Superheros, Geeks and Women

    Last weeks discussion with Caleb really put alot of thought into my head. Especially with the idea of the Geek culture.
     Ill be kind of honest when i felt like the lecturing was bashing men a little bit. I do think men have taken over the realm of the geek, but i still think they have left room for women to be involved.

Heres some of my thoughts....
   

     Lets be real, the idea of "GEEK" is turning into a business. Chris Hardwick for example has turned his nerdisms into a big business. His Nerdist group was recently bought by Legendary pictures and now he has the title of President of Digital Business. When it all comes down to it, the geek life now is capitalistic way to advance in business. We all know one of the oldest rules in business is the classic slogan..."Sex Sells" and i think that was brought into play with some of the Cosplay pictures that were on display in our lecture. The women were really just taking advantage of their situation and doing whats best for business more or less then they were being over-sexualized and getting taken advantage off. Is a fanboy really going to want to see a grown man in his 30s in a sexy Ms. Marvel costume??...No, he wants to see a woman just as attractive as the comicbook character he enjoys to read about. By NO means am i saying women cant have higher ranking jobs in the geek universe like CEO etc, but they should also take advantage of their strengths, and sex is one of them. I applaud the women for dressing like they did because their using the best of their abilities to advance in the business that is being a nerd or a geek, even if that means dressing a little too sexy.


     I also think we looked at the role of women in superhero/geek films a little wrong as well. Yes, Black Widow was over sexualized and sortof a sideshow act in the Avengers film, but she was still an integral part of the team. You also have to look at it from a business aspect, when Marvel comics first came around, not too many women were lead comicbook characters let alone, leaders of teams like the Avengers. People want to see the comicbooks they loved so much as children come to the screen the way they read them, not a 180 degree difference. Todays directors of the superhero film need to keep the original stories in tact, they like to make good, fair movies but they also need to give the audience and the people what they want.  Again, im not bashing bigger roles for women in the comicbook world, auteurs are just doing what works for the moment now.
     We also brought up the character of Kate Beckinsale in the Underworld Franchise. Correct me if im wrong but we discussed how she was very violent and shoot first and ask questions later. Like i said earlier, its not that we cant have reasonable and strong female characters as opposded to her character in Underworld, its just what works for business! People go to movies to find that sense of escapsism from our own reality, and they want to see that sense of craziness, they want to see a beautiful woman firing automatic weapons and not thinking of a reasonable solution to a problem. Movies are capitalizing on characters like these because thats what works for the movie business not because they are disgracing females.
      Be on the lookout for bigger roles for females in the superhero universe. Joss Whedon, director of the Avengers: Age of Ultron has stated he wants the Scarlet Witch to play a big part in his next film. The character of the Black Widow,  who we looked at earlier, will also play a much bigger role in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Also, Edgar Wright, who is directing the upcoming film, Ant-Man said the female hero The Wasp, will be just as integral to the film as Ant-man himself.