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teleen_fictionI'm going to preface this by saying that I usually LOVE Batman: Brave And The Bold. It's a cartoon obviously made for both adults and comic book fans and it generally handles adult concepts well. (A recent episode in which a side character died handled the subject matter extremely well, for example.)
However.
Having just watched the episode where Batwoman (not Batgirl, try to keep up*) persuades Faust to help her switch bodies with Batman, I have to say - it made me a little uncomfortable.
They handled some aspects well - Batman did okay with Faust hitting on him in Batwoman's body (he even used it to his advantage at one point without being obviously squicked about it), but there were several gender & sexual stereotypes that were being perpetrated that I found utterly distasteful.
1) While in Batman's body, Batwoman doesn't even seem to be trying to act like him at all and at one point literally asks Nightwing and Batgirl if the costume makes her look fat. Later in the episode, when Batman is trying to convince them of who he is in Batwoman's body, Batgirl mentions that fake Batman had asked her about her shampoo. Yes, I realize that it's a cartoon and they needed to make it REALLY obvious that Batman wasn't himself, but SERIOUSLY?
2) Given Batwoman's behavior while inhabiting Batman's body, Nightwing and Batgirl need to have their superhero licenses revoked in that they didn't FIGURE OUT that Batman had not only been taken over by someone else, but had been taken over by a female stereotype. Hell, forget the stereotype - about the time that fake Batman says that they're going to KILL the Riddler, they should have gotten out the knockout gas, 'cause y'know - BATMAN DOESN'T KILL PEOPLE! The fact that Batman had to actually PROVE who he was to them later in the episode says that both of them have the brains of a hay rake.
3) Batwoman compliments Nightwing and he immediately goes gooey-eyed over her. This was at the END of the episode after she'd nearly gotten Batman's body killed. Because, y'know, all young men will fall for the villain if she's hot enough, *headdesk*. And yes, I know I just said that he had the brains of a hay rake, but this is one stereotype I could have done without seeing on top of all the others.
4) The last scene with Faust had him saying that he'd really miss Batwoman. When Batman reminds him that their recent interaction (and most of Faust's interaction with her** overall) had been when Batman was in her body, Faust replied, "Nobody's perfect." The scene irked me, but I find that I can't really articulate why. Thoughts?
In a show that's usually made of win, this all added up to fail, :(. I have to say that I'm really sad that I'm seeing these same stupid stereotypes being passed on to another generation of kids. Yes, I know I said that this was aimed at adults, but that episode I mentioned at the beginning where the side character died? Someone was passing around a blog post where a man was watching it with his 5-year-old son, so kids are watching this.
And learning from it, :(.
*When I first saw the episode synopsis in my DVR, I almost thought it was another 'Invisible Woman' growing up of a character-I'm-not-a-girl-anymore-female-positive-type thing, but no. In the Marvel Universe, Batwoman and Batgirl are two different people, :(.
***I want to apologize in advance for messing up the male/female pronouns right here. I did my best to keep the characters' actual genders straight when a male was inhabiting a female body and vice versa, but I couldn't think of the proper way to word it in this instance and so there's gender pronoun fail at this point. My bad, :(.
However.
Having just watched the episode where Batwoman (not Batgirl, try to keep up*) persuades Faust to help her switch bodies with Batman, I have to say - it made me a little uncomfortable.
They handled some aspects well - Batman did okay with Faust hitting on him in Batwoman's body (he even used it to his advantage at one point without being obviously squicked about it), but there were several gender & sexual stereotypes that were being perpetrated that I found utterly distasteful.
1) While in Batman's body, Batwoman doesn't even seem to be trying to act like him at all and at one point literally asks Nightwing and Batgirl if the costume makes her look fat. Later in the episode, when Batman is trying to convince them of who he is in Batwoman's body, Batgirl mentions that fake Batman had asked her about her shampoo. Yes, I realize that it's a cartoon and they needed to make it REALLY obvious that Batman wasn't himself, but SERIOUSLY?
2) Given Batwoman's behavior while inhabiting Batman's body, Nightwing and Batgirl need to have their superhero licenses revoked in that they didn't FIGURE OUT that Batman had not only been taken over by someone else, but had been taken over by a female stereotype. Hell, forget the stereotype - about the time that fake Batman says that they're going to KILL the Riddler, they should have gotten out the knockout gas, 'cause y'know - BATMAN DOESN'T KILL PEOPLE! The fact that Batman had to actually PROVE who he was to them later in the episode says that both of them have the brains of a hay rake.
3) Batwoman compliments Nightwing and he immediately goes gooey-eyed over her. This was at the END of the episode after she'd nearly gotten Batman's body killed. Because, y'know, all young men will fall for the villain if she's hot enough, *headdesk*. And yes, I know I just said that he had the brains of a hay rake, but this is one stereotype I could have done without seeing on top of all the others.
4) The last scene with Faust had him saying that he'd really miss Batwoman. When Batman reminds him that their recent interaction (and most of Faust's interaction with her** overall) had been when Batman was in her body, Faust replied, "Nobody's perfect." The scene irked me, but I find that I can't really articulate why. Thoughts?
In a show that's usually made of win, this all added up to fail, :(. I have to say that I'm really sad that I'm seeing these same stupid stereotypes being passed on to another generation of kids. Yes, I know I said that this was aimed at adults, but that episode I mentioned at the beginning where the side character died? Someone was passing around a blog post where a man was watching it with his 5-year-old son, so kids are watching this.
And learning from it, :(.
*When I first saw the episode synopsis in my DVR, I almost thought it was another 'Invisible Woman' growing up of a character-I'm-not-a-girl-anymore-female-positive-type thing, but no. In the Marvel Universe, Batwoman and Batgirl are two different people, :(.
***I want to apologize in advance for messing up the male/female pronouns right here. I did my best to keep the characters' actual genders straight when a male was inhabiting a female body and vice versa, but I couldn't think of the proper way to word it in this instance and so there's gender pronoun fail at this point. My bad, :(.
