Long time no post. Let’s get to it…

DC “Building Worlds”

The DC Universe: An alternate reality in which even extraterrestrials are American

While Marvel clumsily regurgitates the Phoenix (see AvX Saga) in a trite and ill-scripted attempt to kill Jean Grey just one more kami-damn time (vicariously through Hope Summers), DC is attempting to reinvent and re-imagine their pantheon in a way that is simultaneously vintage pulp and modern hyper-fantasy—vast, mysterious and refreshingly relevant (at least in subtext … I probably just slipped into an abyss of rhetorical analyses that I am not prepared to tackle in this post … sorry!).

… Bad Joke … Long Sentence … *Shrug+KamiSaysMeh*

I am loving the current going-ons in superhero comics, especially in the DC Universe. However, if there is one aspect of this “building worlds” stuff that DC’s public relations folk have spit about lately which I feel Marvel dominates DC (WARNING: General, overarching, analytical and relative statement to follow…) it would be representation. It takes all kinds to “build worlds” but DC is still a white boys club that privileges heteronormative, metropolitan (better read as New-Yorkian) lifestyles. (And, to be fair, Marvel is too. Fair is boring. I want to write about DC.)

Tokenism

I hate the word: token. (As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee!) I get that token is often used sarcastically and I admit that I find myself jokingly sputtering this slur on occasion but maybe tokenism shouldn’t be taken so lightly. A token is prized, like the token dame in crooner movies or the token minority in sitcoms and teen and horror flicks. To prize is to objectify—another means of possessing and dominating people, ideas, and culture akin to sexualization and other forms of discrimination. Tokens, in the metaphoric sense, are prized for representing a specific minority demographic (old, indigenous, trans, et cetera) but are devalued as individuals or (in the case of graphic literature) characters.

DC’s White Folks Gonna Save Africa campaign (aka the We’re All Black as Silhouettes campaign)… good cause, just poking fun here.

For example, consider the token Native American. The writer wants a strong character, so s/he brainstorms what makes a strong Native American. Images of the painted, bare-chested warrior rocking a leather loincloth and a feather poking out of his flowing black locks immediately manifest in the writer’s mind. What is often not considered is that even the concept of Native, though arguably PC, is problematic—as is American Indian, or Indigenous Peoples. The umbrella, catch-all term Native American attempts to lump numerous nations, governments, traditions, bloodlines, histories, and (in short) cultures together as one, unified thing—just like assuming female, gay, or Latino is one tangible thing that accurately defines an individual. It is simply wrong. (Read that how you want—wrong as in inaccurate or wrong as in immoral. I say both but decide for yourself.) The writer who relies on tokenism inevitably stretches the character to represent all individuals in a given demographic. So, the writer has created a thin character—shallow and dependent upon stereotypes and historical anachronisms.

Now, does that mean Wonder Woman, for being the only female in the Justice League, and Cyborg, for being the only African-American (grr… another problematic term) in the JL, are weak characters? Not at all. Writers can and often successfully write characters that represent demographics other than their own. They do so by developing the character first and not its skin color or genitalia. I think Wonder Woman and Cyborg (as far as superheroes are concerned) are solid—many would and many do disagree. Still, it irks me that DC keeps spinning this “building worlds” mess and yet Cyborg and Wonder Woman represent the greater share of DC’s headlining diversity—so much so that they have become tokens of the Justice League and often the entire DC Universe.

Why is this (why this is) a problem without an easy fix…

Let’s say, for the sake of fairness, DC splits up their characters based in the fictional DC United States (Gotham City, Metropolis, Coastal City, Central/ Keystone Cities, etc.) according to the actual 2010 Census. So, 72% of these superheroes will be white, 16% will be Hispanic/ Latino, 12% will be African-American, so on and (roughly) half men and half women. Problem solved? Not exactly. DC PR folk can stand atop the Statue of Liberty, broadcast through all media simultaneously, and proclaim to the modern world, “Look! We have black people! We soooo get you, black people!” and that doesn’t prove a thing. To have (playing on tokenism here) is not inherently to represent—much less to represent accurately, respectfully, or even well (as discussed above). It’s a numbers game, yes, but it is more importantly a matter of respect and quality. But boys read comics! White boys that live in their parents’ basements! Yep. Girls read comics too (seriously, there’s a whole website devoted to it http://girlsreadcomics.com/) as do many other individuals who do not represent established misconceptions of the supposed geek culture.

Not DC characters but… BAHAHAHA!!! (by KevinBolk)

So, when DC repurposes Starfire as some warm and animate blowup-fuck-doll-jizz-receptacle and omits strong female leads (and roles) like once-Batgirls Cass Cain and Stephanie Brown, readers will feel disenfranchised (because they are), get pissed, and the blogosphere will buzz. And all we can do as readers is hope DC and Marvel listen. AND remember that we are thinkers, loud thinkers, with mouths that bitch and moan and praise and beg for more. To produce great escapism is to develop a world worth escaping into. But it goes further than that. Literature has always shaped the world we know and shaped what we know of the world—how we understand our roles as self-aware beasts, spinning out of control through a dark and speckled void. Literature has always shaped thought. But readers are not passive absorbers, we participate.

New 52 Power Girl and Huntress (left) Traditional Power Girl (right)

And, who knows, maybe DC is listening. In May, DC will replace six not-so-stellar New 52 titles with six new monthlies. Among them are World’s Finest (starring the Huntress and a modest-er Power Girl… that is, she is no longer just tits with stems … see above) and Earth-2, starring the Justice Society of America—specifically (SHOCKER!) Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. But maybe there’s room for some diversity in Earth-2 and not just the numbers game diversity but real, worthwhile diversity—characters worth reading.

Ganke says, “Fuck what’s cool. I’m Ganke.”

Sorry for such a surface overview of what is a deep and stubbornly well-rooted problem but, if you have read this far, you’re probably ready to get done with it. So, things to take away from this mess: Objectification is not okay. Though ideas may begin in fantastic or hypothetical realms, they tend to manifest themselves in our so-called real world (maybe not in the overtly perverse Frederic Wertham “Seduction of the Innocent” sense but it still happens—authors like Milton, Dickens, Dawkins, Austen, Locke, Montesquieu and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give credence to this notion). Readers are not passive thought and pop-culture receptacles. However, if you are a literary receptacle, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG! Read good comics, follow good blogs (DC Women Kicking Ass, Blah Blah Witty Comment, Women Write About Comics, Superheroes are for Girls, too, por ejemplo), and always raise hell about the things you love no matter how “nerdy” … fuck what’s cool!