No female superheroes except teenybopper Hellcat (gag) and minor roles in a few teams? She-Hulk, Spiderwoman, Ms. Marvel, Black Widow? Um... Dazzler?
Wow--some random otaku has to go to jail for 15 years for reading pervy comics. But the hundreds--no, thousands--of fathers, stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, etc. who abuse children in their families go unpunished most of the time. Our culture would rather hang someone socially vulnerable than go after the people who really commit child abuse 99% of the time: men who are usually highly regarded in their communities, churches, etc. Dear America, GREAT JOB!
Not nearly as cute as Mighty Muggs. Aquaman looks like Fatty Arbuckle with no face. And that's something I never wanted to imagine. I shudder to think what any women they make (they probably won't) will look like.
First, let me say that I really enjoyed this review Annalee. I'm baffled by the posters who, as someone else already put it, seem to feel personally threatened by this film. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I don't care if it's "for the masses," as long as it's good. And by good I mean fun and witty -- and I hope it recaptures what I see as the most essential element of the original series: camp.
I've never watched TOS for it's social commentary or astute insights on the human condition. I don't really think it has those things. As much as I hate to admit it (because he's a sexist snob) Thomas M. Disch is right about Trek in his book "The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of." Trek is a tokenly interracial office in a naively idealistic future. But I love it because it's marvelously campy and never takes itself seriously. The soundstage other worlds, the ridiculous costumed aliens (Gorn!), the blackface Klingons, the "trippiness," the fake fights with punches that sometimes don't match the sound effects and ridiculous insults ("your mother was sitting on a mushroom"), the sfumato-faced bimbos of the week: THIS is why I love Trek!
And on the subject of camp, here's what I really wanted to say. You've all talked a lot about the sexualization of Spock. But what about the *hetero*sexualization of Spock? A couple of posters have mentioned that Spock has always been *very* sexual in fanfic, but no one has mentioned that the most popular and prolific of that fanfic has always made Spock Kirk's lover. And there's a reason for that in the show; even though Kirk the intergalactic skirt-chaser has a new alien woman every week, he'll betray/dump/forget *any* of them for Spock. The primary bond in the show -- you don't have to read sexuality into it at all, but you can if you want to -- was always between Spock and Kirk. I'm always amazed when I rewatch "City on the Edge of Forever" how intense the friendship between the two men is. When Spock says "Edith Keeler must die," I always feel there's more than a little jealousy behind it. Again, you can read it *just* as an intense male/male friendship if you want, but there have always been lots of fans who want to read it as more, for whatever that's worth.
So I'm curious and a tiny bit worried about the Spock/Uhura relationship, even though those two have always been my favorite characters and part of me is going "ooooh hot!" I'm worried about Uhura having to be the only "career girl" in the all-male office, but I'm also worried about losing that Kirk/Spock homoerotic or homosocial heart of the show. Because that campy captain/first officer erotic potential has always kept me coming back for more, and it's something that none of the more serious treks -- great as they may be -- ever captured.
Okay haters -- I've said my piece... bring it on.
Now I finally understand why Amazon de-ranked (censored) all the gay/lesbian/"deviant" books -- because even on a web site devoted to a genre that routinely explores extreme (and yes, deviant) ideas in an open-minded way, there are people who can only respond with "gross" or an irrelevant diss of James Tiptree Jr.
Slash is a relevant topic for this site, not only because it pushes the boundaries of what our culture is comfortable talking about but because it is a rare example of fans taking control of corporate-owned properties. It's also been a doorway into a male-dominated genre for female fans ever since the days of mimeographed K/S slashfic. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it or read about it. And a word of advice: the next time you feel compelled to write "gross" just to prove to a bunch of people you don't know that you're NOT GAY... don't. We don't know you, and we don't care.
Kudos on a good article io9 ... and a shout out to all the others who celebrate the Dionysian (cf. the stick-up-his-ass Tiptree disser), the chaotic, and the deviant!
