More womens in GOTG (not just the 'sexy one')

[transemacabre]

So there's fresh wanking about the new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer on fail-fandomanon. Alongside a lot of squee and some furries who already fancy Rocket Raccoon, there's quite a few people who're like "Why does the universe need another Straight White Guy superhero movie?" and complaints about the lack of female characters. GOTG actually has more female characters in major roles than any of the previous MCU films, with Gamora, Nebula, and Nova-Prime (played by Glenn Close) sharing the big screen. But okay, sure, it's reasonable to ask why Mantis, Phyla-Vell, and Moondragon didn't make the cut.

But this comment in particular just rubs me the wrong way. You want more female characters, but you yourself reduce Gamora to "the sexy one" in your own comment? Gamora is the most dangerous woman in the galaxy/universe. She's the one with the history with Thanos. She's the last Zen-Whoberian. Never mind, she's just the "sexy one". That's all she is to you? I mean, if it were Mantis, what would she be? The "Vietnamese one"? Is Phyla the "lesbian one"? Is ticking off marks on a diversity checklist all they're good for?

Also good for boggling/lolz are the multiple "long time Marvel fans" who claim to have NEVER heard of any of these characters. One person claims to have read comics for 15 years but only recognizes Phyla as "Hulkling's half-sister who was also gay". Can't even identify Phyla by name. Like, are y'all for FUCKING REAL? You claim to be Marvel fans, but you can't even name Gamora, who debuted in 1975? You're such big fans but don't even recognize Mantis and Moondragon when they were Avengers decades before this movie was even a gleam in James Gunn's eye! Okay, whatever, not asking y'all to have encyclopedic knowledge of these characters, but don't front like you're some big Marvel fan when you don't know who any of these superheroines are and have no personal stake in the movie or their character arcs. Y'all don't even know what y'all talking about!

Comments

[shinysylver.livejournal.com]

That kind of uninformed knee jerk reaction always frustrates me. I'll admit to not knowing a lot about the characters in cosmic Marvel, but when GotG was first announced I did some googling. And then you know Marvel started a new GotG series and more crossovers. And sure, there is a problem with women representation in comics and comic related media, but it's a lot more complex than people writing angry responses anon on the internet ever make it.

[transemacabre.livejournal.com]

One thing I NEVER see brought up with regard to this movie is the ethnic diversity of the cast. We've got Zoe Saldana (black Latina) as Gamora, Batista (Filipino/Greek) as Drax, the very mixed Vin Diesel voicing Groot, Djimon Houson (Beninese) as Korath, and Benecio Del Toro (Boriqua) as the Collector. These are all main/supporting characters. Compare this to, oh, say, The Dark Knight Rises, which is a total vanilla fest. But no one's celebrating the fact that Marvel clearly believes that its multiracial cast has the chops and star power to carry a multi-million dollar superhero movie. Jesus, WB/DC will keep retreading Batman and Superman until the heat death of the universe because Wonder Woman might be too much for their audiences to handle, while Marvel looks at Zoe Saldana and Batista and is like, yeah, you got this. I mean, it ain't like Chris Pratt's name is gonna put butts in seats (his abs might, though).

My beef isn't so much "Cosmic Marvel or GTFO" but rather -- don't claim to be a big fan who's so knowledgeable, cry offense, and then be unable to name "Hulking's gay half-sister" or call Gamora, Mantis, or Moondragon "obscure characters".

[shinysylver.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. Marvel is showing a real willingness to bring a wide range of their comics to screen--even if it's risky--and the stagnation of WB/DC in that regard is ridiculous. I also love that they are bringing in more women and more diversity as compared to other comic book movies and hopefully over time that means that they will be willing to try a superheroine centered movie or a minority main character. At this rate Black Widow or Captain Marvel really will have a movie before Wonder Woman.

I also love that Marvel is willing to cast risky choices period. Chris Pratt is not the obvious choice for an action lead and yet they are trying it out instead of pulling in the biggest name they can just to put butts in the seats.

I can't bring myself to look at a lot of the anon posts anymore because they are always so flip and shallow in their knowledge. It doesn't take long to google and look into things instead of making broad and uninformed statements.