Our first roundup post is short on links, but not on ideas.
First off, didyoueverstoptothink of Tumblr and WordPress reflects on the difficulty of responding to this week’s theme, Women In Refrigerators 13 Years Later:
Women In Refrigerators, the site, helped me realise something. It’s something I’ve taken with me ever since. I know that I, the silent, stunned girl reader, matter. I know my thoughts and my responses matter.
Next, two very different and interesting contributions that we enjoyed reading. Saranga looks at Lois Lane’s characterization and look over the years, and Claire argues that we’re past Women In Refrigerators.
Lois Lane Through the Years, by Saranga.
Superman has one costume. Details change, like the size of the S shield, the height of the pants, the specific shade of the suit, but it is always recognisable as the super suit. Even on Smallville, when that Clark didn’t suit up until the very final episode ever, he always wore a combination of red and blue that signified him as different from the other characters.
Lois doesn’t have that. In the comics she is recognisable by her dark hair, you contrast her with the other characters, but you mostly recognise her from her dark hair. In the movies, or the TV shows, it’s different. these things build a Lois that is recognisable through attitude, language and relationships with other characters. But as to how she looks? That is utterly dependent on the era in which she is being portrayed.
In which I am a negative nellie for some reason, but am actually passionate and excited!, by Claire.
My opinion of Women In Refrigerators is that it was absolutely necessary. Simone and team were brave and bold to publicise what they noticed and it’s a horrible, horrible (lazy)trope that needed to be identified and spoken about. It needed to become a meme or a buzzword and comic book feminism owes a lot to the.. event? as a whole.
But despite basic differences to the subjects we’re talking about, I’m with Hope. I don’t think it is, as a marching banner, overly useful right now. To me, anyway.
At this point, I think it’s too easy* to forgive a well written example for being good** and too easy to shrug off a badly written one for being just pulp trash, it probably won’t even stick as canon. I think it’s too easy to use (or just to hear) the phrase in the way that “Mary Sue” became corrupted and near-meaningless. I think we’ve just about used it up.
We’ll have more roundups for you throughout the week. Contributors inform us (after much prodding) that their posts are on the way. Also, we’ve seen some drafts and they’re amaze.
