|
[Nov 30, 2008 | 6:15pm] |
Kellyann Ryan
Professor Melissa Browne
Women Writers
November 30th, 2008
The over-arching portrayal of women within the largely male-dominated medium of superhero comics is a revealing lens through which the damaging stereotypes and inequalities that women face are exaggerated to fantastic and superhuman levels. The two current and historically major comic book publishers, Marvel Comics and DC Comics, have both featured and continue to feature famous female characters throughout their various popular titles and memorable, fan-loved storylines which, for better or worse, reflect these ideas. Female characters in superhero comics have (typically, with some notable exceptions) fallen into three categories: the dangerous, sometimes unstable sexual temptress, the title male hero's distraction and the tragic victim. While superhero comics have always contained sensational and incredible premises and outlandish plots, it is the humanity in their characters that has kept readers returning. In an age in which comic book writers are considered graphic novelists and comic books are a more respected art form, the issues involved in the portrayal of female comic book characters needs to be properly addressed.
The first category that women in comic books tend to fall casualty to is that of the fatal, volatile seductress. DC Comics is particularly guilty of this characterization, using it on many of their most popular and recognizable female characters, such as the two of most famous villainesses of the Batman comics: Catwoman, and Poison Ivy. Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman, is a prolific jewel thief with ambiguous morals, and a common love interest of Batman. She is a prime example of the stereotypical temptress: essentially all artwork done of her is sexually charged, and a primary purpose of her character often seems to be purely to challenge Batman's own rigid morality. Poison Ivy is a more straightforward seductress: her superhuman powers include the ability to produce pheromone pollens that cause her to be irresistible to men, and allows her to control and manipulate them through her kiss, and occasionally her simple presence. However, she is ambivalent to men herself, and her only true interest is her beloved plants - the men she manipulates and controls mean nothing to her beyond what use she can get out of them to further her own goals.
The final popular Batman comics villainess is perhaps one of the most loved by fans: Harley Quinn. Harley is different from Catwoman and Poison Ivy in that her motivations are not selfish or even her own: Harley Quinn, originally his clinical psychiatrist in Arkham Asylum, falls desperately and fatally in love with the maniacal, psychotic, serial-killing Batman villain known as the Joker. She is perhaps one of the most extreme and alarming examples of a woman choosing to remain in a terrifyingly abusive relationship in fiction - the Joker routinely pushes her off buildings, beats her, poisons her, shoots at her and attempts to disfigure and kill her, and she remains steadfastly and relentlessly loyal and devoted to him. In the comic The Clown at Midnight, written by Grant Morrison, Harley Quinn's love for the Joker is described: "She loves the way his corkscrew mind works. Her obsession, her puddin, her Joker. She goes gooey when she thinks of his ghastly mask of hate. She loves his shattered thoughts, imagining them in all their labyrinthine, jewelled disarray as unknown cities on a distant planet and she, the girl explorer, lost among sinister wonders. [...] Harley's damaged enough to love the Joker with a love so pure and unconditional, it has its own severe medical disorder classification in the psychiatric journals" (Morrison 7). While Harley has her seductive moments, and is formidable as a gymnast, martial artist and weapons enthusiast herself, the most disturbing aspect of her character is undeniably her volatile relationship with the Joker.
Another popular female comic book character who falls within the dangerous temptress category is Elektra, a love interest and superheroine in Marvel's Daredevil comics. Elektra is similar to Catwoman in that she also challenges the title male hero's morality - in this case, the blind superhero Daredevil's. Daredevil, like Batman, has a rigid code of morals and, as a lawyer, highly respects the law and will even go as far as to willingly turn himself into police if he feels that he has crossed the line in his pursuit of vigilante justice. The Frank Miller comic, The Man Without Fear, explores the idea that Elektra may be too wild, and unstable, and that she may be "poison" to Daredevil. In the end, when she leaves him heartbroken without explanation, Daredevil thinks to himself that he is "a young man once again punished for letting his wild part run free" (Miller 10) - reinforcing the implication that his relationship with Elektra caused him to let his inhibitions go unchecked.
Two popular Marvel Comics characters in the X-Men stories, Jean Grey and Emma Frost, also possess elements of the dangerous, uncontrollable temptress stereotype. Emma Frost is a mutant telepath who is also sometimes known as The White Queen. Emma is a highly sexually charged character who is depicted as vain and displays a loose sense of morality, especially when using her abilities. An example of this is when she entertains a telepathic affair with Scott Summers while he is married to Jean Grey. Jean herself is one of the most dangerous, potentially volatile, unstable characters in the entire Marvel Universe. She is an Omega level mutant, which is the highest level of ability that exists, and she is also the "physical manifestation of the cosmic Phoenix Force" (Claremont 3). Jean is an alarmingly extreme example of the comic book stereotype of an immensely powerful woman who is often out of her depth in terms of controlling herself. In the classic and famous Marvel storyline The Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean Grey is portrayed as reaching enormous levels of power that are too much for her to control, and she becomes highly dangerous and unstable, succumbing to desires and emotions that, combined with her power, cause disastrous results.
The next category women in comic books occasionally fall into is the title hero's distraction, and there is no better example of this than Mary Jane Watson, of Spiderman fame. Mary Jane is Peter Parker's on and off again girlfriend and eventual wife, and throughout the comics, Peter is depicted as struggling to reconcile his life as a superhero and his role as her romantic partner. In this process, Mary Jane occasionally comes off as selfish, needy and demanding - an unflattering caricature of a girlfriend or spouse who demands attention even if it will literally cost lives that her boyfriend or husband could be off saving as Spiderman. In the comic The Amazing Spiderman: Until the Stars Turn Cold, written by J. Michael Straczynski, Mary Jane explains her side of the predicament: "Your life, what you do ... it's overpowering stuff, Peter. After a while it took over everything I was. All I could do was wait and worry. I lived my life reacting to what you did with your life. It was like ... like everything I did on my own was just a distraction from the important stuff, and I can't be a distraction, I can't be a diversion. I can't be second place, Peter. I just can't. You can understand that, can't you, Peter?" (Straczynski 47) Mary Jane Watson is perhaps one of the most famous and prominent female characters with this problem, with countless Spiderman storylines involving and surrounding it, but it is present in many different titles, such as the Fantastic Four, with the Invisible Woman and her marriage to Mr. Fantastic.
The final issue that women in comic books face is the most common and widespread of them all, and that is the use of female characters' victimization as a plot device to trigger emotion, motivation and character development in a male character. The phenomenon was always present, but was first brought to fans' and comic book writers and artists' attention by Gail Simone, a female comic book writer herself, when she started the website Women in Refrigerators, named after an instance in a Green Lantern comic in which the hero comes home to find that a villain has murdered his girlfriend and stuffed her in his refrigerator. Women in Refrigerators began simply as a list of female superhero comic book characters who were depowered, harmed or killed in as a plot device. The phenomenon was from then on referred to by the comic book community as Women in Refrigerators, or Gwen Stacy Syndrome, after Spiderman's deceased first girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. The list of characters who have suffered this fate is alarmingly immense, and no character, not even Wonder Woman, appears to be safe from it. A brief list of the more popular and instantly recognizable characters on the list include: Aquagirl, the first Batgirl, Batwoman, Betty Banner, both the first and second Black Canary, Elektra, Gwen Stacy, Hawkwoman, Hellcat, both the first and second Huntress, the Invisible Woman, both the first and second Ms. Marvel, the first Phoenix, Psylocke, the Scarlet Witch, Spiderwoman, Storm, Supergirl and even Wonder Woman. The full list is much longer and in need of constant additions as the practice continues.
However, one of the most affecting, violent and well known instances of this phenomenon is the tragic paralysis of Barbara Gordon, better known as Batgirl. The story this takes place in is a famous Batman graphic novel written by one of the most prolific, popular comic book writers in the medium, Alan Moore, called The Killing Joke. The Killing Joke is a Joker story, in which the Joker's objective is to prove that the only thing that separates the sane from the insane is "one bad day." His subject in this experiment is the sanest, most rational man he can think of: Gotham Police Commissioner James Gordon. Unfortunately, Gordon is Batgirl's father - and subsequently, the Joker chooses her as a victim in order to drive the Police Commissioner into insanity. He knocks on their door and Barbara answers, and he shoots her in the side and paralyzes her as her father watches. When she asks "why?", he responds simply, "To prove a point" (Moore 23). This is why the events in The Killing Joke are the perfect example of the Women in Refrigerators phenomenon - Batgirl isn't targeted because she is a threat, or even because the Joker particularly cares either way about her. Despite being a beloved, memorable character herself, as well as an icon for the women's rights movement and a powerful, intelligent female superheroine, she becomes purely collateral damage in an attempt to trigger emotion in another primary male character. While Batgirl was returned to the comics as Oracle, using her intelligence and computer hacking skills to provide vital information to other DC heroes, she has never come back out of a wheelchair to fight crime. Meanwhile, in a stark double-standard, Batman has had numerous comparable injuries that should have been paralyzing and life threatening, and yet he continues to be as mobile and powerful as ever.
There have been a few noteworthy exceptions to these stereotypes, but none so unmistakable as DC Comics' celebrated Wonder Woman. While not flawless, Wonder Woman is a powerful example of an independent superheroine with all the strength and authority of a male superhero, if not more. Wonder Woman, or Princess Diana (daughter of Queen Hippolyta), is considered an ambassador of a fictional all-female tribe of Amazons in "man's world." She possesses super strength, super speed, the ability to fly, expert agility and combat abilities, and enhanced vision. She also carries what is considered to be one of the most dangerous and powerful weapons in the entire DC Comics Universe: her Lasso of Truth. She also possesses an invisible plane and wears bullet deflecting bracelets. Wonder Woman is a reflection of the revolutionary idea of the 1970s Women's Rights Movement that women could not only be equal to men, but could also have the ability to be superior to them. She is considered an equal part of the DC Trinity, alongside DC's two greatest and most popular superheroes, Batman and Superman. Wonder Woman does not only fight evil in her comics - her objective is more specific than that. She fights for "liberty and freedom for all womankind." Wonder Woman is undeniably a triumph for women in the "man's world" of superhero comics.
However, with the great exception of Wonder Woman, the portrayals of women in comic books thus far have largely been less than ideal. Thankfully, though, this is changing. As more women break into the medium themselves, the depictions of female characters fall less often into the typical stereotypes, and progress has been made. While there is a ways to go, both major publishers, Marvel Comics and DC Comics have title female characters which have broken boundaries and defied the standard conditions that female superhero comic book characters are often victims of. The most substantial tool that female comic book characters have in their arsenal to fight the potential of becoming two-dimensional stereotypes is good character development by new and talented writers, and in this sense, the outlook does not seem bleak at all.
|
|
| REST IN PEACE, GEORGE HARRISON. |
[Nov 29, 2006 | 6:57pm] |
"And the wild regrets and the bloody sweats, none knew so well as I: that he who lives more lives than one, more deaths than one shall die." OSCAR WILDE.
all things must pass, all things must pass away.
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
|
|
|
|