I had a great discussion on this topic last night.
Modern comics depict a certain female body style. Many women want to buy superhero comics, but not ones featuring huge racks on the front.
DC's recent characterization decisions with Starfire (combined with the distinct lack of female creators in Nu52) combines with Marvel's tendency towards large, shall we say, hooters, to push women (not all women, mind) away from mainstream comics and towards independent creators. Despite encouraging figures, should mainstream publishers be pushing an audience segment away?
One response indicated that it did not matter because women are not the 'target audience'. To this, I have two things to say:
1. If you can sell your comics to women as well as men, you will sell more comics.
2. I have far more respect for men than to think large breasts are an essential element of selling comics (or anything else) to them. Really? Are men that shallow? (Nobilis, feel free to weigh in here, you know far more about selling sex than I do).
Am I saying comic book women should not be sexy? Heck no. I am saying that surely there is a way to attract women (or at least not push them away) without turning off men. I don't have any problem with sexy and desirable superheroes, of both sexes. Wonder Woman should be hot. So should Superman. I don't even have a problem with female characters fighting crime in bikinis (Scarlet Witch) or with Power Girl's rack (because it's become important to the character).
What's even more important, though, is that 'sexy' in a woman does not have to equate to out-of-control slutty (new Starfire) or require large breasts and borderline pornographic poses. These women are powerful and independent. Draw them that way, with the right level of sexy, and you will have both men *and* women wanting to read your books. Surely that's better?
If you don't mind having a niche audience, you can do anything you like, and if you market your product properly, you can be a success. It only takes an audience of about a thousand people to support one artist in relative comfort. If you have five people, then you can have an audience of about five thousand people; still very much a niche audience.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a company of a hundred people, however, you cannot make do with a niche audience. You have to look at the market segments, pick which ones you are going to appeal to, and which ones you are going to let go.
If appealing to large segment A will alienate smaller segment B, and vice versa, then you do your best to judge how much of B you can afford to lose in order to gain the loyalty of segment A.
And quite frankly, if segment A is men fifteen to twenty-five, then you can't afford more than a token representation of realistic body shapes. Both male and female bodies have to be distorted. To do otherwise would make the publisher look weak. People should be allowed to have preferences, and quite frankly the preferences of this market segment is pretty well understood; not only that, I don't think it's going to change quickly, if at all.
If you've ever hung out with teenage boys, you know that being called "weak" is almost as bad as being called "gay."
So while I don't think that Marvel and DC are doing the right thing morally, I think they're doing the expected thing, economically.
So here's what I suggest:
If you think that there ought to be comics that depict women (and men) as other than idealized sex objects, then make them. I distrust any "solution" to a problem that requires that everyone else change their behavior.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
If you can't make such a comic, then when someone else does, buy them. Buy them, tweet them, like them, plus them, recommend them to your friends and people you pass in the street.
My favorite titles with female leading characters right now are Wonder Woman, Batwoman, and Batgirl. Most of the time, DC has managed to get artists who know anatomy and are respectful of modesty and practicality for these titles. Marvel's new Captain Marvel is also promising.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Starfire, Power Girl, Catwoman, and Black Widow haven't always been so lucky. Even as a middle-aged heterosexual male reader, I wish that artists and publishers would try harder to be open to younger and female artists and readers.
I actually don't mind 'sexy' art. I only mind personally when it gets to the point where, as a woman, I'm thinking 'back pain' not 'sexy'.
ReplyDeleteDo an image search for Chaos! comics some time if you want to see it taken to an extreme. (And where is THAT company now...it IS possible to take it so far you lose your audience altogether).
I actually think that Marvel and DC aren't doing so bad art wise right now. It tends to drift over time.
Where I do have a problem is when comic book people go *out of their way* to alienate women. Which does happen. When a long term fan makes it clear that he not only doesn't think comics 'need' female readers but doesn't think they 'want' them, then we have a problem. There's a rather vocal segment of male comic fans who act rather like frat boys.
My other thought on the matter is...do men (and this guy was not talking about teenagers, but the 20-40 age range) really want this kind of art or have they just been taught, by the industry, to expect it? I.e., has this art style become self perpetuating as fans are 'indoctrinated' into it and then some of those fans become artists in their turn?
I have no problem with cheesecake (or beefcake) in say, Liberty Meadows or some Warlord of Mars, but I do think the "brokeback" poses on many covers indicate not only a woeful lack of knowledge about the beauty of the real human body but also pandering to at least a portion of the artists and readers.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the "women in refrigerators" problem and relative lack of support for superheroines in print, TV, and film is the result of archaic attitudes among some writers, studio executives, and audience members.
Both DC and Marvel have tried to have it both ways, claiming that "We have strong female characters" but dissolving longstanding (albeit fictional) marriages, hiring few women, and promoting male second-stringers over female A-listers. Some indie publishers are worse.
On the other hand, I've been encouraged by the increasing numbers of women attending conventions and participating in cosplay. Some of it is sexy, but it's less likely to be sexist. You're right that there are lots of good comic book heroines out there -- I hope that more people will support them.
Sexy doesn't have to be sexIST.
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