Utilitarian Review 5/2/15

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Noah Berlatsky

On HU

A trans man on what Sailor Moon means to him.

Remember Colombiana? It was terrible.

We’re going to do a roundtable on Joss Whedon; more details to come!

P. Marie, Zoe Samudzi, and Julia Serano on feminist exclusion of black and trans women.

Jaz Jacobi on why the silly wonderful Weisinger Superman is the greatest Superman of all.

Eric Berlatsky on how continuity precludes real diversity in superhero narratives.

Em Liu on Bruce Lee and the desexualization of Asian men in Hollywood.

Winter Soldier is a vacuous piece of crap that makes me hate my country.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Playboy I wrote about:

—(not) being an ally.

—Black widow, slut shaming, and why one strong female character isn’t enough.

I talked about how racism is partly a question of etiquette on the Matt Townsend show.

At Pacific Standard I wrote about how public policy has made Indiana’s HIV crisis worse.

At Ravishly I wrote about:

—how the genderless utopia isn’t really a utopia at all.

—Mariah Carey’s new video and gender without bodies.

At Splice Today I wrote about constantly marketing yourself as a freelancer.

And the Salem’s Lot study guide I worked on for Shmoop is online.

Other Links

Pauline Kal-El on why superhero comics in general, and Catwoman #23 in particular, are terrible.

Emma Kidwell on video games looking to attract a more diverse audience.

DeRay Mckesson reveals Wolf Blitzer to be a racist tool.

Gerry Conway on how DC works to screw creators out of royalties.

Utilitarian Review 4/25/15

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Noah Berlatsky

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Pam Rosenthal on Jo Baker’s Longbourn — literary fiction or romance?

Shonen Knife forever.

Ginsburg and Breyer have doomed us all.

Nate Atkinson wonders whether the superhero genre, or any genre, can be racist in itself.

Stephan Gary on ARTS video games, neoliberalism, and randomness.

Chris Gavaler on the X-files and super doctors.

The Premiere of Agents of Shield is really racist.

Episode 2 of Agents of SHIELD is also really racist. They’re on a role.

Utilitarians Everywhere

This was kind of an insane week. I had six pieces published in one day, which I think is a record…and the Playboy piece on Laverne Cox went semi-viral on twitter.

For Pacific Standard I wrote a piece on the importance of sex workers and former sex workers doing research on sex workers.

For Chicago Magazine I wrote about how Chicago’s torture reparations fit into the case for reparations for African-Americans.

At TNR I wondered why all the hate for Superman?

At the Life Sentence I explained why cozies are morally reprhensible.

At Reason I wrote about how Daredevil sacralizes torture.

For Playboy I wrote about:

—how the structure of twitter is optimized for abuse, and needs to be changes.

— how poptimism does’t limit music criticism; attention does.

—Laverne Cox posing nude and how radical feminism often fails black women and trans women.

At Quartz I wrote about how searching for happiness makes you unhappy. Also evil.

At Ravishly

—I wrote about Daredevil and how white saviors need injustice.

—I argued that to puncture the cult of motherhood we need to value other relationships, not independence.

At Splice Today I wrote about how Orphan Black’s male clones are kind of boring stereotypes.

Other Links

I think with all the above I’m a little link-exhausted…but if you have pieces you’d like to share in comments, that’d be great.

Utilitarian Review 4/4/15

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Noah Berlatsky

Wonder Woman News

Liz Baudler reviewed my book at New City.

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Michael Arthur on Magical girl anime.

Linke on Valerie D’Orazio and Goodbye to Comics.

Me on Insidious and why you need sin in your horror films.

Chris Gavaler on superheroines old and new.

Me on Orphan Black, Pam Rosenthal’s The Edge of Impropriety and how the closet shapes genre fiction.

Matt Healey on Green Fairy and searching for great furry genre fiction.

Patrick Carland on Steven Universe and narrative arcs in animated series.

Shonté Daniels on the mediocrity of Mario Party 10.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At the New Republic I wrote about how indie music defines itself through whiteness.

At the Atlantic I wrote about Trevor Noah and the petty etiquette of discrimination.

At Urbanfaith.com I wrote about Anthony Heilbut’s wonderful history of Gospel The Gospel Sound, still great some 40+ years later.

At Ravishly I wrote about:

—adolescent brain science and its limited applicability to policy

—Lena Dunham and how anti-Semitism has been abolished in America.

—the terrible new A&E show about saving sex workers.

—online abuse and privilege

—Azealia Banks’ whiteface video and appropriation

—CBR’s list of the greatest female comics creators and the surprising ways its different than their overall list of greatest comics creators.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—Scott Walker, better a liar than a warmonger

—Lena Dunham, Stephin Merritt and weeping on the corpse of meritocracy.

Other Links

Katy Lee on Japan and blackface.

Robert Jones Jr. on DC’s Cyborg and racism.

Ijeoma Oluo on how your fave is problematic.

The Sun Times on efforts to move forward with torture reparations in Chicago.

Utilitarian Review 3/28/15

Posted on March 28, 2015 by Noah Berlatsky

Wonder Woman News

Me on how only bad art is sacred.

Peter Sattler on how comics can’t escape formal definitions.

James Romberger on Antonioni, Bunuel, and love in the dirt.

Kim O’Connor on Valerie D’Orazio, Chris Sims, and progress, or lack thereof.

Chris Gavaler on Cinderella and how superheroes are easy to remember.

Tara Burns interviewed me about the coming matriarchal utopia at Vice.

A Spanish translation of the Vice interview is here.

Frederik Sisa reviewed the book (negatively) over at Frontpage.

On HU

Sarah Shoker reviews Cinderella and talks about why kindness isn’t a fantasy.

Jared Hill on our fascination with AI.

Utilitarians Everyhwere

For Ravishly I wrote:

—on Edward, Pretty Woman, and power fantasies.

—a list of men covering songs by women.

—abput Project Vox and the need for women philosophers.

The Solaris study guide I worked on for Shmoop is online.

At Splice I wrote about

—Aquaman, who is not a badass.

—book tours and writer’s egos.

Other Links

Rahm Emanuel is awful.

Depressing piece on problems with the Hollaback anti-harassment organization.

Matt Binder on GG and comics.

Utilitarian Review 3/21/15

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Noah Berlatsky

Wonder Woman News

I am reading in New York on Monday! Hope to see some of you all there.

And my friend Bert Stabler posted some pictures of me reading in Urbana last Saturday. I stand before impressive windows.

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Caroline Small on Nina Paley, Jonathan Lethem, and how copyright kills culture.

Best Music of the Year So Far

Me on Gilette ads and gender roles.

Me, on Icon and what black superheroes can’t do.

Chris Gavaler on Houdini’s superpowers.

Brittany Lloyd on ecofeminism, Allende, and Nicolay.

Roy T. Cook tries to define comics, those pesky suckers.

Kailyn Kent on the unbearably apt whiteness of the “Wes Anderson” X-Men spoof.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Urbanfaith.com I interviewed Mikki Kendall about diversity in comics, sci-fi, and YA.

At Ravishly I wrote about:

—Chris Hedges, Wonkette and how hatred of sex workers sells.

—why the Handmaid’s Tale is overrated, and Marge Piercy’s great A Woman At The End of Time.

—Batgirl and changing audiences in comics.

—how Starbucks should have a conversation about class and making workers do emotional labor for no pay.

At Splice Today I argued that the left should spend less time on the strategy of privilege discussions, and more time on their truth.

At the New Republic I wrote about Sensation Comics and why Wonder Woman needs her lasso of control back.

Other Links

Thor is selling better as a woman.

Katherine Cross on gg’s crusade against blocking.

Claire Napier on Chris Sims’ harassment of Valerie D’Orazio.

Sarah Nyberg on being outed and harassed by gamergate.

James Parker on trying to make G.K. Chesterton a saint.

Voices from the Archive: Caroline Small on Female Comics Creators

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Noah Berlatsky

As I mentioned yesterday, Kelly Thompson is running a poll to make a list of the best female comics creators. I thought I’d reproduce one of Caroline Small’s comments on this topic from some time back. She’s responding to the late Kim Thompson. (The back and forth was actually on another site…click through to the thread if you want all the ins and outs.)

I’m guessing nobody’s still reading this thread but I’m going to do something contrarian and agree with Kim — although for reasons he might not like. I think he’s absolutely correct that any discussion like this is problematic without some discussion of the values that make work “great.” But to me, the reason that is so important is because, if the history of women’s writing is any comparison, the work of women cartoonists, considered altogether and on its own terms, without reference to the historical criteria used to evaluate (mostly male) cartoonists, may in fact challenge the assumptions and criteria that we use to evaluate the work that’s been done so far.

I’m a known partisan for Anke Feuchtenberger’s marvelous work. Having recently been introduced to Charlotte Salomon’s work I anticipate a similar feeling to emerge.

But a lot of people say artists like Feuchtenberger and Salomon are not “cartoonists” because they don’t work in quite the same aesthetic tradition as the ones in your list, Kim — even though Feuchtenberger at least describes herself as a cartoonist. When I start from their work as my aesthetic benchmark, more women emerge: Ana Hatherly, Elisa Galvez, Dominique Goblet.

The aesthetic tradition of “classical cartooning” (?) unfortunately hasn’t coincided historically with a very welcoming environment for women, one where we have lots of role models and fellow travelers to smooth the path, to provide encouragement and motivation and inspiration, and to create a sense of shared voice. That’s why I’m resistant to the 60-year metric. It doesn’t let the best work by women who have come of age after the advances of recent decades — advances Fantagraphics was part of — come to the surface for critical examination. I think if we limit ourselves to that historical precedent, we can’t, say, evaluate the work of innovative cartoonists like Cathy Malkusian or Lauren Weinstein in the context established by cartoonists like Feuchtenberger and Salomon. And I think reading them that way, instead of against, say, Herge or Herriman, leads to fascinating insights about the cartooning aesthetic and its possibilities — the comparison made me like Malkusian and Weinstein’s work much more than I did before I approached in from that perspective. It remains an open question what such comparisons would yield for reading Alison Bechdel or Lynda Barry or other women who work in the more traditional cartooning aesthetic.

Maybe it will in fact be 60 years before we can accurately say who the greatest women cartoonists will be, but I don’t think we should be afraid of recognizing and celebrating the work of women cartoonists as “great” until that time has passed. That’s largely abdicating any role that critics and criticism can play in making the environment of cartooning in the broad sense more nourishing for women cartoonists. If we need to codify and celebrate and advocate a separate tradition of “women’s cartooning” with its own aesthetic and cultural criteria in order to be able to roar these women’s names as greats in comics, then so be it. I think Herriman can stand the competition. Maybe we need another word for “comics artist” than just “cartoonist.” But what I think is sexist is the demand that women work in that tradition and only that tradition in order to be considered great.