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Essay examining rape-revenge and media rape --> looking at Mulvys essay in reference 

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Essay examining rape-revenge and media rape --> looking at Mulvys essay in reference 

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womens suffering and abuse being used as cliche tropes

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Another review of this book - still no actual book

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Another review of this book - still no actual book

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Brings up the interesting point that the reason the Hawkeye Initiative is so popular and has such a visceral reaction is because men are involved and seeing them in such sexualised positions is jarring for the viewer, however just seeing women like that doesnt evoke the same reaction as it has become so normalised in our society especially in comic books, it is not abnormal
--> quote I liked from this article - Objectification of women is a serious issue, and plays a huge role in perpetuating rape culture, but it is only when a man is objectified that the world sits up and takes notice.

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It's a commonly known fact that the only people who read comics are 14 year old boys or 30 year old men who live in their parents' basements and don't have a life. Wait...that is totally not true, because everyone loves comics! 14 year old girls love them too, AND 30 year old women who live in stylish loft apartments - it's high time the long accepted image of the nerd as a fat guy with ill fitting glasses and a pop culture t-shirt was dumped in a bin, and the bin projected into space. Guys love comics, girls love comics, genderqueer people love comics, and feminists also love comics. The nerd/geek community has as many female identifying people as male identifying ones, which is why it is always so disappointing, frustrating and enraging to see the way women are depicted in comic book art. The pneumatic boobs, waists that would ensure no organs remained in the body, and the dislocated spines all neatly tied together in an outfit that no sane person would wear while battling crime create a version of femalehood that is not just unrealistic but terribly misogynist, and as a result, damaging to women as well. This is something that bothered Cait Crutchfield like it bothers countless other women in the subculture.

A volunteer EMT/firefighter and a homeschooling mother of three from Texas, she surprisingly hadn't been a comics geek for very long. In an interview with Geek Eccentric, she says " I grew up reading positively ridiculous amounts of Tolkien and Lewis and Zelazny. Star Wars and all of the '80s sword and sorcery movies were a thousand times cooler than Saturday morning cartoons." She describes having "goosebumps" when she first encountered DC's Kingdom Come and devoured all four issues in one sitting, but it wasn't until the film adaptation of The Avengers last year that she took a real interest in comics. In the meantime, artists and comic book geeks Blue and Gingerhaze had come up with the brilliant idea of redrawing the cover of a Hawkeye and Black Widow comic where they switched Clint Barton and Natasha Romanova's poses. Inspired by that, Crutchfield had one of those middle-of-the-night brainwaves and started a Tumblr where she reblogged not only that image but everything related to it which Gingerhaze had drawn. Having done that, she went off to bed...and when she woke up a few hours later, she had 500 followers. In the next 12 hours, there were 4217. The Hawkeye Initiative had gone viral.

The idea behind The Hawkeye Initiative is simple enough. Identify "strong women poses" (boobs and bum both miraculously visible from the same angle, fractured spine), replace the original female character with Hawkeye. The results are interesting, to say the least. What is important to note here is that so conditioned are we to seeing women in comics drawn in an exaggerated, hyper-sexualised style, the impossible nature of it only hits us when we see a male character being depicted in the same manner - same pose, same clothing, same everything. This has drawn its share of criticism from intersectional feminist corners of the Internet. Dark from That Feminist Dyke has noted that the reason behind The Hawkeye Initiative's immense popularity when other blogs such as Escher Girls have been doing the same thing for a year now, is that we only respond to feminist issues when men are involved. Since The Hawkeye Initiative is about dressing and posing a male character as female characters are dressed and posed in comics, the focus falls firmly on men. Objectification of women is a serious issue, and plays a huge role in perpetuating rape culture, but it is only when a man is objectified that the world sits up and takes notice.

The Hawkeye Initiative has also been labelled transphobic, since the idea behind it is to show how ridiculous it looks when men are dressed in women's clothes and posed "seductively". This is a valid criticism, as trans* people regularly and routinely face an unbelievable amount of prejudice, hatred and violence on a daily basis all over the world today. When you see a picture of Barton (or any of the other male characters The Hawkeye Initiative has covered so far) and you think it's ludicrous and feel like laughing, ask yourself why you're laughing. It's because we, as a society, have been conditioned to believe in the staticness of gender and sexuality. Trans* people are seen as an anomaly, an aberration, a group of people on the far end of the bell curve who exist only to be the targets of our prejudice, hatred and violence. The Hawkeye Initiative has good intentions - to expose how women are objectified in comics, but in doing so, they ended up being transphobic, probably because of an incomplete understanding of intersectionality. Don't get me wrong, I scrolled through reams of the tumblr when it first went viral, and I get what they are trying to do, but my reaction wasn't laughter. As someone who was once a dedicated fan of slash, it looked like a lot of the slash art I used to devour as an undergrad. It didn't feel like anything out of the ordinary to me. So next time you see a post or a reblog from The Hawkeye Initiative and think it's hilarious, stop and ask yourself why you find it so funny. If it's because it's a picture of a man dressed as a woman, then I recommend some serious soul searching.

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Men in "Strong Women" Poses: The Hawkeye Initiative, Feminism and Transphobia

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It's a commonly known fact that the only people who read comics are 14 year old boys or 30 year old men who live in their parents' basements and don't have a life. Wait...that is totally not true, because everyone loves comics!

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Transcript of the "Cool Girl Monologue" from the film Gone Girl

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Transcript of the "Cool Girl Monologue" from the film Gone Girl

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Whilst I probably won't include this in my essay I thought it was an interesting link to the MPDG and Not Like Other Girls Tropes I'd mentioned. This monologue highlights the notion, and ridiculousness, of a "Cool Girl" and how it falls under the male gaze and again links back to Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure" and the idea of men pushing their fantasies onto women. I think this is why Tank Girl interests me so much as she is perceived as the ultimate "Cool Girl", one of the "boys" and is therefore seen as some kind of feminist icon because she isn't overly feminine whilst still being this sort of unreachable stereotype. I think the idea of "not like other girls" or a "Cool Girl" seems inherently misogynistic to me and creates a divide between women due to internalised misogyny. Women can only be seen as cool and interesting when rejecting femininity and acting more masculine, however at the end of the day they're still women and men will only really create and perceive them as such. I think this is interesting relating back to the "Dangerous Curves" essay I read where he talks about female characters having a "hysterical mask of femininity" as this is the complete opposite -> LOOK INTO THIS SORT OF THING MORE

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Nick and Amy will be gone. But then we never really existed. Nick loved a girl I was pretending to be. Cool girl. Men always use that, don't they? As their defining compliment. She's a Cool girl. Cool girl is hot. Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun.

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From what I know so far about Tank Girl (must do more research!) Ive always thought one of the reasons she was so appealing to men is that she has a very masculine demeanor whilst still presenting physically as a conventionally attractive "sexy" woman. This to me seems like it links back to the idea of the male gaze and men pushing their fantasies onto a female character. Shes a cool girl who drinks and swears just as much as men whilst still providing that idea of the "erotic" subject for the spectator

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Not like other Girls Trope/Manic Pixie Dream Girl Trope

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Not like other Girls Trope/Manic Pixie Dream Girl Trope

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Blog post talking about the male gaze and Tank Girl

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Blog post talking about the male gaze and Tank Girl

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I think want to include Tank Girl as a case study in my essay as I think it's an interesting and divisive subject, from what I can see from my research into it so far. It's split pretty 50/50 in terms of praise and criticism for Tank Girl, after all, she isn't the typical over-sexualised, hyper-feminine female character like so many others and is often praised as a feminist icon in the graphic novel world. This article was interesting to me as it brings about the question of whether a female character written, drawn and constructed by men can ever really be separate from the male gaze. Whilst Tank Girl is so different from so many other female characters, as this article points out, she was created by two heterosexual men and therefore essentially still bends to their will.
--> I think if possible to bring this question up it would be an interesting discussion about the male gaze and positive representation for female characters - either PTwo or P3

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Growing far past their origins of Superman and American wholesomeness, comics are a place for storytelling, heroes, entertainment, and justice. But female comic heroes are still overwhelmed by their male counterparts and, when they do appear, often still embody gender stereotypes and serve mostly as sex symbols. Cat Woman, Wonder Woman, and She-Ra, while badass and sexy, are definitely kept firmly in their place as sidekicks or beautiful, tragic heroines.

Enter Tank Girl: a swaggering, swashbuckling heroine who isn't here for anyone's sexual amusement. Tank Girl was created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin, British comic artists who debuted the character in 1988. The story of Tank Girl is a loosely-based science fiction and dystopian future story that takes place in Australia. Rebecca Buck, AKA Tank Girl, drives and lives in a tank, shaves the side of her head, dates a mutant kangaroo, and is constantly on the run from the law because of her sexual appetite and love for booze.

The stories of Tank Girl employ tropes like metafiction, stream-of-consciousness, surrealism, and collage. They also tend to be very psychedelic. Thus, it is hard to determine a set narrative or lineage within the stories. What does stand out is the series' place in the canon of punk rock literature and experimental fiction and the artists' drive and desire to produce a female character completely on her own terms.

A glance at Tank Girl reveals a punk, devil-may-care woman in torn-up shorts and a tank top. Her actions in the comic and her outward appearance point to the idea that she lives completely by her own rules, sleeping with whomever of whatever gender or species, drinking what she wants, living free. But the truth is, Tank Girl is a fictional character created by two male comic book artists.

Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin were two college buddies creating comic art for fun and playing in punk bands. Her character was inspired by a song Martin wrote in college called "Rocket Girl," an ode to a classmate he had a crush on. Although Tank Girl is a badass who apparently answers to no one, she still answers to the two men who dreamed her up, orchestrated her every move, and made her into a counter-culture sex symbol.

Is all this a bad thing? Not necessarily. There is certainly some strength in being sexy and a sex symbol, especially in a counter-culture movement. And of course, Tank Girl is meant to be sex positive and would probably proudly claim the label herself. But the fact remains that straight men made this comic, not women who wanted to celebrate sexy and also elevate their own status as a second-class gender.

Eventually, Hewlett and Martin lost control of their creation and watched as Tank Girl went in a totally different direction. But it wasn't because the plucky, spunky, character picked herself up off the pages and escaped the ever-present male gaze. It was because the creators sold the movie rights, mistakenly thinking the worst that could happen would be a so-good-it's-bad, low-budget sci-fi thriller.

"We thought it would be ironic, there would be some humor in it and everyone would appreciate it anyway," Martin told
archive.is in an interview about the comic. "However, unfortunately they tried to make it cool. They argued over what was cool and what wasn't cool. When you go to Hollywood and you see a bunch of fat businessmen sitting in offices arguing what's cool, you just think, 'No, mate. Whatever you are going to come up with you're wrong.' The struggle just ripped the heart out of the film and it ended up not looking like anything really."

More men were now sitting around discussing how Tank Girl would behave, and this time they were much more out of touch than the original creators. The end result was an incoherent, disjointed feature film.

So is Tank Girl a hero? Yes, very much so. Her stories are crass, funny, and relatable, and she has inspired millions of readers. But is Tank Girl a product of the male gaze, corporate consumerism, and the powers that be? Of course. It will take even more comics and comic writers to pave the way for completely feminist heroines and heroes. Luckily, in today's age, and based on the stacked line-up of LGBTQ-positive and boundary-pushing guests at Denver Comic Con, we will be getting more woke comics and stereotype-destroying stories every day.

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Addison Herron-Wheeler

Addison Herron-Wheeler is OUT FRONT's co-publisher and editor-in-chief and friend to dogs everywhere. She enjoys long walks in the darkness away from any sources of sunlight, rainy days, and painfully dry comedy. She also covers cannabis and heavy metal, and is author of Wicked Woman: Women in Metal from the 1960s to Now and Respirator, a short story collection.

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Tank Girl, The Male Gaze, and Co-opted Art - OUT FRONT

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Growing far past their origins of Superman and American wholesomeness, comics are a place for storytelling, heroes, entertainment, and justice. But female comic heroes are still overwhelmed by their male counterparts and, when they do appear, often still embody gender stereotypes and serve mostly as sex symbols.

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Quotes from Mulveys "Visual Pleasure" for PTwo

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Quotes from Mulveys "Visual Pleasure" for PTwo

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- "woman then stands as a patriarchal signifier...in which man can live out his fantasies and obsessions"
- "image of woman still tied to her place of bearer of meaning, not maker of meaning"
---> these are both part of the same longer quote but picking out key aspects

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Quotes from Mulveys "Visual Pleasure" essay for P1

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Quotes from Mulveys "Visual Pleasure" essay for P1

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- "male gaze projects its phantasy onto the female figure"
- "womens desire is subjected to her image (as bearer of the bleeding wound"
- "woman is image, man as bearer of look"
- "the presence of women is an indispensable element of spectacle, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line; to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation"
-“denies women agency, relegating them to the status of objects.”

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- In my second and third paragraphs I want to focus more on the narrative tropes that women often fall into
- Either two separate paragraphs or one long one but I want to touch on the Women in Refridgerators trope and the Manic Pixie dream girl trope
--> MPDG falls under the quote "Erotic subject for the characters" whereas first paragraph is talking about "erotic subject for the spectator"
- essentially how women are used as narrative devices in order to further the male protagonists story arc further - no agency of their own and very little background or story given to them if any

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- I want Laura Mulveys essay to essentially be the basis of my essay, I think the majority of my points so far link back to her thesis and the idea of the male gaze
- I think I want my initial first paragraph to be centered around the physical depiction of women in graphic novels and comic books e.g hyper-sexualised and inhuman body proportions
--> definitely mention the Hawkeye Initiative and find case studies highlighting clear differences in the way that women are physically depicted

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NARRATIVE TROPES AND DEPICTIONS OF WOMEN IN GRAPHIC NOVELS AND COMIC BOOKS

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NARRATIVE TROPES AND DEPICTIONS OF WOMEN IN GRAPHIC NOVELS AND COMIC BOOKS

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Initial essay title

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Blog post explaining the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl Trope in relation to Scott Pilgrim --> more specifically the film but relates to the graphic novel too

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Blog post explaining the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl Trope in relation to Scott Pilgrim --> more specifically the film but relates to the graphic novel too

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by Matt Zarzyczny

I have a confession to make. I used to be Scott Pilgrim. And for the first time, I realized how bad of a thing that really is. Let's back up a little bit. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a film made by Edgar Wright in 2010, and it's based on Bryan Lee O'Malley's 2004-2010 graphic novel series, Scott Pilgrim . There will be massive SPOILERS ahead so if you haven't watched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World or read O'Malley's series, you've been warned. And really, do yourself a favor and at least watch the movie. It's one of the most charming and visually stunning films of all time and features a cast that is full of today's Hollywood elite (Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, and Brie Larson all play minor roles in the film).

On its surface, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is the story of a slacker named Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) who is meandering through his Canadian life like any good millennial. He has a band, Sex Bob-Omb, which no one really likes, he doesn't have a job, he doesn't really own anything other than his bass, he shares a bed with his gay roommate/best friend Wallace (Kieran Culkin) in a tiny apartment literally across the street from the house that he grew up in, and he's dating a young girl (17) named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). This is how we find Scott at the beginning of the film. He's a young man in flux.

A year prior to the events of the film, Scott went through a brutal break up with Envy Adams (Brie Larson) who is the lead singer of the now hugely popular band, Clash At Demonhead. Knives is the first girl that Scott has dated since the breakup, but he finds himself having to defend her status as a minor to all of his friends. Through these exchanges, primarily with Wallace and his bandmates Stephen Stills - the Talent (Mark Webber), Kim Pine - the Drummer and Scott's ex (Alison Pill), and Young Neil - the Groupie (Johnny Simmons), we find that Scott doesn't really like Knives all that much. They have a bit of a passive relationship with them mostly riding on the bus together and almost holding hands once.

The opening credits of the film roll while Knives experiences Sex Bob-Omb for the first time and freaks out over how amazing she finds the band. We get to experience the budding relationship of Scott and Knives with her basically following Scott everywhere, doing everything that Scott wants to do (thrift store shopping, arcade game playing, music shopping, etc). You can really see the pedestal that Knives is putting Scott on, while Scott appears completely oblivious to the love that Knives is developing. This is absolutely necessary in the Scott Pilgrim story as it shows that his ego-centrism truly knows no bounds. Scott's needs and wants are fully front and center for him. Because he can't afford to live on his own, he sleeps in the same bed as his best friend regardless of Wallace being engaged in his own sexual activities right next to Scott. It's obvious that Kim and Scott did not have a great breakup, and she definitely harbors strong resentment towards Scott and his behavior, but he thinks everything is OK. Scott only sees what he wants to see in his life regardless of the people around him trying to make him take accountability for his actions. This is when Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who has 7 evil exes that Scott has to fight creating the plot of the movie. If you need more of a refresher, check out the trailer.

I've been a fan of Scott Pilgrim since the first time I read the graphic novels, and I was on the ground floor of the current cult status of the film. I identified with Scott Pilgrim. I was a bass player in multiple mediocre bands, I was oblivious to the way that my behavior affected those around me, and I was also chasing the archetype of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I thought that I knew Scott Pilgrim. I figured out that the film was not really about Scott having to literally battle 7 evil exes, but it was actually about entering a relationship with someone and having to deal with their past. I think we've all been there at some point, where we find ourselves comparing who we are to who our partner has been with before. Ramona's ex-partners are definitely exaggerated to extreme proportions with her exes being everything from a famous skateboarder/movie star to a famous musician and even one of the hottest young music magnates. I understood this so well that I essentially went through it in a past relationship. An ex of mine was with a guy that literally tattooed his name on her in multiple places. It was a constant reminder of who she was with before. There's no way that I could physically compare to this guy. No matter how many times my ex would tell me how much better of a guy I was than him, I could never really get past the idea that she would rather be with pudgy, nerdy me instead of Mr. Masculinity. Partially due to the tattoos being a constant reminder, I really had a hard time making amends with her past, and this was one of the reasons why the relationship failed.

That was my takeaway from : chase the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, overcome the exes that she has been with, and then live happily ever after. That is until recently. I've entered into an incredibly healthy relationship and happened to revisit Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Scott Pilgrim. I've grown a lot since the last time that I watched the movie. I chased my Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I fought her league of evil exes. But at the end of the day, I lost. So it's with that life experience that I rewatched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World . And wow. My reading of this film has completely changed: Scott Pilgrim is an asshole and Ramona Flowers is a screamingly hollow example of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl

It's hard to pinpoint when female archetypes are created. Some have very specific origins such as the creation of the blonde bombshell archetype by Hollywood in the 1930s, but others are more subtle in their creation. There's also a little bit of the "which came first" situation when it comes to entertainment and the creation of archetypes. The term Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG) has its origin with film critic Nathan Rabin, who coined the term after observing Kirsten Dunst's character in Elizabethtown. Rabin describes the MPDG as, "that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures." While this kind of phrasing works great for stock characters, what Mr. Rabin forgets is that our society is obsessed with pop culture, and we tend to take what we see on screen and use it in our daily lives. This means that a whole generation of women that are unique, have strong opinions on music and probably color their hair in unnatural hues are being chased by men who envision them as this cinematic personification of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

Why the Manic Pixie Dream Girl Archetype is Dangerous

I believe that all archetypes are dangerous as they remove individuality from us in favor of generalized group behavior. However, at the end of the day, a lot of archetypes are fairly harmless. There are pros and cons of being a goth, a cheerleader, a soccer mom, a cougar, a jock, a nerd, etc. that apply to all genders in different ways. But look at those different archetypes. They're fairly simplistic and broad. The archetype of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is incredibly specific in its scope. The true danger of it, though, is the quite ridiculous expectations placed upon women that fall into this archetype by the men that chase them. Manic Pixie Dream Girls have become more than just a fashion statement or a way of perceiving the world. Men have put something far more troubling onto the Manic Pixie Dream Girl: SALVATION. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl has somehow become a sexual Jesus to boring, suburban white men in their 20s and 30s. So now, if you have short pink hair, a witty attitude, a unique style and strong opinions, there is going to be a man (more than likely several men) who would sacrifice you on a cross to save their insipid, bland life.

Aside from being martyred and discarded, Manic Pixie Dream Girls have to deal with men reflecting a lot of things onto them. "Hey she's wearing a Beastie Boys shirt, that means that we are into the exact same style of music, and I'm in love with her." Unfortunately, this is the day-to-day life for Manic Pixie Dream Girls. For some reason, men see these very individual, unique women as blank canvases that they can put all of their interests onto. I never got this facet of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl problem. Why would men that are attracted to a woman because they are unique and interested in more obscure types of entertainment then want to completely ignore their interests in favor of the man's interests? I don't get it, but it happens.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl

If Kirsten Dunst's character in Elizabethtown defined the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World cemented it in the heads of everyone who watched it. Ramona Flowers is literally magic in the film and is used by Edgar Wright as a blank slate that Scott Pilgrim can put all of his dreams onto. From a cinematic standpoint, it's ok that Wright used a Manic Pixie Dream Girl as a stock character in his script. Unfortunately, the cult status of Scott Pilgrim keeps growing and more and more young women are starting to aspire to be like Ramona Flowers.

Keep in mind is that Ramona Flowers is a stock character in a movie. Every real person in life is more than just a two-dimensional sketch of a character. Ramona Flowers is never given any real depth, and she definitely doesn't exist as a three-dimensional character. I guess what I'm saying is that you can aspire to look like Ramona, to do your hair like Ramona, to dress like Ramona, but due to the behavior of men with relation to Manic Pixie Dream Girls, prepare yourself for a lot of one-sided relationships where you're going to end up used and discarded.

There is a chance though that Edgar Wright was saying more with his portrayal of Ramona Flowers than just putting another Manic Pixie Dream Girl on the big screen.

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl as a MacGuffin

A MacGuffin is a term used for a plot device in a movie that is pursued by the protagonist (and often antagonist(s)), moves the plot forward, and is usually given little or no narrative explanation. MacGuffins have existed for as long as storytelling with many people pointing out The Holy Grail in the Arthurian mythos as kind of the archetypal MacGuffin. In films, when discussing MacGuffins, because it might be the most ambiguous MacGuffin to be featured in a modern film. All that we know about the briefcase is that Marcellus Wallace wants it and whatever is inside of it, Jules and Vincent are willing to kill for it. Do a brief Google search for The Maltese Falcon is usually singled out as one of the classic examples of the MacGuffin. I personally like using the briefcase in Pulp Fiction Reservoir Dogs Pulp Fiction briefcase and you'll find theories saying everything from the contents being the diamonds that were stolen in (not likely true because the briefcase glows with a golden light when opened) to Marcellus Wallace's soul, because Ving Rhames is wearing a band-aid on the back of his head which indicates that his soul was stolen. The beauty about the briefcase, is that according to Quentin Tarantino himself, it is literally just a MacGuffin. It's nothing. It's irrelevant to the plot. All that you have to know is that it's important to the characters. Every meaning put onto the contents is done by the viewer of the movie, not its creators. Quentin himself has also regretted making the gold-colored light come out of the briefcase, as it also makes people assume too much about the contents. As far as Quentin was concerned, having a briefcase with an orange light bulb inside just looked cool.

Remember that men tend to reflect a lot of things on to Manic Pixie Dream Girls, much like audiences reflect their own beliefs and interests onto typical MacGuffins. This makes the Manic Pixie Dream Girl almost a perfect human MacGuffin, and I would argue that Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World uses Ramona Flowers, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, as just that: a MacGuffin. Take a look back at the movie. What do we learn about Ramona Flowers? We learn that she's American. She has seven evil exes. She moved to Toronto to get away from all of that. She works for Amazon.ca as a delivery person. She's bisexual and changes her hair color on a whim. She seems to like a lot of different types of tea. She has issues with guys becoming obsessive over her, and she tends to buck societal trends. For someone that's supposed to be one of the main characters of a movie, that isn't a whole lot of information, and I dare you to find more hidden in the subtext. Everything that we learn from her flashbacks regarding the evil exes is unreliable, as it's clear that she exaggerates their relationships, unless you take a literal reading of the movie and believe that the characters actually have "mystic powers" and it's not just a metaphor for sexual prowess or emotional development. My point is that we never even find out whether she likes Sex Bob-Omb. We know nothing about her actual interests. Everything that we think we know about her, we put onto her. We assume that she likes the same music as Scott. We assume that she likes the same food as Scott. When put into comparison to Knives Chau, we see a fully developed character in Knives with interests, goals, a family life, a school life, a social life, etc. and we see a maybe two-dimensional character in Ramona that is just a fashion statement with changing hair. But, like any good MacGuffin, she drives the plot of the movie forward while the audience puts all of their own ideas and beliefs onto her.

Is It On Purpose?

If Edgar Wright intended on creating Ramona Flowers to be a MacGuffin due to her status as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl then, frankly, he is a cinematic genius and an expert satirist of our society. If, however, the opposite is true and Ramona Flowers is an accidental MacGuffin, then Edgar Wright is as bad as every guy that's ever used and thrown away a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I think the key to unlocking this lies in the ending of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World . The movie was shooting at the same time that Bryan O'Malley was writing the last book of the series, so although Edgar Wright communicated with O'Malley, the ending of the film was created by Edgar Wright, and it is different than the ending created by O'Malley, but mostly in complexity. The books in general give you a much more three-dimensional view of Ramona Flowers, and the ending in the book follows through on that. The ending of the movie, however, is only focused on Scott Pilgrim. Scott finds the power of self-respect for the first time and finally apologizes to the people in his life that he has hurt before battling with Gideon (the second time). After defeating Gideon, there is a real opportunity for the film to actually make a statement about Ramona Flowers and Manic Pixie Dream Girls in general, but I think that the movie completely drops the ball. At the end, Ramona starts walking away with the anticipation that she's just going to move to a new city and start a new life this time unencumbered by the evil exes of her past. Scott stops her from leaving and Ramona might give the most cringe inducing line of dialogue, because it fully reinforces the stigma of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype. Ramona tells Scott, "I should thank you though...for being the nicest guy I ever dated." Here's the thing. Even if Scott Pilgrim, someone who I thoroughly believe to be a complete asshole, is the nicest guy she ever dated, that's really not saying much. The evil exes that she gives timelines to are often during her high school years. If the evil exes are presented in the order in which Ramona dated them, we don't even get to know anything about numbers 5 and 6, the Katayanagi Twins convinces her that they should give their relationship a fresh start. If you do a Google search on MacGuffin and Scott Pilgrim, I found one review that mentioned in passing that Ramona Flowers might be a MacGuffin. This doesn't bode well for Edgar Wright.

The Danger of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl Archetype

At the end of the day, I believe that Ramona Flowers joins the ranks of Manic Pixie Dream Girls of cinematic history. This history dates all the way back to the character Susan Vance, portrayed by Katharine Hepburn, in Bringing Up Baby (1938). There is a danger to this archetype, like any archetype, as movie characters are two-dimensional images created by writers that bestow whatever backstory they want onto their characters while real-world people are three-dimensional beings with real history and real emotions. At this point, it's up to the male population to stop their obsession with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Being a young woman that finds themselves in the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype shouldn't automatically mean that you have to deal with men using and discarding you just because of the way you dress or the kind of music you like. Women should be free to be whatever they want. It's time for the men of this world to stop being such Scott Pilgrims and instead treat every woman with the respect they deserve.

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Scott Pilgrim vs. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl

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by Matt Zarzyczny I have a confession to make. I used to be Scott Pilgrim. And for the first time, I realized how bad of a thing that really is. Let's back up a little bit. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a film made by Edgar Wright in 2010, and it's based on...

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"Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism and Popular Culture" by Jeffrey A. Brown

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"Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism and Popular Culture" by Jeffrey A. Brown

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Book of essays about the portrayal of women in film and comic books. Particularly interested in Chapter Two at the moment which speaks about the Bad Girl trope of women which massively influenced films and comic books in the 90s - a trope in which women were portrayed to be just as self-assured and skillful as men whilst still being over-sexualised and objectified, "a hysterical mask of femininity" as Brown puts it

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Not really super useful in terms of my essay but a fun example of the different illustration techniques used for male and female characters in comic books. Tumblr page dedicated to drawing male characters in the same poses as female characters to highlight the over-sexualised, deformed and ridiculous way in which women are almost always drawn in comic books

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About THI and FAQ
About The Hawkeye Initiative
Created on December 2nd 2012, The Hawkeye Initiative uses Hawkeye and other male comic characters to illustrate how deformed, hyper-sexualized, and impossibly contorted women are commonly illustrated in comics, books, and video games.

After seeing the origin posts on Tumblr, Skjaldmeyja started the The Hawkeye Initiative as a means to keep track of the artwork that was quickly being created, with the blog's name taken from the tags on Hoursago's post.
FAQ
Why is The Hawkeye Initiative so popular?

Can you please post more/less often?

Unfortunately no. There are a lot of submissions waiting in the queue & inbox; updating daily is the best balance between new media and not overloading peoples' dashboards.

If you prefer to see things more often: Try doing a tag search on Tumblr for The Hawkeye Initiative or Hawkeye Initiative.

If you prefer to see things less often: Consider downloading Tumblr Savior, then blocking "The Hawkeye Initiative" and "Hawkeye Initiative", only going to the blog when you want to see new submissions.

Articles featuring The Hawkeye Initiative:
Do you get hatemail?

Does Jeremy Renner know?

While I can only assume that by now either he's found it or someone has shown it to him, I have never heard or read anything in which he acknowledges it. Which is a bummer, because I would love to hear his thoughts on the matter.

Does Marvel comics know?

While their opinion has yet to be stated, there was this little gem on Facebook's Marvel: Avengers Alliance:

Full story found here.

How do I submit a parody?

You can submit parodies via the "Submit a Parody" button. Please be sure to read through the submissions guidelines!

I submitted my parody DAYS ago and it hasn't posted yet; is everything okay?

Yes. The queue is always full, and with an average of 100-300 posts waiting to be added, it can take some time to see your artwork displayed.

Why Hawkeye and not <-INSERT CHARACTER->?

What is "The Hawkeye Test"?

From Tumblr user Glitchy:
"... This leads me to propose the Hawkeye Test. If your female character can be replaced by Hawkeye in the same pose without looking silly or stupid, then it's acceptable and probably non sexist. If you can't, then just forget about it."
original post here

Is there an article missing from this list? Let us know here, or via thehawkeyeinitiative@gmail.com

The Awesomer * The Hawkeye Initiative

Bleeding Cool
* Monday Runaround - Giving the Hawk Eye
* My Favorite Images from The Hawkeye Initiative - And One of My Own
* DC Universe Presents and The Hawkeye Initiative Cosplay We'd Like to See in 2013

Geekcentric * Females in Fanart: The Hawkeye Initiative Fights Back
* Rutgers Geek Week Nerd Girl Panel to Feature Hawkeye Initiative

* The Hawkeye Initiative Redraws Absurd Superheroine Poses with Hawkeye
* Best of the Week December 1-7
* Hawkeye Initiative Cosplay Lets Guys Show Off Their Rears for a Change

* How to Fix Female Comic Characters: Turn Them All Into Hawkeye
* How the Poster of a Sexy Dude Helped One Game Developer Make a Point

The Mary Sue
* Introducing: The Hawkeye Initiative
* Hawkeye Responds to The Hawkeye Initiative
* The Mary Sue's 10 Most Popular Posts of 2012
* Guys, Someone Cosplayed as The Hawkeye Initiative at Emerald City Comicon
* This Wondercon Cosplay Music Video Features The Hawkeye Initiative
* Things We Saw Today

Matt Fraction
* Have you ever heard of The Hawkeye Initiative?
* I was wondering what's your opinion on The Hawkeye Initiative?

Oh No They * The Hawkeye Initiative Redraws Absurd Superheroine Poses with Hawkeye

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About The Hawkeye Initiative Created on December 2nd 2012, The Hawkeye Initiative uses Hawkeye and other male comic characters to illustrate how deformed, hyper-sexualized, and impossibly contorted women are commonly illustrated in comics, books, and video games.

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Website created in the 90s compiling a list of times were women had been injured, raped, killed etc. as a plot device to move a male characters story arc forward. Definitely an interesting subject I would want to touch on in my essay if possible as it sort of links to Mulveys essay where in she talks about how essentially women are often used in narrative story lines only as something beneficial to men. Women are represented as sexual objects for mens desire or maimed/killed for mens anguish to further their development

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Women in refrigerators is a literary trope coined by Gail Simone in 1999 describing a trend in fiction which involves female characters facing disproportionate harm, such as death, maiming, or assault, to serve as plot devices to motivate male characters, an event colloquially known as " fridging". Simone's original list of over 100 affected female characters, published on the "Women in Refrigerators" website, sparked discussions on sexism in pop culture and the comic-book industry. The trope's influence extends beyond comics, with critiques of its presence in film and television franchises. Notably, author Catherynne M. Valente, inspired by Gwen Stacy's portrayal in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, wrote The Refrigerator Monologues, addressing the trope's impact on female characters in superhero narratives.

The term was coined by comic book fan (and later writer) Gail Simone in 1999, named after an incident in Green Lantern vol. 3 #54 (1994), written by Ron Marz. The story include a scene in which the title hero, Kyle Rayner, comes home to his apartment to find that the villain Major Force had killed Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, and stuffed her into a refrigerator. It describes a trend Simone had recognized in comic book stories where female characters would be killed, maimed, sexually assaulted, depowered, or would experience other "life-derailing tragedies" disproportionately more often than male characters. She also emphasized that while male superheroes typically experience noble deaths or resurrection, the violence against superheroines is most often for shock value and has permanent consequences. It wasn't until later that the violence against women in these stories was recognized as a motivating incident, or plot device, for stories about male characters. The event is colloquially known as "fridging".

Women in Refrigerators website

Simone originally developed a list of over 100 female characters who had been subject to various life-derailing tragedies, publishing it on a website called "Women in Refrigerators". The site was designed by journalist Beau Yarbrough, maintained by Rob Harris and John Norris, and was originally hosted by Jason Yu, who had originally suggested publishing the list online. Simone published email exchanges with respondents on the site. While some respondents found different meanings for the list, Simone maintained, until it was recognized as a motivating incident, that her initial point had always been: "If you demolish most of the characters girls like, then girls won't read comics. That's it!"

In 2000, several national newspapers ran articles that referenced the site, generating discussion on the topic of sexism in pop culture and the comic-book industry. Some universities also list the content of Women in Refrigerators as related to analysis and critique of pop culture.

Creator response

Simone received numerous email responses from comic book fans and professionals, publishing many of them on her website. Notable examples include writer Mark Millar, former DC Entertainment CCO Geoff Johns, and Ron Marz, the author of the incident that gave rise to the trope's name. Marz's reply stated (in part): "To me the real difference is less male-female than main character-supporting character. In most cases, main characters, 'title' characters who support their own books, are male. ... the supporting characters are the ones who suffer the more permanent and shattering tragedies. And a lot of supporting characters are female." He also further explained:

I created her [Alexandra DeWitt] with the intention of having her be murdered at the hands of Major Force. I took a lot of care in building her as a character, because I wanted her to be liked and her death to mean something to the readers. I wanted readers to be horrified at the crime, and to empathize with Kyle's loss. Her death was meant to bring brutal realization to Kyle that being GL [Green Lantern] wasn't fun and games. It was also meant to sever his links with his old life, paving the way for his move to New York. And ultimately I wanted her death to be memorable and illustrate just how truly heinous Major Force was. Thus the fridge.

"Dead Men Defrosting"

In response to fans who argued that male characters are also often killed, content editor John Bartol wrote "Dead Men Defrosting", an article arguing that when male heroes are killed or altered, they are more typically returned to their status quo. According to Bartol's claim, after most female characters are altered they are "never allowed, as male heroes usually are, the chance to return to their original heroic states. And that's where we begin to see the difference".

Site maintainer Harris argued a similar point as Bartol: "Yes, male characters die, as do female characters - but my classic example is Flash and Supergirl, two beloved characters who were both killed off in the Crisis [' Crisis on Infinite Earths' storyline]. But Flash remained 'in continuity,' remembered and revered for his heroic sacrifice even as Wally West took on his mantle; Supergirl was forgotten, and within several months was wiped from continuity completely - no memorials, no flashbacks, no legacy."

Discussing the site in his book Dangerous Curves: Action Heroes, Gender, Fetishism and Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University professor Jeffrey A. Brown noted that while male comic book heroes have tended to die heroically and be magically brought back from the dead afterwards, female characters have been likelier to be casually but irreparably wounded or killed, often in a sexualized fashion. To support his claim, he cited the Joker shattering the original Batgirl's spine just for fun, resulting in her being written as a wheelchair user for over a decade. He also cites the torture and murder of Stephanie Brown by the villain Black Mask.

Outside of the comic book medium, Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios have been criticized for their continued use of the trope in film and television franchises. Namely Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2; Thor's mother, Frigga, in Thor: The Dark World; In 2016's Captain America: Civil War, an elderly Peggy Carter dies offscreen after suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Her death fuels Captain America's actions during the film, though she is later seen again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, when Captain America travels back in time to marry her; Peter Quill's mother in Guardians of the Galaxy; Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War, which was also used as a motivating tragedy for Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Gamora's death and storyline has also been criticized for its problematic suggestion that her abuser, the villain Thanos, cared for her despite his abuse; Natasha Romanoff in Avengers: Endgame; Maria Hill in Secret Invasion; Aunt May in Spider-Man No Way Home; and Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

In the original cut of , Deadpool's girlfriend, Vanessa, was initially killed and used as a plot device to motivate Deadpool. Due to negative fan reactions during test screenings, a new post-credits scene was filmed and added. The scene retcons the character's death by use of time-travel, avoiding the trope, as her death is no longer permanent. Nonetheless, the deaths of Cable's wife and daughter are used as motivating incidents for Cable's story arc during the film.

Brian Tallerico of , when reviewing " The Whole World Is Watching", an episode of the 2021 live-action Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, was critical of the death of Lemar Hoskins, a black person, as an example of racial, rather than sexist, fridging, to further the story arc of John Walker, a white person.

Courtney Enlow, editor at , criticized the death of Kathy Stabler, the wife of detective Elliot Stabler in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as an example of the "tired, sexist" trope.

Christopher Nolan has been criticized for repeatedly using the trope in his films.

During the 2009 DC Comics storyline " Blackest Night", Alexandra DeWitt was one of many deceased characters temporarily brought back to life as part of the Black Lantern Corps. While she appeared briefly, she was seen inside a refrigerator construct at all times.[non-primary source needed ]

The Refrigerator Monologues

Catherynne M. Valente was frustrated with the portrayal of Gwen Stacy's death in 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, inspiring her to write the novel The Refrigerator Monologues, named in part after the "women in refrigerators" trope. She said of the portrayal of the character's death:

[I]t blindsided me in a way that Gwen Stacy taking her dive should never blindside anyone born after 1970, and it was a sucker punch, because more or less the last thing Emma Stone [as Gwen Stacy] does before she quite literally flounces off to meet her doom is snit, "Nobody makes my decisions for me, nobody! This is my choice. Mine." ... [S]omeone chose to give her those words. ... To make those powerful words the punchline to a sad joke about female agency by punishing her for them, by making sure that no matter how modern and independent the new Gwen might seem, everything is just as it has always been. That old, familiar message slides into our brains with the warm familiarity of a father's hug: when women make their own choices, disaster results.

The story chronicles the afterlives of characters who had died as a result of their associations with male superhero characters. The protagonists are parodies of famous characters who have suffered fridging in DC and Marvel comic books.

In December 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that Amazon Studios was developing a television series called Deadtown, an adaptation of the Catherynne M. Valente novel The Refrigerator Monologues. The story centers upon five recently deceased women who meet in a purgatory-like location called Deadtown, where they discover that their entire lives, including their deaths, were merely in service of providing emotional backstory for male superheroes.

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Women in refrigerators is a literary trope coined by Gail Simone in 1999 describing a trend in fiction which involves female characters facing disproportionate harm, such as death, maiming, or assault, to serve as plot devices to motivate male characters, an event colloquially known as " fridging".

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Blog post talking about the notion of the Male Gaze in comic books

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Blog post talking about the notion of the Male Gaze in comic books

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Obviously a blog post so not good for actual essay but discusses important themes and gives good examples with images of the sexualisation and objectification in popular, mainstream comic books --> come back to this for examples ?

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Short video explaining feminist theory in "Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema"

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Short video explaining feminist theory in "Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema"

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Media Studies - Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze / Feminist theory - Simple Guide

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Laura Mulvey - "Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema" Essay --> exploring the male gaze theory

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Laura Mulvey - "Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema" Essay --> exploring the male gaze theory

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Talking about Judith Butlers theories on gender and performativity

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Talking about Judith Butlers theories on gender and performativity

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I think I need to go into more depth with this but its interesting as she talks about how gendered behaviours are not natural and are learned --> interesting in relation to comic books as these are often read at a young age and are heavily gender binaried (?) which can have an effect on the way the audience views women vs men

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Introduction to Judith Butler, Module on Gender and Sex

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Article talking about depictions of women in comic books

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Article talking about depictions of women in comic books

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From Silver, Gold and Onwards: A Look at Sexism in Comic Books. - aAh! Magazine

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Words by Daniel Wilks Comic books have provided an ample base for creative inspiration and freedom, wildly imaginative stories, iconic characters and dazzling storytelling. However, the industry also harbours a seedier history of hideous sexism and misogyny, in which powerful women are crowbarred into secretary roles or even stuffed into fridges.

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My padlet board is not working properly so am just uploading all my images onto this google doc until it works again :((

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Most a are White, with 79.4% of Comic Book Writers belonging to this ethnicity. 7.2% of Comic Book Writers are Hispanic or Latino, 5.8% of Comic Book Writers are Black or African American, 4.0% of Comic Book Writers are Asian, 3.1% of Comic Book Writers are Unknown, and 0.5% of Comic Book Writers are American Indian and Alaska Native

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Comic Book Writer Demographics and Statistics [2023]: Number Of Comic Book Writers In The US

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Most a are White, with 79.4% of Comic Book Writers belonging to this ethnicity.

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"If my enemies knew I had someone special, they wouldn't rest until they had gotten to me through her."

A loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character or move their plot forward.

The term (sometimes referred to as "fridging") was popularized by comic book writer Gail Simone through her website " Women in Refrigerators." On that site, Simone compiled a list of instances of female comic book characters who were killed off as a plot device. It is named for a storyline in Green Lantern: A New Dawn, in which the villain Major Force leaves the corpse of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, literally stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Years later, Major Force repeated the gimmick with Kyle's mother in an oven. (It was just a trick with a mannequin that time, though.)

The term came to be used more broadly, over time, to refer to any character who is targeted by an antagonist who has them killed off, raped and/or otherwise brutalized, incapacitated, depowered, or brainwashed for the sole purpose of affecting another character, motivating them to take action.

"Fridging" is often given a very negative connotation as it is all too often a hallmark of supremely lazy writing - quickly hurting or killing an established character as "cheap anger" for the protagonist, and devaluing the life of that character in the process, instead of giving the villain something actually interesting to do that can involve all three characters and more emotions than simple anger and angst.

It should be noted that while the term most commonly applies to a male character's female love interest, it can actually be used in numerous different scenarios of all genders and different relations from romantic, platonic and familial. The core part is that one character is killed (or at least, has something very bad happen to them) for the sake of causing emotional trauma for the target, with said victim often acting as a plot device more than a real character in the worst-case scenarios.

Not to be confused with being Put on a Bus as a Human Popsicle, or Girl in a Box where a living (usually) unconscious woman is stored inside a literal box. Also not related to Fridge Logic, Fridge Horror, or Fridge Brilliance. Also don't confuse with Locked in a Freezer or It Came from the Fridge. See Body in a Breadbox and Dead Man's Chest for literally storing a dead body in household furniture/appliances.

Collateral Angst: A person is hurt; the focus is on their loved one's reaction.

Cynicism Catalyst: A loved one's death makes the hero a grimmer and more cynical person.

Disposable Woman: A minor female loved one is killed early on to motivate the hero to go do heroic things; she has little relevance afterwards.

Friendly Target: The hero's closest loved ones are most at risk for being targeted.

I Let Gwen Stacy Die: The hero feels responsible for a loved one's death.

The Lost Lenore: A love interest dies prior to the story or very early on, and their death remains relevant to their lover and the story.

Revenge by Proxy: Retaliating against someone by targeting someone close to them.

Targeted to Hurt the Hero: A character who is hurt or killed off to torment another character who cares about them.

You Killed My Father: The hero's family member(s) (usually father) are killed and their deaths are the main reason to getting revenge.

Alternative Title(s): Stuffed In The Fridge, Stuffed In A Fridge

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This trope is under discussion in the Trope Repair Shop. A loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character or move their plot forward. The term (sometimes referred to as "fridging") ...

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Not every woman in comics has been killed, raped, depowered, crippled, turned evil, maimed, tortured, contracted a disease or had other life-derailing tragedies befall her, but given the following list (originally compiled by Gail, with later additions and changes), it's hard to think up exceptions:

All of Savage Dragon's girlfriends (dead)
Alysande Stuart (dead)
Amethyst (blinded, merged with Gemworld, destroyed in LSH; became a power-hungry witch in Book of Fate)
Apparition (one of her three bodies dead, soul bound to boyfriend)
Aquagirl (dead)
Arisia (dead)
Aurora (Multiple Personality Disorder, depowered)
Batgirl I (paralyzed)
Batwoman (dead)
Betty Banner (abused, changed into a harpy, multiple miscarriages, dead)
Mrs. Brian Banner, Bruce's mother (murdered by her abusive husband)
Black Canary I (dead)
Black Canary II (tortured, made infertile, depowered)
Blink (dead)
Bluebird (dead)
Buf from X-Man (crippled)
Candy Southern (dead)
Captain Marvel II/Photon (depowered, ceded code name to a male hero)
Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire (turned into a villain by the Zamarons, possessed by the Predator)
Celsius (insane, dead, called delusional liar)
Christine Helvin of Troublemakers (victim of date rape, discovered she could never have children because she was no longer human)
Courtney Ross (dead)
Crimson Fox (both sisters dead)
Dart (crippled)
Dawn Allen (dead)
Dawnstar (wings cut off, possessed by another persona)
Diamond Lil (kidnapped, experimented on by own government, developed benign breast tumor)
Domino (kidnapped, tortured)
Dove II (dead)
Dr. Midnight of Infinity, Inc. (dead)
Elasti-Girl (only original Doom Patroller to stay dead)
Electrocute (dead)
Elektra (the real one... dead)
Element Girl (dead)
Enchantress of Suicide Squad - originally a heroine (turned evil, insane, depowered?)
Firebelle (dead)
Firestar (powers were sterilizing her)
Frances Kane/Magenta (stalker complex)
Fury II (child kidnapped, husband killed twice, insane)
Gwen Stacy (dead)
Hawkwoman (depowered)
Hellcat (dead)
Huntress I (dead)
Huntress II (sexually abused)
Ice (dead)
Illyana Rasputin (kidnapped and raised by demons, aged, de-aged, dead)
Invisible Woman (miscarriage of second child)
Jade (lost natural powers)
Jarella (dead)
Jean DeWolff (dead)
Jean Loring Palmer ("nervous breakdown")
Jet of New Guardians (died in battle after contracting HIV)
Jocasta (deactivated - more than once)
Karen Page (addicted to drugs, made porn films, infected with HIV, dead)
Katma Tui (dead)
Kinetix (depowered twice, catatonic)
Kole (dead)
Lady Flash (evil, dead)
Lady Quark (dead)
Laurel Gand (dead)
Laurel Kent (revealed to be an evil robot, dead)
Linda Park (kidnapped, removed from history)
Looker (now a vampire)
Madelyn Pryor (clone, brood mare, demon queen, dead, brought back)
Mantis (child taken away, dead)
Marlo Chandler -- Rick Jones' wife (former prostitute, killed and brought back mindless; got better)
Marrina (insane, dead)
Mentalla of LSH (dead)
Mera (insane, child murdered)
Mirage of Team Titans (impregnated by rape)
Mockingbird (abducted and mind-manipulated into a relationship, dead)
Moira MacTaggert (diseased)
Ms. Marvel I/Warbird (mind-controlled, impregnated by rape, powers and memories stolen, cosmic-powered then depowered, alcoholic - SHEESH!)
Ms. Marvel II (became a monster in Fantastic Four, de-monstered but enslaved by Dr. Doom, depowered)
Mystek of JLTF (dead)
Namorita (revealed to be a clone, reverted to a more primal Atlantean form)
Negative Woman (depowered)
Nightshade (depowered)
Nightwind (dead)
Nova II/Frankie Raye (dead)
Phoenix I (evil-dead-who knows)
Power Girl (depowered, magically impregnated, made vulnerable to unprocessed natural materials... like sharp sticks)
Psylocke (eyes removed, eviscerated, depowered, mind-swapped)
Rachel Summers/Phoenix II (lobotomized)
Raven (sometimes evil, sometimes dead)
Red Guardian II (kidnapped and brainwashed into the love-slave of a super-villain)
Redwing of Team Titans (dead)
Revanche (dead)
Rogue (just plain messed up)
Roulette (dead)
Scarlet Witch (children 'die'/vanish/are lost because they are figments of her imagination)
Serpentine
Shrinking Violet (lost a leg in Giffen's Legion)
Shvaughn Erin (turned into a man)
Silver Sorceress (dead)
Snowbird (child and husband murdered, insane, dead)
Spider-Woman I (dead for a while, depowered)
Starfire (raped, tortured, enslaved; forced into marriage... twice)
Storm (depowered, repowered, periodically crazy to one degree or another)
Supergirl, pre-Crisis (dead)
Supergirl, PAD version (lost her invisibility and most of her shapeshifting)
SW6 Projectra (dead)
Tarot (dead, brought back w/life bound to an evil man)
Threnody (dead)
Tigra (devolved into cat-thing)
Triplicate Girl (one body killed, one presumed dead but revealed to be Glorith's pawn)
Wildcat II (dead)
Wolfsbane (locked in werewolf form for awhile, needs major therapy)
Wonder Girl I/Troia/Darkstar (identity and powers stripped from her multiple times)
Wonder Woman (killed, revived, but lost goddess powers)
Zatanna (powers severely limited)

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Not every woman in comics has been killed, raped, depowered, crippled, turned evil, maimed, tortured, contracted a disease or had other life-derailing tragedies befall her, but given the following list (originally compiled by Gail, with later additions and changes), it's hard to think up exceptions: All of Savage Dragon's girlfriends

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Explaining history of the fridging trope

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Explaining history of the fridging trope

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some good examples of fridging i could use as case studies in my essay
- identity crisis comic book in which elongated mans wife is raped and murdered for shock value

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Pop Culture's History Of Fridging Female Characters, Explained

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The term Women In Refrigerators has been part of the critical vocabulary of pop culture for nearly two decades now, but if you're not too familiar with comic book discourse, you'd be forgiven for having never heard of it until recently.

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Review of a book talking about rape culture in media - I CANT FIND THE ACTUAL BOOK ANYWHERE ONLINE :((

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Review of a book talking about rape culture in media - I CANT FIND THE ACTUAL BOOK ANYWHERE ONLINE :((

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- interesting to talk about in first paragraph maybe and how over-sexualisation and objectification of women in comic books contributes to rape culture

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Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Book Reviews

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Beyond Blurred Lines: Rape Culture In Popular Media - Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Book Reviews

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Author: Nickie D. Phillips
Publisher: Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. 306p.
Reviewer: Elizabeth Twitty | March 2020

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I found this essay today (second of Feb) and it essentially covers everything i want to cover in my essay

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A handsome intelligence officer of the United States Army, Colonel Steve Trevor, crashes his plane on "Paradise Island" (an island full of Amazon women, what else would it be called, right?). Trevor is found by a beautiful Amazon Princess named Diana, who nurses him and subsequently falls in Love with him. When she learns about the war against the Nazis, she dons a costume of America's red, white, and blue, and departs for the "Man's World." She is Wonder Woman - "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, stronger than Hercules, and swifter than Mercury". She can fly like Superman, she can hurl heavy objects like the Hulk, and if you really make her mad, she'll crack out her golden lasso and tie you up (especially if you're male).

At first glance, she may look like an empowered, kick-butt, feminist super-heroine amidst a realm dominated by male super-heros. But is Wonder Woman really empowered? Is she really the icon of feminism in graphic novels? Is her message really all about defending sisterhood, freedom, and democracy?

1. The Damsel in Distress

Originally, women played a very small role in comic books. In the late 1930's, super powered heroes like Superman and Captain Marvel dominated the stage while women scarcely made any presence. Specifically, they were depicted as dependent and "damsels in distress" - victims that needed to be rescued by the male protagonist; a prize that needed to be won by either the male villain or hero. For example, in the first issue of Superman, news reporter and future love interest, Lois Lane, is kidnapped by criminals and eventually rescued by Superman. No relationship gets developed and nothing else is learned about who Lois is - Superman simply saves her, flies her to safety, and then flies away. Women were also portrayed as the "girl-Friday...seductive vamp, or perhaps, the long-suffering girlfriend" (Lavin, 1998). The stereotypical gender roles were quite obvious: men alone are capable of succeeding independently and being courageous, while women are subordinate figures in the background. These early attitudes towards women in comic books are implicative of common gender role stereotypes where women are thought to be less intelligent than men and only have a place in the house as a caretaker and/or source of emotional support. As New York cartoonist Jules Feiffer states, "the ideal of masculine strength, whether Gary Cooper's, Lil Abner's, or Superman's, was for one to be so virile and handsome, to be in such a position of strength, that he need never go near girls. Except to help them."

2. Women as Sex Objects

The role of women changed dramatically during World War II when patriotic characters emerged and surprisingly attracted the interest of new readers, who were both males and females. Arguably, the most noteworthy character was Wonder Woman. As mentioned above, she possesses enormous super-human strength, has the ability to fly, and can overcome any obstacle that comes in her way. . Even more interesting is how her love interest, Colonel Trevor, is constantly being rescued by her, as if he is the male version of the aforementioned Lois Lane. Rather than the male rescuing the female all the time, it is reversed in the Wonder Woman comics. In the following years, other strong and super heroine characters surfaced like Miss America - the female version of Captain America - Mary Marvel, Super Girl, She-Hulk, and many others. They carried the symbolic message that "girls could do anything boys could do, and often better, especially if they stuck together" (Robbins, 2002).

However, despite these new portrayals of strong and powerful female characters like Wonder Woman, something else was occurring: they were being depicted as sex objects. As stated by Michael Lavin, "powerful super-heroines like DC's Wonder Woman or Marvel's She-Hulk may easily overcome the most overwhelming threats and obstacles, but they are invariably depicted as alluring objects of desire, wearing the scantiest of costumes." The images of women with large bust sizes, slim figure, bare legs, and half-naked appearance became enormously popular after the success of Wonder Woman. Believe it or not, comic books were filled with so many sexual images of women that they were known as "headlight comic books" - a crude and stereotypical reference to the female anatomy. Comic book historian Ron Goulart writes: "In the days before the advent of Playboy and Penthouse, comic books offered one way to girl watch" (1986). A prime example of "headlight comics" was in Bill Ward's "Torchy," a series that ran from 1946 to 1950. The comic books contained dull and uninteresting storylines where the scriptwriters were merely making an excuse to draw Torchy as a tall, bare legged blond, who walked around in her underwear.

The escalating amount of sex and violence in comic books eventually led to complaints, particularly by psychologist Fredric Wertham who held a symposium in 1948 on the "Psychopathology of Comic Books." He also wrote a book, Seduction of the Innocent, which correlated a connection between "juvenile delinquency and comic book reading" (Lavin, 1998). As a result, the Comics Code Authority established a written code which set the guidelines for comic book publishing. During this time, the comic book industry took a remarkable new turn where the constant objectification of women was seized. But this period where comic books were geared more towards girls and teenagers wouldn't last long. Superheroes reemerged in the late 1960's, along with their scantily-clad super-heroines and damsels in distress. Women were drawn in the same stereotypical fashion, but this time, the artists took it one step further on the skimpy scale. Consider the White Queen, a female villain that appeared in the X-Men comics during the 1980's. She was "the stuff of male sexual fantasy: a push-up bustier, panties, and high-heel boots, all in white" (Lavin, 1998). Observe the image below and judge for yourself:

Today, women are becoming more and more sexualized. As described by Jones and Jacobs (2005): "Females, perpetually bending over, arching their backs, and heaving their anti-gravity breasts into readers' faces, defied all laws of physics... the Victoria's Secret catalogue became the Bible of every super-hero artist, an endless source of stilted poses ripe for swiping by boys who wanted their fantasies of women far removed from any human reality."

One study conducted by Jessica H. Zellers shows an examination of how women are depicted in eighteen graphic novels. She finds that "of the suggestively clad, partially clad, or naked individuals, about three times as many were women (296) than men (107)." From the graphic novel sample where there were 1,768 male characters and 786 female characters, only 6% of all males were suggestively clad, partially clad, or naked; while of all the females, 38% were suggestively clad, partially clad, or naked. Additionally, of all males, 2% were naked, while of all females, 24% were naked. Zellers writes: "It is incredible that almost one out of every four females was, at some point, depicted in the nude" (2005).

3. Exploitation and Sexism

While some comic book artists argue that drawing women voluptuously and provocatively is a symbol of their strength and power, there are other points that can be emphasized upon to argue that women are being exploited. Consider the creator of Wonder Woman: a psychologist named William Moulton Marston (pen name: "Charles Moulton") who also invented the lie detector. Revealing Marston's intentions and goals on the character of Wonder Woman sheds light upon new attitudes towards women in the world of graphic novels. The fact that Wonder Woman comes from a matriarchal "Paradise Island" is enough to indicate male fantasy, but Marston also states, "give [men] an alluring woman stronger than themselves to submit to, and they'll be proud to become her willing slaves." Though Wonder Woman is not subordinate or weaker than her surrounding male characters in terms of strength and powers, she is being exoticized and idolized by her male creator. Her weapon is a golden lasso, which critics have called an erotic symbol of sexual control since she uses it to make her adversaries obey her commands. Marston has been criticized for his bonding fixations - a recurring theme of Wonder Women tying up both men and women. It was so prevalent that the editor of DC comics, Sheldon Mayer, was so uncomfortable with it and tried to tone it down (but was unsuccessful). In one 1948 story of Wonder Woman, there are no fewer than 75 panels of Wonder Woman tying up men or women in ropes.

One may also find sexist undertones in how many other female characters have abilities and superpowers ranging from being skilled in mundane arts like gymnastics and mind control (Maher, 2005). Female characters like Madame Mirage, White Queen, and Malice have the ability to use mind control to manipulate their opponents, mostly men! White Queen specifically uses her powers of mind control to manipulate and deceive men in order to gain wealth and power (Lavin, 1998). Yes, typical woman! The voluptuous Catwoman uses her beauty to manipulate Batman, Poison Ivy uses her seductive and deadly love potions to gain what she wants, and Malice is able to control the emotional centers of the brain. Hmm, what's next? A female character that marries a rich old man only to have him killed off just to inherit the wealth and property? Wait, they already have a character like that: White Rabbit from the Spider-man comics!

What significance does Elektra's "Electra Complex" serve?

Ah, Frank Miller. The comic book writer/artist who is notoriously known for his racist (see "300″) and sexist undertones. The hatred for women in his comic books are too obvious to be missed. Elektra (pictured above), for example, is a troubled female Assassin and anti-heroine. Miller named her after the Greek mythological character of the same name. Like the myth, Elektra's character develops a sexual attraction to her father (which is the symptom of the "Electra Complex" in psychology). Early in her life, her Elektra complex is strengthened when her father rapes her, but then she is told that it never really happened. "It was only a fantasy... and she wanted it to happen. Her belief in her desire for the father grows, but her father dies before she can resolve the Electra complex" (Baughman, 1990). Frank Miller has also subjected other female characters to subordinate positions, such as Ava Lord in his series "Sin City." Ava Lord says to a male character: "You're right about me! I'm nothing but a selfish slut who threw away the only man she ever loved . . . I'm such a fool. Such a selfish stupid slut" (Maher, 2005). Another character he sexualizes incredibly is Vicki Vale in his new Batman All-Stars graphic novels. She is drawn in her pink bras and panties while thinking about her upcoming date with Bruce Wayne (aka Batman). On one panel, she is sucking her finger while showing her entire figure, and on the bottom panel, there is a shameless close-up of her buttocks. Below is an image from the comic book; the caption is from Frank Miller's script for artist Jim Lee. It speaks for itself:

As analyzed by a feminist comic book reader, Vicki Vale's character is there to "reassure the readership of their hetereo-masculinity." She is quintessentially "watched by male watchers: the writer/director (Frank), his artist, and the presumed male audience that buys the book" ( Finally, A Feminism Blog, 2006, para 7).

4. The Male Gaze

One could argue that what is in work here is the concept of the "male gaze". This feminist theory was first introduced in the essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" by film theorist Laura Mulvey in 1975. Male gaze is described as "the concept of the gaze as a symptom of power asymmetry". A defining characteristic of male gaze was how the heterosexual male lets the camera "linger on the curves of the female body". The male gaze "denies women agency, relegating them to the status of objects." When applied to comic books, what we see presented is through the gaze of the male. The women are presented as men would want to see them. These same images are presented to women as something they should aspire to be if they want to be with a man. In other words, the power and control that characters like Wonder Woman have may be perceived as a woman's control or power over a man, but it is in fact fake control. The male writers can take it away at will. Consider the following "adjustments" made by male writers on the storylines of female characters: "Batwoman is killed, Batgirl is paralysed, Mirage is raped, while Black Canary is tortured, made infertile, and de-powered!" (Maher, 2005). In other words, femininity has no control at all, as long as male writers and artists persist with these depictions and attitudes.

I found countless images of female characters in extremely provocative poses; bending over, arching their heads back, tossing their hair, fighting in the rain, etc. Even the popular characters like Wonder Woman, Storm, Super-Girl, and Jean Grey were not spared. This image of Wonder Woman in her traditional Amazon attire, for example, is especially crude and repulsive:
Example of the "Male Gaze"

What is the Future for Women in Comic Books?

The comic book industry is by far a male dominated industry. Just go to a comic book convention where fans are "treated to the sight of several scantily clad professional models dressed in the costumes of popular comic book babes. These models are hired by the comics companies to promote the publisher's wares. For a small fee, any fan can immortalize the fantasy by having his picture taken with one of the role-playing women" (Lavin, 1998).

This is not to say that there are no female comic book readers - there certainly are - but one may argue that as sexualization of women continues, the rate of female readers will decrease significantly. According to Trina Robbins, a female comic book artist, "Women just don't go into comic-book stores... A woman gets as far as the door, and after the cardboard life-size cut-out of a babe with giant breasts in a little thong bikini and spike-heel boots, the next thing that hits her is the smell. It smells like unwashed teenage boys, and it has this real porn-store atmosphere." Just by looking at the covers of comic books like Wonder Woman or Catwoman today, it seems like the artists and writers are more concerned with how the characters are depicted than with storyline.

Look at films like "Batman Begins," "X-Men," "Superman Returns," and the "Spider-man" films. They are all not only successful, but critically acclaimed as well. Is there a Wonder Woman film? There have been two films in the past five years with a female protagonist: "Catwoman" and "Elektra". But these films bombed in the box-office. They're so bad that they're laughable. They're not taken seriously like the aforementioned comic book movies. They were just poor excuses to get Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner to dress in tight and skimpy costumes.

And even if there was a Wonder Woman movie, is she really a complex and three-dimensional character like Batman or Spider-Man? Spider-Man, for example, is filled with so much depth - in the first film, we see him as a nerdy high school student who gets picked on by bullies, in the second film, we see him conflicted with keeping a job, paying his rent on time, and most importantly: he is torn between his obligation of being Spider-Man and his love for Mary Jane Watson. Should he give up being a super-hero and live a normal life where he can be with Mary Jane? These kind of challenges, dilemmas, and choices are what make characters like Spider-Man so interesting and three-dimensional. How can young girls relate to Wonder Woman? She is an exotic beauty from the land of the Amazons. She is more of a mythological Greek goddess than a human being. Where are her character flaws? What are her dilemmas and inner struggles? Besides, do we really want young girls to have Wonder Woman shirts or backpacks after we've learned that she is a product of a male fantasy?

The X-Men include powerful female characters who can move things with their minds, control the weather, and run through walls, among other things, but the male characters are at the center of the stage. Also, let's look at characters like Super Girl, Bat Girl, and Spider Girl. What do they all have in common? They would not have existed if it were not for the original male characters. Superman tells Super Girl that he will take care over her like a "big brother," but if Super Girl is the cousin of Superman, then why in the world would she need to be looked after? This is an example of how male dependency is prevalent in comic books, both implicitly and explicitly.

As I said earlier, the sexist undertones and stereotypical images are getting worse and increasingly sleazier. Graphic novels have a unique blend of complex narratives and visual art which is what makes it a very popular and appealing form of art, but stereotypes about women are being reinforced - stereotypes about the "ideal" feminine body image: large breasts, thin waists, toned buttocks, long legs. These stereotypes are misleading because they are setting a standard for beauty in women, and now that superhero characters are being portrayed in Hollywood films, more readers are being attracted to graphic novels.

We need new interpretations of female comic book characters; just like how their wardrobes have been reinterpreted in the X-Men films directed by Bryan Singer. Instead of wearing tight leather or spandex, the characters are wearing less provocative clothing (see Anna Paquin's Rogue). Elektra's character and her Elektra complex was removed; Catwoman was once a prostitute, but that was changed - and for the better. More realistic, three dimensional, and complex female characters are desperately needed; characters that can we can relate to and we can learn from.

Some admirable efforts include comic book writer Chris Claremont, who introduced "a string of independent, strong-willed, and generally admirable heroines" in the mid 70's (Lavin, 1998). 14-year old Kitty Pryde (or "Shadowcat") of the X-Men was an excellent example of a realistic, complex, and 3-dimensional female character. She is a teenager who suffers from anxiety, peer pressure, loneliness, and she has a longing to be treated as an adult. Instead of being drawn as an exotic, large breasted, and bare legged Amazon like Wonder Woman, she is drawn "slim, coltish, and flat-chested." Another positive female character is also from the X-Men: Jubilee.

More female writers and artists are needed to help make this medium a stronger and meaningful form of storytelling. At the same time, the male writers and artists need to stop objectifying women! Otherwise, if images of women in comic books persist in sexualization, then the great storylines will fade away, just like it did in the late 1940's during the "headlight comic books."
Jehanzeb is a film student who writes about Islam, Feminism, Politics, and Media. This piece was originally published on his blog.
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The Objectification of Women in Comic Books - Fantasy Magazine

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A handsome intelligence officer of the United States Army, Colonel Steve Trevor, crashes his plane on "Paradise Island" (an island full of Amazon women, what else would it be called, right?). Trevor is found by a beautiful Amazon Princess named Diana, who nurses him and subsequently falls in Love with him.

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Quotes from this article useful for essay

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Quotes from this article useful for essay

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- As described by Jones and Jacobs (2005): “Females, perpetually bending over, arching their backs, and heaving their anti-gravity breasts into readers’ faces, defied all laws of physics… the Victoria’s Secret catalogue became the Bible of every super-hero artist, an endless source of stilted poses ripe for swiping by boys who wanted their fantasies of women far removed from any human reality.”
- Michael Lavin, “powerful super-heroines like DC’s Wonder Woman or Marvel’s She-Hulk may easily overcome the most overwhelming threats and obstacles, but they are invariably depicted as alluring objects of desire, wearing the scantiest of costumes.
- One study conducted by Jessica H. Zellers shows an examination of how women are depicted in eighteen graphic novels. She finds that “of the suggestively clad, partially clad, or naked individuals, about three times as many were women (296) than men (107).” From the graphic novel sample where there were 1,768 male characters and 786 female characters, only 6% of all males were suggestively clad, partially clad, or naked; while of all the females, 38% were suggestively clad, partially clad, or naked. Additionally, of all males, 2% were naked, while of all females, 24% were naked. Zellers writes: “It is incredible that almost one out of every four females was, at some point, depicted in the nude” (2005).

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Article talking about gender violence in comic books

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Article talking about gender violence in comic books

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The other morning I was chatting with my friend and colleague here at AAUW, Alli, about a recent posting she read on Feministing about female comic book and graphic novel characters. While some argue that strides are being made for better representation of women in this particular medium, many comics and graphic novels still lag behind.

The Feministing post highlighted Power Girl, a female superhero with powers that rival Superman's and an alter ego who works as a female CEO. While this all sounds well and good, comments on the post discussed other issues such as the extreme sexualization of the character.

Alli pointed out that the author makes an interesting note at the beginning of her post about the "women in refrigerators" syndrome, which refers to the de-powering of female superheroes. Generally speaking, when a female character loses her powers or is injured or attacked, she is less likely to bounce back. Being a Batman comic fan, I thought of Barbara Gordon: After being paralyzed from the waist down, she gives up going out on the streets to fight crime as Batgirl and takes up the role of Oracle instead (whereas in Knightfall, Batman recovers from a broken back and continues fighting crime as Batman).

But how does this all relate to gender violence, specifically? An image that comes immediately to my mind is the attempted rape scene in Watchmen. (It is present in both the graphic novel and the movie, but I'll just discuss the graphic novel depiction here.) While the sequence does not glamorize rape, it does contain victim-blaming language. The Comedian (a.k.a. the perpetrator) justifies his attack by saying, "C'mon, baby. I know what you need. You gotta have some reason for wearin' an outfit like this, huh?" Of course, he is referring to the Silk Spectre's revealing costume.

Another member of the superhero group walks in after the Silk Spectre has been beaten to the ground and stops the attack. Even though he helps her out, he says to her as she's bleeding on the floor, "Get up ... and, for God's sake, cover yourself." This solidifies the victim-blaming justification used earlier and reinforces the notion that, even though she's a crime fighter, she can still be degraded, overpowered, and controlled by men. Even though she is strong, her power as a superhero - and as a woman - is taken away.

What do these depictions of female superheroes and comic book characters say about our society? How do they influence how the audience perceives women in real life? Even if these women are powerful in fighting crime and in their personal lives, they are objectified. Even when they are a contributing member of the team, they are sexually violated and abused. When there's room for so much growth and better representation for women in this medium, why are these recurring themes and plot devices still prevalent? Perhaps the answer is that with all the sexual violence that exists across the globe, these themes just mirror real life.

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Gender Violence: A Look at Female Comic Book Characters

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The other morning I was chatting with my friend and colleague here at AAUW, Alli, about a recent posting she read on Feministing about female comic book and graphic novel characters. While some argue that strides are being made for better representation of women in this particular medium, many comics and graphic novels still lag behind.

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Women in Comic Books by Michael, A. Lavin

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Women in Comic Books by Michael, A. Lavin

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- try and find a pdf online of this as it explores what i want to speak about in my essay and contains good quotes and examples