Content Outline

In this blog post, I will go on to outline Project 3.

Comics, throughout their history, have been significantly both racist and sexist from both the comic books themselves to the movies that have come out in recent years. While there are specific instances where women and minorities have been treated with a level of respect and admiration, there are also a consistently high amount of instances where they have been mistreated. I plan to grab the reader's attention by either playing a recording from a popular comic book movie or, possibly having a well recorded motion comic play to start off the video essay.

The first section shall about the general sexism that has occurred within the comics. I shall bring up characters such as Lois Lane even into the recent movie being treated as nothing more than a plot device, and even nothing but damsels in distress with little ability to make rational decisions. I shall also bring up the instances of Women In Refrigerators, where countless female characters have been sacrificed to further the storyline of a male character. This proves that women have been mistreated, especially in direct comparison to their male counterparts. This is important because while there are instances of  women having their fair representation, these instances are vastly outnumbered.

The second section shall go into more detail and discuss the amount of rape and rape culture that has occurred and been perpetuated within comics. I am going to bring up the paralysis and rape of Barbara Gordon and how this situation was ultimately proven to be meaningless as it was a fruitless attempt to drive her father insane, which did not occur. I shall also go into the recent drawing contest from DC Comics where the company asked for drawers to draw Harley Quinn in a sexually explicit situation about to commit suicide in a bathtub. This proves that comic book industries view rape as something that could be used for entertainment purposes, and not focus on the point or problems that result. This is important because rape has been used as nothing but a meaningless tool, and thus spreads rape culture.

The last section shall go into the racism that has occurred within comics. I shall go into Kitty Pryde around the time of the Civil Rights movement calling an African American the n-word in a comic panel. I shall also going into the reaction of Michael B. Jordan as the casting of the Human Torch and the outrage from the public. This will prove that not only is the industry also had it's history of racism but even in today's society the racism has affected the readership and influenced their thinking into the outrage they feel over a casting of a movie. This is important because it is starting to affect society and how people are thinking and what they believe is okay and not okay, and comics influencing morals in a negative way like this is unacceptable.

I shall then close off the video essay where I go on to say that something must be done to change the current state of comics. Specifically there needs to be more female writers being given the chance to work with female characters. This is on a larger scale is yet another instance of sexism, rape culture, and racism being allowed to permeate throughout society and this can not be allowed to continue. Many young adults and even children are exposed to this work and it is important that these people are able to grow up and be led by a good example.