rose_griffes | links: random

Have some completely random links, so I can clear them out of my bookmarks.

The Atlantic magazine had an interesting article on The Invisible Borders That Define American Culture. My favorite map at the link is the fifth one down: a breakdown of where people say "soda" versus "pop" and "coke." (I grew up saying pop, switched to calling it soda, and have noticed a lot of people around me calling it coke.)

Author Sarah Rees Brennan discusses the glorious Miss Marple.

She also talks about adaptations in reference to the whole Sherlock/Elementary brouhaha. (Personally I can't wait for Elementary, but I also have a huge fondness for male/female detective buddies of all sorts. Bonus LUCY LIU!)

Johnny Lee Miller will play the role of Sherlock in Elementary. Here's a moment from a previous stint on an American tv: Eli Stone, episode 1.01 (George Michael, y'all). Bwah, that is awesome.

Fempop magazine: Why Do People Hate Black Widow? (I hadn't read about George R. R. Martin's comments before this article. Yet another example of someone not watching the same version of The Avengers as me. It seems to be happening a lot.)

The costumes and characters of The Avengers: Black Widow and Hawkeye. This blogger has a whole series about the costumes and characters in The Avengers.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thanks for the links! (Really? There are people who don't like Black Widow???)

Yes, and a lot of it is the standard stuff leveled at female characters who happen to be played by attractive women. Whether that divide falls along gender lines (http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/grey-matters-black-widow-spins-a-web-around-the-avengers) or along comics fans versus non-comics fans (http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2012/05/scarlett-johansson-in-a-gorilla-suit-the-superhero-mundanes-dont-see.html), or something else, there's definitely a lot of unmerited criticism for the character and for Johannsen.

It's odd. In Iron Man 2 Natasha was objectified by the text, the costumes, and the camera angles. But in this movie? Absolutely not. I think we saw more shots of Captain America's butt than Natasha's, and her costume wasn't overtly sexy--not more so than anyone else's--and the camera work showed her as a person, not as a sexy female, and... yeah. I don't get it. She was written as absolutely pivotal in this movie, and yet there are people saying she was only there as eye candy. *sigh*

You know, I saw Iron Man 2, but I don't remember much of it. It's a pretty forgettable movie. (Of course, my lack of remembering most it may have something to do with the fact that my husband was in Iraq at the time. :P)

The Avengers, other than only having a couple of female characters to work with, was remarkably even in how it handled all of the characters and their screen time. I think it was for the most part appropriate to the characters and to their part in the story and served the story well. And that includes the gratuitous (or absolutely necessary, depending on your POV) butt shots.

As one of the articles you originally linked to mentioned, the comments accusing Black Widow/Natasha of being nothing but eye candy, etc., say a lot more about the commenter than about either the character or the film as a whole. And not very good things about the commenter, at that.

EXACTLY. That's what bugs the SHIT out of me regarding these comments about Black Widow in Avengers, because she is not filmed in a way that is any different from the other Avengers, and her costume is no more inherently sexy or objectifying than the men. Yes, I think there should be more women in this movie and less men. Yes, I think Maria Hill should have more to do and more characterization. But considering Black Widow unto herself, she is treated equally as the men. AND ISN'T THAT WHAT WE WANT?

And you know, I love that she was treated IN CONTEXT and IN CHARACTER, too. Yeah, she's badass. She kicks butt. But she also showed vulnerability, and she is pointed out to be as a spy, NOT a field agent who deals exclusively with violence. And I wonder if that isn't the clouding issue. Because she got to show vulnerability, and people equate vulnerability as feminine and therefore weak and thus Black Window acting vulnerable means OMG SHE'S JUST A WOMAN and therefore BAAAAAAD. Or something. When in the end, she actually did the opposite, by utilizing her vulnerability as a weapon (against the opening Russian guys and against Loki, who is a GOD, might I add), but also those moments of REAL vulnerability that displayed her strength and courage (when she was super shaken up post-Banner Hulking out, but then the call came, she put herself together and answered the call). In a lot of ways, this is one of the best characterization of a woman I've come across, because she got to BE vulnerable in so many fashion and NONE of it made her "weak" AND she got to be beautiful without being objectified.

In another words, Natasha didn't have to act or look like a man in order to be strong, complex, kickass, respected, and treated equally. THAT IS FUCKING AWESOME.

... apparently I have a lot of feelings about Black Widow. ^^;;;

I want to draw lots of big red pointy arrows at this line from the article on Black Widow:

"We need to stop approaching female characters as inevitably misogynistic disappointments... seeing female characters as nothing but an excuse to make jokes about sexism is as bad as seeing female characters as walking tit jokes."

The impossble standards to which female characters are so often held, where they must be everything to every woman, or they are obviously misogynistic and worthless, is something I find incredibly frustrating in fandom.

The impossble standards to which female characters are so often held, where they must be everything to every woman, or they are obviously misogynistic and worthless

THIS THIS THIS. THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS.

It's something that's been driving me nuts, the absurd double standards that female characters are held to. What frustrates me is that a lot of this is being done by female fans in the name of feminism. I think we can rail against the lack of complex central female characters while also able to judge secondary female characters accordingly.

And this is not even getting into the racial divide.

It's funny (in a sad way)--fandom is part of what helped me learn to appreciate the diverse ways in which female characters can be awesome, and yet fandom also has some of the worst misogyny toward those same characters, and will react badly if you call them out on it. UGH.

But but, if we don't hold them to a higher standard, how will we get well-written female characters? */sarcasm*

I don't even need to read the article to know why people hate Black Widow: she has a vagina. The end.

*ding ding ding* Yup.

I probably use coke and soda about the same (I halfway expect to see a little word bubble come up whenever someone says pop, it is a sound to me ;)

Never got into Eli Stone, but the first ep was kind of hilariously fun.

Huh, that's not the Avengers I saw either. Iron Man 2 I kind of agree with the Fempop writer on. But no, she was even better the second time I went to Avengers and got to see all her scenes finally. Whatever, GRRM!

I've never gotten in the habit of saying coke, in spite of how long I've lived here. And it still throws me a bit when other people say it in reference to drinks that aren't actually, y'know, Coke. Heh.

I never watched Eli Stone either, but that little clip (and Johnny Lee Miller's adorable faaaaaaaaaaace) make me think I should have.

Oh, I totally agree with the writer of the Fempop article about Iron Man 2. That was a mess of a movie. Even the martial arts "Natalie Rushman" used had a far more femme-fatale air to them--although part of that might be the clothes and hair from IM2 playing into that perception. In The Avengers it was about the character, not about showing off her female body.

Whatever, GRRM, indeed.

Oh, thanks for those links! I enjoyed the Avengers but haven't felt the need for more than that, however those were really interesting. :)

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