You are currently browsing the daily archive for January 14th, 2008.
A new cover controversy has emerged, though this time it is not a comic book cover…it is the cover to Playboy. Recent Celebrity Apprentice “firee” Tiffany Fallon is on the cover in nothing but body paint, and the design is a “Wonder Woman” style costume. To think, this would have sailed past me and I would be oblivious to the existence if not for the controversy. Oh well, now that I know…might as well weigh in on it, because I know everyone was waiting for it. BTW, I’ve included no link to the actual picture, many blogs have already touched on the issue and have the picture. Beside, this is a family blog (Okay, who bought that?).
What is most interesting to me is the two separate debates that broke out. On general feminist focused blogs, the attention has surrounded the “sexualization of a female icon”. The outrage is based, from what I can see, more in the general idea of reducing Wonder Woman to a “hot babe” to be gawked at. Her power is taken away and she is merely an object to admire.
On the comic blogs that share the feminist viewpoint, the outrage has been about something slightly different. The conversation there is focused on the article, more than the cover. The article declares Tiffany Fallon the modern day Lynda Carter. And that has them irked that an established actress with real street cred as a childhood hero like Wonder Woman is being set on the same level as a person who so far has “appeared naked in a men’s magazine and been on some reality TV shows”. It is not that they think Lynda Carter was not a sex symbol in the 70’s. But she was not merely a gorgeous pin-up.
Of the two arguments, I have agreement with the second, but no real sympathy for the first. As Ragnell pointed out, “people will fetishize everything.” Some bloggers made the point of showing that the current DC presentation of Wonder Woman is not any less cheesecake than the Playboy cover. And the character has a long history as a fetish based heroine (Wonder Woman got tied up…a lot… in the 40’s-at least they did not do a bondage theme on the Playboy cover). Wonder Woman has certainly evolved past this over her sixty some year history. She means a lot to people of all ages, and represents different things. If Playboy wants to do a spread of women as super heroes, I don’t really care, that aspect of super-heroes has always been there, and a magazine for adults is free to do that if they want.
But the Lynda Carter issue is different, it suggests a real ignorance on the writer’s part, as if his knowledge of her resume is limited to a poster he once saw of Carter in her Wonder Woman outfit. Carter has a long acting resume that certainly is most notable for the Wonder Woman role (in a weird coincidence, she was in a TV movie called Posing based on three women’s stories posing for Playboy) but she has a lot more to show for herself then the barely started career of Fallon(which literally entails CMT and Playboy programming that is not about anything but her being “hot” along with Celebrity Apprentice). To put the two on the same level is rather insulting to Carter.
Okay, advance warning…this is not a list that will make anyone be impressed. I have not read any of the “big” indie books that people rave about. My comic shop had none of them that I saw, and financially, I can only afford a few books anymore. Also, I like Superhero books. Sue me. I also left off the stuff I read in trade form. that’s going to be it’s own list. Read on after the cut…
