Chelsea Weaver

I love this article and how you explore 21st century gender roles through Gaiman’s works.

I like your article a lot. I love comic books, particularly ones based on literature or conveying literary stories. Now, a lot of the super hero comics are also using political and social topics as part of their storytelling.

I love Bridesmaids so much and I really love your article. I was thinking about what makes a movie like this different from the others is that these (like Bridesmaids) are more often than not written by women. I think there is probably a more real portrayal of women when women are talking about women. That probably goes the same for men too. I hope they write more movies. I’m very excited for Poehler/Fey “Sisters” movie at the end of the year.

I am a huge fan of this show even though I think the show has gone a little down hill as they struggle to integrate new characters into one world that is originally multiple worlds. I loved your article though and I agree with all of it, though I will point out a few things I’ve noticed.

I agree it’s problematic that portraying so many women as villains is problematic, but I would argue that many of the heroes are also women. And while the cast of villains is constantly changing, making room for additions of more women, the cast of heroes stays the same.

Further, I would add that though many of the women are manipulative, a negative stereotype of women that should not exist, Rumplestiltskin is the master manipulator. He has a hand in manipulating nearly every person in the show.

Lastly, I don’t think that the female villains having maternal or other love for people get in their way is a problem. I think the larger problem is that Peter Pan does not have that. It plays on the negative stereotype of men not having that paternal love or having love of any other kind play an important role in their lives.

This is really interesting. I’m not one for historical fictions but I wonder is a modern audience wouldn’t be interested in a super realistic historical drama? What with more raw shows like Girls on HBO becoming popular, I wonder if an overtly historical drama would not be something a modern audience could come around to in the coming years.