Joss Whedon: Feminism and The Astonishing X-Men
Okay. so as many of you know I am taking a class at Cal State Fullerton that focuses on the Graphic Novel and Comic Books. Our assignment for this week was to read Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men: Gifted. Aside from the instructor’s love of all things Joss, the reason we read this book was to discuss female portrayals in comics.
I’ve been hesitant to post this, because the discussion was REALLY great, and i am afraid I am not going to do it justice.
previously we had read The Dark Knight Returns, as well as The Watchmen. In both these cases, the women characters did not come off very well (aside from maybe Robin/Carrie in Dark Knight).
In The Dark Knight Bruce, aside from the fact that he is over 50 still has the body of a man half his age. Yet Selina Kyle aka Catwoman… well she does not fair as well as Bruce, despite the fact that she is considered by many to be Bruce’s equal.
In the Watchmen, Laurie “Silk Specter II” Juspeczyk is pretty much defined by the men she is with.
With that in mind she showed us the video i posted yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaczoJMRhs
She then asked us, how does what Joss Whedon say in his speech reflect what he wrote in Astonishing X-Men, and how does that compare to how women are typically portrayed in comics.
But before we answered that in class, she asked us, “How many of you feel uncomfortable with the term “Feminism”:
I, and maybe a few others’ raised our hands. She then responded that “Some of you are not being honest”
When asked “Why do you feel that way” I answered that “Even though i consider myself a feminist, There are so many different branches of feminism that its hard to say I am a feminist, especially when you are a man, and not be afraid that some one will say ‘it’s not possible for a man to be a feminist’,”
She agreed that there are many different “factions” of feminist thought and that not all of them agree with each other.
A woman in class stated that She had a problem with feminism as a term because she has researched the history of feminism and the roots of the movement were actually very exclusionary, focusing more on white, upper class women.
our instructor stated, that is true, early feminism (First wave feminism) didn’t take into account, minority or those not already wealthy. But that some of those issues have been addressed in Third Wave feminism, and that feminism in general has become more inclusive.
Another woman in class stated that when she told a friend of hers that she was a feminist, that her friend responded “But you don’t hate men,” she then went on to say that there is this certain “Image” associated with feminism that often causes people to react negatively.
We then discussed a bit more about different branches of feminism, some such as Militant Feminism, Radical Feminism and her preference French Feminism (which she described as having a fluidity about it, and that encouraged men to write from a female perspective.) I wish she had gone on more about French Feminism, but she stated we were pressed for time and needed to discuss the book itself.
She started off by saying: “I wanted you to read this because I wanted you to see that it is possible for a man to write strong women.”
So then we started to discuss Joss Whedon’s characterization of women within Astonishing X-Men. I mentioned that unlike other works we have read, the women in Astonishing X-Men are not merely just props for the male characters. They are complex and interesting characters with thier own thoughts and ideas. I pointed out a scene between Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost where Emma states:
“I don’t have a family that is famous for it’s moral fiber. I like to think I’ve evolved… But I wanted someone on the team that I hadn’t really fought alongside. Someone who would be inclined to watch me. If I…”
To me this scene is very telling. She knows that the decisions she makes might be colored by her previous life. Being an X-Man doesn’t always agree with her. So she wants some one there she knows will keep her in check. This person is not one of the other men on the team, its another woman that she has a not so happy past with.
People also mentioned the character of Kitty Pryde, who’s very powers by nature make her seem like the more feminine character. They specifically site that her powers are defensive in nature and that they can be used to protect herself as well as others (as she did during the hostage scene). However, another girl in class stated that if she wanted to she could be one of the only ones on that team who could possibly stand a chance at hurting/killing Wolverine (We didn’t get there, but later on in the series her powers are actually key to the events in Whedon’s run). So you have a character who is seemingly non threatening, for all intents and purposes seems to be a nice character. Yet she has a very strong personality. She is defiant towards Emma, while at the same time respecting (with a certain level of snark) her position as Headmistress.
The idea was pointed out that its the male characters who are always getting into fights (first Wolverine with Cyclops, then Wolverine with Beast) and it’s the women who tend to be the more level headed ones.
Talk lead to what did people seem to not like about the portrayals of women. A girl in the class stated that Emma came off as a “bitch”.
I disagreed. I stated that on the surface Emma may seem like she’s coming off as a bitch, but that is not the case. She is strong and independent. It may seem like she is controlling Scott, like Kitty implies, but that isnot the case. They truly have formed a partnership. Also, if Emma comes off as cold, and hard, its because of all the X-Men there she feels she has the most to prove. She was a former villain and is the first to admit that even though she is one of the “Good guys” now, being a good guy does not come easy to here. You can see this when she tells Kitty that she chose her to be on the team because She knows Kitty would not hesitate if Emma stepped out of bounds.
Another girl stated that despite the fact that it’s Kitty who instigates most of the “fighting” between her and Emma, the fact that Emma “because of the way she is dressed” only adds to the whole “Bitch” angle.
This actually caused the professor bring up the way she was dressed. she brought up this Panel in Particular:
Then asked us. “Okay what is this panel saying?”
I said, well, Kitty is basically saying that Emma is dressed like a pin-up girl.
The instructor also brought up that all the other characters have other clothes, street clothes, casual clothes, but that Emma Frost is always “The White Queen”
I think i said something along the lines that. Well… She’s dressed like how most people typically view women in comic books. Sexy. showing a lot of skin. And it’s true. Emma Frost IS sexy. But in almost every panel she is in she exudes power. To ME THAT’S what makes her sexy. She is dressed how most Comic women are dressed, but she doesn’t act like them. She is smart and intelligent. she is the voice of reason (most of the time, she has buttons that can be pushed). She’s also good in a fight, either kicking ass in Diamond Form, or Making someone vomit uncontrollably for 48 hours every time they hear the word Latitude. She looks like every other badly written female comic character out there, but she is miles above them. Don’t get me wrong, she is sexual, it’s part of her character, but it does not define her. She owns it. She sleeps with Scott Summers, but she is not going to kowtow to him, she is his partner. She is not there to support him. They are there to support each other. And if it looks like she is controlling Scott, it’s only because they are in synch, each knows when the other is right, and for the most part don’t need to explain themselves to each other. I think most importantly, she KNOWS herself. She knows that if it comes to it Kitty will be there to stop her (and eventually it IS Kitty who ends up being crucial in Whedon’s continuing arch.
Aside from Emma and Kitty there are Three other somewhat minor characters that deserve mentioning.
First is Dr. Kavita Rao. Like what she is doing or not, agree with her or not, there is no denying she is a strong character. She stares down a six foot tall alien war lord and does not bat an eye. She looks an enraged Beast in the eyes and stands her ground.
Then you have Hisako aka Armor. She and her friend Wing are confronted with the six foo tall alien warlord and the moment he tries to make a move for her friend she does not even hesitate. She armors up, clobbers him in the face and tells her friend to runaway.
Finally you have Abigail Brand, Agent of Sword. A badass intergalactic secret agent, the Space Equivalent of Nick Fury. She stares down Cyclops and goes toe to toe with Nick Fury (she is more prominent later on though, this is her first introduction)
There is something that stands out in my head. One of the things Whedon says is,
“Recognizing someone else has power does not diminish your own.”
You have Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Kavita Rao, Abigail Brand and Hisako Ichiki. Each of them strong women in different ways. Wolverine is still Wolverine, Cyclops is still Cyclops, and Beast is still Beast. Having these strong women present does not in any way make them weaker.
