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Linkspam of note.
Because I'm sure that y'all are tired of me keysmashing endlessly about how I want to marry James Joyce's prose and have its babies. Here is some other cool stuff to read.
1. Princess Mononoke vs. James Cameron's Avatar.
I know that pretty much everyone and their dog has compared Avatar to Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai,, and Ferngully by now. This is the first time that I've seen the film compared to Princess Mononoke, however. Conclusion: Hayao Miyazaki did it better.
Not that that's saying much.Oh no I didn't!
2. Manly Women and Feminine Men (Claymore meta)
In which![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_sun_is_up argues that Claymore is the most perfectly gender-flipped shounen manga in existence, and she's right. I would also add that, even after 99 chapters of manga and 26 episodes of the anime, it is astounding that Claymore still manages to completely fail the gender-reversed Bechdel Test. When you think about it, that's pretty extraordinary. Most "chick lit" media still passes the gender-reversed Bechdel Test (or even worse, manages to fail the real Bechdel Test). So the fact that a long-running series like Claymore - a series published in a "for boys" magazine, no less - fails the gender-reversed Bechdel Test is pretty darn awesome.
3. Robot6's 30 Most Important Comics of the Decade: Part One | Part Two
Definitely not a list of the best 30 comics of the decade - there are certainly some titles on the list that one could argue are not actually, you know, good - but a list of the decade's most undeniably popular and influential comics*, for better or for worse.
The English version of Sailor Moon is ranked at #2.
* Asterik: "within the English-speaking world and confined solely to output from the US, UK, and Japan" should be added as a disclaimer here. The list completely excludes titles like Italy's W.i.t.c.h. (available in English and one of the best-selling comics of all time in the Philippines and several European countries), any English edition of manwha or manhua, or anything at all from southeast Asia's enormous comics industry, much of which is also available in English. If Watchmen can get a spot on the list just for being reprinted and becoming a bestseller this past decade, then doesn't Amar Chitra Katha (also reprinted a gazillion times, a bestseller, available in English, and hugely influential in Indian comics history) deserve a mention as well? ETA: More about this in the comments.
1. Princess Mononoke vs. James Cameron's Avatar.
I know that pretty much everyone and their dog has compared Avatar to Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai,, and Ferngully by now. This is the first time that I've seen the film compared to Princess Mononoke, however. Conclusion: Hayao Miyazaki did it better.
Not that that's saying much.
2. Manly Women and Feminine Men (Claymore meta)
In which
the_sun_is_up argues that Claymore is the most perfectly gender-flipped shounen manga in existence, and she's right. I would also add that, even after 99 chapters of manga and 26 episodes of the anime, it is astounding that Claymore still manages to completely fail the gender-reversed Bechdel Test. When you think about it, that's pretty extraordinary. Most "chick lit" media still passes the gender-reversed Bechdel Test (or even worse, manages to fail the real Bechdel Test). So the fact that a long-running series like Claymore - a series published in a "for boys" magazine, no less - fails the gender-reversed Bechdel Test is pretty darn awesome.3. Robot6's 30 Most Important Comics of the Decade: Part One | Part Two
Definitely not a list of the best 30 comics of the decade - there are certainly some titles on the list that one could argue are not actually, you know, good - but a list of the decade's most undeniably popular and influential comics*, for better or for worse.
The English version of Sailor Moon is ranked at #2.
* Asterik: "within the English-speaking world and confined solely to output from the US, UK, and Japan" should be added as a disclaimer here. The list completely excludes titles like Italy's W.i.t.c.h. (available in English and one of the best-selling comics of all time in the Philippines and several European countries), any English edition of manwha or manhua, or anything at all from southeast Asia's enormous comics industry, much of which is also available in English. If Watchmen can get a spot on the list just for being reprinted and becoming a bestseller this past decade, then doesn't Amar Chitra Katha (also reprinted a gazillion times, a bestseller, available in English, and hugely influential in Indian comics history) deserve a mention as well? ETA: More about this in the comments.
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So the fact that a long-running series like Claymore - a series published in a "for boys" magazine, no less - fails the gender-reversed Bechdel Test is pretty darn awesome.
SO MUCH YES! Plus it's a long-running successful series for boys; I was checking the manga best-seller lists the other day, and Claymore always makes the top ten list whenever a new volume comes out, for at least the first week. So much for the stereotype that teenage boys won't read stories about badass women.
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Yes, THIS.
Teenage boys: Really, not anywhere near as dumb as certain publishers think they are.
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Auuugh, yes. Deviate from the established comics world narrative? Goodness no!
(Also, am I the only human who doesn't like Achewood?)
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Auuugh, yes. Deviate from the established comics world narrative? Goodness no!
THIS.
The fact that they included Muhammad cartoons - published in a Danish newspaper, which sparked riots in Syria and Iran and other reactions throughout the world - clearly shows to me that whoever compiled this list was *attempting* to create an all-encompassing, global list of The 30 Most Important Comics of the Decade, not just The 30 Most Important English Language Comics of the Decade. Yet they definitely failed in the global aspect. The only manga included is included because of its influence in the North American market; nothing is mentioned of the translated manga that made revolutionary inroads in the Spanish-speaking world (DBZ, Slayers) or the German-speaking world, to name a few. Also, there is zero mention of manga that shaped the decade in Japan, such as One Piece.
And also, like I said, zero mention of southeast Asia. There are 1.2 billion people in India alone, and I can guarantee that the vast majority of them have read or at least heard of Amar Chitra Katha. That's more than can be said for Watchmen, at least before the movie came out.
(Edited for HTML fail.)
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Of course not. It's not like the region is full of unique and interesting comics! (Hell, they don't even recognize Virgin's so-so to above-average efforts at doing modernized crossover comics.) Hell, there's not even any major non-UK European faces on that list.
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If they had been honest and titled the list "The 30 Most Important Comics in North America of the Decade," then I would have no problem with it. In that case the only comic that should be removed from the list would probably be the Muhammed cartoons. I can't deny that they a) sparked some debate around these parts and that b) the media coverage of the riots had some influence on our relationship with Muslim communities in North America. But not *that* profound of an influence compared to everything else, and certainly not enough to merit the #1 slot in a list of important comics limited to a North American framework. Which is what the Robot6 list is even if it's not labeled as such.
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Just having strong female characters that don't to me feel contrived for one reason or another is more important than stuff like the Bechdel Test. (Though failing the Bechdel Test makes it harder to not feel contrived.)
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Just having strong female characters that don't to me feel contrived for one reason or another is more important than stuff like the Bechdel Test. (Though failing the Bechdel Test makes it harder to not feel contrived.)
Oh, I think that there are tons of factors that are more important than the Bechdel Test. I mean, duh. Something can pass the Bechdel Test and still be completely sexist, i.e. any porno involving lesbian vampires. ;) I don't think anybody really upholds the Bechdel Test as a be-all, end-all litmus test for sexism in fiction. It's just a useful starting point. Having said that, though, it's so rare to find a work of fiction that passes the Bechdel Test that it's certainly noteworthy when something does pass, and even more noteworthy when something fails the gender-reversed Bechdel Test. Just being able to point and say "Hey, this is really different from the status quo" is almost always a good thing when the status quo is usually, you know, kind of sexist.
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1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.
So, not just "talking about something other than a love interest," but "talking about something other than a man."
Gender-flipped Bechdel Test:
1. It has to have at least two men in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a woman.
I mean, seriously, can you think of anything - anything at all, whether a book, a movie, or a TV series - that manages to fail this test? Anything? Even a romance flick or a chick lit book?
Claymore does, and it's the only thing that I can think of. (So far it has managed to fail Step #3 of the test.)
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THAT'S why it's so awesome! :D I gotta get more of that stuff. I can't remember what volume I was on...
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