Module 11 - Comics blogs

Phantom Lady Feminist Viewpoint

The blogpost i will be writing about this week is about the "Phantom Lady" series, #23. Produced in April of 1949. The link will be provided at the end of the blog itself. In this comic, the senator is traveling to India. The people there worship tigers, that is all they know. The senator is mislead by a spy to lure him to a trap while they organize to steal oil from the "Tiger people". Unfortunately, the senator and his son both get caught and the phantom lady has to save the day. She eventually free's the two and goes back to the "Tiger People" and convince them to stop praying to the tigers and fight the invaders, which they do and repel the invaders. From a feminist viewpoint, i personally feel the fact that they have a heroin with her own comic during the time period a strong step forward as there aren't many female heroes period. Most often, female characters in comics are sidekicks or the wives or part of the "Ms. Pacman" culture. Where the females are essentially the female versions of the male super hero, such as Batman and Batgirl, or Superman and Supergirl. Unfortunately, the portrayal of the Phantom Lady could be better. She goes into battle with a skimpy top showing maximum cleavage and a super short skirt. This could be possible that this is apart of her super powers and that she can go into battle dressed in practically nothing and still come out unscathed. Another thing is the front page of the comic, which shows her bound against her will and once again, at maximum cleavage. This also shows the "male gaze" where a man would stare at a woman. This is important as many argue that it objectifies women. Andy from the conservationist mentions "The “male gaze” invokes the sexual politics of the gaze and suggests a sexualised way of looking that empowers men and objectifies women. In the male gaze, woman is visually positioned as an “object” of heterosexual male desire. Her feelings, thoughts and her own sexual drives are less important than her being “framed” by male desire."(Theconversation.com). This also shows the typical damsel in distress on how so many women are portrayed in every aspect of entertainment. Once again, attempting to make sales or better entertainment at the expense of womens' suffering.

CITES

Phantom Lady :23 1949 = http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=12188

Loreck, Janice, and Andy Simmons. "Explainer: What Does the 'male Gaze' Mean, and What about a Female Gaze?" The Conversation. N.p., 05 Jan. 2016. Web. 08 Apr. 2018.

http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486