Recently I was geeking out over The Avengers movie (OMG, SO FREAKING GOOD I AM IN LOVE WITH THE HULK THIS IS SOMETHING THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE. Ahem.) and I stumbled across the movie poster online.
See left.
And I started ranting and raving (like I do) about how the only chick in the movie has to be seen butt first on the poster. If you believe the lies that movie posters tell us, you’d think all girls walked into rooms butt first, and stood butt first into crowds, speaking provocatively over our shoulder. So abnormal and creeptastic. I started thinking, am I the only one who feels these things? Am I the only one who is tired of seeing the single token female being reduced to the over the shoulder smoldering glance while our ass greets the masses like our own personal social resume? Urk.
Thank you interwebs for not making me feel alone with my craziness! As it turns out, this is a thing, being offended by the butt first posturing of lady heroes.
Huffington Post: Kevin Bolk’s Bootylicious ‘Avengers’ Movie Poster Takes On Superhero Sexism
TOR.com: Hey, Everyone — Stop Taking This Picture! (No, I Mean It.)
whedonesque.com: http://whedonesque.com/comments/27677 (in response to Kevin Bolk’s art)
Oh interwebs. You are my tribe.
Sommer
My name is Sommer and I'm a writer from the Midwest. I am currently working on a YA novel about superheroes, reading as much as I can, blogging, and saving the world.
I can see your point, but it’s based on a comic. Which means it is being marketed toward /males/. Which means…it is the intelligent way to have her on the poster.
A marketing class would tell you the same thing.
It’s about positioning, attitude, colors, and what you are telling the /audience you are aiming for/. It has nothing to do with trying to offend anyone.
Sort of like why tampons and maxi-pads are in lovely shades of pastel pinks and blues with flowers and pearls.
Because you’re a fluffy woman and it’s a natural thing for you to want to think of flowers (cycling) and purity (pearls) around that time of the month, right? It’s a psychological thing.
You can’t make everyone happy. [shrug]
Yes, the picture is erotic, not just because of the pose, but the placement of Hulk’s hand. I think it subtely gives the impression at a glance that there are a bunch of big super-men and their sexual plaything. It’s also sexist in that there are 7 male super-heros and 1 female, who is sexualized. Can’t have just have a strong woman.
On the other hand, entertainment is entertaiment, and as long as they are fair about it, I wouldn’t mind if they sexualized all of them. Fair’s fair. I wouldn’t mind seeing some of those guys…um, from another viewpoint..
While it is my favorite part of the female body, you’re right that it’s not fair.
The Geek Twins recently posted a drawing showing it in reverse – the guys all had their butts turned. It was funny!
looking at all these articles- not your in particular- has me very pissed off. mostly because they’re trying to make me feel bad for thinking the female form is beautiful… it seems like one article-ist and several commenters feel as though any photography taken from behind a model is exploitative. the writer even stated in several images that the image wasn’t even sexy, but somehow she was offended simply because the shot was taken from an angle that wasn’t in the front of the actress.
and even if you are going to argue that all photography that shows any slice of rear-end action is sexy, some of those characters are known to be sexy… they use their “wiles” as part of their bag of tricks to achieve what they want.
also, there is nothing wrong with being sexy.
why is it that everyone want to attack women who enjoy their sexuality. sometimes it can be an empowering thing to tap into that- not even for what it does to other people or how they see you, but to not feel ashamed of that natural drive within us.
i’m not arguing for exploitation. but i’m arguing for art.
i’m arguing for poses and angles that are different, and while these aren’t neccessarily different, calling out any one angle or pose is limiting the narrative of illustration and limiting the possiblities of character.
and i’m not saying these were the best possible poses ever. but only a few of them would i have difficulty with.
i wonder if the problem is me. because most of them i just see as beautiful… maybe i should see them all as sexy, but i don’t.
the avengers ones (like you specify) are very annoying, and that parody is brilliant. i’m not arguing about that… it’s the vast majority of the TOR article that really bothers me. and reading some of the following comments and how any opinions expressed contrary to the article were immediately shut down as being entitled male opinion..
i am not male.
and i agree with your post.
but that tor article is definitely over the top.
What a trip. The moment I saw the poster, I understood the the purpose of the title of this post. THE only person with the over-the-shoulder pose is the female. I would ask why “but” I might not like the answer. A lot.
Yeah, the why mostly boils down to who the product is marketed to (hint: not girls). I think it’s also become sort of a cue to viewers that this character is the sex symbol (because who needs character development.) There can be other females in a movie (Pepper Potts, for example) who are not meant to be seen as the sex symbol. So to differentiate, bam, over the shoulder butt first pose. It’s gross.