| "I have a Suffragette here with your name on her shanks, you poor deluded fellow!" |
[Oct. 1st, 2007|11:35 am] |
Vincent S. Moore's got a solution for female issues with comics. Basically, it's "sit down, shut up, play with your dolls and purses, and be good girls while we Men handle the funnybooks." He uses the phrase "feminist fangirls" with about the same implication and attitude that Rush Limbaugh refers to dem uppity wimmenz as "feminazis" and rambles a great deal on the way through.
He totally misses the point that there are a hell of a lot of men out there with concerns about the depiction of women in comics, and a lot of men who are concerned with connecting with a female audience. He sails right on by the point that many comics publishers, including DC and Marvel, have been trying to come up with ways of connecting to a more and more available female market (hence the scramble to fix Supergirl, hence the creation of Minx, hence Marvel trying to keep a host of female characters going, and then we jump into other companies where the effort is much more distinctive, such as SLG.) He even misses the point that while Dan DiDio has this stubborn-as-a-possum thing going over the issue of Stephanie Brown, he was the one (misguided though the attempt was for a couple of years) prompting the effort to create a female-friendly book in Supergirl (unfortunately it was very badly thought through; he really should have gone with my Manga pitch.)
The raised voices of fangirls and fanboys do make a difference. Those voices have, amongst other things, brought Manhunter back from the dead twice, they've helped to trigger the effort to get Supergirl actually on track (unfortunately DC are now fucking up Mary Marvel, but there may yet be a point to that), they've caused numerous differences, many minor, but the voices are heard. We may yet get that Stephanie Brown memorial -- hey, if the Bat-office wants a hell of a story on that subject, let me know. I'll conjure tears from granite.
The bottom line, frankly...if the fangirl chorus is supposed to sit down, shut up, and behave, then so should we all, because most comics fans have something critical to say sooner or later, and editors and publishers and writers and artists often depend on those comments, even when cutting, to do better work, to learn from mistake, to course correct (yes, I know there are those who just blow up at the mildest complaint, and others who don't give a damn) and if one segment of critical fandom needs to be silent, then gag us all.
Just one problem with that thought: I'm not going to be gagged. I don't know anyone who will be. |
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| Comments: |
more reasons to love the Pendant-DCU.
Especially given my latest (if temporary) assignment.
Hey, it needs permanent help, you know, but I would hesitate to drop two shows on someone else again.
Hey, I'll let you know if it becomes an issue at any point.
I'll get started as soon as Mac delivers the bits.
Yeah, not sure when that's going to be. She's not been replying to my IMs, emails or text messages. And she still owes me three scripts. >_<
Anyway, once you and Kristen help the show get caught up we can revisit the idea and see how you feel about it. I do have more directors I'm training, so I don't want to risk overworking you if you think that could become an issue. I did two shows for a long time, and so has Seth, and it's a whole mess of work.
What I suspect he's hoping for is not for your segment of fandom to shut up, but honestly to go away. That's been the state for years, especially in the old days when Marvel and DC were the only games in town. "If you don't like Cat Piss Man power fantasies, go elsewhere, because we don't need any girls ruining our club unless they're comatose or in chainmail bikinis." The problem with guys like this is the same problem facing lots of guys who took advantage of the Good Old Boy Club: you have enough creators deciding to bypass the bullshit, which creates fans who want more, and suddenly they're a powerful bloc of customers, especially in downturns in the comics market. I'd say that the best thing to do is encourage him to play somewhere else, because it's not like the comics boom of the 1990s is going to repeating itself any time soon.
I enjoy (in a bitter kind of way) the fact that he a) claims to be buddhist and b) also decides to buy into the idea that women who are concerned and vocal about something are being shrill and whiney.
He does make a point about how women should make their own comics to be more female-friendly... but he does this only AFTER calling the comics that women write to do exactly this boring, poorly written, unfunny, and poorly conceived.
This person makes me tired.
~L
He also misuses the word "humanist", which as both a humanist and a feminist pisses me off.
I'd be surprised to see anyone willing to tolerate it either. Outside of certain political factions, of course. | |
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