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By spburke • 15 years ago

Did You Know Women Go to Movies Too?

This may just be snarking, but this article really annoyed me.  If you want to read the entire thing and judge for yourself, by all means click the link here .  But I pulled some quotes that annoyed me personally.

"Yet the fact that near every film to top the box office for more than three months has been female-focused does not just reflect a growing enthusiasm among women for films: rather, it also marks what some Hollywood film moguls now refer to as the “Xbox” factor, in which many young men and teenage boys increasingly prefer playing sophisticated video games to watching movies.  “A lot of young males are spending much more time on the internet, games and UFC [ultimate fighting],” Peter Guber, chairman of Mandalay Pictures production company and former studio chief at Sony Pictures, told The Sunday Telegraph.  “They have not abandoned movies but they have diminished as a target, while the female audience has remained robust.”

Ah yes "The XBox Factor", a term in the research of the male psyche recognized by sociologists the world over.  It’s quite rare the phrase that is simultaneously sexist against men AND women at the same time.  They imply that women DON’T spend time on the internet or playing video games, or even watch UFC (though as a ...
By spburke • 15 years ago

Mainstream Comics: What’s With All The Rape?

Ever since the grim and gritty era of comics, publishers have been using more extreme subject matter to attract readers.  This has led to them covering more real world woes such as drug addiction, homophobia, and of course sexual assault.  Normally I’d applaud it, but usually it’s written and portrayed so insultingly bad that I can’t help but get angry.

It seems to have been ramped up recently during a time when mainstream publishers are more desperate than ever for readers.  A big one is the Justice League story “Identity Crisis”, where the whole plot is instigated by Doctor Light (a former goofy Teen Titans villain) raping Sue Dibny, wife of Elongated Man. 

Here we have a major DC ...

Ever since the grim and gritty era of comics, publishers have been using more extreme subject matter to attract readers.  This has led to them covering more real world woes such as drug addiction, homophobia, and of ...
By spburke • 15 years ago

Power Girl and Feminism in Comics

It’s no secret comics and feminism have a contentious relationship, because of the dreaded Women in Refrigerators Syndrome (something even my beloved "Dark Knight" succumbed to).  It’s also no secret that girls who ARE into comics tend to gravitate more towards manga volumes rather than superhero books, and who can blame them?  How can you get into a series when your favorite heroine might get raped, murdered, or depowered?

That’s why I’d like to give special attention to the new Powergirl run written by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti, with art by Amanda Connor.  I think it’s not only an example of how female superheroes should be handled, but how superhero books as a whole should be handled.

It’s no secret comics and feminism have a contentious relationship, because of the dreaded Women in Refrigerators Syndrome (something even my beloved "Dark Knight" succumbed to).  It’s also no secret that girls who ARE into comics ...