timepiececlock

If you move past the fact that the only female character with speaking lines disappears 15 minutes into a 97 minute movie (and that includes the short that opened it) and that it creates a world entirely devoid of women or girls except as backdrops or objects of loss (not even the frelling dogs)--and I'm sure we'll all move past that because it's a familiar hurdle with Pixar--then I can report that this is a beautiful, moving film.

It's a little darker than WALL-E, and a little sadder. I cried at two separate points; not a lot, but my eyes were significantly wet and I had to wipe them. It's still an uplifting film, still full of wonder and adventure and grace, but there's no denying that the emotion of loss permeates this story.

There's something reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki's work when you watch it: gorgeous vistas, brilliant colors, and sky. So much sky! Balloons, dirigibles, airplanes! And old person and a young person on an adventure together, experiencing the wonder of flight. It's not quite as funny or cute as WALL-E, but I'm not sure it's supposed to be.

There's no doubt that the Pixar studio has some of the finest writers and storytellers in the film industry today. Now they only need to live up to that potential, and open their magical world to the rest of us. It looks, as always, like a beautiful place to play.


WARNING: COMMENTS NOW CONTAIN MOVIE SPOILERS!

I remember reading reactions from the comics fans on my flist when the cover for Marvel's new potential series Divas was leaked. It seemed pretty offensive, but I was prepared to dismiss it as used-to-it-whatever stuff from media entertainment, but today I saw a quote that prompted me to make login accounts with a bunch of different websites just so I could shout back at the stupidity. And I'm not even a comics reader! But the sad thing is, I'm so close to being one. I even considered it after watching the Wolverine movie. And yet, every time I almost jump in, something sends me running in the opposite direction. Like this.




I could go on about Quesada’s dispiritingly poor use of hypothetical "logic" to make his point, or I could talk about the sexism *in* the argument he advocates. Or wait, I could do both! ( Read more... )

Yeah, nothing sexist there. ^eyeroll^ You can read the full statement here, scroll down near the bottom. It actually gets worse with context.

The thing is, here, I am the perfect candidate for Marvel to build their female audience up. I'm a nerd girl with long fangirl history. I love geek stuff. I watch the movies. I read the books. I watch anime and read manga. I go to conventions. I talk and talk and talk about the geeky media that I love. I harp on continuity and I applaud characterization. I will spend money. I'll by junk just because it has a character's face on it. I'm a freaking dream to these companies. Why aren't they courting me? Courting us?

I was discussing with irrel why both of us like manga (well, I like anime, and I sort of like manga in conjunction with that) but neither of us can really get into American comics or comic-based cartoons. And what we both agreed on was that we just don't feel welcome. Just looking at the art, it screams "FOR BOYS FOR BOYS FOR BOYS." At least with manga, even with all the sexism I complain about, I still can tell that manga exists for both male and female audiences. It has both male and female creators. It sells, and sells well, to male and female readers. There's gender divisions in the material, but there's still manga writers and artists who cross those divisions. Women who write shonen series like FMA and Ranma. Even if the communication is rough, I feel that at least they know female readers exist.

I have had a limited amount of exposure to American comics. It's all what seeps in through pop culture and shows like I Love The 80s. I know the big characters, the ones on t-shirts or in the movies, and the ones from occasional viewings of tv cartoons. That's where I come from when I say that I look at Marvel and DC comics in the bookstores and all I see is "Not for you! Not for you!"

So instead, I watch anime, and sometimes, if I buy anything in a drawn format, I buy manga. There's a few titles I'm very loyal to. Some of them are overtly for girls (Furuba) and some of them aren't (Blade of the Immortal), but both types invite me in rather than pushing me out.

This is just a question, but... are the American comics industry even bothering to ask themselves why girls and women are latching onto Asian comics, cartoons, and fetishist stuff? Is that discussion happening?

Because I can see the reality of it in comic stores and book stores. And I can promise you that it's not the submissive-clumsy female leads or the influence of a sexist culture that's attracting me, because I can find that in American entertainment media just as easily. It's something more. And if the comics industry in America could convince me that I'd find that something in American comics, and if the art wasn't quite so off-putting with the asses and the boobs, I'd probably try picking up a comic book. But I'm not feeling the love from Marvel and DC, not really. And that's their loss.


ETA: I have read one Western comic series--I read several volumes of Elfquest in middle school because my local library had it on the shelf. Loved it. Whatever the "something" was, they had it.

autoschismatic wrote a thoughtful and thorough analysis of why so many fans think that the Naruto manga marginalizes and sidelines its female characters, and why that is a problem that should be discussed, not ignored. Many people have replied, including myself, and there's an active debate going on about the issues discussed.

I only occasionally make my feelings on these topics known in my LJ, because I mostly squee about fandom and shipping, and politics are, at best, a distant third. I'm more likely to discuss those issues in reply to someone else's post than my own. But, just for full disclosure, I'd like to make a general reply to the people on that thread and to fans of manga and anime in general--and fictional in general, on both sides of the Pacific---about why I feel these issues matter as talking points in fandom and IRL.


For the ones who say that padding extra development into the lone female character is overdoing it just to make her PC for the feminists:

I don't think that feminism requires people to change their stories to make female characters more PC by "stretching" them to the detriment of the plot around them. I want stories written from the start by an author who recognizes that women are people too, and live in that world, and matter to that world. It shouldn't have to BE a stretch at all. Women aren't added to anything--we're already here.

Let me say that again:

We are already here.


For the ones who are content with shonen manga as is, or Hollywood movies as is, or comics or TV as is, feel it's already good enough, and by including a few women are doing all they really need to do:

I think it's great that you love how Naruto handles gender in the workplace, and that you love the series as it is. I love this series, too, and I don't want to take away someone else's love. But I can't be as satisfied as you are. Because--I'm not satisfied. Almost isn't enough. And yeah, my voice here won't change the story, won't make anything better. But we've got to "complain", we've got to scream it from the mountaintops or the messageboards every. single. time.

Or nothing will change. Because:

I AM NOT SATISFIED. I AM NOT TOTALLY HAPPY. WE DESERVE BETTER.

ALL OF US, READERS AND WRITERS AND ARTISTS, CAN BE BETTER.

WE CAN BE BETTER AT GENDER BALANCE. WE CAN BE BETTER AT RACIAL BALANCE.


And I will never, ever, stop complaining until I get what I want. You can't shame me into silence, because I am not ashamed to call out the problem when and where I see it. This, dear world, dear internet, is what I demand. Me: one person. And us: oh, so many more.

We are here.

Has there ever been a Pixar film with a female protagonist?



Edit 1: This article breaks down the film list and cites one of my problems with WALL-E, which aside from the WTF gender bullshit was an entertaining and sweet film:

"Hey, guys, we have this robot with no inherent gender identity. We want to give it an arbitrary gender. Maybe we could make it female. Yeah, no, that would just just be ridiculous."


Daughter of Edit: This Peter Segal article about Horton Hears A Who is also good reading. (not Pixar, but still.)

We got into the car outside the cineplex and I was quite in lather, let me tell you. "How come one of the GIRLs didn't get to save Whoville?" I cried.
"Yeah!" said my daughters.
"And while we're at it, how come a girl doesn't get to blow up the Death Star! Or send ET home? Or defeat Captain Hook! Or Destroy the Ring of Power!"
"That's rotten!" cried my daughters.
"How come Trinity can't be the One who defeats the Matrix!" I yelled.
"What are you talking about?" they said.
"You'll find out later," I said.

This afternoon I read an interesting and thoughtful literary criticism essay analyzing the Lancre witches of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series from a feminist angle. On the linked page you can scroll down a little and it's available in PDF format:

Abstract:
Terry Pratchett, writer of humorous, satirical fantasy, is very popular in Britain. His Discworld series, which encompasses over 30 novels, has witches as protagonists in one of the major sub-series, currently covering eight novels. His first “witch” novel, Equal Rites, in which he pits organized, misogynist wizards against disorganized witches, led him to being accused of feminist writing. This work investigates this claim by first outlining the development of the historical witch stereotype or discourse and how that relates to the modern, feminist views of witches. Then Pratchett’s treatment of his major witch characters is examined and analyzed in terms of feminist and poststructuralist literary theory. It appears that, while giving the impression of supporting feminism and the feminist views of witches, Pratchett’s witches actually reinforce the patriarchal view of women.

The essay was written in 2006 and therefore encompasses most of the Discworld canon, though it focuses only on the Lancre witches, with no word for characters in the other series, such as Susan, Angua, Cheery, Polly/Oliver, or Sybil. It's significantly spoilery for most of the witch books, but in a general way "things end well, naturally" sort of way that I don't think would particularly ruin the books for you. Nevertheless, you might want to skim the parts for the books you haven't read yet, if you feel strongly about it. I had to skim past the stuff for A Hatful of Sky because that's the only witch novel I haven't read yet.

( My thoughts and reactions, longish, no major spoilers )

The consistent and deliberate attention Pratchett gives to the dream or concept of sexual and racial equality in a professional world is worth acknowledging, even if his methods are not purity and rightness beyond all criticism. Having put out more than 30 novels set in the same "world", he's going to make missteps, and having now read everything up to Going Postal (33/35), I can see how his characters and writing have developed and matured. Ironically, Equal Rites (3/35), a novel more overtly about sexism than any other except Monstrous Regiment, is one of his weakest books, and includes concepts about women, men, and magic that he rewrites, ignores, or retcons in later canon.


Cross-posted to discworld. I would love to hear others' thoughts about this. Please, if you do comment, keep an open mind and respectful tone.

I wrote an essay about power, gender, and relationships for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

I had too many thoughts, and I wanted to get them out--and if you guys are game--discuss them. The anime plays with power roles fairly creatively and I find the possibilities of the show fascinating. Who loves whom, what form their love takes, and what powers the characters exert over themselves, each other, and the situation at large have all sorts of neat little facets that I just have to talk about, especially with a feminist bent. I would love it if you joined me.

Power, Worship, and Love: Haruhi, Kyon, and the SOS Brigade

Heads Up!

rasielle and I are having a fantastic, spoilerific discussion about gender/sexual roles in fiction and about romantic tropes all centered around the awesomely feminist Princess Tutu! Join us. The part I really like to discuss is in the lower comments, but this is the link to the whole thread so far.

spoilers abound: http://rashaka.livejournal.com/1275650.html

It was...

Hm.

Hmmmm.

It was....hhmmm.

It was... it was... hot? dramatic? hard-core? hot? a little slower than most James Bond films, but in a good way.


All my relatives hated it. It wrecked the fantasy, it wasn't gadgety enough,it was too violent, it wasn't the same kind of sexy, etc etc etc. Pretty much everything about it they didn't like was all the stuff that I did like.

I'm ambivalent about some of the overall Bond character stuff, but in all honesty.....

I FUCKING LOVED IT.

I easily enjoyed the viewing experience more than any other Bond film I've seen. The violence was better utilized, with a focus on intensity instead of flashiness. It reminded me of the violence in The Bourne Supremacy at times. The plot overall was simpler than most Bond films, but the dialogue and subtleties carried within it were far more interesting, and more focused on character development. Some of the scenes were disturbing, some were funny, and some were sad enough to make me almost feel like nearly crying. Of course it pretty much requires Braveheart or a dying puppy to make me actually cry for a movie, but even something that comes close to considering crying is pretty emotionally affecting, even if its not entirely surprising.

I'm enjoying the sexual objectification of James Bond. The reviews were right--- they really did decide to just run with it and objectify him as much as all the women. More than some of the women, actually. It's not just visual, either-- it's in the freaking dialogue. I do kind of believe that you can't stop society from objectifying people so you might as well go for equality and objectify both genders equally. This film certainly lives up to that. I blushed more than once in the film, which is a bit odd considering there was very little nudity* or actual sex on screen. Just the actors staring at each other made me blush, I suppose.

The first chase scene, with the parkour/free-running jumps, was just amazing. My parents didn't believe people could really do that. My brother asked me if James Bond was more hardcore in this like the critics said, and I told him, "The basic theme of this film is that James Bond is always more hardcore than you."

I can't really give this film a grade because I don't know how I'd rank it in terms of overall film quality. I'm sure it must have its high points and low points, but honestly I don't care. It was good enough that I could watch it a couple more times, and more importantly I enjoyed it. I actually completely enjoyed a Bond movie.

I'm tempted to go into a page-long analysis about the portrayal of women in this movie compared to the previous movies (in a future timeline), because there's a lot there to discuss and not all of it nice. But that's a conversation for another day.

To summarize: go see this movie. You will have something to talk about afterward, whether you love it or hate it.


mswyrr: It's sort of like a canon AU fic in the way it takes the same characters and puts them in a different universe, and the way it fleshed out Bond also kind of reminded me of those fics where fans try to work out a believable psychology.

rashaka: Yes! It was a lot like that. Like some fan got a hold of the James Bond world and said: "Okay peoples, here's what we're going to do. We're going to take James Bond and we're going to make him REAL. He's going to really kill people and he's going to really fall in love and he's going to really have to take responsibility for all the shit he participates in. It's going to be dark and psychological and sexy and funny and have one quarter of the cheese factor. This is hardcore James Bond."


*there's actually a scene with quite a bit of nudity but I'd forgotten because it wasn't a sexy scene

Opponents of Gay Marriage in America, some interesting facts:

Bob Dole- divorced the mother of his child, who had nursed him through the long recovery from his war wounds.
Newt Gingrich - divorced his wife who was dying of cancer.
Dick Armey - House Majority Leader - divorced
Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas - divorced
Gov. John Engler of Michigan - divorced
Gov. Pete Wilson of California - divorced
George Will - divorced
Sen. Lauch Faircloth - divorced
Sen. John McCain of Arizonia - divorced
Rush Limbaugh - Rush and his current wife Marta have six marriages and four divorces between them.
Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia - Barr, not yet 50 years old, has been married three times. Authored and pushed the "Defense of Marriage Act."
Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York - divorced
Sen. John Warner of Virginia - divorced (once married to Liz Taylor.)
Gov. George Allen of Virginia - divorced
Ronald Reagan - divorced the mother of two of his children to marry Nancy Reagan, who bore him a daughter only 7 months after the marriage.
Henry Kissinger - divorced
(former) Rep. Helen Chenoweth of Idaho - divorced
Rep. John Kasich of Ohio - divorced
Rep. Susan Molinari of New York - Republican National Convention Keynote Speaker - divorced