I'll be fine if I go to the chiropractor later

December 11, 2015 12:21 PM

Women Try To Pose Like Female Comic Book Heroes... and their attempts are photoshoped to match the original.
posted by fearfulsymmetry (38 comments total)

It's not often that an examination of sexism brightens my day, but this was great. One of them women talked about how hard it was to be a "bad ass bitch" when also trying to be in those positions; honestly, putting your body out there in the Internet out there in order given EVERYTHING is about as bad ass bitch as you can get.

Also, this closing line of the second link is so amazing.

Unless you completely lack object permanence, you can deal with not seeing both boobs and butt at the same time. Like, give readers some credit: When a character turns around, it’s not like we all go “BUT WHERE DID THE BOOBS GO? ARE THE BOOBS GONE FOREVER? I NEED ASSURANCES THAT THERE ARE STILL BOOBS HERE.” In fact, the only people who actually think this way are real-life babies, and they can’t read comics, anyway!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:37 PM on December 11, 2015 [54 favorites]

This is at least borderline eponysterical.
posted by Brak at 12:37 PM on December 11, 2015 [13 favorites]

Related.
posted by chavenet at 1:00 PM on December 11, 2015

Flashback: What if all the Avengers posed like Black Widow?
posted by dgaicun at 1:05 PM on December 11, 2015

If you quickly pull that slider thing back and forth on the first red leotard girl, it looks like a Nicki Minaj video.
posted by dgaicun at 1:08 PM on December 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

The object-permanence paragraph might be my favorite collection of words on the Internet.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:11 PM on December 11, 2015 [7 favorites]

I can't read the comments (thankfully), as the interface murdered my browser in an alley. But I love this.
posted by Existential Dread at 1:15 PM on December 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not unlike the 5-legged Assyrian sculptures of antiquity, the anatomical synecdoches of Constantin Brancusi or the simultaneous viewpoints of Picasso, comic book boob-butt attempts to solve a 4-dimensional problem, one of time and motion, in 2-dimensional space.

So you can see the boobs.

And the butt.

At the same time.
posted by ducky l'orange at 1:21 PM on December 11, 2015 [18 favorites]

Kristin Chirico is great. "I'm fighting so much crime!"
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:22 PM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

Now I want to see Marvel comics drawn by Picasso.
posted by Leon at 1:34 PM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

Oh god, they included that infamous Psylocke pose. Commentary is great:

in order to show everyone my boobs and butt at the same time, I had to bend my back in half, like a really annoyed taco who hates you.

Also great? This animated gif of that pose.
posted by emjaybee at 1:36 PM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

One of the things I like best about Buzzfeed is how much they are doing to show normal female bodies as things that exist in the world and that we should all care about. It is so horrifyingly easy to forget what normal bodies look like in our media culture, and I love that they are joyfully but thoughtfully pushing back against that pressure as a matter of course.

Also, I think a lot of comic fans get on board with “ha ha Rob Liefeld couldn’t draw, pointy feet and pouches ha ha” and then forget to offer similar criticism of the eldritch horrors coming from other comics artists, so I appreciate that this is pointing out that this is an endemic problem.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 1:36 PM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

Also also: shout-out needed to the Escher Girls Tumblr. (some pics semi-NSFW) which has done a lot to draw this stuff to people's attention.
posted by emjaybee at 1:39 PM on December 11, 2015 [6 favorites]

I think Red Sonya's look worked to her advantage. What barbarian could concentrate on fighting? (meanwhile she swings a sword at his throat)

I'm joking. Don't throw bottles at me.
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:41 PM on December 11, 2015

1 The depiction of women in comic books is sexist.

2 But I like looking at women in sexy poses, EVEN WHEN it makes NO SENSE in terms of the plot. So although I know it's sexist, I still like it. I'm not justifying or apologizing or saying it's right. It's just there. See 1. I know.

3 So option 1, my preference: comics would expand to have Women In Plausible Fight Poses and Women In Comfortable Slouch Around The House Poses and Women In Important Business Meeting Poses and Men In Sexy Poses and Men in Implausible Fight Poses AS WELL as my implausible but sexy poses. So I can enjoy my Implausible Sexy Women still. Or:

4 Option 2: I read things like this and realize not how sexist it is (see 1) but actually how implausible and silly the poses are. This is similar to how when a female actor appears on screen with exposed breasts my young self would think "Yay!" and my old self thinks "oh look, the Cheapest Special Effect. She needs to talk to her agent." Meanwhile, comics continue to be sexist.

Sadly, I think it will be Option 2. Which isn't wrong. It's less sexist for me, insomuch as I'm not enjoying it any more. Ah well. [/privilege]

Completely my personal response, straight white male, not The Way It Really Is, not claiming any Great Truth.
posted by alasdair at 2:03 PM on December 11, 2015

I like your Option 1, especially with extra helpings of people and other animals in Important Business Meeting Poses. I am pretty sure I would enjoy comics with nothing but that. Bring me Business Comix!
posted by asperity at 2:13 PM on December 11, 2015

This really hit home with the deceptiveness of the illustrated form. It doesn't look real, so the eye doesn't try and necessarily grasp how far from reality the image is. When a photograph of a breathing person is altered to match the drawing, the obscene deformity of the pose screams off the webpage like some kind of image intended to be used in a horror film. That in turn, leads to a more intense scrutiny of the source material at which point one mumbles in disbelief, "Did you never have a class on anatomy?!"
posted by Atreides at 2:25 PM on December 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

The shots that they were attempting looked like action shots, which irl motion would last only a short short time, like not even a second.

Otherwise, that was a fun watch with plenty to think about. Thanks for posting!
posted by JoeXIII007 at 2:45 PM on December 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

All those women are brave.

I thought about the woman who hasn't realized her thighs were "short" - we give so much for women to have complexes about with their body, and it's tiny details like this that make it worse.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 3:30 PM on December 11, 2015 [6 favorites]

Seconding two things: appreciation for Buzzfeed really embracing body diversity for the ladies (think it could do some more work on the guys' side) and Kristin Chirico being a goddamn gift to the internet.

I wouldn't mind cheesecake (or beefcake) so much if it was at least within a stone's throw of being anatomically possible, supposed suspension of disbelief because this is a comic about people with powers notwithstanding. We never said they were deformed (unless that's part of their power set).
posted by smirkette at 3:33 PM on December 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

I really wish we could get a team of professional contortionists to work on this, just because that conference room scene would be amazing. Heavily used whiteboard, chewed pencils and empty takeout boxes, two of them arguing in the corner, coffee cups balanced everywhere, angry posing.
posted by lucidium at 3:52 PM on December 11, 2015

I thought about the woman who hasn't realized her thighs were "short" - we give so much for women to have complexes about with their body, and it's tiny details like this that make it worse.

I find the elongated-thigh aspect of these distorted figures fascinating. The Ancient Greeks distorted average proportions to get their "idealized" artistic figures, and they elongated the shins to give a more "elegant" figure. Fashion illustrations usually have elongated lower legs; when models' legs are lengthened in Photoshop the lower legs are lengthened further than the upper. Is it because fashion illustrations are marketed toward women? Is the elongated-thigh thing in these superhero poses to emphasize the pelvis? Is it a weird attempt at foreshortening the lower legs because the pelvis is always thrust out into the front of the picture, so the thighs should "appear" longer? Would this be a thing if there were EVER drawings of women standing straight up with their weight on both feet? I don't feel like the elongated-thigh distortion is a thing outside of superhero and video game character design.

I mean I partially want to say "'TOO-SHORT' THIGHS HAVE NEVER BEEN A THING IN WESTERN CULTURE" and not in a "you're beautiful the way you are ladies" way, but just in "why the hell is this a thing now." Obviously it will never stop and forty years from now girls will fret about not having an elongated philtrum.
posted by Hypatia at 4:11 PM on December 11, 2015 [7 favorites]

Related: Boobs Don't Work That Way. The lack of stomach & ribs emphasizes the boob issues in the art.
posted by immlass at 4:15 PM on December 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Related: Boobs Don't Work That Way. The lack of stomach & ribs emphasizes the boob issues in the art.

The codpieces partway down the page are amazing. Modern fashion has nothing even close.

The buzzfeed piece surprised me with how great it was. I'm not a big comics fan so it is always a bit sad to see how unevolved a level most comics art seems to be still stuck at.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:36 PM on December 11, 2015

The "elongated-thigh" thing is interesting, as compared to a more general "long legs" thing (see Bayonetta, who is about 70% leg).
posted by lucidium at 5:20 PM on December 11, 2015

Ye gods those comments are worse than I was expecting..
posted by smoke at 5:22 PM on December 11, 2015

I want to live in a co-op ramble-y house with these women and in between our free-lance maker-type gigs and recording awesome podcasts we will fight crime oh yes we will.
posted by allthinky at 6:37 PM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

I like drawings. I like photos of real people in sexy poses. I'd like to see drawings of such poses, real poses that don't require removal of any bones to do.

I'd also like to see some actual contortionists try these poses - or maybe athletes of a variety of sports -- because most of them are apparently anatomically impossible.
posted by nat at 1:20 AM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

The poses I've always assumed were "difficult" are in fact impossible. Or at least impossible without Photoshop and/or horrible, horrible surgery. Thank god they went for the former.

And bravo to those women to doing this. Now, we just need to get the artists on board.
posted by tommasz at 5:59 AM on December 12, 2015

I like the idea, but some of the poses (especially the Wonder Woman one) are in-motion action ones. Of course it hurts if you try to recreate the pose by standing still for several seconds waiting for the camera.
posted by ymgve at 7:14 AM on December 12, 2015

Of course it hurts if you try to recreate the pose by standing still for several seconds waiting for the camera have a human body.
posted by billiebee at 8:35 AM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

I like the idea, but some of the poses (especially the Wonder Woman one) are in-motion action ones. Of course it hurts if you try to recreate the pose by standing still for several seconds waiting for the camera.

Just speaking as a comic artist, there's no reason why they couldn't have chosen some other split-second pose for that panel that occurs during a defensive move, the way that's often done for male poses. The point of drawing an action pose is you choose the one that best conveys the action to the reader, not some random one. There are other issues going on on that image than just the pose though, like the really bad anatomy/proportions. The other woman in that panel (Artemis, I think? i don't keep up with WW) has some issues too, like the awkwardly pointed feet and totally-not-safe spine bend. You would probably not see Skaar, Blade or Deathstroke posed that way with a sword, they're often hunched over or back straightened, or if not then the POV is such that you wouldn't be getting a nice view of their butts.
posted by picklenickle at 9:25 AM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

It is illustration, so I wouldn't want "realism" to be the be-all and end-all of how to evaluate that. I want exaggeration. I want a pose that implies the movement it's a part of, rather than a pose that is a literal snapshot of a point in time. I want illustrations that are expressive rather than realistic.

*BUT*

In practice this compromises the expressiveness that I want. You get characters who when showing anger, determination, whatever, can never fully commit to that because they're also trying to look sexy. Rather than getting the pose that really conveys the motion of what they're doing, you get the pose that shows both boobs and butt at the same time and makes the motion awkward.
posted by RobotHero at 9:41 AM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

I like the idea, but some of the poses (especially the Wonder Woman one) are in-motion action ones. Of course it hurts if you try to recreate the pose by standing still for several seconds waiting for the camera.

Totally. And when comic hero men fight, it's totally the same. It's like the illustrator's "decisive moment" where the male superhero in the throes of battle does this high kick, back arched, double sword, thrusting charge and you can see his ass, enormous jiggly chest, and sometimes even his man-bulge at the same time. That's just fighting! An illustrator captures that moment among countless battle moments because realism.
posted by amanda at 12:18 PM on December 12, 2015 [6 favorites]

The worst thing about activity is the way that my thighs triple in length. Some people say it's the way their ribcages vanish, but for me, it's those pesky thighs - no wonder my tights hoik up my butt crack when I move.
posted by gingerest at 1:43 PM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

For me, I find my enormous and perfectly spherical (yet strangely self-supporting) breasts tend to knock off my balance. I'd constantly be tipping forward mid-action were their weight not cancelled out by my large, heart-shaped ass.
posted by billiebee at 2:14 PM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]

Relevant: How to Draw Comic Book Women the Rob Liefeld Way. (The mocked up character is called "Knifetits", which kind of sums up the 90s.)
posted by immlass at 8:31 AM on December 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Here is a good way to tell if a woman's pose is dodgy: does her hair (or sometimes cape/dress) appear to be more active than she is?

After reading Escher girls for a while, I noticed how many of the women in "action" poses aren't actually in poses that you read as "moving"; they might be hurtling through space, but they're not connecting/pushing off of/impacting anything. They're just sort of twisted up and angled weirdly.

To make up for this, they have long, flowing hair that swirls in all the whipcrack/spinning/jumping action they are not doing. The implication being, they just finished jumping/spinning and their hair is catching up.

But you never see them actually in that part of the action. Presumably because it's less sexy.

What bothers me more is that they never seem to hit anything. Their punches and kicks look weak, or more like ballet kicks, not like they are kicking someone's ass.
posted by emjaybee at 12:44 PM on December 14, 2015 [2 favorites]