Enculturation - check

[scarfman]

I've been reading the blog Girls Read Comics (And They're Pissed) after encountering a link on a flist of my flist (hi, athelind). That introductory link was specifically to Healey's Not Feminism 101 essay which, if I may oversimplify, says, "We get that you don't mean to be sexist. Now shut up and listen if you want to stop." I became a regular reader of the column and of its message board and of some of the other message boards at Girl-Wonder.org so, basically, I can read the criticisms and ask myself, "Do I do that?", and keep myself honest with my own female characters.

One of the yardsticks which I didn't live up to appears to have originated with Alice Bechdel in this Dykes To Watch Out For strip: Are there two or more female characters? Do they talk to each other? About something else than a man?

In just over 800 AKOTAS there are maybe a dozen strips with a panel or more of two female major characters talking. Most are Morgan and Morgause talking about the man they want to overthrow. A few are Guenevere and Morgan, when they both served on the Excalibur, talking about the man they both had their eye on. One is Guenevere and Morgan, after Morgan left the Excalibur, trying to kill each other. I flunked that one.

On the other hand, I grok the principle, at least when I see others in violation. I remember seeing Episode I action figures at Wal-Mart before the film had actually premiered. I saw action figures for Princess Amidala and for Padme, and I thought to myself, "Wow, a Star Wars film with more'n one female speaking part." Then, of course, I saw the film.
Once I repeated this story in some internet forum and some fanboy replied, "There's Aunt Beru in Episode IV." If you were thinking that, please don't embarrass yourself here.

Comments

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

I've seen that site before, it's very "food-for-thought"-ish.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

You've SORT of got an out, in that you're working with a long-established cast with relationships that are almost as well-established.

Despite that, however, you've somehow managed to avoid one of the OTHER primary criticisms the Feminist Comics Blogosphere has about the treatment of women in comics: that all too often, the role of the women in the story is strictly to provide plot complications and character developments for the male protagonists.

If there was ever a character who was the poster child, it was Queen Guenevere, as portrayed in nearly every version of Arthur's story that I've seen.

In AKOTAS, on the other claw, you've made her a character on an equal footing with Arthur and Launcelot -- it's as much her story as Arthur's.

GUENEVERE.

If I hadn't seen it daily for over a year now, I wouldn't have believed it possible.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

The 'two or more female characters' rule may just be because the character saying it is a lesbian, and she likes movies where a female character isn't restricted to men for potential partners.

That said, it can be a bit like tokenism when there's only one woman on the cast, and it's obvious that the writer only put one there because he can't come up with two different female personalities. You know he's thinking of them as OMG!women first, and people or characters second.

There's nothing wrong with a lone woman, as long as she's a character in her own right, just like the men, with interests and skills and foibles that say more about her than just how she relates to men. I think you've done a good job with Guenevere on that count.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Ha, and I wrote that before I read athelind's comment. :P

[pedanther]

What about Mon Mothma, then? I don't recall if she and Leia actually converse on screen, but they do at least appear in the same room as each other at least once.

I've known about the Girls Read Comics blog for a while, but I've never managed to read it in any more than small doses, because it makes me angry and depressed and there's nothing I can do about it anyway. (I live so far off the comic-book distribution beaten track that I can't even contribute as a Potential Reader; I would gladly boycott All-Star Batman, but there's nobody around here from whom I can make a point of not buying it.)