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Tits or GTFOBy Zack Budryk QuailBellMagazine.com
Since her creation in 1941 (by the inventor of the lie detector, in case you’re at Trivia Night), Wonder Woman has held a paradoxical position in the superhero firmament. Although she’s continually ranked in the top tier of both DC Comics heroes and comics icons in general, she’s always gotten comparatively less love across media than her male counterparts, Superman and Batman. While the two of them have gotten countless movies (over a dozen between the two of them) and live-action and animated shows, Wonder Woman’s only solo non-comics outing was the 70s TV series starring Lynda Carter (a 2011 pilot was passed over for pickup by NBC).
Now, it seems, DC wants to change that; in the wake of Marvel’s successful world-building to establish their lucrative Avengers franchise, DC is trying to do something similar, planning a Batman-Superman crossover film and, it was announced in late 2013, adding Israeli actress Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Reaction to the announcement has been mixed thus far; blood was already in the water after the film cast Ben Affleck as Batman, but, as usual, Gadot has to deal with a whole host of complaints a male actor wouldn’t. In December, Gadot was interviewed by Collider and found herself asked (actual quote), “It’s been said that you’re too skinny for the part. Wonder Woman is large-breasted, is that going to change?” Yeah, former Miss Universe contestant Gal Gadot, why don’t you look exactly like a woman who looks however her artist wants her to? There are people who, whenever a feminist criticizes media representation of women (or lack thereof), will dismiss the complaint and demand to know why feminists don’t instead address issues like treatment of women in the Middle East (they do, incidentally). But that single question demonstrates why, when it comes to feminism and cultural criticism, “all the pieces matter,” to quote The Wire. Gadot is bringing one of the most iconic female characters in fiction—praised by no less than Gloria Steinem—to the big screen for the first time in the latter’s 70 years of existence, and the response is “Tits or GTFO.” What’s the primary objection to Affleck’s casting? That he was in Daredevil. That’s not much of an argument, either, but it’s also not based on confusing the male gaze for the characteristics that actually make the character iconic and enduring. (I can’t find a single article suggesting Christian Bale would be a crap Batman because Patrick Bateman is skinny.) Gadot, like a lot of women who find themselves blazing a trail, is in a tricky position. This won’t be just another role for her, or even just her shot at the big time as an actress; her performance, and the film’s performance, will be judged as a referendum on whether or not people want to see movies about superheroines. Naysayers traditionally cite the failure of 2004’s Catwoman or 2005’s Elektra as evidence to the contrary (which is stupid, because those films were also a) terrible and b) clearly made by someone with no knowledge of or affection for the source material). I have reservations myself, not because of Gadot but because of director Zack Snyder, of 300 and Watchmen fame, whose previous attempt at a feminist picture was Sucker Punch, a bizarre, Inception-esque spectacle that was in search of a point about female agency but also saw fit to put its entire cast in schoolgirl outfits for slo-mo fight scenes. Furthermore, as many have pointed out, a character of Wonder Woman’s cultural cachet really deserves a solo film. It’s hard to imagine, but before his film, Iron Man had very little name recognition among non-comics fans—certainly less than Wonder Woman. But then, I’m not a producer, so I can’t choose what gets made; I can only use my money to show what I want to see more of. Jenji Kohan, creator of the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black, famously said that she used the show’s white yuppie protagonist as a “Trojan horse” to tell stories about black women, trans women, Latinas and various other groups underrepresented in the medium. Done properly, a film with Wonder Woman as a supporting character can do the same thing. It’s not as though there’s any doubt people (and not just women) want to see badass, well-rounded female protagonists; Dana Scully and Buffy Summers gave us hit TV shows and enduring cultural legacies, a feature film continuation of Veronica Mars raised the necessary funds in record time, and the second installment of the Hunger Games franchise is already in the top 50 highest-grossing movies of all time. As a popular meme at the time has it, if you can take a chance on another superhero movie with Ben Affleck, you can take a chance on a Wonder Woman movie. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Get Over 2013 AlreadyBy M. Alouette QuailBellMagazine.com Despite all the many hours and days and weeks you spent wrapped in it, someone you never saw it. 2013, invisible, suffocated you—and now you want it to come back. Yet it won't. It has passed, vanished, died. In your drunken stupor, you missed its funeral. The pink André, though not much stronger than Boone's Farm, was delicious and your ratty futon was the most comfortable place on the planet in all of history and every other hyperbole. But since you were glued there instead of dusting yourself off and making yourself look somewhat presentable, you missed your last possible glimpse of 2013. So you continue pining.
Perhaps, throughout the year, you gave time no notice. Perhaps you just wanted it to end. You were sick of waiting tables and opening textbooks and falling behind on your rent. Or you didn't want the baby to come. Or if only you were in Turkey again. Why couldn't it be 1992? Or 2007? Who invented calendars anyway? Just admit that you took her for granted. Loved her and used her. Never really loved her in the first place. All a sad, sad country song. It. Her. Him. Whatever 2013 was. Maybe 2013 didn't have a preferred gender pronoun. “Why she walked like a woman, but talked like a man.” You could've at least broken up with 2013 like an adult instead of the pathetic adolescent you still are, clinging to infantile memories of huffing something with your first love in Pigtown. Cutting class. Getting loopy. Oh, those were good times. Couldn't 2013 have been more like that? Sober up. Get off the futon. Clean up the champagne spills. 2014 isn't going to tolerate your nonsense. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Never Has Given a Damn, and He Never WillBy David Stephone Cherry QuailBellMagazine.com I was approached by my friend who works for Philly.com to answer the following question for the article, "How about Philly's young black men, Mayor Nutter?":
“Do you believe Mayor Nutter really cares about the murders of black boys and black men in Philadelphia?” I wrote him back about 10 minutes after, 5 days before I moved to York, Pennsylvania. This was my response: --- Hell no. In the many years that I’ve seen Mayor Nutter run this city, I’ve seen not an improvement. Every single day, I hear three issues float over the city of Philadelphia: Crime is as normal taking a breath, the city is almost openly corrupt, and every (or at least almost) every citizen of the City of Philadelphia complains about Septa. Crime is the most prevalently spoken of these grievances, and specifically, murder is the most feared and known in the city. Growing up as a child in West Philadelphia, murder is something that isn’t new to me. I was lucky to have a father to guide me through the rough-spots in my life, as most young boys my age didn't. I would see some of those young boys do one of three things: either sell narcotics, murder someone, or in turn, get murdered. Around the time I began middle school, John Street had been outed as the mayor of Philadelphia, to be replaced by a church-going, good-boy Michael A. Nutter (I’d preferred Mr. Fattah, but we all can’t win.). The city was abuzz with good vibes, “We’ve got a good one!” and “Hopefully shit’ll get better” were things I’d always hear, and I kept hope, but hope...hope vanished. The murder rate would continue to increase as Philadelphia would lose hope. During re-election, though, Philadelphia seemed to forget these issues, and re-elect “Nut-Ass Nutter” for a second term, the democratic machine of the city of Philadelphia would continue. Which leads me to directly answer the question asked of me: “Do you believe Mayor Nutter really cares about the murders of black boys and black men in Philadelphia?” Hell no! If Mayor Nutter had cared about the black boys, and young men of Philadelphia, wouldn’t he had rallied for their right to visit a local library? Wouldn’t he had put something more on the line, instead of a politician’s promise, that means nothing after re-election? Wouldn’t he had showed the true passion that Fast Eddie did in the 90s, addressing issues of concern with anger, instead, of with false-angst, only to make Philadelphians like him, because it made them feel closer to him? He would have. And just because he goes to a church every now and then, and declares a block party open, doesn’t mean he cares. A few years ago, when he dispatched local police to patrol areas around flash mobs, why did he only select the University City and Center City areas of the city? Obviously, it was because that’s where most of the problem had been, but if he had cared about the young black men and boys of the city, he would have realized, that taking those police off of the corner of Kensington and Allegheny, off of the streets at 52nd and Market, off the streets of Broad and Olney, that he put them at risk. Instead of a police officer catching a kid with a blunt, tossing it in the gutter, and telling them to go home, a kid gets caught up with the wrong people after he bought the weed and gets gunned down. Nutter doesn’t care about the black youth of Philadelphia, he only cares about Trayvon because everyone else does, and to look like a good publicity figure. Recently, I’ve felt bad about when people said that Nutter wasn’t “black enough”, or, “He was white in a black body," and I still do, but now I understand fully what those voices mean. Mayor Nutter, no one expects you to be “black”, but they do expect you to connect with the community you grew up in as an African-American youth. Don’t act new. Don’t act special. Mayor Nutter, this is a problem you’ve ignored too long, but I’m pretty sure if Trayvon Martin was Olivia Nutter, Philadelphia would be akin to London, in terms of homicides per year and per capita. Hell no, Mayor Nutter doesn’t care about the young black boys, and the strong black men of the city of Philadelphia. He’s never given a damn, and as long as he’s a black democrat in the city of Philadelphia, no one will ever notice. |
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