Lighten Up, Val
I don't know why I do this to myself. But every once in a while I still wander over to Valerie D'Orazio's blog, Occasional Superheroine, and take a peek. I'm not much of a fan of Valerie's, so if you happen to be, you should probably not continue reading this.
Anyhoo. On Thursday, March 11ths entry, this is what she had posted.
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YOUR SUPERHEROINE FAIL OF THE DAY
Whose responsible this?
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Well... I don't know Who Is Responsible For This, Val. I'm not a professional writer for one thing, but I do occasionally have a grasp of grammar. (Watch, now I'll misspell everything else I write)
It seems to me, to be a very lovely picture of Superman kissing Lois Lane, as porrayed by the magnificent pencil of Frank Quitely. It is also part of an ad for toothpaste apparently. This week's books had Maxima being smooched by Mr. Awesome or something. Silly perhaps, but not the end of the world.
The gist of her displeasure seems to be that the copy in the ad, says that the hero "gets" the girl. Considering the lengths to which Lois habitually went to land her dream guy, I'd have to say that SHE'S the one who "got" the guy,and that perhaps the both of them are very happy with each other. But what the hell do I know?
I DO know, that it was a bit hard for me to be outraged by this, since THIS picture was RIGHT NEXT TO THE Superman/Lois one!
And frankly, I find that a whole lot less appealing. But then, I didn't write it.
posted by SallyP @ 12:07 PM
15 Comments:
Yeah, it's not like Superman and Lois Lane have been an item for, oh, seventy years or anything ...
I'm glad I don't read that blog. If I took myself half that seriously, I would be a very, very unhappy and unpleasant person indeed.
To quote James Stewart from the movie Harvey: "In this world … you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."
'Whose Responsible This' is an internet meme that started over at Topless Robot; that's likely the source of her usage there.
I'm generally not a Valerie D'Orazio fan either--she gets up in arms way too often over silly, irrelevant crap.
Should I know who this Val chick is, or am I just too "pleasant"?
Val is a former editor at DC, and a new writer at Marvel. I find that she doesn't have much of a sense of humor.
"Whose Responsible This?" is actually a quotation? Well...that explains THAT, I suppose. My own mistakes don't bother me in the least, but the transgressions of other people annoy the piss out of me. It is NOT a fortunate character trait, and I should be ashamed of myself...but there it is.
What I don't understand is where all the outrage is coming at a lovely picture, and a rather clever idea for an ad.
Well, I just did a quick perusal of her blog (way too much heavy lifting!).
I also get the impression that if I called her 'chick' in person, I'd probably get beat up...back to sensitivity training for this ignoramus...
I'll preface this by saying that when I don't agree with Val, I usually see where she's coming from, and tend to give her the benefit of the doubt.
She clearly comes from a feminist/anti sexism place, which in and of it self I simultaneously understand/support, and take with a grain of salt. Like most priciples/social movements it often treads a line between genuine concerns and dogmatic silliness. And while I see your point, and had no immediate problem with, I can find this pretty funny.
The Whose responsible Meme (illustrated via OS here http://warmoth.org/?p=475) is mostly in fun, and I think these cheesy ads are a fair target. Ignoring the sexism inherent in "getting the girl," there's also the idea that toothpaste is the key component to attracting a mate and falling in love. It's using a clip of a story out of context, forgetting the situation that leads up to that moment, and instead tacking on some consumerist message. I'm not saying it's inexcusable, but far from exempt from derision.
Also, it's reaching that DC = getting the girl. It took Lois and Clark 60 years to get married, and the majority are confirmed bachelors (Batman) womanizers (Hal&Ollie) or perpetually in a nebulous relationship status (Dick Grayson) so I'd say it's ridiculous too. Give the the got milk ads any day.
Frank Quitely's pencils: that's what's wrong with it. His style is okay in a general sense, but his faces are the stuff of nightmares to me. I am honestly disturbed by them sometimes.
Seriously, though, I do find these ads to be a bit sexist... but they're for freakin' toothpaste. They're so silly that I can't take them seriously enough to be offended. Certainly not enough to make a (ridiculously anti-DC biased) blog post about it.
I'm actually more surprised that no one has cried foul over the cartoony black guy with the big goofy white-toothed smile. I think it's sort of cute, myself, and clearly wasn't intended in a bad way (again, this is toothpaste, so of course the character is going to have a big shiny smile!), but that was one of the many offensive ways that black people were portrayed years ago, so it seems inevitable that someone would be upset.
What about the ad for the
Ashley Madison Adultery Service?
After Goodbye To Comics, I tended to be supportive and feel sympathetic toward Val. Then I noticed this pattern in her comments where any disagreement earned either the silent treatment or full on hysterical drama queen bullstuff. And then I noticed Val's deeply unhealthy views on relationships and sexuality. And then I felt beaten up by all the heavy-handed gender politics. And then there was all the shameless promotion of herself and her boyfriend. Oh, and the really bad fan fiction that made me shut up about her pursuing a writing career. I guess the comics industry needed an Andrea Dworkin.
But anyway, I love those ads, especially the Tom Morgan Extreme Justice with Amazing Man macking on Maxima. I love romantic super-hero art. Fingers crossed they get around to that Pat Gleason cover with Aquaman and Mera snuggling. It's not a kiss, and it's underwater, but it's also totally hot.
Word Verification: cotched.
Thank you for reminding me why I stopped reading her blog.
No sense of humor, indeed. And it's a lovely piece of art.
I second what Shelly said. Reading that blog just made me feel terrible inside about so many things.
Honestly, my first reaction to seeing that ad was, "Wow, an ad for toothpaste...in my comic?" I thought it was kinda cool, and a nice break from the ads for other comics, TV series, and video games. Plus it was cute.
Oh, that Jimmy Stewart quote is so, so wonderful and the best line from that movie. More people in the world should take that advice. :)
"Then I noticed this pattern in her comments where any disagreement earned either the silent treatment or full on hysterical drama queen bullstuff."
or got your comment deleted (even those that pointed out typos or incorrect credits) so there was no way to have a discussion.
Which is why i don't read her. I prefer people who are more open to comemnts and differing views.
I think that it was the juxtaposition of the toothpaste ad, right next to the picture of Emma Frost in her bustier and underwear, that made my eyes cross. At least Lois's boobs aren't hanging out.
"or got your comment deleted (even those that pointed out typos or incorrect credits)."
I only ever got the silent treatment, but you figure one and the other go along pretty often. And yeah, as soon as I saw the credit for the White Queen mini in the order catalog, I gagged at the inappropriateness. Sold out much?
Its okay to do the White Queen miniseries, I mean, its Marvel. Miss D'Orazio assures us that since she started working there, they have not done a single sexist act. They are truly a great company, as they have never done anything which could ever be construed as sexist. I mean, Emma Frost's costume is liberating not sexist. Miss D'Orazio is the authority on sexism in comics.
On a less snarky note, if this ad is the most sexist thing DC or Marvel puts out on any given month, I think that's a net gain. I mean, its hard not to fully acknowledge comics can be sexist. One bad ad feels trivial against, say, fridging a five year old or the treatment of women with psychic powers in the X-Men books, be it Emma Frost or the revolving fridge-door for Jean Grey.
I posted a rather unique take on Val's post and your response here:
http://stars-and-garters.blogspot.com/2010/03/gee-thanks-val-and-sal-today-i-read.html
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