The only reason I watch The Big Bang Theory
The worst offender besides cable TV seems to be comic books. I had many an argument with a previous girlfriend about the exploitation of women in comic books. She would argue that the women are dressed rather provocatively. She was right of course, but I did counter that the men were given rippling, unrealistic physiques. I was right of course. Comic books are very guilty of showing off the hottest women and the hottest men. Granted the women are the ones that are exploited more often than men. Sometimes it's a little ridiculous especially when DC started the New 52.
Harley Quinn pre 52
Harley Quinn New 52
So that's a very noticeable change. I'm not sure why Harley's costume needed such a drastic update but . . . it happened. I prefer the old costume. Harley's never really been a sex symbol anyway. I never understood why DC gave her such a drastic makeover. But then again, like I said, sex sells. However, it does get a little crazy, especially when you want to expand your readership to young women.
That's certainly one way to go . . .
When Smallville premiered, it was about the young Clark Kent finding his place in the world. Given that it was a teenage drama on the WB, later CW, sex did become a big part of selling the series.
This kind of thing happened on many occasions
Given the New 52 and the (ahem) interesting costume choices that the editors were giving some of the characters, I was nervous when Arrow was announced. I feared that the eventual appearance of Black Canary would see her in her normal "non-conservative" costume.
Damn those fishnets . . . My personal Kryptonite . . .
Imagine my surprise when Canary did show up on Arrow the costume was not nearly as provocative as it was in the comic books.
The costume does give her a "boost" so to speak (that's a boob joke for anyone that missed it), but the costume in the series gives the character a lot more cover up than her comic book counterpart. SPOILER ALERT - Sara Lance as the Canary did not survive her Arrow experience. Now, Laurel has taken up the mantel of Black Canary.
Her costume doesn't show any cleavage. In this day and age of "sex sells" I'm surprised this costume is so conservative. Yeah, the costume is all leather and COULD be considered dominatrix-esque but you'd have to consider what the men are wearing too:
That's right. All leather costumes. And they were wearing them first so . . . way to be a copycat, Canary. Plus Oliver is shirtless in almost every single episode. So . . . the men get the "sex sells" treatment on Arrow.
He doesn't seem to mind
Then there was the announcement that a Supergirl series was in development. I felt we had just BARELY escaped a catastrophe with Arrow and now Supergirl was coming to the boob tube. And yes . . . I mean to call it that. Because boobs that's why!
Anyway, let's take a look at Supergirl's recent comic book looks:
Pre 52
New 52
Again, sex sells. Before she was in a super short skirt (say that five times fast) now she's in a long sleeved onesie with boots that oddly don't cover her knees. It's a bit jarring especially when she's described as Superman's teenage cousin. We're certainly hoping eighteen or nineteen cuz otherwise . . . Ugh I can't even think about it. Weird! On the bright side we were recently treated to what Melissa Benoist will look like when Supergirl premieres this fall:
She was on Glee
Wow. That's a surprisingly-faithful-to-the-source-material-without-being-overtly-sexual costume! I'm shocked to be honest with you. I really expected one of the above costumes to be adapted. After all, it's a female superhero show on a major network. It seemed inevitable to me. So I'm going to give props to DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Thank you for making these characters look super cool without resorting to "sexing them up." Except for Stephen Amell of course. But that super sexy ship has sailed.
I want to cuddle with you
As a fan, I'm happy that we're getting so many new comic book TV shows and I hope that they maintain their quality. But more than that, I'm glad that we're moving past the whole "women need to be half naked for ratings" gimmick. The women they have on the shows are gorgeous but luckily the quality of the shows are selling them instead of the sex appeal. A great example is definitely The Flash. So far, the female characters on the show do not have any superpowers but are also intelligent, independent characters. They're not used as props for the men in the show. They have their own stories. Yes, they do have love stories going on but it's not their only contribution to the series.
Of course, it's not fair to just point out DC. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a great cast of female characters that never resort to stripping down to selling their shows. And this current season has included Bobbi Morse AKA Mockingbird. She used to look like this:
But now her costume looks like this:
Damn those are some big boobs . . .
Now this is what her costume looks like on the series:
Not bad. Not bad. It's a skin tight suit, yeah, but it's not the selling point for the show. In fact, she's part of a larger ensemble. Although they did just kill off one of the black guys . . . Yikes . . . Oh well, one thing at a time!
So again, thank you Flash, Supergirl, Arrow, and S.H.I.E.L.D. for not selling your show on sex. I'd much rather watch a quality show sold on its merits and that's what I've been given.
Till Next Time!
JJ - The Comic Junkie!
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