Assumptions and the Face Mask

Yesterday, Governor DeWine of Ohio loosened mask restrictions based on last week's new CDC guidelines.

Yesterday was also the extended tax deadline. However, I was still wearing my face mask inside the post office. Why was I there? We can't electronically file the city tax return, and I like having the postmarked receipt. (Thank goodness, we moved outside the city limits, so I don't have to deal with it next year.)

Anyway, the woman in line in front of me glanced, then apologized for not wearing her facemask. I told her it was all right because the governor had lifted a lot of the restrictions, but I can't take chances since I have cancer.

Which unfortunately, I'm still considered an active case until I hit the five-year mark.

Two rednecks were standing in front of her, who took a little too much interest in our conversation. I could see them tense up, ready to jump on me if I gave the lady any crap.

The lady and I talked as the line slowly scooted forward. She didn't blame me for sticking to the extra precaution. Her own husband was in remission.

And the two rednecks got stunned expressions on their faces. It had obviously never occurred to them that masks weren't all about their FREEDOMS! Some of us have a damn good reason for taking precautions. Some of us are going to stick with our precautions because we want to live. For some of us, wearing a mask has not a Selket-damned thing to do with politics.

Or in my case, my face masks have nothing to do with COVID-19 anymore. I like the fact that I've made it eighteen months without getting sick. I already had autoimmune issues before the cancer. And I'm going to keep wearing them because I got a bunch that match my Wonder Woman t-shirts.

Besides, June is Pride Month, and my rainbow and other pro-LGBT masks will do a much better job of pissing off the local idiots.

WIld, WIcked & Wacky Rewind from 2014

Upon re-reading this particular post from December 19, 2014, I can say I've been buying a lot of Wonder Woman merchandise.

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In a stroke of marketing genius, Andy Mooney, Disney's chairman of Consumer Products, created the Disney Princess line in 2000 after observing several young girls dressed in generic princess attire while attending a Disney on Ice production. Mooney pulled together the female leads of several of the animated movie franchises, including the classics created under Walt Disney's supervision, the revival under Michael Eisner's leadership of the corporation, and CGI creations under John Lassiter as the former head of Pixar and the new head of Disney's animated division.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, each man brought his conceptions of womanhood to the drawing board. Walt Disney took classic fairy tales that were often brutal and bloody and toned them down for family consumption. He also reflected American cultural beliefs that "good" women should seek out marriage and children. The movies involving Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora (aka "Sleeping Beauty") all end with the title character's marriage to a prince.

Because of the poor reception and low box office take of Sleeping Beauty, Walt didn't tackle another fairy tale. While there's no proof of any connection, one has to wonder if the infancy of 60's counter-culture movements didn't have some effect on Sleeping Beauty's box office. It was released in January of 1959, the same month Castro and his forces took over Cuba. Sixteen months later, the first contraceptive pill was approved by the FDA. The HEA endings didn't make sense to a generation of women taking control of their lives.

It wasn't until Michael Eisner became the head of the Disney corporation in 1984 that the company tackled another animated fairy tale. To his credit, Eisner tried to return to the artforms the company was best remembered for as well as expand the corporation's holdings. The result was an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid.

Disney's Princess Ariel was far more feisty than her predecessors. However, she still need to be rescued from the villain by her love interest, Prince Eric. The studio finally broke the "heroine only looking for love" mold with Belle in Beauty and the Beast, but the movie still ended with her falling in love with a prince.

The successive princesses (Mulan is included by the company even though she's of common birth, as is her love interest Li Shang) showed more spunk, more independence, but at the conclusion of each story, the princess in question finds romantic love. Even in Tangled, Rapunzel ends up married to Eugene, a pardoned thief, even though she showed more realistic traits of an emotional abused teenager. In addition, she's the first to take the initiative to escape her psychological imprisonment.

The first time a princess walks into the proverbial sunset without a man on her arm was Merida of the Disney/Pixar film Brave. In fact, she rejects all of her suitors, much to their relief. The three princes didn't want to be forced into a loveless marriage any more than she did.

Merida also broke the Disney mold of one or more dead parents. While her dad loses a leg in a bear attack in the first few minutes of the movie and her mom is turned into a bear later, both of Merida's parents remain alive through the movie.

The primary issue in the story was the normal tension between a teen and her biological mother, an issue neither Disney nor Pixar have dealt with in their animated movies. For once this wasn't about a guardian or parental figure abusing the heroine or out-and-out plotting her murder. Queen Elinor sincerely wants what's best for Merida, but fails to see the person her daughter has become. Merida feels stifled by her mother's constant demands of royal propriety.

I think breaking the normal plot molds of Disney is the one of the real reasons Brave received so many negative reviews when the film was first released. However, thoughts concerning the movie shifted when Disney announced they were adding Merida to the Princess line. The artwork for packaging and the new doll changed Merida from a small-breasted, adolescent tomboy with frizzy hair to a voluptuous woman with well-tamed and styled hair. The new princess aroused the ire of many feminists, and worse, mothers. A petition was started on Change.org, and Disney returned Merida to the original Pixar version. [Disclosure: As one of the pissed-off mothers, I signed the petition.]

The backlash of the petition and the support from subsequent reviewers seemed to sink through the brains of the Disney executives. Maleficent, the live-action retelling of Sleeping Beauty, takes elements of the mother/daughter relationship and uses that love to save the princess rather than romantic love as in the original animated version. It also takes the unusual step of displaying a metaphorical drugged date rape and subsequently punishing the rapist. Further, the hero refused to take advantage of Aurora when she was unconscious. Finally, Maleficent and Aurora work together to save themselves.

Frozen, Disney's latest animated film, also manages to avoid the romance-as-female-safety trap. The princesses Elsa and Anna save each other through the power of their sisterly love. In fact, one romantic interest derides Anna for her desperate wish for any kind of love and how easily she was manipulated because of it.

So has Disney caught up with the 21st century? Three movies does not a pattern make. But I believe the Disney execs will listen to the people who generally buy gifts for the children in the family. And frankly, we buyers are tired of the helpless female meme. I was tired of it when I was growing up in the '70's. And it's definitely a meme I don't want my son indoctrinated in.

What happens next?

That's really up to Disney if they want my money. I still have a couple of underage nieces and my future granddaughters to buy for. If Disney can't keep it's act together, then I'll be buying a lot of Wonder Woman merchandise as gifts.

Did I Forget Something?

Not only did I forget to write new words last night, I totally forgot to come up with a post topic for today.

Oops!

One look at the guys gets me on track.

Or should I be looking at a different poster? It IS International Woman's Day.

So I need to get my words done so I can watch Wonder Woman tonight.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Since I'm trying to wrap up my first superhero book, I've been listening to a lot of superhero soundtracks.

Status Report - June 2017

I haven't done a status update in a while, so here's what's happened since I posted my April list of things to do:

1) No, I haven't started the edits on Ravaged yet.

2) The first draft of Sacrificed was completed on May 25.

3) I started back on Resurrected on May 26, and realized there were a couple of major issues that would turn into expositional crap if I dealt with them in this novel. So I plotted two short novels that will take place between Sacrificed and Resurrected, and started writing them. I post word count updates at my reader-oriented website www.suzanharden.com if you're curious.

4) The non-related short stories are done, but when they will be released is open to question with the new short novels for Bloodlines.

5) Proofing the Bloodlines paperbacks is taking an inordinate amount of time, far more than I anticipated. But I have to get them done because I will be at an author's signing event at our local library next month. More on the signing will be posted closer to the day of, which is July 20. In the meantime, they've essentially been moved to the top priority spot.

6) Needless to say, updating the Seasons of Magick series has been pushed back once again. It may be swapped with #7

7) I gotten more e-mails/PMs about A Modicum of Truth, so based on demand, it will need to take priority post-Bloodlines. It's good that a work is wanted, but it's a little nerve-wracking as well. I'm blaming the demand on the new Wonder Woman movie.

So that's what's happening in my world. Hope everyone has a great summer!

Monday Movie Mania - Wonder Woman

Finally! Finally! Finally! The Amazing Amazon made it to the big screen!

And you know the scene in The Big Bang Theory where they guys collapsed in their theater chairs, totally satiated, after viewing The Force Awakens?

Well, that wasn't the folks in the theater at the very first showing Thursday night. We wanted MOAR!

Apparently, we weren't the only ones, considering the $223 million that Wonder Woman raked in worldwide in its opening weekend. (That doesn't count the roughly $11 million WW picked in the handful of markets where it opened in May.)


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SPOILERS!


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PROS
1) Moving Diana's origin from WWII to WWI was an excellent stroke, considering the brutality of trench warfare and chemical weapons used. It didn't detract from the story. Otherwise, we still have the original comic book origin of Steve Trevor's plane crashing on/near Paradise Island/Themiscirya and the innocent Diana rescuing the first man she's ever seen.

2) David Thewlis as Ares was a non-traditional choice, but the gentleman, formerly Professer Lupin of the Harry Potter franchise fame, made it work.

3) Robin Wright as General Antiope was fucking brilliant!

4) I can see why Chris Pine turned down another movie to play Steve. The writers gave Diana and Steve matching redemptive story arcs.

5) As I said in my review of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gal Gadot more than redeemed herself in her previous cameo. She fucking rocked here as the younger, more innocent Diana.


CONS
1) Uh, not enough Amazons and Etta Candy?

2) [Edit to add] I was expecting a post-movie teaser for Justice League, but there wasn't one.


As the first critically and commercially successive DC flick, this movie goes to show that Zack Snyder really needs to keep his hands off the fucking DCEU franchise. Warner Bros. needs to turn it over to Patty Jenkins. The woman has a clue on how to make a superhero movie.

This one definitely gets and 11 out of 10 stars!

I CAN'T WAIT!

I've been waiting for this all my life!

2017 Business Goals

Yes, my business goals this year involve writing and publishing to earn enough money for the entire Mattel Barbie Wonder Woman line.

Sexism and Superheroes

Back in the '80's, a gentleman (and I use the term loosely) wrote to Marvel. His letter was published in The Uncanny X-Men. (I can't tell you which issue number because my books are in storage right now.) The gist of his complaint was that he wasn't going to read that particular book anymore because the women of the team had stronger, cooler powers than the men. At the time, the team consisted of Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Shadowcat, and Rogue.

o_O Okkaaay. Yes, the guys of my generation could be insecure about their masculinity. At the time, I chalked it up to teen angst. I figured they'd grow out of it.

Jump ahead thirty years, and boy, was I wrong. These guys are still trying to exclude women from the hero world. This time, it's clothing for children.

The excuses are still the same. Boys won't wear girl characters. Girls won't wear superhero-related shirts. And they're both right up there with Warner Bros. excuse for not making a Wonder Woman movie.

Guys, you might want to take a look at my closet before you make that pronouncement. Girls like superheros. We like 'em even better if there are women superheroes in the mix.

And I won't just pick on Warner Brothers. Did Disney/Marvel think I wouldn't notice you didn't have one of the founding members of the Avengers in the movie? I'll give them a little credit. They did substitute Wasp with Black Widow instead of another male Avenger. And they are putting the Scarlet Witch in the next movie. Which still puts them a couple of steps above WB. But then drops them another step for not having Gamora with the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy on a t-shirt for little boys.

*sigh*

To the guys my age marketing shit to younger superhero fans: Kids today grew up with Buffy Summers and Katniss Everdeen and Hermione Granger. They'll wear shirts with Black Widow and Gamora. They'll even go see Wonder Woman if you make the movie right.

And by right, I mean having a team like Chris Nolan had for the Dark Knight trilogy. A team that passionately cares about the subject matter. Or is this all a plan to mess up the possibility of a movie because you don't want to see your sons wearing Wonder Woman t-shirts?

Guess what? Your sons are totally secure in their manhood. It's you that has the problem.

It's a Good Thing I'm Not Writing

Currently reading - Random X-Men and Wonder Woman comics

I woke up this morning with the most Goddess-awful head cold.  Thank Djehuti, I'm not doing NaNo.  I'd be lucky to hit one hundred words with the pressure behind my eyes.

What I'm doing instead is bagging and boxing a huge portion of my comic book collection.  There was a time when I'd properly store my comics as soon as I read them.

Then came law school.  I'd read maybe part of my monthly shipment from Mile High Comics.  Then I'd stack them in the office closet with the promise that I'd take care of them during summer break.  Except internships and DH's frequent international travel meant Wonder Woman and her friends stayed in the closet.

Then came the bar exams.  I'd already pre-registered for the Ohio Bar Exam before DH took the job in Texas, so it seemed like a waste of money not to take it along with the Texas Bar Exam.  And yes, I was insane enough to take them both the same year.  Other than walking the dogs and a week in Hawaii, my nose was glued to books and practice exams for months.  And Wolverine and his buds got stacked in the closet without even a passing glance.

Then I got pregnant, literally three days after the Columbus swearing-in ceremony.  Soon after GK was born, I had to admit to myself that I needed cancel my subscription.  I wasn't giving my comics the attention they deserved.  And Batman and his co-horts still sat in the closet by themselves.

But now we're trying to prepare the house for listing.  That means cleaning out the closets.  I'm ashamed that I let my friends languish in the dark.   They brought me so much joy during a very lonely childhood.

So I gently bag each one, reading the occasional book that has a beautiful cover of Storm or Troia.  700 down, another 1000 to go.