article stated that DC comics redid their staffing and left only a small percentage of female writers and artists (which is why this debate occurred). I think this article is important because it shows the counter example of sexuality of women (in the form of sexualized men) and shows how the images are almost laughable! The way the men are dressed seems like they came right off of a men's underwear add, not from a comic that people of all ages read. The article ends with a question that we have talked about briefly in class: Would more women read comics if guys were drawn sexier? What do you think of these images?
http://geektwins.blogspot.com/2011/09/if-male-superheroes-were-drawn-like.html
I'll be honest, I looked at those pictures and immediately laughed out loud. Perhaps that is not a proper response, however I think it definitely signifies something about society's vision of men and women in comic books. A woman dressed that way (perhaps, unfortunately) renders almost no response, at least from me. I suppose that could be because I, along with others I'm sure have become accustomed to women dressed that way as the norm. I can't really take the men in those pictures seriously, and I don't think they look like they're about to take on the super villains of the world. I think those images really highlight the stereotypes and the difference in perception of men and women in this industry.
ReplyDeleteI had the same reaction as Rachel. When I clicked the link, I had to laugh. No one would have read the comic books and looked up to these men as "heroes." They look like they are ready to go off and start their modeling career, not like they are going to go save the world. No on would take them seriously, and I doubt that comic books would have been as popular as they are if this is how the men were drawn from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Brittany when you say that comic books would not have been as popular if men were drawn that way. Many men would not want to be caught reading comic books with sexy male superheroes. Even if these newly drawn superheroes attract more female audiences, they would probably lose many male readers. However, I would probably read these comics just to laugh about how absurd these new superheroes look.
ReplyDeleteI think that one of the reasons heroes are heroes is because they take things seriously and Rachel said these heroes in those jeans or leggings don't look very serious. Male and female heroes are already depicted as sexy people. The males are already muscular and the female attractive; however it is important that they don't lose their seriousness. I think Gail Simone's Wonder Woman is a good example of a good looking heroine who taken be taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought when I saw these pictures was that they look like the Abercrombie & Fitch models had they been real mean and not drawings. Honestly, I don't think that women would read more comic books if men were drawn sexier, just because there are substitutes like Abercrombie and Calvin Klein models that look exactly like that. Most women who read comics probably read them for the story line, not because of how the characters are drawn.
ReplyDeleteI also think that we must take into consideration how one defines attractiveness. I apologize for whipping out a classic cliché (although I must admit it is a guilty pleasure,) but "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." What men find attractive in another greatly differs from what women find attractive. The website Liz posted states, "Much of the debate revolves around the idea that if women drew superheroes, there would be less sexist portrayals of women." However, is it sexist for a male to have such a fantasy about a woman? I feel as though comics are an escape into a world of fantasy that we all know is unrealistic, a world shaped by an author. I think an author's gender further defines such a world by the characters he or she creates, for they are projections of the author's mind, thoughts, and perhaps desires. I think women authors would create DIFFERENT portrayals of women in comics. However, I don't think they will be any less "sexist," for both are fantasy and should be constantly recognized as such.
ReplyDelete