Everybody has their berserk buttons when it comes to the things we enjoy, and for me, one of the biggest is the woefully frequent moment where somebody whines that Ted Mosby hasn’t yet met the mother of his children. (A close second is the point where people chastise us for being called ‘Major Spoilers’ and still having reservations about spoiling everything…) That far-too-literal mindset tends to fill me with inexplicable rage, from people who want to know why Deep Space Nine doesn’t have enough “trekking” in it or how one actually breaks bad. It’s a facile, superficial thing to complain about, a bad stand-up comedy routine that keeps showing up again and again, until I can actually hear my blood pumping in my ears. Before I turn green and hulk-out, we should probably transition into today’s query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) never really liked that Banner guy even when he was relaxed, asking: What about pop culture most makes you angry?
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At the risk of sounding cliché, one of my least favorite things is how women are portrayed in comics. Part of me almost understands it. Sex sells, and all that. But it also makes the assumption that men like you don’t really care about a good story as long as there is a pretty girl with big knockers and an anatomically improbable pose, you’re happy. To try to keep this short (I could rage about it all day) it isn’t good for anyone involved, and it never fails to make me immediately hate a book, and if bad enough, an artist.
Jeez Stephanie, it has to be really tough, as a woman reading comics, trying to find something in this medium that isn’t painted with that brush. How do you deal with the stupidity? I’ve been trying to get my wife to give comics a chance for a long while, and one of her biggest roadblocks is the general treatment of women. For her, that’s what comics are, and even books that don’t fall into those tired patterns are guilty by association.
At first I thought you were being sarcastic, but after the second half of that comment I’m going to assume that you are being genuine. It can be hard sometimes, but you learn to take everything with a grain of salt. It’s an industry that started in a time when it was socially acceptable to portray women as helpless but beautiful damsels in distress. Comics have definitely come a long way since, but it’s still a struggle. I first got into comics in high school when a teacher shared his copies of Batman the Cult with me. For me, it’s worth wading through a lot of crap to get to the good stuff. It’s hit or miss until you find a writer or artist or character that you really love or can relate to. But once you do, it’s easy to understand how people can get so wrapped up in it.
I’m sorry if my comment’s tone was confusing. I was most certainly being sincere. Thanks for the response! I’m hopeful that my wife will one day come to that conclusion. I’m holding out hope that I can entice her to give the genre a try through the Firefly comics one of these days.
No problem! If Firefly is something she’s already into because she loves the show, that could be a good in. I wouldn’t push her too hard (it’s okay if y’all don’t share *every* interest), but if you come across an issue that was particularly good that you think she’d enjoy, just tell her so. “Hey honey, today I picked up the new issue of blahblahblah, and it had some great jokes/art/story that I think you might like, if you want to read it.” But, again, if it just isn’t her thing that’s okay. My husband tried forevvvvver to get me to play World of Warcraft with him, and after 2 years of nonstop lovingly delivered guilt trips I caved and gave it a try. I hated it. But that’s okay, because now our office is set up with a place for me to sit and read while he plays his game. We still spend time together even if we aren’t doing the same activity. But, that’s just one girl’s opinion. :)
Thanks for the response, Stephanie! That’s funny, because our study is set up in much the same fashion. There is a comfy chair she can curl up in while I play games and such.
My best friend and I like to make ridiculously silly explanations for why some of those characters appear as they do, such as her comment about one overly-endowed character: “Those are obviously frontal medical floatation implants to take pressure off of her seriously bad back”.
Pop culture doesn’t usually get me too irate, but one of the things get under my skin, one is when creators make something grittier than necessary to bring in an adult audience at the cost of the fun or ridiculous elements. Sure you can re-imagine something to be darker but make sure your content can stand up to the adult level of scrutiny.
The largest issue I find with that is that certain audiences won’t accept anything less than dark and “realistic” takes, even on characters that fit the mold poorly, such as The Flash or Spider-Man. The return to a more balanced story-telling style is one of the major pluses of the Dan Slott run on Superior, for me. There are dark elements, there are adult themes, but there’s also fun and adventure and elements that aren’t about murdering Mary Jane or offing Aunt May for shock value.
Asked my wife this question, her immediate answer was Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. Does that count?
I’ve always been a fan of having a basically good-natured, even when passionate, discussion/argument about the things I “love” and “hate,” but it always angers me when people systematically stop at the point of their own taste and opinion when it comes to pop culture and refuse to look at anything in any other way.
I love it. It’s a little known fact that Black Canary’s breasts are hollow and used like secondary lung reserves.
In the comic world, unrealistic costumes make my teeth hurt. Some of these costumes would fall off the first time the female character breathed in, let alone move.
Pop-culture in general: Gratuitous explosions get on my nerves. Micheal Bay is a perfect example. Does he have a quota system where there must be X explosions per minute?