Sunday, September 4, 2011
I wasn't entirely sure what to write about, especially for my first post, so I went on google and typed in superheroines to see what came up. I found an article called "Top Ten Skimpiest Superheroine Costumes" at this link: http://www.bamkapow.com/top-ten-skimpiest-superheroine-costumes-602-p.html. When I thought of superheroines while I was growing up, I thought of someone who was supposed to be a role model; someone strong, intelligent, and clever. I never knew much about them, but I thought they would be someone I could look up to. After starting this class, and reading this article, I see that superheriones were more used as just more pleasure for men. They wear hardly any clothing, or in some cases simply no clothes at all. The Savage She-Hulk's outfit, number ten on the list, covers a lot compared to the other nine heroines on the list. Supergirl's outfit isn't horrible either, but her skirt is a little short. Fire and The Engineer are both naked. Tigra, Shanna the She-Devil, and Red Sonja are all wearing what look like really skimpy bathing suits. The top three skimpiest outfits on the list, Witchblade, Vampirella, and War Woman, can hardly be considered outfits at all. It is disgusting how superheroine outfits are designed so they can be "sold".
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Brittany, I completely agree with your comments regarding what your version of how super heroines are versus how they actually are in comics. From these pictures it seems that the only other “super heroine” factor other than beauty/sexuality that applies is physical strength. They do not appear to be moral, selfless, determined, or respected, which are all of the other traits we discussed in class that characterize a being as a super hero/heroine.
ReplyDeleteAs sad as it is, especially for the younger generations, I feel like superheroines are purely used as sex sybols, which is a bit ironic since the stories usuall involve a complete role reversal featuring men as the one in distress. With regard to the costumes, all one has to do is venture out on halloween and everywhere you look there is someone dressed as a (slutty) wonder woman or cat woman. Granted, halloween has turned many innocent characters into sex symbols, but I find it very interesting (just like Brittany and Liz) that people who are supposed to be so respected and looked up to can become symbols of such perverse ideas.
ReplyDeleteWell seeing as men are the more visually excitable sex, and seeing how men are the main purchasers of comics and such its is easy to see why super heroines are designed to also have an element of seduction. But I was just wondering if it was even possible to sexualize men in such a way. If women wanted to make a super hero sexy in the way these girls were sexy what would they have to do?
ReplyDeleteI think, to a point, that comic book super heroes are sometimes sexualized already. They are usually portrayed as tall, handsome, and extremely muscular, and although they are not sexualized nearly to the degree women are in comics, they are always meant to be attractive, especially in their body types. Have you noticed that superheroes' outfits are always tight enough that you can see every one of their muscles? On the other hand, because men are the main audience the comic industry is aiming toward, I think they would lose some business if men were overly sexualized in the way women are, because the male audiences would be put off for fear of being thought of as "gay" for reading the comics or simply for lack of interest.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to skimpy men superhero costumes, I decided to search "Ten Skimpiest Superhero Costumes". I found a list by the same website as the original one, but this time for men (seen here: http://bamkapow.com/top-ten-skimpiest-superhero-costumes-672-p.html). As you can see, men can wear just as skimpy as costumes as women, its just much less common.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I really liked your idea on how if superheroes were sexualized then male audiences would fear being thought of as gay. I never really thought about that but it makes so much sense since most earlier comic book audiences were men. However, I feel as though women audiences would not be turned off from comic books containing oversexualized superheroines in the same way. Of course many would be turned off in disgust.
ReplyDeleteI think there is also a question of what people find attractive. I believe men view sexuality very differently from women, and create cartoon characters focusing on what they are attracted to. In doing so, I think the characters and their outfits turn out very differently. (It's interesting, though, for in searching for women comic creators on wikipedia, there was a substantial list, but I couldn't recognize majority of the comics they had created.) So, I looked up one female author's work, Hell Cat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Walker. I find it interesting that the image of the original Hellcat portrays a much more modest heroine and that it so happens that she was created by a woman. Do you think the author and his or her art have any correlation?
ReplyDeleteThe author and his or her art definitely have some correlation. Hell Cat is a much more modest character than say Wonder Woman and the Invisible Girl who were both created by male authors. Authors do create cartoon characters focused on their attractions, but they also create comics based off of their audiences. So basically the art is influenced by both the author and the audience.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you and I'm pretty glad that perspectives have changed somewhat. Television shows like the Justice League are directed to the younger generations, and even though some outfits are still pretty skimpy, they depict the superheroines and superheroes with more dignity and more as role models than sex symbols.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the skimpiest hero and heroine costumes. It's quite funny to look at. Although these costumes do show too much skin I think that there is a different aspect to having sexy costumes for both heroes and heroines because, I think, sexuality is a symbol of power for both men and women. Heroes and heroines have to be full of sex and sexual power to a certain point. For a hero it is about virility and for heroines it's about the feminity. If heroes and heroines weren't depicted in that fashion it would be hard to take them seriously. Can you imagine a superman that's fat, with hair all over his body and with a round face (not a sharp one) or a wonder woman with a skirt down to the ankles and a blouse that's baggy? I can't. It would be quite funny. They're heroes and heroines, they have to be powerful, also in a sexual way.
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