For someone who loves superheroines and pop culture gender studies, and who believes in the utmost importance of representation and critiquing it, this book was made for me.
A little while ago I wrote a three-part blog post called 'Growing Up Under the Smurfette Principle', and the factors talked about in 'Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation', written in 2016, really resonated with me, starved for positive identification representation in the mediums I love as I've always felt.
I'll do chapter-by-chapter analyses on 'Superwomen' for this review, in order to simplify its passionate and well-researched content into bite-size so you might get some idea of why you should perhaps read it. Let's begin:
'Introduction: Representation Matters' - Enough said. Carolyn Cocca talks about the erasure and invisibility of good, non-stereotyped representations of women, POC men, POC women, LBGTQ, and disabled people, who far outnumber white men in the real world but we don't see enough of this wide spectrum of the human experience in our Western media. They are the groups who are reduced to the margins in our collective consciousness. When "different" people are represented they are often persistent stereotypes that erase that group's relevance and humanity in order to highlight the "normal" straight, white, cisgender, non-disabled male as the hero, made default by the patriarchy. Who has the power here? Those in charge and who want to keep seeing themselves as the hero: white men, who are the overwhelming number in the higher-ups of every medium, business, political governing party, and cultural system. Positive change can happen in the droves in the mainstream, not just in the margins, but we need to change the system first.
'"The Sexier the Outfit, the Fewer Questions Asked": Wonder Woman' - All about the history and the numerous incarnations and interpretations of the world's most famous superheroine, depending on the cultural changes - with second or third wave feminism either embraced or used as a backlash against it - of the times she is written. As a sole superheroine cultural icon for over seventy-five years, Diana of Themyscira has A LOT of unfair baggage placed on her in terms of being made to represent all women everywhere. Funny how positive she started out in 1941, compared to the sixties, seventies, and the nineties (aka the "Bad Girl" era of writing hypersexualized women in "dark" and "serious" stories catered exclusively to white men over thirty-years-old). Wonder Woman has had privileges in her European attractiveness, whiteness and non-disabilities (her queerness was not allowed to be expressed until recently), but this hasn't stopped her from constantly being a victim of the Smurfette Principle, a Woman in Refrigerator (depowered for a long time, and who the fuck cares about Steve Trevor's assumed emasculated ego when with a strong woman?), sexualized, made useless, and erased in ways that male superheroes are simply not. Plus I am stunned that she would ever say, "I'm for equal wages too! But I'm not a joiner. I wouldn't fit in with your group. In most cases, I don't even like women." Diana grew up on an island inhabited entirely by women. She loves her fellow Amazons (or she should do); she is the least likely woman to exhibit internalized misogyny! Wonder Woman is powerful not only in her physical strength but in her heart, her values, her conviction to seek the truth, and her compassion and love for all people. Why is she considered a threat to men? What makes her an "inherently political character" in contrast to male heroes of justice? Her strength and gender put together? She is not "tricky", the patriarchy that hates and fears women - complex ones especially - made her so.
'"When You Go Out At Night, You Won't Be Alone": Batgirl(s) and Birds of Prey' - A chapter on my favourite superhero girl! And she has had her own share of problems since her inception. Batgirl/Barbara Gordon, strong and confident characteristics aside, was a Distaff Counterpart, female love interest and feminine weak link from the start. She ran for congress and developed into a better, more nuanced heroine in the seventies and early eighties. Then Alan Moore, and retroactive DC, happened: Barbara's awful treatment in the inexplicably popular Batman comic 'The Killing Joke' - a classic Woman in Refrigerator example, with sexual assault as well as paralyzing, just to further the character arcs of two men, not her. Her time as Oracle has manifested both positive and negative representation of the disabled community, which so rarely receives any representation to begin with. Again her privileges as a white heterosexual are discussed; factoring into her staying power for over fifty years. Since the nineties, Batgirl in both television and comics has been portrayed as small and slim; youthful and childlike, linking to femininity and presumably weakness in comparison to the big, buff male superheroes. The power dynamic here remains in the patriarchy's favour, and the status quo is unchanged even if it looks like it's being challenged. The Birds of Prey team are talked about (I'd like to see the short-lived TV series, it sounds good). Also there is discussion and reference to the mixed reactions to Barbara coming back as a "cured" Batgirl in DC's 2011 New 52 reboot. The chapter also made me rethink a few things about her most recent "Burnside" run, where admittedly she has had the most female companionship (except in her 'Birds of Prey' run, though that was more of her as Oracle instead of Batgirl) than any other time in her creation. But she is made young, and therefore not an adult woman capable of making her own logical and rational choices, and therefore not a threat to the fragile ego of hyper-masculinity culture. I still love this smart, brave tech woman who went through hell and back; other people love and respect her enough too to want DC to treat her better. It really makes me think what Cocca would have to say about 'The Killing Joke' animated movie adaptation if this book came out after that was released.
'"Somebody Has To Save Our Skins!": Star Wars' - Focusing on Princess Leia Organa, Padmé Amidala, and Jaina Solo from the 'Star Wars' films and Expanded Universe. I've never read any 'Star Wars' novels or comics, except for a solo Leia comic, or seen the cartoons. My knowledge comes solely from the films, so I didn't know until now that Leia has a daughter named Jaina, and it was interesting to read about their similar characteristics and stories. The whiteness and heteronormality of 'Star Wars' in general - not to mention the pervasiveness of the Smurfette Principle underlining the whole franchise - is made clear throughout. But Leia and Jaina are represented as tough, assertive leaders in almost all of their incarnations, even as they are made into stand-ins for all women in the male-centered stories starring them. And Padmé sucks. I don't care how "action-oriented" or "political" she is in 'The Phantom Menace' and 'Attack of the Clones'; she's as boring as everyone else, and is a helpless, weak-willed senator who falls into an abusive relationship with Anakin, always defending him in his murdering of children and never standing up for herself. By the time 'Revenge of the Sith' came along, there was no excuse: Padmé does nothing but get pregnant, sit on couches, stand by windows, cry, get strangled by Anakin, and die after childbirth - all the while insisting that Anakin is a good person, before she apparently dies of a broken heart. What dangerous, sexist bullshit representation. Queen/Senator Padmé Amidala just existed to look pretty in elaborate, luxurious dresses and sexy strapless corsets - and to show off her midriff - and give birth to Luke and Leia. This chapter also made me miss Carrie Fisher all over again (seriously, fuck 2016). Briefly analyzed is 'The Force Awakens', and the improvements made in its representation, while there still persists an awful long way to go.
'"No Such Things As Limits": The X-Women' - The women of the phenomenal Marvel superhero team, the X-Men, get their due: Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue, Mystique, Kitty Pryde, and Psylocke. Analyses in terms of gender, race and sexuality in the extensive comics spanning decades, and also in the cartoon adaptations. Medium comparisons to how the superwomen are represented in each is something else this book goes into great detail over. I love that Cocca highlights how crap the women are treated in the 'X-Men' blockbuster movies, which really became just a career vehicle for Hugh Jackman, whose star power Hollywood has depended on for far too long. Bryan Singer has no excuse for wanting Mystique completely naked in the films, so much so that he'd bang tables roaring, "I want her nude!" over and over again. What a manchild. How disgusting. Female cattiness, fanservice, Women in Refrigerators, love triangles, and putting the spotlight and agency on men in women's stories are perpetuated in each of the 'X-Men' films - just few of the many, many examples of superhero comics and other properties being seen as a boys' club made exclusively for white boys and men. So much for the "mutant metaphor", then. Indeed there should be no such things as limits.
'"Slayers, Every One of Us": Buffy the Vampire Slayer' - About the cultural impact and strengths and weaknesses of the hit cult TV series and subsequent comics. 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' - the first thing that most people turn to whenever "feminist" TV is brought up. I'm surprised that Cocca barely touches on the 1992 movie which is the precursor to the show. She discusses how Buffy both challenges and conforms to cultural images and expectations of women. Again, what does "strength" mean in a woman? Does it challenge much if she's still white, young, pretty, heterosexual and upper-middle class? And with all of Cocca's talk about the lack of racial diversity, and about gender fluidity, she doesn't address the show's bisexual erasure, not really - not even when referencing fans' reactions to Buffy sleeping with a female Asian-American Slayer in the comics, for no reason other than "experimenting". Bisexuality is never considered in these posts - a fixed straight-or-gay line is present in the 'Buffy' fandom as well as in the franchise itself - and Cocca doesn't comment on this, other than there being an insistence on binary gender and sexuality views. Additionally, this quote from one of the 'Buffy' producers, Fran Rubel, "You can educate your daughters to be Slayers, but you have to educate your sons to be Xanders", is terrifying. Anyone who knows how much I loathe Xander will understand. I don't know, maybe this is where Cocca gets the least thorough and objective in her gender and representation studies, letting her love for something either blind her or cause her to be more forgiving of major flaws.
'"Part of Something Bigger": Captain Marvel(s) and Ms. Marvel(s)' - Oh yeah! A chapter all about Carol Danvers - from her various terrible treatments at the beginning and middle of her career as Ms. Marvel, to her recent awesomeness as the new Captain Marvel. Thanks to Kelly Sue DeConnick, she has become a landmark staple in the Marvel universe and a pop culture feminist icon, to the point where it is confirmed she will be getting her solo blockbuster feature. Given the success of the 'Wonder Woman' movie in theaters, female-led superhero movies will be making big bucks for the very first time. Hell, successful female-led movies period are not "a fluke"; get over yourselves, white male Hollywood execs, and stop ignoring us, as you have been doing for decades. Anyway, Captain Marvel is brash and confident, saving galaxies and forever reaching for the stars, and she has a diverse group of female friends. The importance of the popularity and positive reception of the Pakistani-American, Muslim teen girl Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel is discussed at the end. She and Captain Marvel both represent pop culture and social media changes - interactions between fans and creators, digital printing in the new age, and the uselessness of the backlash against "social justice warriors". Misogynists and racists are desperately pointing fingers and accusing major companies of "pandering to SJWs", who are "ruining everything" with their "PC culture", and making traditional masculine male heroes "weak" as a result. This is all nonsense. Straight white males have been "pandered to" and catered to their entire lives - they just wish to silence others who they view as a threat to their entertainment and manhood. A threat to their privilege. The way they're behaving, you'd consider them to be the ones who are "oversensitive" and "overreacting" and "hysterical", wouldn't you? Times have changed, attitudes have changed, and our culture needs to reflect that. If straight white males are uncomfortable and fear acknowledging that not everyone else in the world is a straight white male, then that's their problem, not the "social justice warriors" (how is this an insult, again?). Deal with it. Women and people of colour are still small in numbers in representation statistics anyhow; women of colour are even smaller. Our popular and social culture is still overwhelmingly white and male - the privilege holders.
Diversity and representation help everyone. Not just the marginalized. EVERYONE.
'Conclusion: Gender, Power, and Representation' - Well that's that. Flawed in a few areas, but overall a rewarding and vital read in our modern era. Superwomen rock and rule, if only we'd give them a chance; a chance to be themselves and be awesome in their own light. Just like how (white) supermen are encouraged to be all the time, and they are not called political for doing what they do as white men, because whiteness and maleness are seen as "normal" and the default, and therefore naturally heroic. They are made heroes by default.
Well, fuck that. Anybody can be a hero. We can't be what we don't see, however. Mirrors have power. That is why representation and identifying with certain fictional characters is important. Fiction shapes us, shapes our culture, no matter what any detractor says.
'Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation' by Carolyn Cocca - A fun and educational read on female superheroes and iconic cinematic and television heroines. Super recommended.
Final Score: 4/5
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