It Started with a Kiss: Reframing Superheroines Visual Narratives
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1 It Started With A Kiss: Reframing Superheroines Visual Narratives Chadwick L. Roberts Assistant Professor University of North Carolina Wilmington 601 South College Road Wilmington, NC 28403-5933 [email protected] Anita K. McDaniel Associate Professor University of North Carolina Wilmington 601 South College Road Wilmington, NC 28403-5933 [email protected] For full paper see International Journal of Comic Art (Spring/Summer, 2016) 2 It Started With A Kiss: Reframing Superheroines Visual Narratives Fig. 1 V J Day in Times Square The famous V J Day Kiss has been referred to as the most romantic moment in American history for decades. It is a photograph of a nurse in a sailor's arms taken in 1945 as the nation celebrated victory over Japan (Fig. 1). The image has been reenacted by countless couples on Times Square and recreated in popular art using a variety of fictional characters. The iconic photograph resembles the classic swoon—a man grasping a woman by the waist for a kiss while bending her backward such that she lifts one foot off of the ground. However, this version makes the woman an object of the kiss instead of interacting with it. Thus, the kiss appears less like a mutual act and more like an act of force (Benfanti, 2011: 16). Greta Zimmer, the “nurse” in the photograph, remembers it the following way. “It wasn't my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed! I did not see him 3 approaching, and before I knew it, I was in his vise grip. You don't forget this guy grabbing you. That man was very strong. I wasn't kissing him. He was kissing me.” (Breslaw, 2012: para 5) Literally and visually, Greta lacked agency. But, in the heterosexist world of romance, that did not seem to matter. Men act; women are acted upon. In the end, the popularization of the swoon and the accompanying footpop added to the visual vocabulary for feminine submission in American culture. Two related questions to ask at this point might be, how do images of this kind circulate today and how might they be challenged/complicated? Comic book art is a pastiche of everything from pulp fiction to iconic photography to fine art. Problems can occur when the inspirational images carry gender coded meanings with them (like V J Day Kiss) that influence readers’ perceptions of the characters. For years, feminists have analyzed the images of women in comics (i.e., their physiology, body cants and costume designs) and deemed them sexist at best and misogynistic at worst. Guided by a second wave feminist, interpretive lens, critiques of the female body rested on the equation “the medium = male = patriarchal = oppressive” (Mandaville, 2014: 213). Sometimes the popularization of gender coded meanings in comic books is intentionally regressive; other times gender coded imagery serves to expose alternative meanings in the narrative. When feminists critique the images of female superheroes absent the creator's intentions imbedded in the narrative, those analyses imply that there is only one way for an audience to read a text (i.e., negative and objectifying). It freezes the interpretive process in time and negates narrative efforts to redirect or move beyond seeing the female form as merely an object of the male gaze. If the goal of any critique is to validate a claim about the influence of the meanings of the image on an audience, it makes sense to embrace fully the dynamic nature of the relationships among narrative, image and the creative process. Comic book visuals go beyond the body of the character; they encompass “the look” of the 4 book, or more specifically, the page. Comics rely on sequenced panels to support the written narrative. Some artists arrange their panels in the traditional grid pattern whereas other artists opt for something bolder and/or more graphic. The point for the reader is to notice when a pattern of presentation has been established and when it has changed. The layout is the arrangement of the panels on the page (Duncan, Smith & Levitz, 2015: 118-120). Mise en scene is the arrangement of the items within each panel (122). Artists and writers often collaborate on layout and mise en scene to help the reader understand the meanings they are trying to convey. V J Day Kiss originally appeared in LIFE magazine (1945) as a full page photograph (27) preceded by five pages of kissing revelers. Changing the layout of the photographs from multiple presentation to single presentation, sequentially created the positive, “Victory Celebrations” context. At the time, the photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt, took four different shots of the kissing “couple.” In the first and fourth shots, the upper body language was wrong—Greta looked like she was trying to push away from the man kissing her to no avail. In the second image, the one selected for publication, her upper and lower body language seemed more in harmony. The relaxed arm and involuntary footpop indicated submission to the moment. As a whole, the image reflected the natural order of romance—feminine submission to masculine dominance. Because layout and mise en scene cast the sailor and nurse as “just another couple among other kissing and footpopping couples,” it was easier to overlook that the image also celebrated the patriarchal ideology of its time (Harman & Lucaites, 2007: 123). Second wave feminists might ask, why do we continue to accept/celebrate imagery where women lack agency? And more importantly, why do comic book artists continue to reference this imagery when portraying superheroines? The purpose of this paper is to analyze themes of submission and dominance in the visual and written narratives of the NEW 52 reboots of Wonder Woman and Batwoman. Specifically, we argue that the male writers and artists of these reboots intentionally created narratives that redirect and play 5 with the male gaze. Wonder Woman was chosen because her construction began and continues to be the comic book response to first and second wave feminism (Stanley, 2005). In the wake of third wave feminism, it is necessary to critique how her NEW 52 representations redirect the male gaze and represent her as a powerful and agentic woman. Batwoman was chosen because she is DC Comics only lesbian superhero. Given that she began as a potential love interest for Batman, it is important to critique how her NEW 52 reboot plays with comic book femininity in general and lesbian representation specifically. We will explore how strategically constructed, New 52 layouts and panel mise en scene portray Wonder Woman and Batwoman as challenging masculine hegemony without emasculating the men in their personal and professional lives. That is, we will show how certain visual narratives offer alternative visions for portraying powerful women as equals to powerful men. Superman/Wonder Woman A pairing of Superman with Wonder Woman presents as many narrative opportunities as it does challenges. Visually, the greatest narrative opportunity is also the greatest narrative challenge-- portraying their relationship as egalitarian. Superman represents hyper-masculinity; he is physically strong, protective and embodies patriarchal American values. Wonder Woman represents hyper- femininity; she is beautiful, physically strong and embodies modern feminist values. Traditionally in comics, the female romantic partner is more passive and submissive when in the presence of the male romantic partner. The man is the hero. He saves her; he protects her; he directs her. Her role is to help him with his heroic efforts, confirm his heterosexuality and defer to his leadership. Again, women did not act because their role was to be acted upon. While this traditional view of relationships conforms to the values Superman represents, it is completely contrary to the values Wonder Woman represents. In order to portray a realistic relationship between the iconic characters (and appeal to a post feminist audience), Soule and Daniel “played with the occasional reversal of what would be considered 6 ‘normal’ gender roles” (Rogers, 2014: para 16). In the 1970s and 1980s, DC writers and artists made no attempts to embrace feminist ideals when Wonder Woman was tied romantically to Superman. For instance, in SUPERMAN: DISTANT FIRES, Wonder Woman became Superman’s trophy wife and mother to his son after a nuclear war robbed him of his life in Metropolis. Her sole purpose was to die senselessly and motivate Superman to be heroic while seeking justice for her death and saving their son. In WONDER WOMAN #300, Wonder Woman dreamt that she married Superman instead of Steve Trevor. Unfortunately, being Superman’s equal became the reason for the end of the super couple’s marriage. In the first narrative, Wonder Woman was limited to wife and mother roles and neither one allowed her to be heroic or remain alive until the end of the story. In the second narrative, marriage was written to be incompatible with a woman’s career outside the home if she did the same work as a man and with equal commitment. In ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #5, Jim Lee’s Wonder Woman was anything but gender neutral. She entered the narrative with her femininity on full voyeuristic display. Lee drew several panels highlighting her long legs, full bosom and hour glass shape using overhead views and body fragmentation. Visually, she was ostensibly the Other in a room full of men. She embodied misandry dressed in spiky, high heels and speaking disparagingly of her male teammates in general and Superman in particular. Ultimately, Wonder Woman's hyper-feminine vibrato was rendered mute due to a hyper-masculine trope—submitting to a kiss from the male hero. Frank Miller’s Wonder Woman was like all of his strong, female characters--aggressive and sexually independent.