A Word on Female Fans, Femininity and Fandom

 Yes, this is an actual cover for an actual upcoming monthly for Conan the Barbarian. My thoughts? It's the most amazing troll I've seen since the Darrow cover. Fantastic job, Dark Horse.

I've been holding off on "80 Years of Conan: The Frost-Giant's Daughter" because I've been wrestling with one of the key issues with the story.  I've been conversing with a number of individuals I believe to be more experienced and authoritative in said issue, because while I really don't want to talk about the deeply unpleasant subject, I also think it's important to acknowledge it. In any case, I'll be providing links to places that do talk about it, even if my take is going to be quite limited. However, there's another reason.

Robert E. Howard and the Bechdel Test

/bech·del test/ n.

1. It has to have at least two women in it

2. Who talk to each other

3. About something besides a man

As far as I can understand it, the Bechdel Test is a deceptively simple test which, while not damning or indicting in itself, does highlight a somewhat disquieting trend in the cinematic treatment of female characters.

This video from The Feminist Frequency (who I have my disagreements with, but largely respect her opinions on some matters) gives us the gist of it, as well as highlights how worryingly common it is, even in recent times.



Hmm...

Infamy! Infamy! A follow-up

A quick follow-up to Et Tu, Alan?, wherein I elaborate on an excellent point Monsterhoodoo and David J. West bring up.  Let's have a look at that first paragraph again:

How many times have you opened up a copy of Savage Sword of Conan to find some barbarian forcing a lithe Kothian dancing girl back into the hay, ignoring her feeble half-hearted complaints and taking his cue from the delirious ecstatic look that the artist has drawn onto her face, showing you that she doesn't mind really. In fact, she likes this sort of treatment. Sure she does. Anyone would enjoy being sexually assaulted by an illiterate musclebound oaf who stinks of bear grease. That's most people's idea of a good night out.

Now, I forgot to mention that Moore is clearly making the mistake/misinterpretation of assuming that the "some barbarian" is meant to be the hero.  Judging by his later "Conan the Rapist" remark, it's clear he's trying to say that Conan would be among them.  I can't recall Conan ever forcing any girl, lithe, Kothian or dancer, into the hay in Savage Sword (at least up to 84, I haven't read beyond yet) but I can recall many merciless, violent bullies who do.  And, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the audience is supposed to be rooting for filth like Constantius the Falcon.

Does this look like the kind of guy the reader's supposed to root for?

Et tu, Alan?

I'm rather sad now.

I kind of got the impression that Alan Moore wouldn't have liked Robert E. Howard.  Moore, for all his undoubted genius and coolness, was one of those people would've been likely taken in by the myths and misconceptions regarding Conan's creator that were riddling the world 25 years ago.  This was the age of Dark Valley Destiny, after all - and just a year after the appearance of Conan the Barbarian in cinemas. 

"You wanna see immature and misogynistic? Check out Robert E. Howard!"

... where Conan rides off into the sunset with a bucket of gold under one arm and a scantily-clad female under the other at the end of every story! Except I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that either, because, just like The Witcher, it’s just escapist fiction after all, and if that makes me immature and misogynist, well my girlfirend of 8 years doesn’t seem to mind!
- "manveruppd" doesn't exactly have perfect recall when it comes to the Conan stories

Personally I saw it as a more clever take on Conan-esque fantasy, so I saw the girl cards as just goofy and over-the-top silliness, not intended to be taken seriously...
- "invisiblejesus" apparently doesn't think Conan-esque fantasy can be clever

From this discussion on the misogynistic elements in The Witcher. For those not in the know, one of the miniature storylines in The Witcher is that, due to his bizarre racial makeup, Geralt of Rivia happens to be both sterile, and free of any sort of sexually-transmitted disease, making him ideal for girls of a pre-industrial world to get their rocks off without having to worry. Somehow, people translate it as either "positive discrimination" as it turns Geralt himself into a sex object instead of the girls (which it surely doesn't come across as in the game, where every girl you get it on with has a card to collect), or it's a parody of that sort of thing in "adolescent wish-fulfillment fantasies like Conan."

If you have sex with Morenn in The Witcher, you get this cool card. You can collect a whole set. Gotta catch 'em all! I fail to see how this is any better than the "Maidens" you could rescue in Nihilistic's Conan, frankly, and at least then they're not reduced to freaking collectible cards.

Yeah... no.