Feminism and Superheroes

An interesting article up at BlogHer about teaching daughters about the feminism hidden behind the bustiers of female comic book superheroes:

http://www.blogher.com/girls-who-love-comics-need-feminist-mentors?wrap=topic/mommy-family&crumb=22

Does Daria Count as a Superhero?

Well, Daria: the animated series, is finally out on DVD. This was one of my favorite shows for years, and, although the kickass soundtrack has been removed - due to problems with licensing - the good writing and high school parody is as on pitch today as it was when I used to watch it on MTV.

Daria was about a the title character, a snarky misfit who wanted to be a writer, and her best friend Jane - a more punk-esque, slightly more outgoing girl who wanted to be an artist. For a writer, some of the best episodes are "The Story of D," "Write Where it Hurts," and "Cafe Disaffecto." There are some great bits mocking art schools in one of the two movies on the "Extras" list on the DVD.

Does she count as a superhero? When I watched this show, it eased many of my anxieties - about social problems, school problems, and family problems. Its parody had spunk and heart. One of the best female teenager-based shows ever on television, along with My So-Called Life and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Is anyone excited about the return of Futurama? I hope the writing returns to the original levels, not the somewhat mediocre writing of the one-off movies.

Creatives whose subject matter is not in their control

From Bookslut:

"When my friend was writing a blog entry for the Wall Street Journal about Joss Whedon, our conversations got on the subject of Dollhouse, which is pretty easy for us to do. His final version:

"Firefly" also introduced the odd thematic obsession around prostitution and rescue that took over and imploded in the near-future science fiction show "Dollhouse," about a brainwashing technology that gives rise to high-tech brothels, and (much more entertainingly) Armageddon. There was something confused and unprocessed there - I felt I was watching an artist working with material he wasn't yet in control of.

I think I eventually just said, "I don't think men should get to write from the perspective of female prostitutes. Unless they take a class or something." Turns out Joss Whedon maybe did take a class! According to the "Internet." It just didn't help. "

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse always felt disturbingly too titillated by its own sexual gross-out factor. I agree with the blogger and Bookslut - Joss didn't have control of that stuff, and it came out icky.

The much more empowering Furi Curi (or Fooly Cooly) was from some of the most ostensibly anti-feminist, exploitative kind of anime artists, the guys from Gainax. Somehow, when they just let themselves have fun - and spent a ton of money following their inner muses - they came up with a female alien who rides a Vespa who keeps slamming a young man with a guitar in order to connect with a large male alien power that the young man can channel - but it turns out at the end, the male power can only manifest when the young man sacrifices himself for love of the female, head-hitting alien. I don't know - is there such a thing as accidental feminism? Can a man who studied feminism in college and created one of the best-ever female superheroes also have some secret desire to see women powerless?

When two worlds collide...

When my geeky interests and my writing life collide, I feel obligated to post about it here.

I have a couple of poems in a new anthology called The Beastly Bride, which includes work by Peter S. Beagle and Jane Yolen, among many talented writers, and I was interviewed about my work in the book here. Click here for more discussion of the book, including some cool imagery of the Fairy Melusine and The Fox-Wife.

In TV News...
Anyone else excited about the return of Futurama, despite lackluster movies? How about the pickup of Season 4 of Chuck, or the killing of Heroes?

Update from WonderWon

A short note to give you my first day rundown on WonderCon: got to see Jennifer K. Stuller's talk on "Superwomen in Modern Mythology" which was great and had a huge turnout, met her friend Trina Robbins who is giving a talk tomorrow on women in manga; talked to personal writing hero Peter S. Beagle, got a copy of the newly-inked The Last Unicorn comic book, really beautiful illustrations in that, and I told him I was excited to be sharing space with him in the new anthology, The Beastly Bride! By the way, I can be pretty blase around rock stars, politicians, etc...but around writers I admire, I am so tongue-tied!
Also, may catch a screening of Kick Ass (and thanks guys for the free t-shirts! Yay swag!) this weekend and The Last Unicorn, which they'll be playing on one of the big local theaters - I think I watched the original in the theater when I was about seven, so seeing it again would be cool.
Tomorrow is a "fun day" and Sunday is my work day, because that's when I give my presentation:
12:30-1:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #7: From Buffy to the X-Men: Female Comic Book Superheroes in Women's Poetry— Jeannine Hall Gailey (Becoming the Villainess) investigates how superheroes, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Lara Croft, have appeared in poetry by women, and how women poets use those icons to talk about cultural influence, body image, and the role of women as victims, villainesses, and heroines in comic books. Room 204/206, Moscone Center.

Female Comic Book Superhero Poetry

Well, I've been having a lot of fun (and a little stress) putting together my paper and presentation for WonderCon's Comic Arts Conference coming up on April 2-4 in San Francisco. I went back to some of my favorite poets from college (Denise Duhamel and Lucille Clifton) and put out a call for newer poets to send me work (Wonder Woman and Buffy figure predominantly in these poems, it seems.) I hope to find even more poems before I go up. I'll also be using some poems from my own book, Becoming the Villainess, including poems about Buffy, Lara Croft, and others. I'm presenting first thing on Sunday at noon-ish - hope to see you there!
I'm of course excited to meet The Ink-Stained Amazon's Jennifer K Stuller whose new book I just finished (really fun reading!) and the other great folks - Peter S. Beagle, author of one of my favorite childhood books, The Last Unicorn, Gail Simone, comic author heroine, and the folks at one of my fave current shows, Chuck. And of course, I'm thinking of participating in the Buffy Musical Episode singalong at the end. I mean, what could be more fun than a weekend of full-on geekiness? I'm so thankful that I've been included in such a great conference.
Wish me luck and leave me comments about your favorite superhero poems!

Futurama Back This Summer

Well, in a Family Guy-style resurrection, Futurama will be returning to television this June on Comedy Central. I hope the writers do a better job with these episodes than they did with the (mostly terrible) movies. Or that they hire more writers. Dan Vebber?

Are you excited? I think I am. I'm hoping for the best. I love the original Futurama series, and hope this new life goes well.