Non WoW: Superheroes, stereotypes and social media

There is nothing like waking up to see what's trending on social media to find that people are busy arguing about Wonder Woman's armpit hair.

How interesting that people seem to think she waxed and bleached her underarms for manly approval. There are plenty of other reasons to shave including aerodynamics, chafing and cleanliness. Who knows, maybe they have issues with armpit lice or fungus! Easier to maintain no hair than it is to go find creams to keep applying... Also, maybe amazons lesbians LIKE hairless women.

I am excited for Wonder Woman, and my daughter and son are too. And neither of those two will be worrying about armpits that's for sure. Though I have mentioned to my daughter that I don't know why Wonder Woman doesn't tie up her hair because it's hard enough playing sport with your hair down, let alone having it flying all over the place when you're fighting. My daughter said Wonder Woman should tie her hair up, or else she'll get head lice.

In other superhero talk, I finished watching Iron Fist over the weekend and I am still catching up on my sleep after going to bed at 4am, 3am and 1.30am respectively over the course of those days, and still being up by 6-7am to do household chores. There has been heaps of negative reviews of the series but I can honestly say that I enjoyed it because otherwise I wouldn't have stayed up so late to watch it if I wasn't hanging out for the next episode.


And I don't know if it's true for anyone else but I think Colleen is amazing! She is the sensei of her own dojo who befriends Danny (reluctantly) and ends up helping him. She has an awesome physique, she doesn't flaunt around in bikini outfits and is fiercely independent.

The difficulty with Danny's rich kid super hero is that perhaps we're so used to the DC rich kid super heroes (Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen) who are smooth, polished playboys who have exorbitant tastes and fast cars, that this different take on the 10 year old boy who was lost for 15 years coming back to a world that he saw through the eyes of the child and trying to be an adult in it. It's an idea that people are not quite warmed to yet, I think. Danny has a sense of purpose, which he has been indoctrinated with for the whole time he was there. Destroy the Hand. Protect K'un Lun. But he is still clinging to his past, and hasn't let go. I was confused as to why he returned to New York, but you get the feeling later that he had underlying anger and no closure for his parent's death, and still yearned for family and belonging, which is conflicting with the path the he is supposed to take, as the Iron Fist.

So now that all 4 Defenders have had their mini series, if I had to rank them I would still say I liked Daredevil the best (season 2 was awesome), then Jessica Jones and then Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Many people didn't watch Jessica Jones but I loved it. Colleen and Claire really brought up the Iron First series for me, and seeing all the little cross references was cool too.

Criticism from the net came from all sorts of things - like Danny being white saviour learning the asian martial arts. Really??? For goodness sake is he not allowed to be white? Or male? Now we're being racist against white people! And stereotyping! It made me think of something one of my colleagues said about Rogue One, where Donny Yen was cast as Chirrut Imwe. He complained that it was such an asian stereotype that the Asian guy was a martial arts expert! Neither of those thoughts had even entered my mind - people are just people and can have whatever gifts, regardless of race, gender or religion.

There were criticisms about the fight scenes too. I have to admit that nothing beats that Daredevil fight scene in the hallway. I think I watched that scene like 5 times. The exhaustion seen in Matt at the end makes it so much more real!


I'm thrilled that JJ and Luke Cage have second seasons coming - I am unsure if Iron Fist will get a 2nd season, but I think there is a lot to explore. Besides, perhaps when he and Luke Cage team up there will be more Danny Rand action.


I think my biggest concern is how all four are going to get together to fight a common enemy. They all seem worlds apart! I guess I'll just have to wait till the end of the year to find out.




Comments

  1. Luke and Jessica are the closest together in terms of storyline, so that's at least a start.

    One of these days I'll sub to Netflix and watch them, but not any time soon.

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    1. I wonder if I should now start reading the comics.

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  2. I am still imagining a world where the biggest concern is armpit hair. :s

    Not watched Iron Fist yet, but I did sit through a marathon 'Vikings' event over the weekend with my daughter. Going to put IronFist on my 'watch next list tho. Thanks for the recommendation!

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    Replies
    1. Part of it is media sensation I think, blowing it out of proportion. OMG I love Vikings! Good choice :D

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