Move Over Batgirl, Our Superheroine Is Just A Normal Human Being

Feline revolution. Ursula Dorada/Angela Sprecher/MSCSI

By Will Brooker, Kingston University

Warner Bros has announced that Joss Whedon will be directing a new Batgirl movie. On one hand, I’m delighted, because the superhero genre needs more leading women, and Batgirl is one of the most undeveloped but deserving characters in the DC Comics universe. But I’m also wary, because Batgirl has already taken more than her fair share of abuse over the years, and I really want to see her treated with respect.

First introduced in 1967, Barbara “Batgirl” Gordon spent 20 years as a token figure of women’s liberation before being violently retired in 1988 in Alan Moore’s notorious short story The Killing Joke, in which she was shot in the spine and paralysed, then sexually assaulted by the Joker. Having been transformed into the computer expert and information broker Oracle – her disability making her a different kind of icon – Barbara was relaunched as Batgirl in 2011, in full costume and with the use of her legs restored.

My relationship with Batgirl began when I finished with Batman. If that sounds like a break-up, that’s also how it felt: I studied Batman for my PhD, and three years of obsessive connection with the Dark Knight became my first book in 2000. After a long break, I wrote another book in 2012 on Batman’s 21st century incarnations. By that point I was done with Batman. So I started researching Batgirl, and wrote a few articles about her unrealised potential.

Batgirl’s first outing. Detective Comics Vol 1 359/DC Comics

Like no PhD I know
Batgirl, from her first appearance onwards, was also a PhD student, but never really seemed like one. One autumn day, I led a class for new doctoral students. As is often the case in the humanities, they were all young women: diverse, demanding, enthusiastic and incredibly intelligent. They were nothing like Batgirl.

During the lunch break, I wandered down to the local comic shop. The covers of the comics were glossy. The costumes on the covers were glossy. The women on the covers were contorted into cleavage-exposing, soft-porn poses. The young men running the shop looked up from their games console and stared at me as if I’d walked into their house. I walked out without buying anything. If I, a fortysomething, male author of Batman books, felt unwelcome in their shop, how would the average young woman feel?

I began to feel that if Batgirl was a PhD student, then she should be written like one. And so I set about building a better Batgirl. Rather than criticising comics from the outside, I decided to try making my own, to show how it could be done differently – and done better.

I wrote scripts and commissioned art from almost entirely female creators in order to reverse the usual male-dominated dynamic: one of the illustrators was my former PhD student Sarah Zaidan, the other artist Suze Shore. The idea was to re-imagine Batgirl as an incredibly intelligent young woman, living in a shared house in a hip, arty neighbourhood, and piecing together her costume from the kind of thing you could find in local shops – black boots, a ribbed sweatshirt, a rucksack. Her logo was yellow paint, sprayed through a stencil.

My so-called secret identity

Cat, heroine of My So Called Secret Identity. Susan Shore/MSCSI

But I realised the project could be bigger than just a hypothetical example of what comics could be like. I changed it to become its own story, with its own characters in its own world, and launched it online as My So-Called Secret Identity in 2013. The response was extraordinary. It was as if people had been waiting for it: comics’ blogs embraced it, mainstream newspapers and magazines featured it, artists and writers praised it. The Daily Dot announced that: “My So-Called Secret Identity will change your view on women in comics.”

How did we create a character so different from other superheroines? It was radically simple: we wrote and drew her as a normal human. Cat isn’t incredibly fit, or incredibly glamorous: she’s refreshingly average. She gets nervous around new people, and becomes exhausted running up stairs. She sometimes wears a dress and heels, and sometimes falls asleep dribbling on her hoodie.

At some points in her story she’s muscular and slim, at others she’s heavier and curvier. We see her in her bra at the gym, and fully-covered in her superhero costume. The whole point is her normality. What makes her exceptional is her intelligence: her ability to join the dots, make connections and see the links between things, illustrated by Sarah Zaidan through the comic’s complex MindMaps. For Cat, smart is a superpower.

Smart can be a superpower. Suze Shore/Sarah Zaidan/MSCSI

Four years later, My So-Called Secret Identity has expanded to four print volumes, and the whole story is still available free online as we always planned. The art team is still dominated by women – Suze Shore, Samantha LeBas, Ursula Dorada, Jennie Gyllblad, Angela Sprecher – and I share the writing credits with new authors, who submit stories from their own cultural experiences – for example, as a black woman, a trans woman, or a British Asian woman. As a white male writer, it was important for me to offer a platform to others who could tell those stories better than I ever could.

Leaving an impression

Have we changed things? It’s hard to say. Both Marvel and DC have strived for greater diversity in terms of who they employ and the way minority groups are depicted. But in many ways, comics continue just as before.

The Killing Joke was adapted into an animated film last year, its gratuitous depiction of Barbara’s sexual assault now queasily echoed by a sex scene between her and Batman. The abusive relationship between Joker and his partner Harley Quinn gained a new prominence and popularity through 2016’s Suicide Squad: she started out wearing a full bodysuit in the style of superheroes (or villains), but her costume has now been reduced to a “daddy-issues” T-shirt and tiny hotpants.

Harley Quinn impersonators in the run-up to the launch of Suicide Squad. 

Batgirl, in turn, was rebooted in 2014 by DC Comics: the new version lived in a shared house in a hip, arty neighbourhood, and pieced together her costume from local shops. Her logo was yellow paint, sprayed through a stencil. I like to think we might have somehow shaped that interpretation. And Joss Whedon’s new movie is said to be based on this recent DC interpretation of Batgirl, which means that, indirectly, My So-Called Secret Identity is a contributory part of its cultural DNA. I’m glad to see Batgirl get her place in the spotlight. But Barbara and I have history: I hope this time DC does her justice.

About Today's Contributor:
Will Brooker, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies, Kingston University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

Easter Egg Row Is An Undercooked Mess That Feeds English Nationalism

EPA/Michael Reichel

By David Tollerton, University of Exeter

Some people have dismissed it as a “storm in an egg cup”, but the controversy over Easter eggs has embroiled quintessentially “English” institutions. And unlike most chocolate eggs currently on sale in shops, the story ultimately has rather more inside it than you might imagine. It touches upon issues of fake news, the contested borderlands of secularism and religiosity, and the fluid interplay of state, church and national identity in Brexit Britain.


It started with an article in The Daily Telegraph. This voice of “small c” conservativism (wrongly) accused Cadbury, a venerable confectioner with nearly 200 years of history, and the National Trust, which looks after many of the UK’s finest stately homes, of dropping references to “Easter” from promotional material for their Easter egg hunts and turning a religious festival into a “chocfest”. The article quoted a spokesman for the Church of England saying: “This marketing campaign … highlights the folly in airbrushing faith from Easter.”

The events gained momentum with an accusation by the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, the second most senior clerical position in the Church of England, that this amounted to “spitting on the grave” of Cadbury’s founder. One of his descendants would later claim that, as a Quaker, John Cadbury didn’t actually celebrate Easter – but the archbishop’s vivid condemnation had made its mark.

The the UK’s prime minister, Theresa May, who less than a week after triggering Article 50 might have bigger issues to face, declared that:

The stance they [Cadbury and the National Trust] have taken is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know what they are thinking about frankly. Easter’s very important. It’s important to me.

Predictably, a range of politicians weighed in on the topic, with Nigel Farage declaring that this was part of a battle for Britain’s very soul:

There are a variety of curious features to the story, the first of which is that its central premise, that Cadbury and the National Trust airbrushed out references to Easter, is actually pretty weak. Numerous media commentaries spotted that the word “Easter” is sprinkled liberally across both organisations’ websites. Indeed, if they really were trying to expunge mentions of the Christian festival from their material, they were doing a pretty dire job of it. In the rapid fire age of social media anger and freely-given accusations of “fake news”, this whole affair may seem like a prime candidate for dismissal as a confected nonsense.

Defending the faith
But the controversy intersects with several deep and longstanding tensions. One of these is the question of what is actually meant when Christianity is discussed in England. As several pundits have observed, the religious roots of many Easter traditions are decidedly hazy and, in truth, the precise divisions between pagan inheritance, Christian practice and secular appropriation are all difficult to pin down.

One doesn’t have to spend long pondering the vast disconnect between the number of people who self-identified as Christian in the last census and the number of people who actually go to church to appreciate that religious and secular identities are decidedly fluid.
The Archbishop of York may see the advertising of a chocolate egg hunt as a frontline against secularism to be fought over with passion but, in reality, British society is instead full of tiny and opaque daily skirmishes in which religious language and tradition is expressed or sidelined at varying conscious and unconscious levels.

Dog-whistling
But what is clear is that for some political figures an appeal to visions of Christianity under siege is more irresistible than any chocolate. This is because “Christianity under siege” can become profoundly bound up in ideas of “Britishness under siege”. Nigel Farage’s declaration that “we must defend our Judeo-Christian culture and that means Easter” is of course an obvious case.

Leaving aside the casual alignment of the “Judeo-Christian” with what is, in effect, simply Christian, the intervention maps neatly onto a longstanding UKIP policy of positioning themselves as the defenders of Christian values (see, for instance, their “Valuing Our Christian Heritage” campaign during the 2015 general election).

Traditionalist: John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. PA/John Giles/Pool, CC BY-SA

But Conservative politicians have found fertile ground here, too. In his 2016 Easter address, David Cameron reflected that “we are a Christian country and we are proud of it”, building on a longstanding rhetorical alignment of “Christian values” and “British values”. Given Theresa May’s history of fiercely asserting the importance of “British values”, her firm defence of British Christians who feel marginalised and her mission, in triggering Article 50, to “restore, as we see it, our national self-determination”, the scene is set for a drama in which actors seen to undermine Christian identity are cast as villains of the piece.

The misfortune for the National Trust and Cadbury (which is now owned by US giant Kraft) was to walk onto the stage at the wrong time – and no doubt they won’t be the last to do so. That the evidence of their misconduct is shaky and the crime’s very theological and sociological coherence is questionable are, in effect, minor details within the greater rhetorical purpose.

The Church of England’s role is more complex, however. The institution has on occasions voiced public unease at the nationalistic and exclusionary potentials of extolling “British values”, and last year’s row between Farage and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made it plain that UKIP and the Church of England’s understandings of “Christian heritage” are far from harmonised.

But as the egg controversy shows, undercooked and hyperbolic church interventions against organisations deemed to undermine Christian tradition may, intentionally or not, ultimately end up providing a feast for nationalists.

About Today's Contributor:
David Tollerton, Lecturer in Jewish Studies and Contemporary Biblical Cultures, University of Exeter

This article was originally published on The Conversation..

Discovery 2017 Welcomes Gina McCarthy, #EPA Head Under President Obama

Gina McCarthy, former EPA head under President Obama (CNW Group/Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc.)

A leading advocate for public health and the environment for over 30 years, Gina McCarthy will be the Day Two keynote speaker at Discovery 2017. McCarthy will deliver an environmental message that conveys common sense strategies and sustainable solutions backed by science at the annual innovation conference, hosted by Ontario Centres of Excellence.

Discovery 2017 participants can look forward to an exciting and informative keynote address about the dangers, challenges and opportunities that face our planet and its people, as well as an energizing call to action.

McCarthy is well-known and celebrated for her work with the Obama White House as the former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). During that time she spearheaded historic progress on the Climate Action Plan to achieve the administration's public health and environmental protection goals.

In 2015, McCarthy signed the Clean Power Plan, which set the first-ever national standards for reducing carbon emissions from existing power plants, underscoring the country's commitment to domestic climate action and spurring international efforts that helped secure the Paris Climate Agreement, signed by 175 countries. During her tenure, EPA initiatives cut air pollution, protected water resources, reduced greenhouse gases and strengthened chemical safety to better protect more Americans, especially the most vulnerable, from negative health impacts. Internationally, McCarthy worked with the UN and WHO on a variety of efforts and represented the U.S. on global initiatives to reduce high-risk sources of pollution.

McCarthy is currently serving as a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard and as a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, emphasizing her career-long position that public health and the environment are critically interconnected.

"With a keen interest across sectors in cleantech, climate change and lowering greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario, Gina McCarthy will be speaking at Discovery at an ideal time," says Dr. Tom Corr, OCE's President and CEO. "Her direct and practical message of environmental protection based in science is an exciting addition to this year's amazing line-up of speakers."

Named Canada's Best Trade Show in 2010, 2011, and 2016, and celebrating 12 years of bold, new ideas, OCE's Discovery is Canada's premier innovation showcase. It brings together the best and brightest minds in industry, academia, investment and government to showcase leading-edge technologies, best practices and research in the areas of energy, fintech, cleantech, the environment, advanced health, digital media, information and communication technologies and advanced manufacturing. The annual conference and showcase attracts more than 3,500 attendees and 500 exhibitors.

For more on Discovery, visit www.ocediscovery.com

NB: Gina McCarthy is available for media interviews on May 16.

Trailer:

SOURCE: Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc.

Feature Film About Eating Disorders, Little Miss Perfect, To Be Screened In Dallas

Little Miss Perfect Screening April 27 in Dallas

Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, The Elisa Project and film director, Marlee Roberts, are hosting a free one-night-only screening of the compelling drama titled Little Miss Perfect, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m., Thursday, April 27, 2017 at the Studio Movie Grill, 11170 N. Central Expy in Dallas.

The award-winning feature film chronicles the life of Belle, a 14-year-old overly-ambitious straight-A freshman. As class president, Belle seems to have it all together, but as her family troubles and daily social academic pressures grow, she seeks a way to control her chaotic world. In the film, Belle is triggered by a blog promoting anorexia and other eating disorders and she drops to an unhealthy weight. Belle utilizes weight measurement as a means to regain a sense of self control.

"Little Miss Perfect tells the story of a girl who struggles to control her life by controlling her weight. This need for 'control', much like our protagonist Belle, had led me to research the psychological and behavioral effects of those who cope with a loss of control, particularly in anorexia," said Roberts. "I wanted to explore the disparity between our physical and psychological selves and question what that says about us as individuals and as a society."

Little Miss Perfect began first as an adaptation of the traditional French fairy tale 'La Belle et la Bete,' popularly known in English as "Beauty and the Beast." The adaptation borrowed Belle's studious perfectionist nature and combined it with the Beast's shame and temper. Similar to that of the original story, Belle was given a father who sets off on a work venture, a mother who is out of the picture and a confident bordering-on-arrogant suitor.

However, as work was done on the screenplay, it transformed into its own story and themes from the classic fairy tale have become only symbols paying homage to the original tale. While not completely autobiographical, Roberts wrote the character of Belle from personal experience in high school struggling with similar themes many young girls are facing: social exclusion, academic pressure, body image, and family disconnection. 

The event, open to the public, offers complimentary hors d'oeuvres and refreshments. Kirsten Haglund, Miss America 2008, national eating disorders awareness advocate and community relations specialist for Timberline Knolls, will emcee the event.

Following the screening, Haglund will lead an interactive panel discussion with the film's director and Cindy Cole, LMFT, LPC, Director of Primary and Family Therapy at Timberline Knolls. Also on the panel will be Andy McGarrahan, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Children's Medical Center Dallas.

Registration is required to attend the event. Those interested can register here 

SOURCE: Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center

"Attack On Titan" Season 2 To Premiere Saturday April 1 On FunimationNow, Hulu And Crunchyroll

"Attack On Titan" Season 2 To Premiere Saturday April 1 On FunimationNow, Hulu And Crunchyroll

The wait will soon be over for countless anime fans of "Attack on Titan" across the U.S. and Canada. Funimation Entertainment announced today that "Attack on Titan" Season 2 will premiere on FunimationNow, Hulu and Crunchyroll on Saturday April 1, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern / 9:30 a.m. Central. Both the premiere and future English-subtitled simulcast episodes of the new season will be available across all three platforms as well as the Crunchyroll and Funimation channels on VRV. Details on Season 2 English SimulDub episodes will be shared within weeks.

"We're thrilled to be premiering 'Attack on Titan' Season 2 together with Hulu and Crunchyroll to anime fans across the U.S. and Canada," said Gen Fukunaga, CEO and founder of Funimation. "Fan excitement has been building non-stop since our acquisition announcement and our clip reveal last December. 'Attack on Titan' Season 2 will not disappoint."

"Attack on Titan" ("Shingeki no Kyojin" in Japanese) is based on the New York Times best-selling manga series by Hajime Isayama and tells the story of a world in which the last of humanity fights to survive against man-eating giants called Titans. With now 21 volumes in print and an estimated 70 million copies in print today, "Attack on Titan" has inspired spin-off manga and novels, the anime series, a live action movie and numerous video games. Funimation simulcast the original 25-episode, Season 1 of "Attack on Titan" as well as released it on home video throughout North America.

"We're excited to bring the pop culture hit "Attack on Titan" back for a second season after its long hiatus," said Mike DuBoise, EVP and COO of Funimation. "And based on clip reveals, it will be an action-packed season that fans can look forward to watching. It's definitely been worth the wait."

Synopsis

Eren Jaeger swore to wipe out every last remaining Titan, but in a battle for his life he wound up becoming the thing he hates most. With his new powers, he fights for humanity's freedom facing the monsters that threaten his home. After a bittersweet victory against the Female Titan, Eren finds no time to rest—a horde of Titans is approaching Wall Rose and the battle for humanity continues!

Viewers can catch up on all past episodes of "Attack on Titan" on FunimationNow, Hulu and Crunchyroll as well as the Crunchyroll and Funimation channels on VRV.

SOURCE: Funimation

Earth Day Canada asks everyone to #EarthPLAY for Earth Day (April 22) 2017

Earth Day Canada (CNW Group/Earth Day Canada)

With a new mandate to connect kids to nature and build resilient communities, Earth Day Canada kicks off its 2017 campaign by asking people across the nation to #EarthPLAY for Earth Day and support better outdoor play in our parks, schools and on neighbourhood streets.

According to recent data, most children get outside for less than an hour each day. This is having serious ramifications on their health and wellbeing.

"Outdoor, unstructured free play has been disappearing from childhood for the last several decades," says Deb Doncaster, President of Earth Day Canada. "This is largely due to a lack of stimulating, accessible play spaces, coupled with unnecessary aversion to risk and a narrow concept of education. 

If the next generation is stuck indoors, how can we expect them to be connected to their communities and motivated to protect the environment?"

The cornerstone of this year's campaign is the #Pledge4PLAY crowdfunding platform, running April 1st to 30th at earthday.ca. Those who donate receive various perks and chances to win a range of prizes, with donations of $100 or more securing additional entries into a draw for the grand prize: A trip for four to the world-renowned Berkeley Marina Adventure Playground in California, courtesy of the Air Canada Foundation.

A social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter encourages people to share their favourite #PLAYmemory from when they were young — participants include celebrities such as four-time Olympian Silken Laumann, star of hit TV series Survivorman Les Stroud, and children's singer-songwriter Raffi, while renowned environmentalist David Suzuki and Leader of the Green Party Elizabeth May have recorded special video messages to share, too.

Earth Day Canada has created free tool kits for those who wish to #EarthPLAY in their local community, and for schools across Canada, who are invited to demonstrate their support of enriched outdoor play by committing to host an extra or extended recess or even a full day of adventure play during Earth Week.

Earth Day Canada is hosting three events in Toronto — StreetPLAY for Earth Day (April 20), SchoolPLAY for Earth Day (April 20) and ParkPLAY for Earth Day (April 22) — drawing a range of government officials, celebrities and kids of all ages to experience enriched outdoor play.

About Earth Day Canada

Founded in 1990, Earth Day Canada is a national charity that inspires and supports people across the country to connect with nature and build resilient communities. We lead an annual Earth Day campaign in conjunction with free, year-round, award-winning programs that get people of all ages outside, interacting with the natural environment — this, in turn, fosters an intrinsically motivated, enduring commitment to stewardship and conservation.

EDC works closely with school-aged children and youth through our renowned EcoKids program and new EarthPLAY initiative, and recognizes via our Hometown Heroes Awards those who are leading the way in making our planet healthier. We engage diverse communities in the environmental sector and help our corporate partners achieve their sustainability goals with our growing employee engagement platform.

SOURCE:  Earth Day Canada