I found a copy of the comic that we talked about in class last week.
Its on P.162-167 of the article. If you follow this link: https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/9205 then click on the link under "files" there is a copy of the comic in the apendix of the article.
Now I've seen the comic, I like it even less. I know from talking to/being around my female students who are 14-16 years old, there is very often only one thing that they think about...getting themselves boyfriends. Betty may be strong, smart and independent, but she's still left alone at the end because she doesn't follow the norm of what a woman should be and she refuses to turn herself into a sex object to get Archie. That is not to say that I don't think it is both admirable and completely likely that Betty isn't even concerned with Archie's affections, I just think that if young girls who are interested in the attention of men (which many of them are) the message could be a dangerous one. Of course, that is my reading of this and my students may have a different view but, honestly, I doubt it.
I find it sad and frustrating that a comic that is designed to challenge how women are represented seems to so blatantly miss the point and manage to possibly be as damaging as the stereotypes it claims to fight against. For example, Helen Melon, who apparently shows us (us being women) that the way to fight against bullies like Georgie Porgie is to be just like him sends an equally dangerous message. Helen Melon isn’t crying like the other girls because she’s too busy being aggressive and sexually harassing the boys herself, which surely can only send a negative message to young girls about how to deal with unwanted sexual attention from men. I also very much doubt that Helen’s behaviour got her anywhere. In fact, in reality, it probably stigmatized her as a ‘slut’ or ‘whore’ or ‘ladette’ or any of those other awful words that people use to talk about women. (Maybe that's why Helen Melon ran away)
If this comic was really meant to send a message to women and young girls about how to empower themselves then quite frankly it not only missed a massive opportunity, but the writers have a disappointing view about how women should achieve real equality. If all it hoped to do was teach women to get away from the idea that they should be needy and “namby-pamby” in order to get what they want, then it, maybe was in some small way effective. However, what it did was replace those ideas with the idea that women need to be either overtly sexy or just like men to get what they want, which is just as, if not more, damaging. Quite honestly, I just don’t get it.
I would be interested to see how my students (both male and female) reacted to the comic but, unfortunately, I’m not sure if they would have enough background information about the original stories for them to make a fair assessment. I like the idea of tackling the stories we read as young children in the classroom, but I would need to find some original Korean fairytales in order to make it relevant.
THAT's exactly what we needed on Saturday. It (kind of) validates what Joseph was saying in that their surprise seems affected, 'coz I think the message was clear enough. However I think that's a question of presentational style rather than substance, so not very important. I wouldn't show it to any kids, 'coz I think that despite positioning itself as a revisionist piece, they drop the ball by having a sexed-up Veronica get the guy. Something which claims to be a critique but actually reinforces the status quo is more damaging than a piece with no such pretensions.
ReplyDeleteI agree that maybe their surprise seems false but it's highly possible (and quite likely) that two strong, educated women had a completely different reading of this comic to young adolescent girls, who are probably warned often about the dangers of men from their teachers, parents and from what they see in the media.
ReplyDeleteI didn't at all think for one second that Betty was going to be in any danger. I could tell right from the beginning that this wasn't going to work out well for the wolf. The story had set it up that way. I know women like Betty. I have been in situations where men have made sexual advances that have not ended in rape. I am now at an age where every strange man isn’t seen as a sexual predator. I, like Norton and Moffet, have a different outlook to young girls who have maybe never experienced these things for themselves, which would surely lead to a different interpretation.
And, to be fair, I think that's pretty much the point Norton and Moffet were making.
I agree that their (feigned?) surprise could be seen as evidence to reinforce the notion that the individual creates their own interpretation. I think it was important to them to provide evidence to support the idea of an increased level of agency on the part of the reader, which seemed to be the defining division between a critical reading and the "feminist post-strucural" one of which they were more supportive. Seems to me that it's Adorno Vs. Benjamin again, and as we heard (despite the fact I found his critique of pop culture nailed on) Adorno's ideas have been labelled "dead".
ReplyDeleteyou guys are awesome. i bet if you both tried to use this comic in your classes you would be able to get some of your own data on this. maybe even write something up... an elaboration of moffett and norton's ideas and some description of your students' readings... maybe even publish something. definitely doable, and you have the basic theoretical issues right here in your blog and comments.
ReplyDeletep.s. martin... the reason adorno is 'dead' (or the reason so many have tried so hard to kill him) is because he would make no distinction whatsoever between radiohead and miley cyrus.
ReplyDeleteHe's dead to me, then.
ReplyDeleteWell dead. I'm gonna throw flowers at him if he ever makes it to Seongnam...
ReplyDeleteI think a big problem with comics and the message they send is that most are written by men. And we can probably safely assume that those men are not feminists and probably want to portray women a certain way. And as you said, portraying women in other ways is equally dangerous. I also read the comic thanks to your link and I thought it was rather silly besides all the hidden messages. However, the scene where Betty was beating up the wolf made me smile^^. As always I enjoyed reading what you wrote :)
ReplyDelete