Selecting interesting articles, exciting news from the world of comics and pop culture, important editorials, or unique perspective pieces; LGN presents a monthly round up of links to read.
This month we have women are allowed to be angry, first female director of a Pixar short is Canadian, ending the cycle of abuse in Guardians of the Galaxy, and another reason to love Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Stay mad, LGNers.
1. What If Girls Knew They Were Allowed to Be Angry? | Elle Magazine
“None of the girls I knew yelled at teachers or ripped up a rude classmate’s homework paper or fought with boys on the playground. None of them had the fire, or if they did, they didn’t show it. They could be sad, or they could be mean, but I only ever saw boys getting angry the way I did. Which is perhaps why I saved my greatest anger for myself, furious with myself for being furious. Anger might have felt easy, but it didn’t feel good. It was lonely.”
Penned by the great Mara Wilson, it’s time women get in touch with their angrier side.
2. Feminist Critics of Angelina Jolie’s ‘Tomb Raider’ Respond to Reboot | THR
“There is little love lost between feminist scholars and the original Tomb Raider films, which debuted in 2001 and 2004. The first movie, Tomb Raider: Lara Croft, featured a slow-motion shower scene of star Angelina Jolie within its first ten minutes; in both films Jolie wore padded bras, tight tank tops and hot pants to mimic her sexualized depiction in the original video game upon which they were based. And so, while a number of articles published in scholarly journals in the early aughts took the character seriously and found a good deal of merit in women’s embrace and re-appropriation of the character, several also criticized the character’s idealized body and advertising that put her in sexual situations in both the films and video game.”
The fascination of rebuilding a female hero.
3. Canadian artist Domee Shi is 1st female director of Pixar short | CBC
“Canadian Domee Shi is the first female director to helm a Pixar short film and will have her project Bao screen before the upcoming feature Incredibles 2.
Bao, which will premiere later this month at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, is billed as the story of “an empty-nesting Chinese mom [who] gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life.””
It will screen before Incredibles 2 on June 14th.
4. Of Course I Have Issues: Ending The Cycle Of Abuse In Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 2 | The Geek initiative
“Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 2, despite being one of the brightest and silliest films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also portrays a tragic picture of child abuse: a cycle that begins with crappy parenting and weighs on our heroes throughout the whole of the galaxy. It seems even running away from your home planet and becoming an intergalactic superhero can’t keep you safe from the sh*tty things your dad did to your mom. Volume 2 might be about saving the galaxy, again, but it’s more important message may be how normal, Earth-bound, non-superheroes can save themselves.”
Spoilers everywhere for Guardians of the Galaxy movies in this article, the themes dealt with GOTG since its sequel has become more apparent and more bloggers are catching on. Check out this James Gunn approved essay about the child abuse that lingers throughout the GOTG series.
5. The Developer Making Games About ‘Lesbian Dirtbags’ and Bisexual Robots | Broadly.
“Christine Love’s indie PC games stand out in a sea of games that have, for so long, centered heterosexual male pleasure. Her characters are far from the status quo of eroticized women crafted to appeal to hegemonic male desire: They’re subversive, experimental, and queer. They aim to show us that there are as many different ways of being a human being—specifically a woman—as there are people on this planet (or in space).”
Check out Christine Love’s Tumblr for updates and links to her games.
6. ‘Lady Wrestler’ Documentary Shows Black Women as Wrestling Pioneers | Black Nerd Problems
“While I love wrestling, I have to admit it’s just recently that I’ve begun researching in order to know more about the female pioneers of the sport, past the Fabulous Moolah and more recently Mildred Burke. Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women’s Wrestling is a good resource, by the way. In the Mildred Burke chapter, (Ethel Johnson, Marva Scott, Babs Wingo, Louise Greene, Kathleen Wimberly and Ramona Isbell are mentioned) You can cut your eyes at me when I say women had more obstacles having and maintaining careers as professional wrestlers in the Western World but on some level you, too, know it’s true.”
Women’s wrestling has a long herstory, too.
7. Grown Men Reading ‘Nancy’ | NYBooks
“One of the defining traits of 1980s New York City postmodernist writing and painting was the urge to deconstruct. This extended to the comics medium in Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly’s Raw, an oversized anthology magazine that serialized Maus and introduced readers to “art comics” from around the world. Spiegelman’s experimental work looked like exploded pages of Sunday cartoon battles between what was then considered “low” and “high” art. Richard McGuire’s short story “Here” dissected a single room across time using a panel-in-panel device also seen in 1980s painters like David Salle and Robert Longo. Gary Panter drew apocalyptic nightmares that dismantled and intuitively reconstructed drawing modes from Picasso to Jack Kirby.”
How to read art comics.
8. A SURGICAL RESIDENT REVIEWS MEDICAL SCENES FROM FILM AND TV | Nerdist
“Have you ever wondered why Hollywood features so many medical shows on TV? Or why scenes in the operating room are common in film and television? It’s because hospitals have immense dramatic potential when the stakes are life and death for the patients. But that doesn’t mean storytellers haven’t used a lot of dramatic license along the way.”
It’s a very specific behind the scenes look at some of your favourite films and TV shows. Highly amusing.
9. ‘kiki’s delivery service’ is the perfect guide for broke millennials | i-D Vice
“A new ScreenPrism visual essay brilliantly dissects how the 1989 film Kiki’s Delivery Service can be seen as an allegory for the financial struggles millennial artists face. It may be sound like a bit of a stretch, but ScreenPrism masterfully argues its thesis with a slew of supporting points and statistics. The PhD worthy video touches on all the challenges young artists must overcome: landing a first job, work/life balance, creative burnout, and learning self-care. By the end of the ten-minute essay, you’ll feel like you’ve just finished a therapy session. As proven by this YouTuber’s comment: “As a struggling, depressed, burnt-out millennial with practical skills in STEM (aka what you’d think would be a stable career) y’all made me cry. [sic]””
Another reason to love Kiki’s Delivery Service.
10. Marvel’s ‘Luke Cage’ Cast Grows And Has An Impressive Roster Of Women Directors | Black Nerd Girls
“Season two of Marvel’s Luke Cage is growing as we learned today through Blackfilm.com that actress Antonique Smith has been cast to play a new character.
Blackfilm.com also broke the news of the series having 6 out of 13 of its directors being women on the production roster for season two.”
Netflix Luke Cage season 2 premieres June 22.
11. JSNES By Ben Firshman. Source on GitHub
“A JavaScript NES emulator.”
Day ruiner or day maker, you decide. Play at your own risk.
lgnyeg 