First, let me clear something up about women and comic books: rarely, if ever, is a woman attracted to comic books for the same reason as a man. That being said, I think I need to point out that this supposed "invasion" is in directly proportional to the amount of interest Hollywood takes into the Geek Revolution.
If you don't know what I mean, open up a new window and head over to the first news homepage that comes to mind. Eight out of ten times your going to find something in regards to the next big movie being based off of our dearest comic book hero. Since the discovery that comic books reach an innumerable amount of fans in ways that are clearly unfathomable to big move execs, production companies have been battling it out for the rights to comic books, video games, and even novels. With the creation of Marvel Studios and DC Entertainment, that battle advanced to an entirely new level.
With this weekends release of the "long awaited" sequel to Twilight, the franchise has exploded, raking in over $140 million this weekend alone. Now, I mention this because the article forces the point that not all of the women flooding into the convention are "into the 'Twilight' stuff." Well, let me clarify something: yes, they are.
A basic search of pictures pertaining to this year's San Diego comic-con will bring up numerous photos of crowds gathered in such immense crowds, even a bird's eye-view shot can't capture the sheer enormity of it all. A closer look will reveal that the majority (translation: all) of the people waiting in line are in some way, shape, or form, sporting a Twilight shirt.
Freaks of the World, Unite! Team Edward, Go!
As a female obsessed the likes of Batman and Green Lantern, I find that I am more and more being lumped together with Them. Upon closer evaluation of the 'types' of people that attend comic-con, most of the women aren't into comic books. Yes, there is the few that you pass by at one of the hundreds of booths in the complex, but are they any of the females you see in the above picture? No, they're not.
The female comic book fan is still an anomaly in the world of DC and Marvel...and I assure you, those that are there don't resemble anything like the bevy of "Team Edward" schriekers we're seeing so much of. This isn't an age of new female fans...this is the age of Twilighters. That is the only reason we're seeing so many of them. Trust me.
We're surrounded.
3 comments:
Really really hot guys portraying comic book heros bring alot of women to comic-con...I saw on youtube this girl trying to ask Tom Welling a question, and all you could hear was gush, gasp, swoon, lol.
Not to lump all women in this category, I actually picked out two of the girls in that photo that go to SCAD, and not only love comics, but are artists themselves. Two versus an army isnt much however, but I will be heckling that one in the red. I KNEW she was a twilight fan. Sparkling vampires...gross.
Honestly, the more I think about it...the more I do not feel unique at all. I am a female who likes Star Wars, plays video games, and reads comic books. And that's just the tip of the iceberg...I'm very, very nerdy. And the surprising thing is...? I'm not the only one. I know quite a few girls who work at comic book shops, who work at video game stores, etc.
The female nerd, be it comic nerd or sci-fi nerd or video game nerd, is not a unicorn anymore.
While I agree to many of the points made, there has been a huge influx of geek chiq at comic con. While I don't think it really has to do with comics, I really think it has more to do with the girl power attached to popular culture now. Girls can drive a medium once only thought to be for guys. Vampires are just the first step I think as more girls come to appreciate the finer points of nerd friendly media.
Twi-Hards, Fang Bangers and the like are simply the prevalent crowd now. Shows like The Big Bang Theory and Battlestar Galactica have gone a long way tpwards changing those notions and given time, I think the female media interests will change again. I remember a time when manga and anime where strictly a boys medium in the states, and look at it now, girls are a huge part of that business.
I also think that as girls discover some of the great books being published, gateway books like Twilight will open up a new medium. As opposed to stunts like Steven King adaptations, which I don't think really brought in new readers to different books (they stuck with strictly King) female audiances are usually more open to new works. Personally I'd love to see how some of these girls react to books like Fables, or Y The Last Man, or even more emotional stuff like Asterios Polyp.
It's a changing time for cultural perspectives, and while Twilight may ultimately be a very large flash in a much larger pan, it also may be the next step in changing how the world sees comics.
Sorry I got really wordy...
Post a Comment