Tell us how you really feel.
Eat nuts, kick butts: Marvel's Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
- Thread starter Nightowl1701
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Tell us how you really feel.
Me too--she's on @midnight from time to time.
When I see people say that, I read it as them saying that they've never seen someone else write the character, and so they don't know any other writers work and don't think they'd like it.
Well written characters and looking "glamorous" are not mutually exclusive.
Squirrel Girl's looks depend greatly on the artist drawing her and she's had various looks over the years. See Ditko's original teenage girl version, Pelletier's fit adult version and the current squat college-going version by Henderson.
However "hot" the newly cast actress might seem to people, the only thing to judge her on, should be her acting abilities to bring Squirrel Girl to life.
Obviously, but I'm not talking about "characters," I'm talking about this specific character. The specificity is the whole point. As I have said, what I like about Henderson's Squirrel Girl is that she's not just another of the fifty million hot, skinny-but-curvy comic-book babes that are already out there. She stands out from the crowd. She breaks with convention. That's one of the things that makes USG such a standout comic. If she becomes just as good-looking as all the other heroines, then she's just perpetuating the very cliche that Henderson chose to counter, and I consider that a loss. It's got nothing to do with her acting talent, of course; that's an entirely different topic. It's not as if every aspect of evaluating a character has to be crammed into a single homogeneous lump. One can like some things about a casting choice while not liking others (for instance, I think Hugh Jackman's a perfectly good actor, but he's way too tall and pretty to be a convincing Wolverine).
In my case, Hugh Jackman's height and "prettiness" never got in my way of liking his multiple performances. I'd rather have a film or TV story told well, which is something not every X-Men (spin off) movie managed to do, than have the actor be 100% physically accurate.
Now assuming the upcoming live action Squirrel Girl is solely based on the version designed by Henderson, it would be weird if the actress they've cast ends up looking nothing like that in the show.
But there's much, much more at stake with a character like Squirrel Girl. Comic books have spent decades implicitly telling young female readers that women only have value if they're slender and busty and gorgeous. For a popular superheroine to break that mold, to tell girls who aren't skinny and gorgeous that they can be cool and admired too, is a very important thing. It's been inspiring to many young women and girls who are fans of the book. That's why I'd prefer to have seen the show follow the same route -- not because of any stupid fanboyish obsession with "accuracy," but because of the social value and empowerment of USG's shattering of stereotypes. I mean, if I were only concerned with my own personal tastes, then, sure, give me all the gorgeous, curvaceous superbabes you can. But I'm not so self-absorbed as to think my hetero male preferences are the only ones that deserve to be catered to. This is about all the little girls out there who are finally being told that they can be valuable for more than just their looks.
That's why I was hoping for Mae Whitman. (That, and I like her from her voice work in various animated shows.)
Do we even know if they're basing the show's Squirrel Girl on the Unbeatable version? I know it's a popular series, but I've also gotten the impression that it's pretty different from how the character had been presented before, and that's it's a crazier, quirkier version that might not work real well in an ensemble, team show.
Yeah, but it's also totally awesome, which is why I want them to base it on that. I don't know how likely it is that they will, I just really really want them to.
I mean, this show is reportedly kind of a comedy, right? USG is hilarious. Reading it can be an exhausting experience because I can't stop laughing. If they want a funny Squirrel Girl, I can't imagine a better template than Ryan North's version of the character.
And USG is very much an ensemble book. Doreen's gregariousness, her ability to make friends and allies and win over enemies, is a key part of her effectiveness, and she's built up quite a family around her, including Chipmunk Hunk, Koi Boi, her roommate Nancy, and of course Tippy-Toe.
Well, to be fair, superhero, western and horror funny books were long, decades as you said, solely aimed at straight males and their interests. It's not surprising such entertainment didn't put any other value on women being much more than eyecandy and/or damsels in distress. Nowadays, after decades of societal change, we can finally have stories featuring anyone as the lead.
Maybe, instead of live action version in a New Warriors show, this should've been an animated show based on Squirrel Girl current version. Like Marvel's version of Forces Of Destiny but a half hour show on TV.
Her?Christopher said:
Just kidding, Mae Whitman would've been perfect for this. Someone as quirky as Squirrel Girl deserves an actor with that talent to do it justice. Now I can't unsee it, it's a really good choice
Yes, but they aren't anymore. Today's comics audience is immensely more diverse, and comics and media that are slow to catch up with that are doomed to obsolescence. That's why Wonder Woman and Luke Cage were such hits on the screen, why Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel are so popular in the comics. Because that's what the audience is now, regardless of what it was, or was assumed to be, in the past. I'm not interested in fairness to the past, because the past is over and gone and nothing we do can have any effect on it. But what we do now has plenty of impact on present and future audiences. So that's where our focus needs to be.
The always awesome Keith David has been signed onto New Warriors.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/marvels-new-warriors-sets-enlisted-reunion-1024582
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/marvels-new-warriors-sets-enlisted-reunion-1024582
I haven't read USG yet, but I am very much aware of it's reputation. I know it does have a pretty good sized supporting cast, but it still appears to be very much SG's book. I guess it just seems to me like that version of the character could easily end up overshadowing the rest of the cast.
To be completely honest, based on what I know of the two properties, I think I actually would have preferred a purely USG series.
Well, the writing in USG isn't just about that one character, it's about the whole world she inhabits. It's supposed to be in the main Marvel Universe, basically, but Ryan North's writing takes generally serious Marvel characters in some very funny directions, and wholeheartedly embraces the zany, self-referential side of the MU that's been there since the beginning. It's a whole comedic sensibility that would make for a very fun sitcom.
Me too. But this is what we get. I'm just hoping it'll be anywhere near as much fun as the comic.
Keith David has a thing about him