NOTE: Read either Firebug or Umbral for Tuesday's class (a slight change in the syllabus).
RESPONSE QUESTION: In the comic, a mother holds her teen daughter at gunpoint, saying "we knew this day was coming. You're a danger to the community. If you lose control, we're all dead." How does this scene (and the comic in general) play into the video above? Why is the idea of girls who turn into killer cats satirizing the role of women in our society, as well as the lack of female superheroes (or simply, women with any powers)? Try to cite a specific passage to illustrate your response.
.jpg)
Woman are always shown to be the weak "bad guys" in comic society. This scene shows the woman shoving her children into separate cars. The little girl did not know she did anything wrong. As being a girl in this world your birth has you doomed from the start. This means this little girl had hit puberty and now it is possible that she will turn into a man-eating cat. They forced the girls to drink birth control water was I was calling it, to keep the girls from being able to turn. Women in this comic is subjected to misogyny from men and their own society. As you mentioned in the video, this type of behavior is something we see in our own society. The birth of feminism came about because of things like this. Women can not be more powerful than men in any aspect or they become evil or so that is what society likes people to think. Even now we have never had a woman president and probably wont as long as things like this exist. I for one was rooting for the main character as I assumed she would be the one who was orchestrating her classes turn into the maneaters. She bought them water that was meant for the men and this was just the beginning of her reign as the leader of her class. Her parents ironically were cops and part of a task force meant to stop these creatures. All I have to say about that is I love cats and love women in power.
ReplyDeleteYes, great responses--and probably a lot of connections to our "Gothic Women" class, too? I think Cain also loves cats and women in power, but both are seen as terrifying to a certain segment of the population because cats, especially, are smart but not emotional in the way dogs are. They are and can be, but they can also choose not to be. They're also dangerous and unpredictable. So Cain is taking the metaphor of women = cats and playing with it, much as Art Spiegelman in his famous comic Maus, uses the Jews = mice metaphor since Hitler famously said that "the Jews are vermin." So Cain is taking this metaphor and making it a positive one, while still satirizing why a misogynistic branch of the population insists of being terrified of strong women and stray cats. And if you like this, you should definitely read the rest of the series! :)
DeleteThe scene in question gives us, the reader, a good satirical look at what a post-toxoplasmosis x world would look like. It explores the idea that a second x chromosome makes you a ticking time bomb, and that at some point, one could potentially kill us all. One of the aspects I particularly like is the concept of world building. Though there is little world building in the novel as a whole (which to be fair, this work is narrated by a tween), the amount of cultural adaptation to the transformative pathogen is used to make us feel how endemic the nature of the safety measures are. The misogynistic nature of these measures is satire in its purest form, as shown by the boys’ lounge with the special water, and by the very different treatment of the two sexes maturation curriculum.
ReplyDeleteThis idea that boys and men need to be protected from the wild and animal aspects of women is the thread that is woven through this work. From the view of this particular comic book universe, society and civilization is that of men, and the alien outsider is this wild beast that must be feared and hunted. In the words of James Brown, “This is a man's world..”, and the women who are lucky enough to find themselves in it are to be subdued and kept from the disruption there-of. I love this work’s satirization and feel that much of the controversy around it comes from the lack of appreciation for satirical work. I mean, it’s not like anyone is consuming Irish babies, right?
Good invocation of Swift--and it's appropriate, since only a very straight-laced person would fail to see the satire here (though I've seen many people horrified by A Modest Proposal, missing the satire entirely). Cain is trying to take A societal bias and make it literal, a kind of dystopian world where our unstated fears become actual hard-and-fast rules. So you're right, there is world building here, but it's only building on the world we've created over the centuries, and continue to indoctrinate our children into, even though we also tell them "you can be anything you want to be." Though it certainly helps if you're the right gender!
DeleteThis comic book is seriously the best!! It shows us that women can't make decisions for themselves. When Maude's mom and dad went to the crime scene together her dad was constantly second guessing her mom. Her mom had the lights off to do the murder investigation and Maude's dad thought it would be smarter to have the lights on. He doesn't even ask if he should turn on the lights he just does it. He thought he was being smarter than his ex-wife but really she knew what she was doing because she's done her job many times. This scene really shows that not matter how many times women try to be the smart person a man always tries to be the smarter person. I feel like this is also a reason of why there is a lack of women superheroes. If we create the greatest women superhero comic book or film ever made, then a male will try and create an even better superman or batman because that is just how it is. Women can never win not even if they are superheroes because men don't want to see someone be better than them or smarter than them. I think Chelsea Cain did such a good job in making the girls turn into evil cats. She could've picked any other animal but she picked cats. In my opinion I think she did that because cats are emotional. They are all lovey on you one minute and they hiss at you the next minute. So many people see girls that way and it is true at times, so I thought that was funny.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed it! This is a comic that polarizes: people usually either love or hate it, and I'm sorry to say that most people who hate it are guys. They don't get the humor, and are offended by the obvious satire against societal norms which paint women as too emotional, too volatile, and too dangerous to trust with your life--or your country! So if a woman did have superpowers, would she be entitled to use them? Would she be locked up first? Or made to renounce them? And maybe fear of being rounded up is what makes the girls turn into monsters and go after their families (since in the comic, even a well-meaning mom turns in her own daughter!). Societies always fear the younger generation, and they especially fear the women, since they're the ones who make the next generation--what if they stop making them? Or teach them the wrong things?? SO yes, cats are the perfect metaphor, since they're a pet that many people dislike, and create the false stereotype of cats being unloving and fickle...and they are, if you treat them the same!
DeleteWomen's liberation is a threat to white male domination. That, I think, is what this comic really satirizes. It zeroes in on the fear of women, and it makes it absurd. The art style deliberately plays into that - the "threatening" girls look so sweet and so innocuous, just children, which makes the anti-menstruation propaganda seem especially ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I think the clear evidence of propaganda is what I like most about this comic. It shows that oppression is actively propagated by the ruling classes. There is a reason that people who profit off of cheap labor don't like unions, you know?
The "Cat Fight" magazine is a great example of this type of propaganda. It is "brought to you by Estro-Corps" (whose advertisements are EVERYWHERE throughout the comic), a company which obviously makes a ton of money off of estrogen fear-mongering, and the writers do a really good job of making this money-making intention obvious enough to be funny but subtle enough to feel very much like some of the magazines published in our world today.
I know, aren't the satirical advertisements great? Some people find them too over-the-top, but are our own ads any different? Look at the average beer or body spray ad sometime! It's all propaganda, and it strictly enforces gender norms and terrifies us lest we stick out the wrong way. This is a society based on fear, and the comic plays on this fear beautifully...also suggesting that a superhero is one who questions their society's fear instead of blindly going along with it. Not surprisingly, the heroes are often killed or despised for their disobedience, as we see with the female heroes listed in the comic: Boudica, Joan of Arc, Sojourner Truth, etc.
DeleteJordyn Moore: The scene in “Maneaters” where a mother is holding her daughter at gun point connects to today's video by making me question would the mother even be doing this if it were her son? Would the government in Maneaters be lesser or harsher on regulating and constricting boys' testosterone levels if the roles were switched? One of the topics discussed in today's lecture was how the girls growing all this hair when they become cats is kind of ironic. The idea of young girls turning into killer cats satirizes the role of women in our society because cats have tons of hair and women are constantly pressured to feel as if they have to look like a newborn baby. At the very beginning of chapter three it shows a boy reacting to boys getting new hair and the same boy reacting to girls getting hair. Maude and her friend's reaction pretty much says it all.
ReplyDeleteGreat point--if sons were turning into lions they wound find a way to contain them, and indeed, militarize them for the good of the nation! Boys would never be seen as dangerous, though they would spare no expense to save them. Girls are supposed to suppress their wildness (either in hair or sexuality or emotions) and as you suggest, appear as new-born babes, or simply "babes." The double-standard is maddening, especially for a young kid trying to figure out who they are. So imagine if you really had superpowers in such a world? If you can't even be accepted as a woman, how could you be accepted as the next Wonder Woman?
DeleteI feel this scene within the comic goes with the video above by proving the idea that women are a danger to themselves and society if they if they have any sort of power at all, whether it is over their own body or the forces of nature. To me this scene was trying to tell women that society thinks they are reckless and do not have the ability to control their body or the power that comes with it. I also felt it may have been a bit symbolic of political issues dealing with women's rights and their body. While that may not have been the authors intentions, that was how I interpreted it. I also felt the author showed the skewed outlook that society often has when it comes to the place of women and the amount of power they have as well as the role women have and currently play. The idea of a killer cat takes the stereotypes associated with women and uses it in a way that brings a sort of comedic awareness to real life issue of the imbalance that women face not just in literature but in society in general. I have on occasion heard women referred to as house cats so I thought this was the perfect fit to achieve that goal. One quote form the comic that stands out to me to prove my theory was the part that said "They said it was for our own good. To protect us from our natures." This quote spoke volumes as to the stereotypes that women face and the constant political debate of women's rights to her body.
ReplyDeleteYes, you got it right on the head--this is a satire of women's control of their own bodies, which Chelsea Cain is a strong advocate of. In this comic, girls are taught to deny their own natural maturation, and give their body over to the state if biology refuses. In the comic, cats are dangerous because they kill people...but the better question might be, WHY are they killing people? Everything is cause and effect, and by assuming the girls are evil innately they're avoiding the larger issue. So yes, the laws "to protect us from our own natures" says it all. So imagine if a woman's nature was to be a superhero and save mankind...would we allow it??
DeleteI feel like this scene goes with the video above by saying that women are a danger to themselves or others if they have any type of special power. I really like how you said a lot of the powers that women get are often fears, like hair, sexuality, and more. I never really thought about it that way until you said that and I completely agree. I feel as if everyone is still in the mind frame that women have to meet a certain standard in society. They should be sexy, but not too sexy. It's okay to have long beautiful head hair, but if its anywhere else on our bodies then its gross. Man Eaters does a good job of making a joke out of these crazy standards for women while getting a point across too. It really makes you think about the different types of rules that women have to go by. It shows how women are inferior to men when they really shouldn't be, and I hope it makes some people think! I think to most men, a woman in power is threatening. That is why women are made out to be "girls", "dumb", ect., it is because most men are scared of what good women can actually do.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's ironic that men are encouraged to have as much hair as possible (and we're terrified that we might go bald!!), yet women are encouraged to lose their hair and not have anything show (though they, too, can't go bald--the horror!). Why is hair policed so tightly? So much of gender really comes down to how much hair you have, and where, and who can see it. So in this comic, women threatened to become all hair--cats!--who also have a hunger to eat everything in sight. This is the fear of women and their biology, that they're irrational monsters who will consume their partners (like spiders or praying mantises!). Cain has a lot of fun with this metaphor, but it's based in our own social fears and taboos.
DeleteMayra Munoz: I think that our society does portray females as weak or in need of protection, and to the public that is what we are, but in the Maneaters comic, the strength of women was shown, even though man in the comic tried to make women be embarrassed for who they were, for example, on the part where there is a protest going on, on of those signs there is one that reads “ who bleeds for seven days and doesn’t die?”, this instead shows that even though women are being portrayed as weak and a threat to society because of “flaws” or estrogen levels, they are as strong as they can be, and need to be approached carefully, and when the boy thinks its gross on how puberty affects girls, but at the same time they are warned that girls can attack at any moment, and not just with their mood swings, but they will kill whomever passes their way. Men in the comic try to avoid estrogen and are trying to keep women under surveillance and drugged to be able to contain them, and it is sad to know that older women are actually supporting this idea, by turning in their child, when instead they should be fighting to find an answer to this nonsense.Women are capable of doing so much,and should be exemplified in a true superhero, not only portrayed as a sex symbol by men, just like it has always been. I applaud Chelsea Cain for showing that even pre-adolescents can be fierce and powerful, imagine what a full grown woman can do.
ReplyDeleteGreat response--and you're right, the comic shows how we are taught to police ourselves and our children, without asking why this is wrong. If something is natural, and happens to all women, why should it be regulated (or suppressed)? The comic does a great job at satirizing our notions of gender, which are constructed and not something entirely existing in nature. If it has to be policed, removed, and enforced, then it suggests a problem in ourselves--not in women!
DeleteThis scene depicts society’s role on how women are viewed not only by men by women themselves. After being told that you are one way for so long you eventually begin to believe it. Just as the woman is turn against her daughter by the fright that was instilled in her through the propaganda deluging all her senses. In addition, this scene also represents the fear that society has about girls maturing into women, especially powerful women. While the whole thing is a bit over the top it is still frightening how accurate it is. How fearful society is of women, how much government wants control over a woman’s body, and how to spread that narrative to make it a societal norm. I think that Cain use of girls turning into man eating cats is brilliant because throughout history man has both fear women and tried to depict them as harmless. There are several images of cats in this book not just the terrifying mutated man eating cat, but also the cat rug in the bathroom, the cat hat that Maude wears, the image of the kittens on the Cat Fight magazine. The society in this story both fears and tries to undermine women. Because it is done so absurdly the audience is very aware of it. Yet in reality we are so desensitized by the image that society projects on women that we often just accept it without thinking twice about it.
ReplyDeleteIt is over-the-top (satire always is), and yet, isn't our society also over-the-top in its advertisements and fears of people transgressing the gender roles! Look at any ad for beer or body spray and you'll see nothing out of place in this comic. It does suggest how we police people's bodies (well, women's bodies) and how much marketing is done through fear of not being 'normal.' This is a comic all about the fear of abnormality, and how society enforces it in others and in themselves. It's funny--and quite frightening!
DeleteCallie Farley: I think that women are often portrayed as weak, selfish, or even just annoying in a lot of comics, especially the “classics”, so it was very interesting to see how this comic took those ideas and really turned it around. The girls in this comic are essentially doomed from the beginning because of their ability to turn into man eating cats. The girls in this society are discriminated against by all the men and are taught that it is bad to become who they are. (sounds familiar!) This is something that happens all the time in our own society, and not with just cis-gender women. Throughout history, if women were more powerful than men they would be treated as if they were a monster (like in the novels we read in brit lit). I liked how the author created this story that is really interesting and fun but made it fit with our own society so well. It’s right in your face , which I love. I think that it also shows how, through manipulation, men have tried to make women feel like they are bad and that the men are right for doing this.
ReplyDelete