Though the comics’ books are frequently considered a boys literature, girls have always been fans. Not only are girls fans but they are frequently creators as well. More and more women have entered the field in recent decades and there is reason to believe as in all fields we will eventually really feel their presence and their creative contribution to the medium.
Change Agents: Villainess’ and Heroines
Men populate their adventure fantasies with women, yet this may not always be the best way to present women that solely fascinate men. Adventure stories demand women who are self-starters, problem solvers and sometimes consensus builders. Many professional comic book women like Lois Lane initially played the damsel in distress yet “distress” tended to minimize the progressiveness of the working woman during a time when the culture was much more anxious about women being single ware earners. The more assertive women became, the more it appeared necessary for them to be seen as agents of change. To be these antagonists they might wear garments that were practical, supportive, and symbolic, not just flattering.
Catwoman
One of the first sets of comics heroines and villainesses’ audiences ever saw were the ones on the Batman TV show. During the run of the show Batgirl appeared late in the show’s run putting the female emphasis on the femme fatales first. Since the series movie pilot, Selina Kyle or Catwoman in a stretch lame’ costume was the main character’s actual object of desire. Costume designers Andrew Pallack and Jan Kemp designed this purple uniform for the three actresses who played this role: Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriweather, and Julie Newmar. Structurally this villain’s suit had all of the assets that Batgirl‘s would later have and similarly worked by way of the same visual color strategy. Before discussing that it should be noted that in the comics continuity this character had many costumes so there is no iconic Catwoman suit. Yet notice because there are few distinct flashes of color on the extremities, your eye automatically roam and devours the entire outfit. In this situation, referring to the Batman “cat suit” (possibly defined for the first time on the show): sexy design is as sexy design did (or forces your eyes to do).
Batgirl
If we were to look at illustrator Carmine Infantino’s Batgirl costume from Detective comic #359 created in the same era as the show, it is not that different from Batman’s (after the debut). Unlike the debut image, she will eventually be wearing a grey head to toe leotard also. Yet if actress Yvonne Craig’s top was as transparent and revealing as Adam West’s she would likely draw much more inappropriate attention than her mentor.
The costume designer rectified this problem by crafting her stretch lame’ costume in an obviously far less see through material and clearly designed it to be supportive and contour sensitive for an female adventurer. Other excellent aspects of Batgirl’s suit were her Buckram cowl that fit in a manner that would not obscure her vision during the shows choreographed fight scenes. In the comic it appeared that it was Barbara Gordon’s hair that projected from the back of the mask. The TV show specified that the hair was that of a wig attached to the cowl. Her cowl was not connected to the cape so it neither interfered with the actor’s range of head-to-neck movement. Different from the comic version of her cape, the TV cape had a yellow underside. This yellow signal aligned Batgirl with Robin the show’s primary mentee and understudy and also made it clear the Batman was her mentor not a potential love interest.
Supergirl
Initially planned as yet another sequel to the Superman the movie franchise, Supergirl had a movie written which Reeve was supposed to appear in. Though Reeve never made that cameo appearance the movie occurred anyway. Based on few comic book versions of the suit, costume designer ____name_____ created a suit that would resemble the iconic Superman suit yet would not disappoint fans. Notice different from the cat suits of the Batman TV show, the costume is separated into different colored sections. Your eye can rest on different body regions and parts and therefore makes the character seem less overtly sexy or visually appealing. Imbued with the ethos and might of the first and mightiest superhero, this character was a kind of female Superman not a pseudo sex object per se’ that we might expect of villains that may or may not have dabbled in prostitution and cat burglary.
Wonder Woman
With her fame and the longest female comic’s based run, Wonder Woman is the queen of the DC Comics super heroines. Her “bathing suit” as many have quizzically called it needed to be authentic and recognizable so she would be recognized by a legion of comic book supporters. Thanks to costume designers Donfeld and Lennie Barin actress Linda Carter (far left) would wear such a suit pleasing such notable celebrities like women’s rights luminary Gloria Steinem. Wonder woman’s suit was a small strapless eagle emblazoned halter-top connected to lower star-spangled pant. Though the character has gone through many costume modifications, underlined by the second image, the pant area advanced every kind of coverage from a dress to a thong. Recognizing the activity demands of the character, the designer designed the suit to provide support, structure, and curves. Notice the lower area provided a shapeliness that may not have been universally attributed to the actress. A fan favorite for a number of years the bold iconic suit retains its appreciation even today.
Though many have speculated regarding the presented images that the last image represents DC costume modification that would be best for the character for a contemporary actress should one play her in a live action movie. I think Jim Lee’s costume alternative is a good one. This suit is bold enough to verify she is a person worth our attention, is concealing and supportive structurally to support action sequences, and fashion wise is capable of helping her transition into common social situations without challenging norms of appropriateness.
Catwoman
The next costume for a feature film example may not have been as well regarded as the previous examples of the character for a number of reasons. The 1990 Catwoman movie made some of the same mistakes that were associated with the seventies Marvel movies. The moviemakers thought they knew the what was better for the character better than comic fans. In fact they were so sure that fans would support their character in this celebrity vehicle that they even gave her cat powers and another secret identity. This Catwoman was not Selina Kyle. Yet this alone might not have doomed the costume; the costume was likely to still draw comparisons to another costume that still was not 20 years old. Actress Michelle Phieffer played the Selina Kyle or Catwoman character in Tim Burton’s second Batman movie.
Catwoman
That suit was a huge hit and benefitted from the slinky one-color suits of the Batman TV show. Adding to the kink sexiness, the suit happened to be skin-tight latex as well. Communicating the psychological frailty of the character, another feature of Bob Ringwood and Mary E. Vogt’s suit was it appeared to be cat shredded and put back together. Recalling an international fashion hit, actress Halle Berry’s new somewhat repetitive suit by Angus Strathie could not compete by comparison.
Sue Storm: Invisible Woman
One of the better Marvel comic’s translation victories of the comics to film era, was the Invisible Woman or Sue Storm’s costume from Tim Story’s second in the Fantastic Four series of films. Unlike the last example in this survey the costume does not fail by attempting to be too sexy or slight. Costume designer José I. Fernandez maintained the color palette (blue, white, and black) of the Fantastic four suits and let actress Jessica Alba inhabit the character without incident or potential for embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions. In this case the Story/Fernandez character really benefitted from having a costume identical to her male counterparts.
Electra
The last feature film example is comic’s anti-hero Electra, whose screen uniform was certainly functional yet failed by not resembling the iconic costume she wore in the comic (see above right image). In this case I do not blame the filmmaker. A genius in many respects, comic’s writer/Illustrator Frank Miller has a reputation for not only being a game changer but as an innovator as well. His typically sexy takes on comic women are legendary yet in the film medium this may be both awkward and potentially inappropriate. Like many examples in this survey structure and support were necessary attributes for a super heroine costume yet Electra’s original costume sold specifically for not presenting these practical attributes. In comics, as presented above left image, her suit doesn’t appear to be much more than a gauze-like head to toe material wrap. Obviously this would not have been inadequate for an assassin practicing martial arts fighting stunts in a live action scenario. In this case, beautiful as it may be, I would claim the example of the comics costume actually let the character down not the film costume designer James Acheson or the production’s attempts to replicate her iconic uniform.
Comics women are both change agents, law enforcers, and sometimes criminals. With as many iconic costumes as there are new costumes being redesigned and reinterpreted everyday, we can see that notions of sexy versus ulitarian concerning fashion appropriateness and structure are as controversial today as they have ever been.
Information pertaining to the costume of super heroine costumes at:
Catwoman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 Marvel Comics. All rights reserved.
Catwoman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.
Image of Lee Meriwether:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Meriwether
Catwoman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.
Image of Yvonne Craig as Batgirl:
Batgirl character likeness TM and copyright 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.
Supergirl character likeness TM and copyright 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.
Wonder Woman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.
Catwoman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.
Catwoman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.
Invisible Woman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 Marvel Comics. All rights reserved.
Electra character likeness TM and copyright 2010 Marvel Comics. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment