When examining the many complicated relationships between the characters in the multiple batman universes, the relationship between Harley Quin and Poison Ivy in “Batman: The Animated Series,” specifically in the episode titled “Harley and Ivy,” is the one I found most fascinating. The personal backstories that they both have as individuals is already fascinating, but as their stories intertwine, things get even more intriguing. The two female villains officially meet for the first time in this episode, they join forces and become the “queens of crime,” while also opening the show, and TV industry, up to the queer audience. I would argue that in this episode they even go as far as addressing the urgent need for positive representation and acceptance …show more content…
She is so insistent that perhaps she also wants her to see that Harley can live outside of the male sphere entirely (at least in her romantic life) and simply stick with her and become permanent partners in both crime and love. By using these subtle details the writers seem to be really catering to the queer audience. In that case, Ivy would perhaps be a lesbian, and Harley a bisexual. When looking at the time period in which the show was made we can also see that the subject of gender equality and queer acceptance was being brought to the forefront of social and political activism. Following the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, the 90s was a time where activist organizations like Queer Nation, The Lesbian Avengers, and gay and straight alliances started being formed in high schools across the nation. I would argue that the writers and animators of the show, specifically this episode, were responding to the social and political climate of the nation during that time. Creating characters that appear queer, whether it’s “canon” or not, supports the queer community and opens TV up to the possibility complex and exciting world of queer relationships. I think the creators were trying to do this when they wrote this episode and created the partnership between Poison Ivy and Harley …show more content…
They are not only trying to feed a queer audience that is starving for more characters that reflect them and their lifestyles- they are also addressing the need to break apart sexism and move towards gender equality. And these two subjects, sexuality and sexism, undoubtedly share a good deal of intersectionality. You cannot discuss one issue without having to consider the other, for example, the specific scene that I am focusing on shows both Ivy and Harley together in very casual comfortable clothing. They exchange looks and work together to stop Batman for interfering with them in on their home turf. Subsequently, the two women talk to Batman saying that they will never be defeated by a man. Ivy also mention being trapped in female domestic slavery (to men). This suggests that she not only wants to fight sexism but also typical gender norms and the idea that women must be attached to men.
With all of that being said, I believe the more prevalent urgency of the situations was that the show was made after and partially during the AIDS crisis. At that time it was too risky to create a suggestive queer relationship between two men, (considering that the AIDS crisis mainly demonized gay men). However, the need for any positive representation of gayness was apparent. The relationship between Harley and Ivy, in this episode, and the rest of the series, suggests that the creators wanted
Harley's parents didn’t display any love or guidance to Harley. He was very rebellious and did not listen to anything anyone would say. He would run off all the time and spent most of his time with his bike and when he and Carl went to live in Wattle Beach he tried to get people's attention by stealing and vandalising from Nugent's store and as a result was given the name as a juvenile delinquent. Beryl chained Harley up like a dog as a punishment which made him misbehave even more because all he wanted was love. Moloney has shown through other characters that lack of love can affect them in a bad
Feminism is evident throughout the typical gender stereotypes such as the ‘perfect’ girls are the blonde, skinny ones. When students are asked about their thoughts on ‘the plastics’ in the beginning of the movie, they tell that they are preppy and attractive. The stereotypes in this movie cause hurt feelings and discrimination towards all of the females. Girls were also viewed as sex symbols based on their looks and physical appearance, not their ability and intelligence. In the movie, most of the girls are known for copying ‘the plastics’ look which is usually short skirts and tank tops making the outfit look provocative. Another example is on Cady’s first day of highschool, she is asked if ‘her muffin is buttered’ which is a sexual question. Feminism is definitely shown throughout the female characters personalities and
Early on in the novel he is introduced as a fellow veteran and childhood friend of Tayo’s, much like Rocky. Unlike Rocky, however, Harley is no longer striving to leave the reservation and be accepted into the world of the whites, he is trying to relive being in the army, the feelings of equality, of being desirable. “Harley didn’t use to like beer at all… Something was different about him now, after the war. He drank a lot of beer now.” By giving a clear distinction between his prewar and postwar drinking habits, Silko emphasizes the change his character has undergone, the effect war has on these reservation veterans. They use beer as a way to avoid their problems, numb all the pain accumulated from the white man’s war. People such as Harley find themselves pursuing their past, hiding from even the present, such as when he and Leroy were able to obtain a junk pickup truck. They literally run from their issues, spending their time just drinking, sleeping, and driving a pickup they owe money for. Harley’s life ends in this very truck “The old GMC pickup was crushed around them like the shiny metal coffin the Veterans Office bought for each of them… It was not much different than if they had died at Wake Island or Iwo Jima” This similarity is highlighted by Silko as a way to remind us that, although veterans like Harley had survived the war, they never truly lived afterward, because they so heavily dwelled on their
Mona Vanderwaal was severely bullied during middle school by the “queen bee,” Alison DiLaurentis. When Alison goes missing, Mona jumps at the opportunity to torture her friends that she left behind. Her hatred for Alison
Frye isn’t arguing for everyone women to fall in love or to be with other women, but as a rejection of heteronormative structures. She calls women who root their feminist ideas in heterosexual institutions as inauthentic feminist. She defines these heteronormative systems as, “practices defined and related by patriarchal kinship systems, by both civil and religious law, and by strenuously enforced mores and deeply entrenched values and taboos. Those definitions, regulations, values, and taboos are about male fraternity and the oppression and exploitation” (Frye 132). Frye is not warring against heterosexual women; she is warring against women who are taking the same role as women that Scott describes that helped keep the male social fraternity
Women who are too intelligent or too strong are cast off as being masculine or lesbians. When female basketball players are seen on television, they are perceived as trying to be masculine. Women who are extremely intellectual or aggressive are seen as lesbians by society in order to rationalize their ability to compete with men. We as a society want our women to be weak and subservient, and any deviation from this perception is deemed wrong. All of these tie into the definition of womanhood that Hawkins ties into her claim of the injustices present among female death row
In North America alone comic book sales have reached 517.66 million dollars in the year 2013. It is estimated that comic books sales will go up 9.04% year after year. This data suggests that comic books still have a tremendous audience. This audience has managed to remain about the same throughout the years, being males between the ages of 16 and 25. With that being said the artists and writers realized this and started a trend of hyper sexualizing and portraying super women in an unrealistic light, in hopes of enhancing the growth of their fan base. This study aims to analyze “How superhero women are depicted and represented in comic books.”
As a feminist, she feels that the behavior of some men is unacceptable, which made it so common in society. "I don’t want to live in a world where I’m going to have to start employing bodyguards because this kind of behavior is so commonplace and accepted"(Grimes 10). It 's a sad fact that some females fear the world because of the dangerous behaviors of certain men. Everyone should be able to walk anywhere without needing a bodyguard. What most feminists forget is that not all men are evil and out to get them. Some men have the same views as women when it comes to feminism. John Legend who is also a feminist said "All men should be feminists. If men care about women 's rights, the world will be a better place. We are better off when women are empowered -- it leads to a better society” (John 11). All women should have the rights to speak about any issue that come to mind without a man being there to put her down. The world would be a better place if men would appreciate women more and accept the fact that girls can do the same things they
Harley is nineteen and the legal guardian of his three younger sisters: Amber (sixteen), Misty (twelve), and Jody (six). His conflicts range from having to raise these three girls while working two jobs, trying to be like “other guys,” mentally sorting out all the complications that come with having a mother who murdered an abusive father, and coming to grips with his tortured and confusing past. As Harley continues to roughly go through his therapy sessions, the deeper truths about his abusive upbringing reveal themselves, including the reasons for Amber’s strange behavior about Harley secretly dating Callie Mercer (explanation will come later), and her promiscuous sex life. I think the major conflict would have to be Harley facing who he is and what his family is.
Many stereotypes such as these continued until the early nineties. In 1991, on LA Law, two women share the first same sex kiss on prime time television. A few years later, NBC’s hit show FRIENDS featured Ross Gellar’s ex wife as a lesbian, raising a child with her female partner. At the same time, the FOX network censored a gay same sex kiss on Melrose Place, a show known for pushing limits. Around the same time, censors and right-wing groups were up in arms over a kiss shared by Roseanne and Mariel Hemmingway.
Move over, Madonna: feminism has a new poster girl, and her name is Tina Fey! As tales of so called “feminazis” dominate the media, Fey reminds her audience that rationality is never too far away with her novel Bossypants. Throughout the text, Fey describes obstacles against femininity in her life; readers learn of her struggles grasping womanhood, the subtle sexism on the Chicago comedy circuit, and the struggles with her foray into television via Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. Unlike most celebrities’ tales, Fey’s is not that of fame and glamour; she intersperses her thoughts on standards of beauty, dieting, and the all-too-frequently asked question of having children. Where Madonna focused on individuality and style, Fey focuses on the daily struggle of simply being a woman. It seems that feminism no longer requires a shining beacon of feminine glory to rally around; as Fey will soon prove, the struggle is no longer for unity, but equality.
Before she was known as the infamous Harley Quinn, the jester themed accomplice of the Joker, she was Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a psychiatrist interning at Arkham Asylum. Her origin story, first featured in “The Batman Adventures: Mad Love” (Dini & Timm, 1994), states that her original intention upon joining that particular field of applied psychology was her desire to learn what drove her father to become a con man, who used his charm to ruin the lives of others and her family. It is no surprise that these traits eventually drew her to the Joker in whom she found a supposed “kindred spirit” and a lover. Their relationship was one founded on lies, manipulation, and abuse. However, much to chagrin of the audience, Harley Quinn will continuously return back to the Joker despite his
male in power, and this is often how the Self is defined in terms of feminist thought. Similarly, Geraldine is playing the subordinate role of the Other. She is female and lacks the power that the Self possesses. This fits with the feminist definition of the Other. The problem regarding gender roles in the text is that from this point, these roles become convoluted.
Through a character analysis of Jack Tanner and Ann Whitefield, Carpenter examines the sexual purification displayed in Shaw’s play; “The mainspring of the plot is clearly Ann Whitefield's relentless desire to bear Jack Tanner's children. […] Ann's climactic seduction of Jack and her resultant climax are set squarely before the footlights, […] depicted in a shrewdly inoffensive manner, however: one implied by Shaw's description of the play as a dramatic "distillation" of sexual attraction” (Carpenter 71). Through symbolic allusion, Shaw is able to hint at sexual gratification between his characters without upsetting the general Puritan public. Shaw uses sexual puns throughout his comedy to conscientiously examine the sexual desires of his characters. With the prudish Puritan ideals of Shaw’s society controlling the degree of sexuality that could be depicted in Man and Superman without being condemned to a life without production, Shaw had to carefully select how and when he would have his characters demonstrate their sexuality. The climax scene of Act IV is the culmination of Ann Whitefield’s manipulation of Jack Tanner’s intellect and emotions as well as her seduction of his sexuality:
...ers feel romantic especially towards a woman. Finally, every drama, fiction and poetry uses symbols to represent feminism. The women characters in Trifles, the rose in A Rose for Emily and the eye of a woman in Unrealities are all examples of feminist symbolism.