[Editorial] Batwoman Matters

written by Kate Danvers

Years ago I wrote an editorial titled “Representation Matters” about, well, just that: how much representation matters to marginalized people who don’t always get to see characters who are like them in movies and TV shows. I’ve been very lucky to experience that in recent years with shows that not only feature people like me, but take the time to develop them and truly show their dedication to good representation.

The characters of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power matter to me. Several characters from the CW’s superhero shows—Anissa Pierce, Alex Danvers, Kelly Olsen, Sophie Moore, and Kate Kane—matter to me.

Kate Kane matters. That’s why this hurts.
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DCTV Wish List – Fall 2016

It’s almost time, friends! The next seasons of the CW Supershows are nearly upon us, and we’re all just as excited as you are to see where they go with them.

Without further ado, here’s the Failcrew’s wishlist for the upcoming seasons of DCTV:
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[Editorial] And Then the Heroes Fight

written by Kate Danvers

This year saw the release of two big superhero films where their primary selling point was a battle between beloved superheroes. Any comic book fan will tell you this is nothing new – heroes fight all the time. It’s an exhausted trope in the medium, so much so that “and then the heroes fight” has become a joke. When it’s done right, it can make for an interesting conflict between sympathetic characters while maintaining their heroic status. When it’s done poorly, one or both heroes have to be reduced to villain status and someone is going to need a retcon or a mindwipe to make them even remotely likable again.
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[Editorial] From Hydra To Ghostbusters: The False Equivalences Of Fan Culture

written by @Ceilidhann, originally published on Bibliodaze May 31, 2016. Reprinted with permission from the author.

I don’t read the Captain America comics. Indeed, I’ve pretty much fallen off the Marvel wagon this past year or so due to general fatigue with the oversaturation of superheroes in pop culture. It doesn’t really do much for me these days, and the recent news that Captain America in the comics would be revealed as a stealth Hydra agent exemplified my exhaustion with the genre and a particularly insidious strain of storytelling. Others have spoken more passionately and eloquently about the nastiness of this trend and the way real and incredibly painful history is used to create cheap shock value, so I’ll direct you to those pieces.

My particular focus today is with a piece Devin Faraci wrote on the issue of fan entitlement on Birth Movies Death, which you can find here. For the record, I’ve never been a Faraci fan. I’ve found many of his arguments sloppy and the ways in which he attacks people who disagree with him to be sad at best and creepy at worst. This article, which posits a generally agreeable hypothesis regarding the toxicity that has begun to pervade that vaguely defined space known as “geek culture”, draws a staggeringly inaccurate and willfully blind false equivalence to the fan opposition to Hydra Captain America and the orchestrated misogynistic hate campaign currently faced by the new Ghostbusters film, of which I’ve previously written about here.

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[Editorial] Arrow and Unwanted Character Death

written by Kate Danvers

Let’s get the big spoiler and the impetus of this editorial out of the way first. Arrow has been teasing a major death since the beginning of its fourth season. On the April 6th episode, after a season of near-death experiences for several characters, the big death happened.
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[Editorial] Mississippi HB1523: Live and Let Live

Earlier this week Mississippi governor Phil Bryant signed into law House Bill 1523 to “protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions…from discriminatory action…” He goes on to say that the law does not interfere with any rights afforded to any citizen under currently existing laws. You can read his full statement here.

I caught wind of this in the form of critics decrying it as legalized discrimination. Headlines described it as awful and articles suggested crazy-sounding potential scenarios like women being fired for wearing pants. I’m also aware of the echo chamber that our social feeds can form. I follow people who share similar views as myself, resulting in everyone reinforcing everyone else and giving the false impression my opinion is the overwhelming majority. So I sought out breakdowns of the bill, taking extra interest in it since it is my home state. I could see and agree with the critics’ point of view. I would normally just leave it at that, as an unfortunate truth that I would quietly do what I could to undo; maybe write a letter, vote for the people I’d rather have making decisions, etc.

Then I saw that supporters of the bill were using this hashtag: #MSLiveAndLetLive. And something in me broke.

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