Evaluation

My Final Results

As for my dissertation, I am very proud of the written aspect. I feel it raises important issues, makes valuable arguments while considering various opinions of theorists, artists, editors, publishers and even the results of scientific experiments. All points are backed with quotes from at least one source, while also considering the time this quote was said and the context it was meant for. 

If I was to criticize my dissertation, it would be that I feel the beginning is fairly slow, while I discuss and introduce the history of sexism in comics. Sometimes I feel for example, when explaining Wonder Woman's origin story, the reader could loose interest. The times I do this however, is when I feel it is important for the reader to understand what it is I am talking about so my point can be made clear. For example, without knowing her origin story, when I describe what happened in the later years reboots the differences would seem vague, as the original story would remain unknown.

The only thing I would change is that I would love to carry on writing, as although the dissertation is nearly 9,900 words (my maximum word count) I feel I could carry on to discuss more points and issues up to at least 1,500 words and still have a strong, solid essay that doesn't ramble. For example, I would love to raise the work of artists Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Phoebe Gloeckner who write autobiographical comics centred on the sexual abuse they suffered at a young age, and discuss where the line should be drawn when introducing themes like this in graphic novels, especially to the graphic extent these artists illustrate these events. I would also love to discuss many of the events in 2014 featuring sexism including: 

• The issue recently raised to Anita Sarkeesian who runs a YouTube channel called ‘Feminist Frequency’ where she received rape threats for her criticism’s of sexism in the video game industry. 

• The criticism comedian Dapper Laughs received for the outrageous sexism he displayed in his shows, in which he encouraged rape, resulting in the cancellation of his shows, cancellation of his album, and the end of that ‘character’ he portrays. 

• When scientist Dr Matt Taylor (who landed a probe on a comet)  broke down in tears during live broadcast following criticism for his ‘sexist’ shirt featuring scantily clad women, and weather he deserved such criticism.

• Or even the media coverage Kim Kardashian got simply for showing her (heavily photoshoped) bum, and why we live in a society when someone’s (not even real) bum can become such a large part of the news.

There is so much more I could discuss, but unfortunately with only a maximum of 9,900 words there had to be a limit to when I had to cut some very interesting information out of my dissertation, and the reason I left some of these issues out is that they were not directly related to the comic book genre or even media, they were often just events happening in the world. If I could include one it would be the work of Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Phoebe Gloeckner. Even though I could have written far more on this dissertation, I am proud of its final outcome as I feel it is a very strong piece of writing that fairly uses different views of the portrayal of women in western comics, and results in a fair and sensible conclusion. 

As for my practical piece, I feel this is weaker than my dissertation. Though I do think it accurately displays the point I am trying to get across, and shows an alternative way to portray women in comics where I think they still look cool and 'badass' while still being visually interesting, and shows that the sexualisation of women in western comics is unnecessary. I simply wish there was more time in which I could expand this work and produce more work in the form of a short comic perhaps, in which these characters can interact, show their personalities more and create an actual story and issue for the team to overcome. 


Synthesis Between Practical Work and Dissertation

I feel the synthesis between my practical work and dissertation is very strong.  In a dissertation called Feminism, Sexism, and the Portrayal of Women is Western Comics, I have in my practical re-designed western comic book characters with feminist designs that in no way are sexist to enhance the portrayal of women in western comics.

There was also many quotes in my dissertation, and which I found when researching my dissertation, that influenced the process of designing these characters, accurately correlating the to written and practical pieces, most of which have been labeled in posting the design work upon my blog, but I will show a few key quotes that I considered below;

“Whenever there’s a female superhero, it’s always a more sexual plotline rather than seeing an actual character on screen...I don’t think that’s cool. I think it’s rather sad...I would love to change that, hopefully, there will be some cool female superhero movies in the future. I hear there’s a Wonder Woman movie coming up. Hopefully they won’t sexualise Wonder Woman too.” - Chole Graze Mortez, August 26^th 2014 http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/08/26/chloe-grace-moretz-kick-ass-3-piracy/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_258081&xid=partner_zergnet - (Accessed on the 13/10/14) 

"Females are always sexualized, big bum big bust, no ribs no internal organs, and its just the contrast that often comic creators, especially American ones, tend to draw ‘Ass Action comics’. Some people still think that in comics, and games, its all men buying and its not its 50/50." - Ellu Kaska, MCM London Comic Con. 25^th October 2014.
 

“Superbabes are stereotypically hetero-sexual male sex fantasies writ large and as much as they kick ass, they wiggle it. Truly feminist characters, these are not.” - P306 Lisa Rundle - Girls Who Bite Back - 2004, Sumach Press.

“As long as the alpha female is ‘still female’ (read: counts heterosexual-appeal among her most powerful weapons), she safely remains an object of entertainment for the traditional male viewer. The fantasy: dream fuck, not castration nightmare.” P307 Lisa Rundle - Girls Who Bite Back, 2004, Sumach Press.

"The critical suggestion that the action heroine is “really a man”, a suggestion that is addressed further below, stems from this assumption and represents an attempt to secure the logic of a gendered binary in which the terms ‘male and ‘masculine’, and ‘female’ and ‘feminine’, are locked together.....A more specific phenomenon associated associated with recent cinema is the appearance of a muscular action heroine, a figure who is discussed below in relation to bodybuilding as a sport and what this means for the development of shifting, ‘masculine’. - Yvonne Tasker, (1993) Spectacular bodies: gender, genre and the action cinema. Routledge. USA & Canada.

It was opinions like these (and some degrading opposites) that inspired my practical work, and with these quotes being in or intended for my dissertation, I feel this shows how closely the two correlate.

 

My Learning Journey

I have learnt so much during this process. When choosing this project, I started as a fan intending to defend comics from the sexism criticisms they so often get, and making the usual statements like "Men are in unrealistically good shape too!" Which is true, but it was when I discovered the men aren't being sexualised, the women are I started to change my mind. After doing some detailed research into this, I discovered that comics shouldn't be defended, and this issue does need confronting. And though I am a man, I thought perhaps this might seem odd coming from me. Maybe women are better inclined to object and explain this concept, as they are the ones being subdued and perhaps understand just how problematic the issue of sexism can be. But I believe men have just as much responsibility to voice this issue as women do, and perhaps if this opinion starts coming from more and more men along side women, comics will speed up their slow process of change. 

But it didn't just end with a realization that comics are sexist, and that it needs to change. I then got entwined with the issue of freedom of expressionism, the harm and bleak world of censorship and how these two worlds need to co-exist. I had always been confused at the concept of why as a society we are so used to and acceptance of violence in media, from children playing with toy soldiers to teenagers playing Call of Duty (a very violent and distressing subject) but why we are so reluctant to show or talk about sex? Violence is wrong. It causes harm and pain and is not something we are accustomed to in our everyday lives, and yet this is okay, everywhere. But sex, something that is joyous and pleasurable and very common in life, is always shuddered away and deemed horrific and perverted. And I thought why can't sex be used more frequently in media? Something I soon discovered George R R Martin agreed with. But then there was the issue, how can sex exist more frequently but sexism not?

And I realized the balance in this lies in rating the product sensibly, clearly, consistently and constantly. There are too man examples when comics have no rating, a rating in small print, or a rating that isn't even on the cover, and this issue isn't only in comics, or perhaps a rating that is on the cover but next to an already provocative main image, for which it is too late and the viewer has already seen content they didn't want too. I found this is actually worse in music videos, again not rated and shown anytime of day, and easily accessible on YouTube. I found that if this rating system was more heavily enforced, comics would benefit ethically, as well as the united decision by artists and editors to illustrate more sensibly when creating content, depending on their intended target audience. 

There was a massive learning curve during this assignment and constant counter arguments running through my mind to each thought. However, upon reaching my conclusion I feel that I effectively came up with a suitable solution to the issue, even though I didn't necessarily have to, and even if it is unlikely to ever be applied. However, I still think it needs voicing as I think the issue needs confronting and I currently I can't see an problem with this solution, other than editors may dislike it as a male teenage audience may want to see things adults would deem inappropriate for them, and therefore the publishers would loose sales by teenagers being restricted from buying titles above their age range.