#media representation things

[morethansky]

Thoughts and Stuff: Diversity in Comics

When I woke up yesterday, I didn't expect to have to consider whether or not to buy an upcoming issue of my favorite comic, MTMTE, and give DC Comics credit for increasing diversity in their line. But let's talk about the positive for now.

The DC and Marvel news made me so happy that I was practically bouncing in my chair. We have, among many other cool things (MARTIAN MANHUNTER!): Black Canary drawn by a WOC, Cyborg written by a black man, Midnighter written by a gay man, Starfire written by a team that has done great things with Power Girl and Harley Quinn, Superman written by a Chinese American... From all the media hubbub (or just from looking at the lineup of new books), you can extrapolate this: DC is making a real effort to diversify in four different—and all incredibly important—ways:

diversification of characters depicted,

diversification of the creators (especially behind the aforementioned diverse titles),

diversification of tone and type of story, and 

diversification of writing and art styles.

These are things that the New 52 has sorely lacked. The initiative was obviously an attempt to draw in new readers of what media content producers see as the most valuable demographic: males 18-34. On the surface, not so different from any other media content producer. But what many fans have found so troubling and distasteful (myself included)—aside from how they shit all over beloved continuity—was that DC was targeting that demo to the exclusion of all others. A couple of dark, gritty books, okay. A couple of books with Jim Lee-lite art, great. A couple of solo books featuring straight white dude heroes, okay. A couple of gratuitously cheesecakey books, fine. To scrap your entire line of books and introduce a tsunami of books that were nothing but an abominable amalgamation of all these things has just been mind-boggling.

Just as mind-boggling was this amazingly hilarious soundbyte Didio provided yesterday: “In this new era of storytelling, story will trump continuity as we continue to empower creators to tell the best stories in the industry."

How out of touch does a company have to be for this to be introduced as some kind of amazing revelation? It's depressing how old-fashioned comics can be. But the important takeaway here is that being vocal on social media and then voting with our dollars has made a genuine difference. The unbelievable sales numbers on Ms. Marvel and Harley Quinn has made a difference; the fierce and vocal Carol Corps has made a difference; the craze over Lumberjanes, Gotham Academy, and Batgirl has made a difference. In the end, these are corporations that want your money and the good PR that will keep you giving them money. If these books make money, get a lot of fan-driven publicity, and garner critical acclaim, DC will make more like them, guaranteed.

On the other hand, Marvel has made great strides in recent years in expanding the appeal of its line. Though it hasn't made as much of a sales impact as I wish it had, every day online I see someone else talking about a book like Captain Marvel or Ms. Marvel being their gateway into comics. What do these books have in common? They have female leads, are written by women, and are drawn with respect for female characters; they show people who think of superhero comics as an impenetrable boys' club that there is stuff for them, too. Despite this, Marvel's creators still mostly comprise straight white men. The majority of their female-led books are still written by straight white men. Giving A-Force to two female creators is a great move, and makes me confident that they're continuing to move in the right direction.

Promoting Sana Amanat to a creative director position is huge, though. She's a young, second-generation woman of color who cares immensely about media representation. (If you haven't yet, check out her TED Talk.) Giving someone like that an exec position can only lead to exciting new things. Definitely encouraging for people who are looking for Marvel to step up its game in producing stories with diverse heroes, told in diverse styles, with diverse creators at the helm.

There's an incredibly cynical part of me that is saddened by the fact that these small steps feel like a cause for celebration. But they give me hope for the Big 2, despite all of their missteps. They give me hope for comics, and, given Hollywood and television's current comic/superhero craze, they give me hope for other media as well.

[morethansky]

Thoughts and Stuff: Agent Carter, Portrayals of Sexism, and Feminist Heroes

So here's something that's been bugging me. I've been seeing and hearing a lot of people saying that Agent Carter's biggest flaw is that the misogyny and sexism is too blatant and central to the show. This criticism utterly boggles my mind. I thought one of the most impressive things about the show thus far was that it made no attempt to be coy about sexism. It has no intentions of being subtle about it—more Orange is the New Black than Mad Men, if you will. How often do you see this on network television? How often do you get to see a female protagonist (well, I could end that sentence there, sadly) stand up to sexism? And for sexist behavior to not be played as a joke ("Ha ha, get it? He's an unrepentant douchebag") or something unbeatable ("Oh well, that's just how it is")?

Especially for something in the action genre, which too often takes two steps back for every step forward.

I can't get past the notion that people are criticizing the show's explicit portrayals of sexism and misogyny simply because it makes them uncomfortable. To that I say, well done, Agent Carter. Women have to stomach unfairly unflattering representations of themselves in media all the time. Let the guys feel a fraction of women's indignation and frustration for once.

Some critics—as well as some dudes I've spoken to IRL—have gone on to qualify it as, "Well, I guess that's to be expected of a period piece," and it just makes me want throttle them. Because that oblivious perspective highlights a massive problem in our society: the utterly ridiculous notion that sexism is a thing of the past, and that anyone who says otherwise is simply overreacting and/or misinterpreting the situation.

A male coworker of mine (who did enjoy the show a lot) said the scene in the diner where Peggy threatens the misogynist customer for the waitress was too "over the top." This really frustrates me because it only seems "over the top" because we're not used to seeing this kind of thing addressed in mainstream media. We rarely even depict it honestly. The awful things that the customer says, the horrible way he treats Angie, the waitress—men still treat women like that today. All the time. Sexism is not a thing of the past; men objectifying and putting down women is not a thing of the past; men treating female service workers like servants is not a thing of the past; men groping female service workers is absolutely not a thing of the past. Just because it might have been even more pronounced and widespread back then doesn't make it "over the top" to portray in a contemporary show.

I thought the scene was wonderful because it doesn't play the customer's behavior as a joke. It's framed as a threat to a supporting character and provides the protagonist with the opportunity to take action. From a writing perspective, it's a clever and compelling way to show off Peggy's character. Earlier scenes establish that she's smart enough to take advantage of the sexism of the people around her, but here we see that she's also strong enough to use her physical strength and combat training to make a difference. It also frames her as a "superhero" type, who defends those who might not have the means or courage to defend themselves.

To this my coworker replied offhandedly, "But what is she going to do, go around the city threatening every sexist jerk? That's going to get old fast." First of all, let's be clear, I would watch the hell out of that show. But I found myself cheering for Peggy and the show so enthusiastically because she comes across as realistic yet someone to aspire to: Although she is fully aware that she can't just up and change the way the entire world sees women (e.g. at work), she still takes it upon herself to do what she can when she does have the power to make a difference.

Too often in media do we get scenes with male characters who act in a misogynistic manner as a character trait, like some kind of twisted and lazy shorthand for a specific type of personality. (Exhibit A: MCU's Peter Quill.) Here instead we have a dude being a sexist jerk as a means to show off the fierce, fearless, protective character traits of a female character. I wish it weren't so novel, but it is.

And most of all I love this scene—and by extension this series—because it shows women standing up for other women. The media is always trying to pit women against each other, but for once we have an incredibly capable female action hero seeing her friend threatened and doing something about it. It's impossible to overstate how incredibly powerful and important that is.

[morethansky]

ICYMI: Chris Rock's Exemplary Truth Bomb–Dropping Press Tour

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Chris Rock Pens Blistering Essay on Hollywood's Race Problem: "It's a White Industry"

You're telling me no Mexicans are qualified to do anything at a studio? Really? Nothing but mop up? What are the odds that that's true? The odds are, because people are people, that there's probably a Mexican David Geffen mopping up for somebody's company right now. The odds are that there's probably a Mexican who's that smart who's never going to be given a shot. And it's not about being given a shot to greenlight a movie because nobody is going to give you that — you've got to take that. The shot is that a Mexican guy or a black guy is qualified to go and give his opinion about how loud the boings are in Dodgeball or whether it's the right shit sound you hear when Jeff Daniels is on the toilet in Dumb and Dumber. It's like, "We only let white people do that." This is a system where only white people can chime in on that. There would be a little naivete to sitting around and going, "Oh, no black person has ever greenlighted a movie," but those other jobs? You're kidding me, right? They don't even require education. When you're on the lower levels, they're just about taste, nothing else. And you don't have to go to Harvard to have taste. [ . . .]

Now, when it comes to casting, Hollywood pretty much decides to cast a black guy or they don't. We're never on the "short list." We're never "in the mix." When there's a hot part in town and the guys are reading for it, that's just what happens. It was never like, "Is it going to be Ryan Gosling or Chiwetel Ejiofor for Fifty Shades of Grey?" [ . . .]

I really don't think there's any difference between what black audiences find funny and what white audiences find funny, but everyone likes to see themselves onscreen, so there are some instances where there's a black audience laughing at something that a white audience wouldn't laugh at because a black audience is really just happy to see itself. Things that would be problems in a world where there were a lot of black movies get overlooked. The same thing happened with those Sex and the City movies. You don't really see that level of female movie that much, so women were like, "We're only going to get this every whatever, so f— you, f— the reviews, we're going, we like it."

VULTURE: In Conversation: Chris Rock: What's killing comedy. What's saving America.

So, to say Obama is progress is saying that he’s the first black person that is qualified to be president. That’s not black progress. That’s white progress. There’s been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years. If you saw Tina Turner and Ike having a lovely breakfast over there, would you say their relationship’s improved? Some people would. But a smart person would go, “Oh, he stopped punching her in the face.” It’s not up to her. Ike and Tina Turner’s relationship has nothing to do with Tina Turner. Nothing. It just doesn’t. The question is, you know, my kids are smart, educated, beautiful, polite children. There have been smart, educated, beautiful, polite black children for hundreds of years. The advantage that my children have is that my children are encountering the nicest white people that America has ever produced. Let’s hope America keeps producing nicer white people.

It’s about white people adjusting to a new reality?

Owning their actions. Not even their actions. The actions of your dad. Yeah, it’s unfair that you can get judged by something you didn’t do, but it’s also unfair that you can inherit money that you didn’t work for.