Help me, O Mighty LJ!

[ship_go_boom]

So I qualify for an exemption from English 102 (Composition II).  But I have to write a five-page research paper in order to get it.

Thursday afternoon, I finally came up with an idea (ie, something I actually wanted to research).  Problem is, all I have for a starting point is bugger all and a pet theory.  So I need help (please?).

My theory is that some of most noteworthy (or at least most common) discriminatory offenses (racism, sexism, etc.) in mass-market media entertainment are strongly correlated with attempts to alleviate accusations of same.  Examples:

Sometime last fall (IIRC), there was a metafandom kerfuffle about the lack of characters of color in fanfic.  I don't remember how it started, but I remember that there were a lot of people who admitted to not writing characters of color because they were so afraid of Getting them Wrong.  I didn't pay much attention to this phenomenon at the time, but I thought of it almost immediately when I started considering the next item.

I've recently encountered a lot of (justified, but sometimes overblown) complaints about sexism in comic books, many of them centering on Robin IV.  Otherwise known as the first Girl Robin.  It makes sense that a girl would be a Robin eventually, as people have been complaining about the Batman comics' boys-only cast for years.  But this puts a girl in the sidekick role, and one must always remember the Golden Rule of Sidekicks: they exist to be abused and to provide angst for the hero.  Not a big deal when the sidekick is one of a hundred other male characters, but when it's one of the relatively few female characters?  Then it's a problem.  Disclaimer:  I admit to not having read the books where Stephanie appeared as Robin (I was quite fond of her Spoiler days, though), so I could be missing something, but this my take on the situation.  (And keep in mind she lasted more than twice as long as Jason.)

See what I'm getting at here?  Good intentions ------->  Hell.

I talked very briefly with my Sociology professor (we both had other classes to get to) about this concept, and she seemed to think it was worth looking into a bit further.  But like I said, I don't know where to start.  I've never noticed any research on this subject (or this variation of it).  I ask you, o great and powerful internet-peoples, to please give me recs.

I need citeable sources.  Books, articles, any credible source I can present to a professor.  Hell, if you are a credible source (ie, professional writer, academic who's noticed this) and wouldn't mind giving a statement/interview, that would be great, too.  Email me.  (It's probably best to go through my LJ email, so you don't accidentally get junk-filtered.)

Thank you very much! 

P.S.  If you link to this post, you will make me a very very happy bunny.  Thanks!

Comments

[ravenwings-7.livejournal.com]

Now, see? This is what I get for listening to highly offended people. *g* They completely glossed over the fact she was canonically praised for the same action that got her fired.

I was counting total character time, not just Robin time. I felt it was a better counter to accusations that Steph was merely cannon fodder. (Oy.) That, and some of my favorite characters have changed names somewhere along the line, so... (I mean, if Dick had gotten killed right after becoming Nightwing, would you say that he was only around a couple months or that he had been around for decades?) I did check her Wikipedia entry (because I am only a partial idiot), but I hadn't realized how little time she spent in the suit. Given that, I'm not surprised that her death was planned, and I think time as the Girl Wonder sounds like a damn fine last hurrah.

The problem, of course, is that we have precedent for what happens when a Robin dies; Batman mourns and builds a Case to commemorate his fallen soldier. That hasn't happened with Stephanie.
This is a legitimate complaint. Seriously, I get it. But I think it's in character for Bruce. I mean, dude. Jason was his son. Admittedly, a very recently adopted teenager, but still. It's debatable whether that shrine is to a fallen soldier or to a lost child. I'm on the "child" side.

Which doesn't mean that the underlying sexist message doesn't exist. Much the contrary. She's still given less respect than the boys. The thing is, I think that was opposite to the writers' intent. I think they tried for a girl-power moment by placing her in a traditionally male role, and then proceeded to write the arc just like they would for any other Robin. But it wasn't just any other Robin that the world saw. It was the Girl Wonder, and she wasn't as "good" as the Boy Wonders. And thus good intentions lead to a rather toasty place.

That was very rambly and incoherent of me. Sorry? :)

[(Anonymous)]

nope, that made a lot of sense.

you could make this a very focused, well-researched essay just by focusing on women in the bat-verse, who collectively have had both triumphs and failures. also, something random that i found useful when i was writing my college essays on comics: i couldn't reasonably expect the professor to read the entire source material, so i would summarize events in an endnote and sometimes include photocopies of key pages, of which i would do a more in-depth analysis of the art as well as the story.

good luck!

[wolf-vegas.livejournal.com]

In that respect, perhaps it's also important to look at Supergirl in light of the DC Nation (http://dccomics.com/news/?cat=5877) letter (a quick glance at When Fangirls Attack (http://womenincomics.blogspot.com) will help here) by Eddie Berganza. This is a blatant example of the phenomenon you describe - a mass media entertainment/serial fiction publisher who tries to alleviate their errors that alienate them from women readers (among others) on the grounds of sexist material. The ill-fated attempt to reach out to the fans by saying "we're fixing things" appears to have made the errors more telling.

I think in many ways, Stephanie's fate is a product of her time as much as of her gender. Carrie Kelly is treated with respect, remains a rounded heroine and despite disobeying a direct order from Batman which results in saving his life, he does not fire her as he originally threatened. Like Stephanie, she is not his adopted child (at least not at the time, she has drug abusing negligent parents though...).

Frank Miller's tale has a couple of contrasts with today. Frank's colorist Lynn Varley was credited by Miller in 1996 as being a co-creator of Carrie and was attributed as being the most important person in forming her personality and dialog.

1986, when compared to today was an interesting time. It appears that then, Dick Giordano and Bob Rozakis (EiC and Editor for The Dark Knight Returns) - partially because of their editing ability and partially because political correctness was less important - put out a book with a female Robin who was treated with equal respect and written (IMHO) correctly. A far cry from Dan Didio and Eddie Berganza if you believe what you hear (which personally I do.)

Hope this helps your paper,
Regards.
Dr. Wolf S. Vegas Esq., Editor of (http://community.livejournal.com/c_c_chronicle/profile)c_c_chronicle (http://community.livejournal.com/c_c_chronicle/), Candidate for Internet Sheriff.