#postbyjanelle

[mcanyu]

Marvel CEO: Female Superhero Movies Have Been a 'Disaster'

The leaked email comes in the wake of accusations of sexism against Marvel

In light of the recent criticism that Marvel has faced for its portrayal of female superheroes, an interesting exchange between a Marvel CEO and a Sony executive has been found in the previously leaked Sony emails. In the message, the Sony executive lists examples of female superhero movies that have been a “disaster.” Though the full context of the email is unknown, fans have been quick to remind everyone that plenty of male superhero movies have failed too (i.e. Green Lantern, Green Hornet, and Daredevil). 

[mcanyu]

These are two panels from the Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man comic. I think these panels exemplify closure because at first, we see that the scene takes place in Miles’ bedroom. Then, as the comic goes on the background just becomes fog. We, as the reader, are supposed to assume that the two characters are still in Miles’ bedroom, even though we can’t see his bedroom. This technique helps us focus more on the conversation the two characters are having.

[mcanyu]

Here’s the “reverse racism” scene from Dear White People that we talked about in class.

[mcanyu]

This article is a nice follow-up to what we talked about today in class. It discusses the way the public acted as if Beyoncé and Emma Watson were in some kind of feminism competition after Watson’s UN speech. The article also states that it is antifeminist to, “bend over backward to deny a woman who identifies herself a feminist the right to that self-identification,” especially, “by means of credentialism and respectability politics.”

[mcanyu]

This article is a great counterargument to Petersen’s text. It points out the fact that the huge majority of Beyoncé’s fandom is women and gay men, therefore the author doesn’t agree with the fact that she’s displaying her body for straight men. Instead, he suggests that Beyoncé is not displaying her body for anyone. She, “is interested in exploring her sexuality for herself.” Beyoncé’s sexuality is also important because society often devalues the sexuality of black women. Black women are often regarded as too sexual or undesirable. Beyoncé’s hypersexuality is her way of reclaiming her sexuality as a black woman.

[mcanyu]

After reading Petersen’s text, I immediately thought of this video. It is one of a five-part series of videos which gives fans an inside look at the creation of Beyoncé’s self-titled album. This video is titled, “Liberation,” and it focuses on the making of one of the album’s most sexually charged tracks, “Partition”. In the music video, Beyoncé proudly shows off her body in host of revealing outfits. While Petersen would probably assume, that Beyoncé is catering to the male gaze in this music video, Beyoncé states that she displays her body because she wants to show how hard she has worked to lose the pregnancy weight, and that she is not ashamed of her body. Though this video was released about a year after Petersen wrote her text, it is a great response to the criticisms that Petersen has about Beyoncé’s feminism.

[mcanyu]

In this video, Youtuber Laci Green breaks down the objectification of women in our society. She explains that the objectification of women has brought about the idea that men are “sexually aggressive” and women are “sexually submissive”. This echoes Mulvey’s belief that, “pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female” (19). Green also explains that seeing women as sex objects perpetuates rape culture and self-objectification.

[mcanyu]

Bad Feminist

For my cultural critique, I chose an excerpt from Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist:

"Being a feminist, however, even a bad one, has also taught me that the need for feminism and advocacy also applies to seemingly less serious issues like a Top 40 song or a comedian's puerile humor. The existence of these lesser artifacts of our popular culture is made possible by the far graver issues we are facing. The ground has been softened.

At some point, I got it into my head that a feminist was a certain kind of woman. I bought into grossly inaccurate myths about who feminists are...even though intellectually, I know better. I'm not proud of this. I don't want to buy into these myths anymore. I don't want to cavalierly disavow feminism like far too many other women have done."

I decided to use this text for the assignment because Bad Feminist does a fantastic job of exhibiting accessibility. Roxane Gay makes a point to not use overcomplicated language over the course of this essay collection. Instead, she simply expresses her thoughts and opinions. She also doesn't write solely about "first-world feminism" because not everyone can relate to that. And even though Gay does incorporate her own personal experiences and revelations into her analysis, she still manages to make her words accessible to those who have not walked in her shoes.