The Discriminating Fangirl - Latest Comments

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

Baroncognito — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:09:58 -0000

I know more women that read comics than I know men that read comics. Significantly more.

Re: Book Review: Dark Souls by Paula Morris

Jessica@Chick Lit Cafe — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:19:27 -0000

This book caught my eye at the grocery store. I'm actually way more intrigued by spooky ghosts than teen romance, so this spooky little story sounds pretty awesome. Thanks for the review!

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

The Girl Robin — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:03:38 -0000

Or, most likely, it was just a shitty article and people are entitled to find it as such and to be offended by the old-ass stereotypes it leans on to try to get a weak punchline across.

"too busy being offended"

What does that even mean?

Re: Marvel’s The Avengers and the Female Gaze

Naeko — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:18:15 -0000

I said something like this to my husband when I took him to see The Avengers; this movie, I think, pandered to fangirls without talking *down to them, if that makes any sense. It did what it could to entertain women (not just women, but that's not my point) without assuming that what will entertain us is something stupid or one-dimensional.

Re: Marvel’s The Avengers and the Female Gaze

TDF Pamela — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:45:04 -0000

(Sorry, disqus and my iPad aren't cooperating.) I love competent characters, and Maria is beyond competent; she's the head bitch in charge (bitch used very fondly). She knows her stuff well enough to challenge Fury, and I love that.

I think that challenging Fury might be part of the reason why people didn't like her. Fandom has LOTS of internalized misogyny, and often lashes out at female characters for challenging or one-upping male characters, and a lot of the hate for Maria kind of stinks of that to me.

Re: Marvel’s The Avengers and the Female Gaze

TDF Pamela — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:43:02 -0000

In the comics, I've always been ambivalent about Maria Hill. I like that she's very competent, but I dislike both how she's often written (cast iron bitch who antagonizes the hero) and that she fell on the side I disliked in Civil War (but then again, so did Widow and Iron Man). In the movie, I loved her. She admittedly didn't have much in the way of characterization, but I think that's an issue with having so many characters and not enough time to full flesh out the side characters. Sadly, she is the only side character who got that treatment, but then she's also the only new one; Coulson and Fury have had three/four other movies to show off their characters and grow into them.

Re: Marvel’s The Avengers and the Female Gaze

KerryFangirlingdaily — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:44:35 -0000

Thank you so much for all your comments! I just saw Marvel's The Avengers for the third time last night and thought some more on gender binaries and the heteronormative manner in which the mass media has portrayed the public's reaction to the film. The concept of anyone other than straight men and straight women wanting to see this film due to the apparent hotness of the actors has frankly not even been considered in mainstream pop culture.
Furthermore, I find it interesting that everyone I talk to who has seen this film all seem to hate Maria Hill, the only other central female character in the film. While Black Widow is awesome, Maria Hill seems to be understood as a personality-less pretty face (I also noticed that the women of S.H.I.E.L.D. wear wedged boots. How are these helpful?). I am curious to see how you feel about Maria Hill; how she was portrayed and your reactions to her.

Re: Marvel’s The Avengers and the Female Gaze

Alawson — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:45:40 -0000

I love comic book movies! I live in a house with a FanBoy so yes, seeing The Avengers was a no-brainer but not because he wanted to but because WE wanted to. There is something for everyone in this movie. Humor, sadness, conflict, and beautiful men and women. I love the fact Captain America's outfit is so tight, not just because his ass is amazeballs but because it's so perfectly Captain America. Same with Thor and the rest. Their costumes fit their personalities and it has less to do with sex than the mythology. Thanks for these great articles. I can't wait to see it a second time so I don't miss out on as much from all the laughter.

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

Meishuu — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:19:32 -0000

Look at the mansplaining, bro!

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

megsie — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:34:58 -0000

Did anyone else read that Moviefone article in a Valleygirl accent? Or was that just me?

Re: Marvel’s The Avengers and the Female Gaze

aboynamedart — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:10:57 -0000

I’ve noticed this profound attention paid to the fact that women (my God, WOMEN!) want to see and enjoy it.

I think it's also important to remember that each of these characters probably enjoys a sizable amount of LGBT fans - it's not difficult to imagine that Hiddleston and Evans get some male gazes of their own, in other words. But your overall point is spot-on: to paint this movie as only appealing to one part of the gender spectrum based on aesthetics speaks to the amount of progress marketing forces refuse to make.

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

TDF Pamela — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:02:22 -0000

No, I have an intact sense of humor, and I don't think that article is very well-written satire. I'm glad you find the article funny, but I didn't. I found it grossly stereotypical, and I'm just as entitled to that opinion as you are to yours.

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

Amber Benson — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:18:26 -0000

Have you ever considered that maybe the article was not written for you? Yes, believe it or not there are girls who don't read or like comic books and are going to see this movie with their boyfriends. As such, they wrote this article as a satire. Perhaps you were too busy being offended to realize that people sometimes make jokes. I like both genres as well and I find it a funny article. The end of the day this is yet another example of puffy moral panic and first world problems.

Re: Marvel’s The Avengers and the Female Gaze

a passing geek girl — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:54:39 -0000

Over 10 years ago the first Lord of the Rings movie came out and the media was astonished at the number of women flocking to see it in part for the sexy men. You'd think by now this wouldn't be old news?

I do wonder with superheroes the disconnect between the appeal of chars and plots vs the aesthetic appeal - that women are assumed to be enjoying Avengers entirely for the latter rather than the former, or both - is that this is how it works (or is expected to work) for many male comic book fans? So many comics are geared such that the male chars exist for plot & story, and the female chars are mainly there for sex appeal. While as many of us straight and bi girls enjoy the sexy boys, but primarily like them - and the movie - for story reasons.

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

Dee — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:25:09 -0000

Protip: your anecdata ("every female I've ever known") doesn't equal fact, bro. :D

But since we're trading stories ... every female I know is excited to see Avengers because of the story, the characters, the continuation of storylines, Joss Whedon's writing and directing ability, and the list just goes on. I've seen it twice, with plans to see it tomorrow. AND I can talk about shoes all day, just as much as I can talk about the Avengers, or Star Wars, or Mass Effect, or God of War, or the Spiderman movies, or the Batman movies .... That's not sexist, people - that's FACT. ;)

Also, just because you deem something "not sexist" doesn't mean it isn't sexist. Perhaps you got lost on your way to Kokatu or any other dudebro-overrun gaming/nerd site?

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

TDF Pamela — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:59:41 -0000

Aw, how cute. Thanks for explaining that to me. Obviously your limited experience with women serves as perfect anecdotal data to invalidate my own experience as, you know, a woman. Take your trolling elsewhere.

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

Fettastic — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:53:20 -0000

...Except that the article in question pretty much sums up every female I've ever known. Even ones interested in The Avengers would MUCH RATHER see the newest retard-o rom com instead. Ask ANY FEMALE WITHING EARSHOT who Black Widow is and check out their scrunched up WTF face. Yeah. Now ask her about her favorite shoes and brace for a 1/2 hour dissertation, not on the shoe itself (construction, practicality, etc.), but how "cute" it is and what outfits she can wear with it. That's not sexist people, that's FACT.

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

TDF Pamela — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:42:45 -0000

Oh god, am I with you on that one. Maybe it's because I started my toy-wanting frenzy in the early 80s, when toys and clothes both were a bit less gendered than they are today, but I am sick to death of the strict delineation of girls and boys toys in stores. The recent Lego girls line in particular chaps my ass, and not because they're making sets for different types of things (like concert halls, etc). It bothers me because the girls sets are invariably set up to encourage passive play, while boys sets encourage active thinking. Boys can be soldiers or firemen or superheroes. Girls get to build salons. Boys get to be heroes, girls get to be pretty.

Just... NO.

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

Watchtower — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:51:38 -0000

Bravo!

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

Queen_Boudicca — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:01:12 -0000

Can we do away with gendered marketing altogether? From girls' pink princess toys to womens' pink-canned shaving cream, we're aggressively told from a young age what we're supposed to like based on some arbitrary, sexist standard. Enough!

Re: Moviefone’s Girl’s Guide to the Avengers – Now With More Stereotypes!

Misled Ghos — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:14:16 -0000

*standing ovation*

Re: An Avengers Theory: Who’ll Get Jossed?

HLD — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:04:34 -0000

Just don't see Marvel agreeing to axe one of their characters, Hawkeye, Fury, any of them. "Will no one think of the merchandising?" So if there is a Jossed character, my money is on Agent Colson.

Re: Review: Being Human (UK) – “Eve of the War”

Deke — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:34:42 -0000

Thank you! Jeez, you'd think with 3 viewings I'd have caught that at least once! [headdesk] Gonna have to go rewatch that a fourth time. Thanks again for pointing that out!

Re: Review: Being Human (UK) – “Eve of the War”

marma — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:06:34 -0000

the soldier mentioned that he volunteered to be turned into a werewolf when he was talking to the blonde

Re: Character Backstage: Branwyn interviewing Absolven! [Matchbox Girls Blog Tour]

Patti — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:46:12 -0000

Ooh! Can't wait to read more about her.