More Than Cute
More Than Cute
Secret identity of a father raising two super-heroic young girls
We’ve always been big fans of the How It Should Have Ended videos, which often point out critical flaws in otherwise enjoyable films, and are generally a hoot. We’re still giddy over the implications of the Age of Ultron trailer, and we found the How It Should Have Ended version pretty darn funny.
While you are waiting for that all-female version of Ghostbusters to arrive, we found just the thing to tide you over.
Massachusetts filmmakers Emily Silva, Isaac Dreeben, Lizzy Embick, Mia Ventola, Sidney St. Ives, Taryn Osborne made a shot-for-shot, gender-flipped remake of the original Ghostbusters trailer as part of the free after-school arts program Real to Reel.
“I can’t say that we were thinking so much about gender; it just happened organically that the girls wanted to be the Ghostbusters, and this kid Jack wanted to be Janine the receptionist,” program director Chris Gaines told Yahoo! Movies. “And why not, right? They never once were like, ‘Well, I think that character should be played by a boy.’ Which I think speaks a lot to this younger generation: they just don’t see things like that.”
You can watch a side-by-side comparison to the original here.
Stephen Colbert had author Jill Lepore on last night to discuss her book The Secret History of Wonder Woman. An excerpt of the book ran in the New Yorker a month ago, and it was marvelous. The book immediately shot to the top of my birthday wish list.
Definitely not for kids, but a must read for anyone interested in the history of feminism, superheroes or (like me) both.
Our good friends over at Wear Your Superheroes are having their first ever Halloween costume contest and everyone can (and should) enter! From their website:
We are pleased to announce the 2014 Wear Your Superheroes Halloween Costume Contest, which we hope will be the first of many!
To participate, simply post a picture of yourself (or your child) in your superhero-themed costume to the Wear Your Superheroes Facebook page, along with the hashtag #WYSCostumeContest in the description, between Friday, October 31 and Friday, November 7, 2014.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, there will be prizes!
- The “People’s Choice” prize, a $50 code for merchandise at Zazzle.com, will go to the person whose photo receives the most Likes between October 31 and November 7.
- The “Best Children’s Costume” prize, a free Super Blanky™ from SuperBlanky.com, will be awarded for the child’s costume (for a child 12 or under) that we select for being the most creative and well executed.
- In addition, we will be giving away three gift certificate prizes to the top entries in our “Best Local Costume” category, which is for people in the Greater Cincinnati area. Anyone who wants to participate in the local contest should also use the hashtag #WYSCincy and must be a resident of Ohio, Kentucky, or Indiana. The first-place winner will receive a $25 gift certificate for Arcadian Comics & Games in Newport, KY, and the second- and third-place winners will each receive a $10 gift certificate for Arcadian.
Get all the details on the Wear Your Superheroes website, then get over to the Wear Your Superheroes Facebook page and enter the contest! Good luck everyone!
Our good friends at Women You Should Know put together this nice little interview with political cartoonist/illustrator David Trumble who partnered with Dr. Rebecca Hains, the author of the book The Princess Problem.
“I figured if I could sum up what was wrong with the face of girls’ marketing today in one succinctly satirized image, it might make it easier for us to admit how we fail. And sometimes the best way to reveal something is to provide a fresh look at what’s already right in front of our eyes.
…
The Princess Problem is certainly a complex issue, but thankfully we don’t have to look too far to see it; It’s right in front of us on every shelf, emblazoned in sparkly, hermetically sealed, perfect pink packaging. A litany of stereotypes defining the standards of how girls are supposed to look and behave, with a startling lack of racial diversity to boot. And we can’t look away, because it’s the whole aisle.
–David Trumble
Mixing illustration, photography and ideas, Trumble created a striking image that manages to convey The Princess Problem in a single glance.
Read all of Women You Should Know’s exclusive interview with Trumble here.
Marvel Studios launched "Phase 3" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe today at a special event at the El Capitan theater in Los Angeles. Even guest appearances by Avengers architect Joss…
We went to the local Halloween superstore for some supplies. While we were browsing, my wife Patti noticed they had a “Boys Career” section, complete with doctor, fireman and astronaut costumes.
We thought it would be interesting to compare the boys’ choices with the choices the girls were given in their career section. Would the girls get equivalent options? Or would they be offered nurse, secretary and cheerleader instead?
The good news is that I was wrong. The girls were not saddled with nurses and secretaries as their only career paths. The bad news is there was no “Girls Career” section at all. None.
They did, however, have an entire section – I am not making this up – labeled “Flutter Fairy”. This was separate from the regular fairy section. I’m guessing because there is more “fluttering” involved.
What message does that send to girls about who their heroes are? About whom they should aspire to be?
Looking more carefully at the costumes, we compared the “Boys Fright” section the “Girls Fright” section. The boys were given some truly terrifying options. Freddy Krueger, Jason, Bloody Skeleton, and more.
Over on the girls’ side, there was literally nothing that was legitimately scary. From “Feisty Fairy” to a tutu-clad “Zomberina”, real terror was in short supply.
I mentioned it to Patti, “None of these costumes are scary in any real way. They all are cute.”
A passing employee chimed in, “Most of the scary costumes involve a mask. Girls don’t like to cover their face.” She added helpfully, “They want people to see them.”
The superheroes aisle was not much better. Spider-Girl wore a tutu and had a “princess wand”. Batgirl was clad in head to toe HOT PINK. There were dozens of choices to help a girl look cute. But what if she wants to look tough? What if she wants to look scary? What if she wants to look professional?
It was easy for me to draw a line in my mind connecting row after row of costumes that tell little girls that the only thing that is important is that they look “cute” to the row after row of costumes that tell young women that the only way society values them is if they look “sexy”.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love the spookiness, the costumes and the creativity. I’ve dressed up in everything from silly, to creative, to scary. Hell, if I could pull off sexy, I might go for that, too – but I really appreciate the fact that when I go to the store, I have other choices.
I hope that someday my girls will be able to say the same.
Four days ago, we asked you to post photos of yourself in your best heroic garb with the hashtag #iamaheroicgirl to show that superheroes are for girls and women, too.…
Janelle Asselin has written a brilliant and heart-felt essay on the lack of quality comics for kids in general (and girls in particular) for Comics Alliance. It illustrates beautifully some of the reasons that we created Heroic Girls in the first place. From the piece:
Comic readers are often annoyed by the outdated assertion, “but comic books are for kids!” As those of us within this culture know, comics today are usually made for and marketed to adults, especially single issues and superhero comics. However, comics, as a medium, should and can serve a vast variety of demographics. Publishers simply need to be ready to create the books that readers will read.
Most comic readers can point to some great comics for kids, including Smile, Bone, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and Adventure Time – but for many parents and young readers, there is a huge void in the comics that exist today. There are very few high-quality, positive, superhero comics for kids.
The majority of superhero comics on the stands today are not exactly kid-friendly. Whether it’s the amount of violence or the complexity of the storytelling, the superhero comics that make up the majority of the direct market’s business aren’t the kind of stories that are okay to hand to a child younger than his or her teens.
But even beyond the need for stories that are accessible for kids and less dark and violent than adult comics, there’s a definite lack of superhero stories for any age that focus on positivity and the joy of being a hero. To digress into my own very specific kind of nerdity for a moment, as a kid I was obsessed with books like Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables. The characters in these books faced real challenges, like the loss of parents and homes, but the general tone was positive and encouraging.
It was my love for strong, upbeat, outspoken heroines that led me to comics, but today I feel like there’s a dearth of comics featuring that kind of character (though not a complete lack, thankfully) and if I had to travel back in time with a comic to hand my younger self, I would have nothing. At least, that is, nothing with capes in it.
Asselin talks to comics creators, editors and shops and paints a picture of a community that recognizes there is a problem, but is fighting against tough market forces and callous executives whenever they attempt positive change.
Read the entire article on Comics Alliance: Sidekicked: How Superhero Publishers Are Failing Kids
One of the hardest things about reading comics is knowing where to start. Comics shops carry hundreds of titles and get dozens of issues in every week on new comic-book…
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