![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
You know, my only major exposure to Frank Miller before this was the Sin City movie, which I really liked and didn't trip my sexism triggers. So, despite everything I heard, I was really trying to like his original Daredevil stuff. Unfortunately, all the comic feminists who say Frank Miller's sexism goes back even as far as his Daredevil stuff are totally, totally right.
I really found it hard to like these comics, which is a shame because there is a lot to like in them. Miller does a lot of neat stuff with the layout, which gets better and better as the comics progress. Gang war plots usually seem like a clusterfuck to me, but I was able to follow the proceedings pretty well in Vol. 2 and Vol. 3.
I also have to say, despite his problematic portrayal of women, I think Elektra is a really great creation. In some ways, she's motivated by her love of Matt (which is uncool, but it isn't like Stan Lee didn't do that with EVERY FEMALE CHARACTER EVER), but I dig how Miller gave her an origin story where in the end she really did have to fight with her own inner demons regarding the death of her father. Also, she's a total fighting badass. Not only does she take down the most powerful warrior ever, but her fight with Bullseye, which she eventually loses, really does feel like a "clash of the titans." This was refreshing, especially compared to the movie, which pretty clearly implied she was doomed from the first blows.
That being said, all of the women in the comic (except for maybe Vanessa and that black defense attorney) are totally in love with Matt, which is disturbing because he treats most of them with a huge degree of macho posturing at best and like shit at worst.
Here are a few of the things I really hate:
1.) Elektra and Matt's first meeting. He makes overtures to her, but she rejects him. But then he goes, "Oh wait!" and then tells her all about his secret powers because he's a blind guy but he's actually A REAL BADASS MANLY MAN, YO. Elektra immediately falls in love with him.
[facepalm!]
2.) So Matt has this secretary named Becky Blake, who is in a wheelchair. Then later it's discovered that Becky became disabled because she was attacked (probably raped) by a man and she never reported it so he is still out committing crimes. Matt reacts to this news with horror and sensitivi ... oh, excuse me. Actually, he chastises her without any consideration for her trauma.
Now later, Matt gets attacked in a way that makes him feel helpless so he comes to understand ... kind of. So he goes back to the office and yells at her, "OKAY, I GET IT BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO GET OVER IT AND REPORT WHAT HAPPENED RIGHT NOW!!" And Becky does report it, because chicks respond to that kind of treatment, y'know.
By the way, don't misunderstand me. Rapists *SHOULD* be reported, and it's unfortunate that we have a culture that makes it excessively hard for any victim, male or female, to report rape. I also get why, as a man of justice, Matt would be upset, but it's astounding that he would see a victim as not reporting a crime as inconceivable but respond like he needs to chastise a stupid woman both before and after he supposedly "learns how it feels."
3.) Anything involving Heather, from her mooning over Matt to Matt's jackass "Just marry me and forget your dream of running a company because you're a woman and you suck at it." At least Foggy Nelson thinks he's a jerk in this instance.
So ... yeah. This stuff really, really bothered me. I think I'll still keep the comics just for the "importance" of the stories, but what a disappointment.
I really found it hard to like these comics, which is a shame because there is a lot to like in them. Miller does a lot of neat stuff with the layout, which gets better and better as the comics progress. Gang war plots usually seem like a clusterfuck to me, but I was able to follow the proceedings pretty well in Vol. 2 and Vol. 3.
I also have to say, despite his problematic portrayal of women, I think Elektra is a really great creation. In some ways, she's motivated by her love of Matt (which is uncool, but it isn't like Stan Lee didn't do that with EVERY FEMALE CHARACTER EVER), but I dig how Miller gave her an origin story where in the end she really did have to fight with her own inner demons regarding the death of her father. Also, she's a total fighting badass. Not only does she take down the most powerful warrior ever, but her fight with Bullseye, which she eventually loses, really does feel like a "clash of the titans." This was refreshing, especially compared to the movie, which pretty clearly implied she was doomed from the first blows.
That being said, all of the women in the comic (except for maybe Vanessa and that black defense attorney) are totally in love with Matt, which is disturbing because he treats most of them with a huge degree of macho posturing at best and like shit at worst.
Here are a few of the things I really hate:
1.) Elektra and Matt's first meeting. He makes overtures to her, but she rejects him. But then he goes, "Oh wait!" and then tells her all about his secret powers because he's a blind guy but he's actually A REAL BADASS MANLY MAN, YO. Elektra immediately falls in love with him.
[facepalm!]
2.) So Matt has this secretary named Becky Blake, who is in a wheelchair. Then later it's discovered that Becky became disabled because she was attacked (probably raped) by a man and she never reported it so he is still out committing crimes. Matt reacts to this news with horror and sensitivi ... oh, excuse me. Actually, he chastises her without any consideration for her trauma.
Now later, Matt gets attacked in a way that makes him feel helpless so he comes to understand ... kind of. So he goes back to the office and yells at her, "OKAY, I GET IT BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO GET OVER IT AND REPORT WHAT HAPPENED RIGHT NOW!!" And Becky does report it, because chicks respond to that kind of treatment, y'know.
By the way, don't misunderstand me. Rapists *SHOULD* be reported, and it's unfortunate that we have a culture that makes it excessively hard for any victim, male or female, to report rape. I also get why, as a man of justice, Matt would be upset, but it's astounding that he would see a victim as not reporting a crime as inconceivable but respond like he needs to chastise a stupid woman both before and after he supposedly "learns how it feels."
3.) Anything involving Heather, from her mooning over Matt to Matt's jackass "Just marry me and forget your dream of running a company because you're a woman and you suck at it." At least Foggy Nelson thinks he's a jerk in this instance.
So ... yeah. This stuff really, really bothered me. I think I'll still keep the comics just for the "importance" of the stories, but what a disappointment.
