Defending/Criticizing Gratuitous Nudity and Sexy Sex Blog #674332
By SC 27 Comments
First off let me establish one thing, this is a blog entirely about Starfire, Catwoman, Starling, Aquaman, and Voodoo. (what do you mean there are already other threads covering that?) Let me establish another thing, whether you support or criticize the exploitation or empowerment of the former characters, your a hypocrite. The last thing I want to establish is that I am in no way being paid by DC Comics to help in their new form of marketing by having all comic websites threads dominated by talk of their comics though some sort of free publicity viral marketing. Oh, wait you want to go back to the hypocrite thing eh? Fair enough, let me justify. None of you actually care about gender issues, balance, exploitation, or empowerment, the adequate justification of sexual themes or acts or the gratuity of the former, really, because let me present the following to you. This forum. Only one thread in it. Given how blatant and exaggerated and gratuitous the nudity and sex present in this graphic novel its, there should be tons of people shouting at each other and telling each other they are wrong. There is not, even though this story is filled with images like this.
That, is a nude comic book character. In the buff, absolutely nothing left to the imagination. Where are the arguments for this poor exploited/empowered characters? Oh, so you might make the excuse, but SC, those are lions, its okay that they are naked, but I mean, sorry, but thats racist. Lions are people too. I have not seen this much gratuitous exploitation since that filth Lion King (but you already know all the subliminal messages Disney put in that don't you?) Not convinced yet? Lions in nature are nude and so this is just "realism" apparently? Uhm, but the lions in the picture above are talking??!?!?!? Thats the official rule. Character talks, character needs pants, or has to talk in a Donald Duck voice. No exceptions. Otherwise its overly sexualized, gratuitous... just why? Hmmmn, you don't sound convinced? Okay, well let me try and demonstrate how these lion characters are actually more fleshed out and therefore because of their emotional and intellectual realism and resonance - class as the type of characters wear thereby their lack of clothing translates from naturally normal to obscene.
**THERE WILL BE MINOR SPOILERS on the Story Pride of Baghdad, BUT ONLY TO PROVE YOU WRONG - YOU SHOULD STILL BUY THE BOOK SO YOU CAN SEE HOW WRONG YOU ARE FIRSTHAND**
Pride of Baghdad was a Graphic Novel released in 2006, its brought to us by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon, if you haven't realized it yet, *smile* the protagonists of this story are lions. Four lions, we have Zill, the default alpha male of the group, Safa, the weathered, and wizened lioness, who is half blind, and maybe a tiny bit bitter in old age, Noor, a young mother lioness, who wishes for freedom, and her cub Ali. We get to know our protagonists pretty fast, they start out in a situation which is unusually dramatic already, and almost page after page we get new scenarios, new situations, new questions, which results in rapid character development and evolution, and sheds more light on our lions personalities. So for any of you still going under the, this is just an animal and not a human so its not nudity logic, I say rawr to you, rawr!
Honor and matters of morality? Strictly humanoid affairs? Not in this book, one of the more interesting moments is when Zill and Safa, after escaping from the Zoo that denied them their freedom, but are now starving and near death, come across the dead body of one of their Zoo Keepers and argue over the ethics of eating him. He is already dead, but Safa argues that they shouldn't eat the flesh of one of the humans that fed them and cared for them at the Zoo, and generally kept them alive whilst they were in captivity? Zill reasons they meat is meat, food is food, and they are hungry. Its a fairly deep moment. Whilst not strictly cannibalism, it strikes on many of the same philosophical themes and questions. These are lions sure, but they are treated as and portrayed as intelligent and articulate as any humans could be. One is even arguing the notion that is more honorable to respect the dead than to sate their hunger. The other defends their stance, because he is aware that not only is he starving, but so are the other characters. Funnily enough, this is not the first time, this topic of base hunger versus higher ideals conflict. The character of Noor, has an idealized notion of life beyond her caged environment at the beginning of the story. She wants freedom, she wants it for her and her child. She argues, negotiates, bargains and haggles with an antelope, pleas with an antelope, liberation from their prisons is within their grasp. She has a plan, and the keepers (humans) who are so weary around the lions, she knows lowers their guard around the antelope, so if only the antelope were to gore the humans, and retrieve the keys, and then the monkeys... Noor goes on to explain her plan to the weary antelope. The antelope is aware of the natural order of things though. It is engaging in discussion with its natural predator. The lion could sooner rip out its throat of not for the protection of the bars separating them. The antelope walks away from Noor who tries to appeal to its conscious and higher intellect. She gives her word, wouldn't it be worth the risk, for freedom? Noor eventually gains her freedom though other means, and with her pride, free of the prison of the iron bars she encounters the antelope again, on the outside, alone and vulnerable. This is our main characters first chance to hunt for their meal, but Noor dissuades her fellow lions. She has a point to make, and she wanted the antelope to know they could have both been freed sooner if only they had trusted her. She sacrifices filling her stomach to hold onto her own constructed ideals. Usually only humans are this pretentious, uhm, I mean, moral... but the lions here, they have honor and morality, and a code, (and they should have pants too) and it makes for a really captivating story (albeit a very gratuitous and sexy story)
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