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scans_dailySpoilers for the new Batgirl: Spoiled miniseries.
Triggerwarning: attempted rape
Published between 2010 and 2011, Stephanie Brown's Batgirl, written by Bryan Q Miller, was something of an anomaly at the time, in being a comic which was about a cheerful young woman who isn't the smartest, fastest or most martial artsy of the Bat Family but she still worked through everything due to being determined, resourceful and ferciously up beat.
The fact that she was pretty much the rubber ball of the Bat Comics (the harder she's thrown down, the fastest she'll come back up) was always something that was part of the character, even as far back as the Spoiler days in the mid-90s. She might not be up there with Cass or Tim, but she's still able to hang around with them as something of an equal none the less.
Indeed, the fact that she was curiously more like Dick Grayson's Robin in terms of attitude also made her team-ups with Batman and Cass in her Robin tenure kind of interesting too.
And when she finally made that break into the role of main character, it was actually kind of refreshing to have a character who didn't treat the Hero Gig as Serious Business, and actually had a person who enjoyed being a superhero and who liked helping people without grumbling that it was a burden or something. It's a part of Steph's personality that, as I mentioned in relation to her being like old school Dick Grayson, makes her seem charmingly retro in places.
Where was I going with this? Well, recently a talented group of people, undestandibly annoyed at Steph being dropped from the DCU despite her fanbase, decided to make a webseries based around the character.
It's well made, but it's also where the titular Tonal Clash comes into play.
Trigger warning: attempted gangrape.
...WHY? Why insert a gang of criminals who monologue about how they're going to gangrape Steph, as a deliberate way of "ruining" her so that she'll remember them in the future? Is that what the "Spoiled" thing in the series title was meant to be a reference to? Are they meant to be making a point regarding traditional supervillains vs. modern ones or something? I mean, what?!?
Don't get me wrong, the episode is well made, but if you're gonna pay tribute to Steph's Batgirl series, having Steph getting the stuffing kicked out of her by a group of guys who then gloat about raping her so that she'll become a living monument to how Badass a group of villains they are... kind of fumbled the ball there. Not even slightly.
Seriously, I'm more than a little kicked off by this. More so than how they introduced the YJverse version of Artemis Crock to the DCnU just to have her die at the end of her introductory issue.
Triggerwarning: attempted rape
Published between 2010 and 2011, Stephanie Brown's Batgirl, written by Bryan Q Miller, was something of an anomaly at the time, in being a comic which was about a cheerful young woman who isn't the smartest, fastest or most martial artsy of the Bat Family but she still worked through everything due to being determined, resourceful and ferciously up beat.
The fact that she was pretty much the rubber ball of the Bat Comics (the harder she's thrown down, the fastest she'll come back up) was always something that was part of the character, even as far back as the Spoiler days in the mid-90s. She might not be up there with Cass or Tim, but she's still able to hang around with them as something of an equal none the less.
Indeed, the fact that she was curiously more like Dick Grayson's Robin in terms of attitude also made her team-ups with Batman and Cass in her Robin tenure kind of interesting too.
And when she finally made that break into the role of main character, it was actually kind of refreshing to have a character who didn't treat the Hero Gig as Serious Business, and actually had a person who enjoyed being a superhero and who liked helping people without grumbling that it was a burden or something. It's a part of Steph's personality that, as I mentioned in relation to her being like old school Dick Grayson, makes her seem charmingly retro in places.
Where was I going with this? Well, recently a talented group of people, undestandibly annoyed at Steph being dropped from the DCU despite her fanbase, decided to make a webseries based around the character.
It's well made, but it's also where the titular Tonal Clash comes into play.
Trigger warning: attempted gangrape.
...WHY? Why insert a gang of criminals who monologue about how they're going to gangrape Steph, as a deliberate way of "ruining" her so that she'll remember them in the future? Is that what the "Spoiled" thing in the series title was meant to be a reference to? Are they meant to be making a point regarding traditional supervillains vs. modern ones or something? I mean, what?!?
Don't get me wrong, the episode is well made, but if you're gonna pay tribute to Steph's Batgirl series, having Steph getting the stuffing kicked out of her by a group of guys who then gloat about raping her so that she'll become a living monument to how Badass a group of villains they are... kind of fumbled the ball there. Not even slightly.
Seriously, I'm more than a little kicked off by this. More so than how they introduced the YJverse version of Artemis Crock to the DCnU just to have her die at the end of her introductory issue.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 03:24 pm (UTC)You misunderstand - the point isn't that men wouldn't feel threatened at the prospect of being raped (of course they would). It's that male characters in comics don't get threatened with rape.
Presumably because several thugs standing around snickering as they prepare to force their dicks into Batman would make the average fanboy feel terribly disgusted and uncomfortable. I wonder why they don't feel the same about Batgirl being threatened in such an awful way?
I wonder.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 03:36 pm (UTC)Similarly, the comments that are just 'she/that was hot' makes me feel bad for being a straight male. I apologize on behalf of my gender and orientation that some people's only thoughts after watching that is that the actress was attractive.
Re: A bit meta
Date: 2012-10-11 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 05:23 pm (UTC)...how do you write in bold in the reply box? :|
And wonder no more! Since you already know the answer. :P First - something tells me Batman, nor Superman nor Wonder Woman will have the rape trope go anywhere near them, because they're the big three... hell most of the justice league won't, why is another set of issues.
But you won't see Robin, or Nightwing get raped anytime soon because a lot of writers simply don't see it as so something men can go through, and psychology A LOT of people, male and female, see men who have been raped as less than men - weak. Which is a whole 'nother can of worms. Expendable male and all that.
Which is why I'm discussing this on a case by case basis.
It is done unto women however simply because the world tells us only women are raped, we know thats not true and that it isn't an absolute, but it gets filtered that way, there's a reason sexual abuse on man is considered comical in media a lot of the time.
This in itself is an interesting case of both sides suffering from the by-product of whats being done onto them, one from having it pushed on to them, nearly *all* the time, because 'of course' it should happen to them (females) and one being denied that reality, despite it happening in real life, since it's socially perceived as emasculating (male).
Rape is a complicated thing to handle. I'm of the side that says we shouldn't taboo it from story telling. It'll take a while, but it'll be used less, and when it is, it'll be done right, and not for a bit of shock.
Here, here.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 05:57 pm (UTC)Sissy Villain, a Depraved Bisexual, or a Psycho Lesbian.
How? Because my friends, love to paint me as the only gay in the village, who needs to be paired up with the closest gay in the vicinity - I can't talk about another man without them asking if i want to have sex with him. No I don't - he's just a cool guy. I know stereotypes. Don't even get me started of the one sided black jokes I get now, more than ever since I moved to Bournemouth (predominately white, all the way.) Hell, got called 'coloured' on the 2nd week staying here.
How did we even get to this subject?
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When does realism matter in comics? What is this... I don't even. When were talking about how Spiderman swings across New York - sure, lets suspend belief.
Were talking about rape - y'know a very REAL danger, you come off just dismissive as me by bring that 'realism' stuff up. Though I know your not being dismissive since that word is used in a very weird way here.
I've been advocating that rape happens to everyone, I doubt you've read all of my posts, since there are quite a few - but I've been consistent in that. When were talking about rape in the broader sense, I said in the real (read" realistic) world, rape happens more to female than it does male. The real world informs the fictional and so you get writers writing rape only for woman - which is messed up, since it only seems to happen to them in Superhero comics, but thats what happens, I advocate that it should be made clear in the media that rape is a danger for everyone, male, female etc. So I'm not of the boat that only women should be raped in media. Obviously.
When it comes to costumes btw, females have to be sexy and glamorous. And men, have to have those tight ass abs, rugged good looks and be 6ft 3. Both sides get it, women a little more - again.
Superhero comics, the best ones, are only unrealistic when it counts, for the powers, for the adventures, for the costumes, and the fun. When you introduce rape, you either treat it seriously, or you throw your hands into the air and just admit that you can't use the trope like you thought you could. Realistic situations, should be treated with realism - a solid example is One More Day; you didn't want them to be married? FINE. Let them get a divorce? No, what's that? A Satan-expy seems like the best solution? Hmm.
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"most threats of rape against female characters are anything but realistic"
Haven't claimed the ones here were. Though honestly, I don't fully understand your third paragraph because of how it's written, so if you care to explain it in another manner?
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Take this "no gay villain therefore no rape of men" and reword and change it into this:
"no gay villain therefore no *possibility* for rape of men, excluding other larger factors that stop that from happening"
I know full well that male rape in super-comics is something we wont see for a long time. A number of factors; we have yet the have a handful of gay villains that just happen to be gay. We have yet to have a selection of gay villains who are designed to actually be vehicles for rape - and we wont get them anytime soon, not were we are in the stages of gay rights. Another factor is that the media world, and the world at large see rape as a female only device, ignoring that men do indeed, get raped. Sexual harassment of males is real, but the media treats it as real funny, it's emasculating apparently - and we can't do that to Batman now can we :/
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I'm reading your reply and agreeing with you on so much, and I think alot of what I've had to say is lost in translation.
To distill it:
Rape in superhero comics is not being done right at all at the moment.
I'll only pass judgement on it when I've seen how the writer has brought the act of rape full circle, from the act being committed, to the character and story acknowledging whats happened.
I'll then judge the story and see if it was handled correctly.
IMO if its happening in a superhero comic, it's paramount for the superhero to triumph over the act and the consequences, mentally and emotionally, perhaps physically aswell. Superheroes are supposed to inspire us after all.
Rape in superhero comics happens mostly to women, because of the realistic logic cage that writers hold on to - rape happens mostly to women in the real world, so the same can be said for the world we create. Male rape is emasculating, we can't have that - another issue in and of itself.
In THIS WEBSERIES specific case, I can not yet fully judge it without seeing where it goes.
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Finally, to your 'errrr, no' comment. I don't get it, were you disagreeing, and that there are generally more LGBT Villains than there are straight ones? Because thats what it looked like at face value, which came of as snappy and silly, since thats not true.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 09:28 pm (UTC)The internet has a vast well of both awesome people and incredibly sucky ones. Like one guy n the DCMB after War Games said she deserved what Black Mask did to her for having a child outside of marriage, for one grim example.
Re: A bit meta
Date: 2012-10-15 09:30 pm (UTC)So, while long awaited fan projects are being more violent then needed and DiDio is being his usual highly intelligent self, at least we have fictional shows I don't watch to fall back on.
Who knows, she might be a late arrival who joins the team mid season.