Superwomen in Modern Mythology
Originally published: 2010
Page count: 174
Dates read: 8/15/2020-8/26/2020
2020 book goal progress: 23 out of 20
Reading category: TBR Shelf
Read my other book reviews for my 2020 goal HERE.
Description on back of book:
Women have been led to believe that superheroes and heroism are not for
them and that they are little more than love interests, or sidekicks who
stand by their supermen. This is a false proposition argues Jennifer K.
Stuller, as she uncovers the true history of how superwomen are
represented in popular culture. The book details the notable differences
in how women and men are represented as heroic in modern myth. The
spotlight is also turned onto men and women who have created modern myths
with a strong female presence.
First sentence:
"In Sam Raimi's 2002 film, Spider-Man 2, Aunt May tells her nephew, Peter Parker, that she believes 'there's a hero in all of us.'"
Favorite quotes:
"Myths can be fantasy and they can be real, and sometimes, they are reality wrapped in a metaphor and thus used as a way of teaching values."
"Love is redemptive; it heals and inspires - but so does the ability
to forgive and be forgiven, which is made possible by compassion.
Compassion is an act of selfless love often born out of empathy and an
essential component of the love ethic that drives heroes to action without
expectation of reward."
"Sex and gender do not and should not define us or what we do, but a
combination of nature and nurture colors our lives, regardless. Who we are
influences the stories we tell and the stories we want to hear."
Review:
OK, I'm really going to wrap this up now. Overall, it is a great resource
with a wonderful list of new media for me to consume - it just tried to do
too much (by including the aspects in part 2) and, at the same time,
wasn't expansive enough (started the history too soon, didn't include
enough female artists, and didn't include enough variety of media).
Review:
I have mixed feelings about this book. Most of the book was great, but it
got into some topics I wasn't interested in for this book and it also
wasn't as expansive as I was hoping it was going to be. It is an
incredible resource and I have many new movies and shows I want to watch
now. I am going to start with an overview of the book, so I can list some
great feminist works for you to enjoy as well. I am only going to list
examples that she wrote more extensively on, though she mentioned many
others in passing.
Part 1 - A history of superwomen in various media.
Chapter 1 - 40s and 50s
-Comics - Wonder Woman
Chapter 2 - 60s and 70s
-Ms. Magazine
-Comics
-Modesty Blaise
-The Cat/Greer Nelson (Beware the Claws of the Cat)
-TV
-Uhura (Star Trek)
-Dr. Cathy Gale and Emma Peel (The Avengers)
-Wonder Woman
-The Bionic Woman
-Charlie's Angels
-B Movies
-Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
-The Doll Squad
-Coffy (racially controversial)
Chapter 3 - 80s
-Movies
-Princess Leia (Star Wars Ep 4 and 5)
-Valeria (Conan the Barbarian)
-Ellen Ripley (Aliens)
-Sarah Connor (Terminator 2)
Chapter 4 - 90s and 00s
-Sassy Magazine and Zines such as BUST
-TV
-Aeon Flux (Liquid Television)
-Xena, Warrior Princess
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-Max Guevara (Dark Angel)
Part 2 - Aspects of female heroes and their stories.
Chapter 5 - Compassion and Friendship
-TV - Buffy, Max (Dark Angel), and Xena
Chapter 6 - The (unreasonable) commonality of single fathers and male
mentors.
-TV - Alias, Veronica Mars, and Dark Angel
Chapter 7 - Super mothers and the rarety of female mentors.
-Comics - Elektra/Wolverine: The Redeemer
-Movies - Elektra and Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2
-TV
-Alias
-The Sarah Jane Adventures
-Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Part 3 - The Mythmakers - Women Making Myth
-TV - Birds of Prey and Heroes
-Margot Kidder as Lois Lane
-Gail Simon as the writer of
-Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman comics
- Trina Robbins as the writer and Anne Timmon as the artist of
-GoGirl! comics and graphic novels
-Angela Robinson as writer and director of
-D.E.B.S. movie
I know the list takes up a lot of space, but I think it's important to
have something like that around! Also, it now lets me talk more about what
I liked and what didn't like about the book. What I
wasn't interested in was the 'aspect' part of the book - the whole
second part. Don't get me wrong, that's important, but it's a deep topic
that should be its own separate book - and it wasn't what I was looking
for in this particular book.
What I wanted from this book was an extensive history of fiction
superwomen in all sorts of mediums AND an extensive history of women
behind the curtain creating strong female characters. The last chapter was
like an afterthought and a great disappointment. I understand that the
media tends to be a man's world, but surely more real women could have
been mentioned. I would have liked the history of the fictional characters
and the real women to be written about side by side in a historically
chronological fashion
In that strain, if I had my way, chapters 5-7 would be removed and
replaced with chapters on (1900s and 10s), (20s and 30s), and (2010s). You
know what is SORELY missing from this book? Examples of superwomen in
LITERATURE, which is a bit ironic if you ask me. So the 1900s/10s chapter
would be about fictional and real women involved with books since that was
the 'popular medium' of the time. (Not to mention that women in America got the right
to vote in 1920, so this chapter would be ripe with the suffrage
movement.) I could give several examples for you, but
The Herland Trilogy by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
is what comes to mind. Ellador, the main female character, is from an
all-female utopia very similar to, you guessed it, Wonder Woman. (I'll
also throw this nugget out there: Sultana's Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. It's a story about what it would be like if the gender roles were
reversed in the practice of purdah.)
The 20s and 30s have many great literature examples too. In the 20s-50s,
there could also be radio show examples. Skuller mentioned radio shows in
passing, but never actually listed any specific ones. The 2010s would
probably focus on the multitude of superhero movies that came out at that
time. I cried at the wonderful representation of women in the last 2
Avengers movies. Cried. My husband rolled his eyes, but the representation
of strong women standing up for each other and working together? Men take
that for granted... but that's still a relatively new concept in regards
to women in media. And that's something worth crying over.
I would have loved to get more literature examples all throughout the
history of superwomen. Skuller mentions several times the significance of
manga in showing that females like to read comics, but she never lists any
good feminist examples, which is a disappointment. Graphic novels, for the
most part, are lacking in representation too. OK, I'm going to end my
rant, even though there is so much more I want to say.
I do want to say that I loved hearing about Joss Whedon and Buffy in
particular. I happen to be watching the show for the first time and I'm
greatly enjoying it. You know what else I'm watching that I'm disappointed
was not mentioned in the book? Avatar: The Last Airbender - how could that
NOT be in this book? (14 Reasons Why "Avatar: The Last Airbender" Is Actually Super Feminist
And Progressive
- You're welcome.)
Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more
about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will
let Jennifer K. Stuller have the last words:
"Xena and Gabrielle will be feminist role models for some viewers, while
others will feel that their skimpy outfits force them to conform to standards of
feminity. Some will champion them as lesbian icons, while others will believe
that the refusal to admit outright that the two women are in a homosexual
relationship is a disappointing cop-out. Regardless, they are both characters
that have made an impact on personal politics and the cultural landscape by
providing courage to those who saw them as role models and internalized their
values. Furthermore, we as the audience don't need to take an either/or
approach to superwomen. We can look critically at the social implications of
the over-emphasis on sexuality as well as thrill at watching displays of
confidence and power. Because an individual audience can engage with a
representation as entertainment or as message, the relationship will never be
static."
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