Mark Millar: Comics Aren't for Women (Via i09)
Planeis
Posts: 980
Mark Interview
"I think our series reflects the evolution of our culture. And women and minorities have been marginalized throughout history, so they were marginalized in comics," Kantor said.
Conway added, "I think the bigger question is why readers are not interested in those characters. Comics follow society. They don’t lead society, they reflect it."
Blog Post by i09 regarding comics not being for women anymore
Take some of his portrayals of women, for example. Millar has spoken out against the underrepresentation of female characters in comics, but his depictions of rape have alienated some readers. In Wanted, the sadistic protagonist gleefully commits rape over and over again, at one time bragging that he “raped an A-list celebrity and it didn’t even make the news.” In The Authority, a Captain America analog rapes two unconscious women. In issue four of Kick-Ass 2, a group of bad guys finds the young hero’s love interest, a teenaged girl named Katie, and brutally gang-rapes her.LA Times story about documentary "Superheroes: the never ending battle"
“You’re done banging superheroes, baby,” the ringleader says, punching her and unzipping his fly, “it’s time to see what evil dick tastes like.”
"I think our series reflects the evolution of our culture. And women and minorities have been marginalized throughout history, so they were marginalized in comics," Kantor said.
Conway added, "I think the bigger question is why readers are not interested in those characters. Comics follow society. They don’t lead society, they reflect it."
Blog Post by i09 regarding comics not being for women anymore
You know, I've heard this same crap over and over from bigotry-entrenched trolls on the Internet, but I've also heard this same crap denounced roundly by over half of the guys I know who read comics.
Comments
It is the summation of a blogger as to what they think Millar and McFarlane are messaging out in their work. And a case can be made that his work is alienating in the way the blogger says. But to be clear, Millar has not actually come out and said it.
Ugh. Havin to defend Mark Millar. What a shitty Sunday. Lol
"The ultimate [act] that would be the taboo, to show how bad some villain is, was to have somebody being raped, you know? I don’t really think it matters. It’s the same as, like, a decapitation. It’s just a horrible act to show that somebody’s a bad guy."
Does the context change anything? No it does not. This is something he said directly in an interview. It rude, nasty, and horrible that he does not think the through the inclusion of rape in his books. Atleast try to hide that you do not care, instead it just shows that he is not thinking his story through.
Nobody should be defending Millar, he is an idiot.
Now, I am not saying I agree with him that there isn't a difference between a reliance on the taboo around rape in a story vs. a reliance on the taboo of killing. But let's be clear, a summary that he is saying "Rape doesn't matter" is not an honest takeaway from his longer quote. We could only believe that if we think he is also saying that it doesn't matter if a character decapitates people. Because that is what he is comparing it to. He is saying THE DIFFERENCE between those two taboo acts of violence does not matter. Which, one may disagree with, sure. But that is not the same as, simply, rape=doesn't matter.
It would be fine it rape was used as a plot device to both sexes but it's not, it's used against women in 95% of cases in comics either because "she was asking for it" (attempted in Watchmen) or "to get back at male superheroes (Identity Crisis). There are other examples such as the sexual abuse of Black Cat, Huntress etc.
I think there is a huge misunderstanding of the damage rape actually does and what can haunt you afterwards. I have a feeling that you'll never get someone who is the victim of sexual assault using it as such a throw away plot device, it is a truly damaging thing.
Sorry for the bit of a rant but I feel like rape is used far too easily in the comics and games industry.
I'm sorry I truly couldn't stop myself
I wonder which is worse. The person that sees it written or hears the person saying the quote and then takes a few words out of context to make their article jump out more.
OR
The person that gets hearsay about something and then condemns it without actually ever watched/listened to the offending subject matter.
I always think back to Jerry Falwell condemning the Teletubbies for being a gay role model because Tinky Winky was purple and had a triangle antenna. I could have sworn he also said because he carried a purse but I can't find that part in the quote from him. I remember someone asking him if he'd ever watched the show and he said that no he'd never watched it.
If anything Tinky Winky was a role model for spouting gibberish and not making a whole lot of sense.
Sorry went from rape to teleltubbies there. Also I'm a Millar fan so who knows what's really wrong with me.
Just try not to judge a book by it's cover and if you decide to publicly judge it then you should at least thumb through the book or read the first chapter.
Thug: "Rape, murder, arson, and rape."
Lamarr: "You said rape twice."
Thug: "I like rape."
:)
I think it's the monstrosity of rape that makes it such an easy cop-out for writers to use. In a comic, a decapitation would almost be comical (pardon the pun) and killing rarely happens with any kind of permanence. Rape, however, will follow a character for the rest of their existence in a book. It will color everything they do, and how other characters who know about it react to them.
I'm not against using rape in a book (what a horrible sentence to say!) because I don't want it to be something that people never use because it obviously will never exist and go away if we never talk about it. All too often, though, it's used for the instant shock value, and then quickly swept under the rug and forgotten. I'm not a fan of that either.
I agree completely that people who take the subject matter or quote are awful however I have read and watched a lot of Mark Millar's interviews and read/watch/played offending materials. I can also speak about it from a, kind of, victims point of view (see the why people love comics thread).
I think he does things to be inflammatory, as in person I know in person he is a sweet and polite person. However part of me feels that he does speak what a large proportion think and that what makes him out to be the bad guy.
I think the point I was trying to make was that yes Mark Millar's comments were wrong but the problem is an media wide thing, not just one man being hailed as he satan of the comic book world.
Sorry if this is gibberish, I don't know if I'm explaining it right.
By the way - the author not listing the question he asked to elicit such a response is bad form. Again, makes it seem like Millar just brought it up for the sake of saying shit. He was obviously asked a question - either based on someone's criticism of his work or whatever. And the quote was probably spoken - so it doesn't translate into text. Or people are missing the connecting thoughts because it's easier to make an issue of it. But none of that is apparent, especially when it was the author that wrote "they are equivalent". He says Millar said that - but nowhere is that in quotes or from Millar directly. It's the author making assumptions. Bad writing.
Defending Mark Millar day 2. I need a shower. lol
I own and love Wanted, the Ultimates, all the Kick Ass books, and enjoyed the hell out of The Authority.
*Going to see it may involve picking up the DVD or Netflixing it. I rarely go to the theater unless it's something I *have* to see on the big screen. That said, I enjoyed the first movie quite a bit.
I also very much liked Superior. Most likely on a Tuesday since it's cheaper on Tuesday.
I loved the whole "facist liberal agenda" they had. :)