It’s Christmas Time!

Okay, guys. I want to give everyone an idea on what I’m going to be doing for the next month. I love Christmas and don’t get nearly enough time to talk about it, what with the season being only about a month long. There are so many things that I can talk about in terms of critique, but I must be smart with my choices, so here we go.

Manga Mondays: New Policewoman Kiruko-san

A few weeks ago Shounen Jump bid farewell to the long-running Katekyo Hitman Reborn series. I was sad to see it go, but I’ve got much more complicated feelings about the series that’s taken its place.

I was astonished when I read that the newest addition to the Shounen Jump lineup was going to have a female titular character. I mean, the magazine has “shounen”, which means “boy”, in the title, so it seemed pretty cool that they would have a story about a lady hero.

Now, having actually read the first two chapters, I have every sort of mixed feeling about New Policewoman Kiruko-san.

Oh, My Pop Culture Jesus: Disney’s Divine Intervention

Disney movie heroes and heroines are good people. Like really good. I mean, like, woodland creatures help them do chores, for cripes’ sake. And so it would be really out of character of them to start straight-up murdering people, even if those people happen to be the bad guys.

So how do the bad guys get dead then? Well, in a lot of Disney, movies it seems as though some sentient force of nature itself reaches out and snuffs them out. Whoever’s running these universes really has a habit of picking sides, and it’s pretty clear who they’re rooting for. Let’s look at a few (I’d warn for spoilers, but seriously, you guys you should have seen these movies already):

In Up, the bad guy Charles Muntz catches his foot on some balloon strings while trying to attack our heroes and falls to his death.

In The Incredibles, Syndrome is sucked into a plane engine by his cape.

In Beauty and the Beast, Gaston loses his balance and falls off the Beast’s high balcony.

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the evil Queen is struck by lightning, falls off a cliff, and is crushed by a boulder as she runs away from Snow White’s cabin.

In Oliver and Company, Sykes’ car is hit by an oncoming train and he dies.

In Tarzan, Clayton falls from a tree and is strangled to death by hanging vines.

Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective gets caught up in Big Ben and falls to his death.

(Dang, that’s a lot of falling to death. Crappy way to die.)

It’s interesting that, in universes where, for the most part, there are no actively acknowledged gods or God, (save Hunchback, where they talk about God and damnation a lot), that divine retribution or intervention via uncannily timed accident seems to be the go-to way to get rid of a bad guy. Is it that bad for a Disney hero/ine to get some blood on their hands? Most interesting is that this handy plot device isn’t something that’s gone away with age—it spans movies as early as Snow White to as recent as Up.

There are plenty more examples—feel free to name some in the comments.

I Used to Be a Power Ranger

Did you know that? Yeah, my friend and I were known as the Deluxe Rangers back in the day. I was the Spirit Ranger who could transform into any living being and he was the Forever Ranger who could control time. You say you don’t remember us? Well here’s one of our adventures, appropriately themed for the holiday season:

(I’ve deleted my last name and changed that of my friend to protect our secret identities)

..yeah I overestimated the amount of panels I’d need for the conclusion

So yeah. As you can see, we were pretty important Rangers. Hand-picked by Zordon even after his demise because I apparently overlooked canon we were just that special and thanks to us you’re not enslaved by mashed potatoes right now, are you? You’re welcome.

Sexualized Saturdays: Badass Ladies Can’t Have Romance?

We do a lot of complaining about the way women’s roles in action movies are typically that of the romantic interest. And hell, it’s justified. There are far too many films where the lady, however interesting she is, is nothing less than window dressing or the arm candy.

However, on the other side of this coin, it’s important to remember that having a romantic interest does not inherently lessen the worth of a female character. It’s only when her role boils down to ‘my only motivation is my love for my amazing prince charming dudebro’ that it becomes a problem.

Consider The Avengers. Does it matter if Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff have a thing? I’m not necessarily arguing that they do, but if they did, would it make Nat any less kickass? No. In this case, the Black Widow is a well-rounded, complex character with various motivations, and romantic feelings are just one part of those motivations.

On the other hand, let’s look at Sherlock. Irene Adler is also an arguably badass lady. But over the course of her part in “A Scandal in Belgravia”, all of her actions are motivated by her romantic attachment to Sherlock, and it makes her character unpleasantly two-dimensional.

The problem with boiling women down to just their romantic motivations is that it essentially removes their agency, and forces us to define their characters in relation to their romantic partner. But at the same time it’s important to remember that the basic fact of having a male romantic partner does not immediately make a lady less kickass.

Ace and Saika watch Rise of the Guardians

Spoiler Alert!

So the other day, I forced Saika to take me both to the movies and to pay for my ticket. Naturally, we went to see Rise of the Gaurdians, which was a pleasant break from the sword fight the two of us failed to properly have beforehand—more accurately, we swung wooden sticks at each other and it was very awkward—and I have to say that this movie did not reach my expectations. It’s plenty enjoyable—I’ve seen it a few times already—and it’s a good story. But it is nowhere near as epic as everyone made it out to be.

Is Supernatural: Sexist?

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to discuss whether or not Supernatural is sexist. I meant to have this written ages ago, but I have been having a hard time writing this particular post, because there are just so many factors to consider. Sexism is probably one of the most predominant criticisms of the show. Why? Because the women of Supernatural are often killed, portrayed as evil, or written off the show. Almost all of them are sexualized.

This is also because almost every female character on the show sleeps with either Dean or Sam, putting them squarely in the girlfriend category and thus, usually in the damsel-in-distress category. It’s true that the women Dean sleeps with have a higher survival rate, but they still tend to not do much and are often written off the show, though there are a few notable exceptions.

I used to think the survival rate of women on Supernatural was pretty low compared to the men, but one article has shown me that’s actually not the case. Gender Bias in Supernatural: The Cold Hard Stats goes through the meticulous effort to calculate how many women in the show have died, versus how many men in the show have died. Separate charts were used to show the difference between major and minor characters, and surprisingly more women survive then men.

Fanfiction Fridays: The Houseguests by MaybeIfI

So since Rise of the Guardians just came out, I figured we’d give you a Rise of the Guardians fanfic to help end the week (and also because fanfiction for this story creeps Saika out, and she’s the one who will be editing this post). Though, for anyone else who might be concerned, the fic I’m about to talk about is entirely platonic and does not feature a romance between a giant rabbit and an underaged three-hundred-year-old boy.

No, this is actually a cute, family-oriented fic that takes place after the movie, and involves Jack finding a home among the other guardians, when beforehand he hadn’t been accepted by them. This fic is also something of a sequel to a one shot about North having a son and the mistakes he made in raising him, mistakes that he’s concerned he’ll repeat with Jack if Jack decides to move in and live with him.

So the story starts with Jack heading back to the North Pole and raiding all the cookie dough from Santa’s kitchen. And after he does this for two days straight, he naturally develops a bit of stomachache, which makes North freak out and think he’s dying. North, not knowing what to do and still fearing that what happened to his son will happen to Jack, calls Bunnymund and Tooth to come over and help him deal with this catastrophe.

Following that, Bunnymund finds himself having to explain to North that making toys for children is very different than having one, and that North will need to learn the difference between the two.

The Houseguests actually came out before the movie release, which leads me to believe that MaybeIfI probably definitely read the book series. While I didn’t read it and cannot say for certain how well the movie follows it, The Houseguests is very much in line with the cinematic production. Not only that, I love how well done the characterization is. Just take a look at this conversation North and Bunnymund have about Jack’s harmless stomachache:

North glared at him. “Don’t you have any medicine or something?”

Bunnymund shrugged. “Besides chocolate? I don’t think he needs more candy after all that cookie dough. It’s a stomach ache. Children get those when they eat too many sweets.”

“He didn’t have any cookie dough-”

“How do you know?”

“Because he told me!”

“Well, that’s one mystery solved. He lied,” Bunnymund kicked his paws out lazily.

And though it’s North’s guilt and overreaction about Jack becoming ill that gets the story going, the main characters are Bunnymund and Tooth, and they’re written perfectly as well. Tooth is twittering and awkward with words because she always has to focus on millions of fairies collecting teeth everywhere all the time and Bunnymund is his grumpy and sarcastic self. Mostly, what I like about Bunnymund is that he recognizes North’s plight about Jack and how that reminds North of his original son.

“I don’t think of Jack as Nightlight’s replacement,” North mumbled reproachfully. “It’s very different. That’s why I’m trying to do better this time.”

Are things going to be done better? Well, I don’t know. Jack, Tooth, and Bunnymund all end the night by drinking hot chocolate and falling asleep in the guest bedroom.

Unfortunately, the story is very short, and the author seems to have a habit of writing one shots and not multi-chaptered stories, but that’s not really a probably. MaybeIfI is great, and everyone should go check out this fic.

New ‘Shortpacked’ Arc Hits Close to Home

I’ve been noticing a trend not only on my Tumblr dash, but in the general consensus of the net and its denizens on what the hot topic issue to discuss this season is: sexism! But when is it not sexism, honestly? At least this time there’s a figurehead for our discussions: Tony Harris. Harris, a comic author that has worked for both Marvel and DC, recently has come out saying a whole slew of offensive things that boil down to “hey girls, you can’t actually like nerdy things because you’re a Fake-y McFakerson and I’m on to you and your tricky lying skank ways.”

Okay, it was better thought out than that (barely), but it brings up a point that we’ve already brought up here once, and will probably do so again: is it possible to be a fake nerd or geek?

More importantly though, does it even matter?  Let’s, for the sake of argument, say that yes, there are fake nerds and geeks that want in this super special club of fandoms and feels and whatever else there is. Who’s going to care or notice? For one, if they’re attending cons, they’re essentially giving money to support other nerds and geeks. If they’re watching shows, they’re adding viewership ratings that may help keep the show on the air. Literally, the only problem I can see with this is that the lack of knowledge they may have on your fandom of choice may be slightly annoying. If that’s the case, either teach them and help them understand—who knows, you may make a nerd/geek of them yet!—or ignore them and go on your way. It’s. Not. That. Hard.

But, I’ve completely veered from what I wanted to bring to light for today. This morning, I checked out the webcomic Shortpacked (which we’ve already praised for one of author David Willis’s previous strips) and was completely sick to my stomach, but in a good way, I’m hoping. It seems as though in his latest arc he’s going to tackle this new, unapologetically geeky girl generation through the eyes of Lucy, the newest addition to the Shortpacked line-up and also an unapologetically geeky chick, and her being harassed by someone that looks freakishly like Mr. Harris. Although it’s only on its first page, it’s already uncomfortably hitting close to home. I’m interested to see where he takes it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope it ended in a cosmic dick punch.

Theatre Thursdays: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Theatre, at its core, is about performance, regardless of whether it’s on a stage, in a cabaret, or on a street corner. And today (in approximately an hour) a hell of a street performance will be happening in New York City! There will be dancing, music, and singing! There will be awesome floats and giant balloons based on nostalgic cartoons of the past and bits of pop culture that annoy you today! There will be terrifying clowns! (But seriously, according to the official website there are more clown troupes attending than popular musicians! Why? Who still thinks clowns are more fun and okay than Carly Rae Jepsen is?!) And it all wraps up with a reminder that, now that it’s officially Thanksgiving, you can no longer complain about people getting ready for, talking about, singing about, or advertising for Christmas. By which I of course mean Santa actually shows up.

Get some spectacle in before you lapse into a tryptophan coma and check out the parade!