Barmy Blue's Bland Blog
I Wonder If Thor's Angry
by , 07-17-2014 at 11:53 PM (5438 Views)
We're having an electrical storm now. It's pretty exciting. I've never been scared of thunder, even when I was little, so I found it funny that, when it happened at school, the other children always started crying and wailing.
So. As it's a pretty active storm. Usually the thunder and lightning passes in a few minutes but this one is sticking around. The sky keeps flashing a bright blue/white and I think I actually saw a little bit of a real bolt. I rarely get to see bolts in real life because there's not usually anything high enough for them to strike. Well, not that I can see.
This storm reminded mum of a news story she heard the other day and she proceeded to tell me about it.
Marvel have proudly announced that they're going to make Thor a woman.................................................. ................... Yeah...................................... That sounds real smart. Heavy on the sarcasm.
Now. I am not a comic book fan exactly but I do rather admire them. If I'd had an opportunity to get into comic books I'm pretty sure I would have, since I got into manga very easily when I had the chance. Oddly enough I'm getting acquainted with Shonen Ai at the moment, a sure sign that I'm maturing, since before I couldn't see it without bursting out into nervous laughing. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.
So. Female Thor. Needless to say proper fans have already been forming their opinions. But as a woman with an admiration for comic book characters and, as something of a writer, I feel I can weigh in here.
What the hell! No really. What the hell are Marvel thinking?
You don't just change a well established character like that. Now. Not much is known. But it seems that they are claiming they will permanently change Thor into a female character to appeal to a female audience , which has been greatly neglected by the comic book collective as a whole, there's no denying that.
Over the years comic books have mainly been bought and aimed at boys and men with little to entice the more girly girls. And, now gender stereotypes are being dealt with. Girls can take part in more "boy's" stuff and boys can take part in more "girl's" stuff. Even that isn't exactly equal. While more girls are able to take up "boy's" stuff without so many negative associations many "girl's" things are seen as gay if boys do them which is rather unfair. But I'm digressing.
First off. Why Thor specifically? Is this the start of a new wave of male superheroes gender swapping? Where does it end? Will they make the Green Goblin female? How about Wolverine? A female Venom?
There are plenty of comic book heroines that have been created over the years that are largely unknown to those who aren't big fans. If you want to attract female readers revamp your existing female characters. It would cause considerably less outrage. Or create a new one.
Also. To attract more female readers you need to break the association of comic books being for nerdy boys, not warp a beloved character, and established cash cow.
I will not suddenly start reading Thor just because the caracter is a woman.
Also. It needs to be noted that the comic book hero is based on the Norse god Thor. The god of thunder, generally portrayed as a man. Now. I'm not saying that all gods are male. But in religions where both male and female gods are established then that is how it is. To change it seems a tad disrespectful (I'm not saying that changing Marvel's Thor is disrespectful to the Norse religion, I mean in general regarding that specific god, though altering the marvel character does seem a tad insulting to the Norse god. If the character had originally been female that doesn't seem insulting to me as changing his gender a few decades on. If the character were originally female then you can accept that that's how the original artist wanted it to be). In regards to religions with only one god then that's a grey area for me, it would make more sense if it were a genderless or ambiguous entity rather than one gender or another. But again I digress.
Also. Changing the character outright is all wrong and, as a writer, it makes me wonder a lot of things. For this change to be accepted it has to be done well. Not just very well. It needs to be done absolutely perfectly. It has to blow the reader's minds so that even the majority of Thor's existing fan base go "wow, that's so epic". Now. If Marvel are absolutely sure that the writers and artists can achieve this then sure. Go ahead. But. I highly doubt that will happen.
If you want to change a well loved and established character you dip your toe in the water and see how it's received.
You have Thor encounter some new villain, a spell, a magical artefact, a temporal anomaly or something that will plausibly alter his gender for one story arc. You have her struggle to get used to the changes. Women are built differently to men. They are perceived differently than men by others. You have her experience these difficulties and overcome them. Then, in the dramatic finale you have her changed back into a man by defeating the villain or finding the answer to that ever caused it. You have him think back over his experiences and have him learn that it has made him stronger as a person or something. If it was well received you do another story arc where he changes gender or you do a spinoff series.
Alternatively, rather than having the existing character change gender, you introduce a female counterpart from a parallel dimension. Although she is a female Thor you have much more freedom to alter her character as she will have encountered different experiences in her dimension to the male Thor.
You have the two characters work together to achieve a goal. Maybe you have them hating each other to start with, as meeting another version of yourself would amplify things about yourself that you are unhappy with or highlight things about you that you didn't know existed, as you are seeing yourself as others would perceive you. You have them overcome their differences, or similarities, and achieve their common goal. With the goal achieved the female Thor will be returning to her own dimension. You have the whole "it was a pleasure working with you, I hope our paths cross again but for now goodbye" or something. She returns, knowing that there is someone in that dimension that she can count on again if need be and the male Thor also knows that about her.
If the female character was well received you start a spinoff series of her adventures in her own dimension, which means you can introduce a wealth of new or altered characters and the existing fans won't get so annoyed because it's an alternate universe, so if they don't like it then it doesn't affect their existing male Thor canon.
In general the introduction of female characters into an existing plot is annoying. If a novel existed of predominantly male characters then that's how the writer wanted it. When you make it into a film or television series or anything like that you don't just throw in female characters so you won't seem sexist. You wanted to take part in the project so do it as it was written and take your criticisms like a man, or woman, whichever. It's like when people introduce token ethnic characters into a story so as not to seem racist. If you're uncomfortable with how the original story was set out then don't take on the project. You don't warp something that someone else created just so that people won't hate you.
Now. Yes. Gender and ethnic equality should be seen more in modern media I am not condoning that at all. But to just throw up random characters so you won't seem racist or sexist just seems wrong somehow. If that's how the original work is then that's how it is. Let the critics take it out on the original creator of the work.
I myself have problems with characters. I don't have a problem balancing the ratio of male to female characters as I am female. I think it is easier for me. But I do struggle with ethnic characters. It's hard to include characters of other ethnicities without sounding racist. If you go out of your way to highlight an ethnic character then that could seem racist but it you don't include any then that's also seen as racist.As I'm White English (I've always hated those terms. I'm not white. I'm pink but still) pretty much every character I immediately think of is a white character. And I know that's wrong but I can't help that that's what I see. In my novel (which I still haven't written) both the lead males and female are white, as are their friends who pop up along the way. I'm not saying that there aren't characters of other ethnicities in that world, if it were made into a visual medium then there would be a good mix of various ethnicities as background extras but it's just that the main and supporting cast are all white characters. I think it's because every character I create is a representation of myself in one way or another. Even in my mad scientist project I'm ashamed to say that the cast are mainly all white English, though one is of Scottish descent, one is of Swiss/German descent, a small handful are French, an even smaller handful are American, one is Serbian-American and a background character and his family who rarely appear are Egyptian, there are one or two of Eastern European origin too and two separate tribes from remote islands, though they could seem a little insulting. It is set in a kind of Victorian London, though that's no excuse.
I love all of my characters very much, even though I am a little disgusted with myself for not being able to create more ethnically diverse characters to better reflect the population of the world. If someone got hold of one of my stories and altered my characters or added new ones just because, I would be horrified. The hours, the days, the weeks I spent crafting those characters, it would feel like all that work was being spat on, as if someone were saying "well it's good, but not good enough". Now. Not all artists feel like this. Some accept that changes must be made to fit a particular medium and they're fine with it. But you know how I hate when things like that happen, when the film strays from the book and so on. I can't stand How to Train Your Dragon now. I really hate it. Because I read the first book during my impressionable teens I cannot bear that the film was so drastically altered from the book. Even though it's been stated that Cressida Cowell accepted that changes had to be made to the story for the film I still can't stand it since I loved that book so much. In my mind the story was just perfect the way it was. It was witty and dramatic and comical and heartwarming and it just seemed like such a great book to me. For me the film has utterly ravaged the book.
So I fully appreciate that it is very hard not to make something, a written work especially, seem racist and in some cases sexist and that some things need to be changed to fit a different medium. But you don't just change everything that the original creator set down just so that you won't be hated, or so you can appeal to a wider market. If it bothers you that much then you create something yourself to avoid those concerns or to appeal to that market. You don't alter something that someone loved just so suit your needs. It really bugs me.
Ah. I've raged far too long. Sorry. I apologise if any of my views or any of this content offends you but it's not like I forced you to read it.
Bluebiird out.
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