One of the more critically acclaimed writers in the comic book business is Frank Miller. Especially in the 80s, Miller created some of the most influential and groundbreaking books in the field. His dark and uncompromising take on Batman was met with resounding success when he did "The Dark Knight Returns" in 1986. Miller also was met with enthusiasm when he did the "Sin City" stories for Dark Horse, as well as "300" which was made into an extremely profitable movie starring Gerard Butler. His run on "Daredevil" set the ground for everything that came after, and is considered the best in history.
I read his Batman stuff when I was younger, and really got into the "Sin City" stuff when I was in high school, mostly because I'm a huge film noir fan. I liked "300" because the tale of those Spartans always intrigued me.
All of that being said...Frank Miller is extremely sexist.
Almost every female character in "Sin City" is a prostitute. The women in "300" are considered sex objects for the men. One of Daredevil's most famous characters is Elektra, a trained ninja that wears next to nothing. She gets brutally murdered.
I think that everything really hammered home for me when I read his recent run on Batman. It's another different take on the character. The thing that really stood out for me was when Batman runs into Black Canary - a female super heroine that is usually extremely competent. They fight for about 2 seconds and then drop to the ground and have sex right where they were standing. Apparently, Black Canary couldn't help but succumb to Batman's charm - typical for a story penned by Miller.
Hopefully, Miller will start to be more respectful toward his female characters as time goes on. He's in his 50s now. But, again, I really needed to take a hard look at the things that I enjoy reading to see what they're really saying.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Frank Miller
Posted by David at 5:32 PM
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7 comments:
Certainly Millar's work could be considered sexist, but does that mean he himself is?
For example, is Tarantino racist for having elements of blacksploitation in his films?
It's true that many of his female characters are stripper/prostitutes however how much variety is there in the personalities of his male characters? All the men seem to be violent and obsessive criminals or neutered nervous nellies.
On the other hand, if I'm not mistaken he give comics the first female version of Robin and despite her clothing (which isn't really atypical for a comic book character)Electra is a pretty strong female character.
For early 1980s standards, becoming the Marvel universe's top assassin, leading the Hand and being able to star in her own mini-series is pretty good. Looking back now it doesn't seem like much but I don't recall any female character at that time having so much star power.
That's 100% true about Elektra, but she was also brutally murdered not long after she was introduced. I know that she came back (and then died again, rinse and repeat), but it still follows the "women in refrigerators" motif.
I can really see your points, and I hope that's right. I really like (most) of Miller's stuff, and it would suck if he were a sexist guy. I mentioned this in my class too, but I wonder if maybe he just does a noir-ish take on all of his stuff, leaving the women in positions of sexual objects (except for Elektra, Carrie/Robin, etc.).
From what I can see from interviews of Miller his personal politics wouldn't lend to sexism.
Keep in mind that the colourist on many of his projects such as 300 is actually his wife (though I think they might be divorced now).
Furthermore, I think that to properly discuss Miller's overall use of female characters you can't forget to mention his Martha Washington books which feature a very positive portrayal of a female (and black) character.
Good point about Martha Washington. I didn't think about her.
I did mention that in my class about his wife coloring all of his books.
And yes, they are divorced now.
I thought this was a really interesting interpretation of the Black Canary/Batman scene, in which the writer states that Miller might be mocking tough guy ASBAR Batman. That the scene could be read as an unsatisfied Black Canary and a Batman overcompensating for his lack of sexual prowess.
http://geoffklock.blogspot.com/2008/10/ultimate-matt-on-all-star-batman-sex.html
Elektra is a good character even if she gets killed.
Martha Washington is a good character who is also female.
Ronin also had a good heroine and a good "female" villain.
In Sin City, only three major female characters are prostitutes: Wendy, Gail and Becky. Ava Lord, Nancy, Esther, Lucille, Miho and Blue Eyes are not.
It's also worth noting that Wendy and Gail are portayed heroically while Becky is perhaps the only sympathetic villain.
In fact, the only difference between villains and heroes in SC is that villains are willing to hurt women.
Sin City is a parody of film noir. In noir, women are sexy but dangerous so in SC women are deadly whores. That's part of the joke.
It sounds like you just take Frank's work ar face value.
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