Blog 8: Course Reflection

The most intriguing texts to me were "5 Centimeters per Second", "Arrival",  and "V for Vendetta". First, i enjoyed "5 Centimeters per Second" because it was really fun to read this long distance love affair. "V for Vendetta" was a great read also, because it connected to the group Anonymous, which i found to be a really interesting contrast. I really enjoyed "Arrival". It was probably my favorite graphic novel, because even though it didn't have words, it still told an amazing story about immigrants and mass genocide.

The text that i enjoyed the least was Manga Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream, because it was extremely challenging to read and follow. Also, I never read the original Shakespeare play, so I really didn't understand what was going on, so I got really frustrated. 

I felt most engaged as a student when we had to play the graphic video games. They were really interesting to discuss with the other students in the class and find out the many different choices that players made within the game. Another time I felt most engage was doing all of the challenges. I just felt like we were all able to do something that we were interested in, and other students did your challenges and supported you. Finally, I was extremely engaged when i had to create my own challenge because I was able to talk about some psychological concepts in comics and how they relate to society...definitely my element. 

I was least engaged as a student when we had those large class discussions about the comics we were reading outside of class. I felt this way because I felt like certain people dominated the discussions and really didn't give others a chance to speak or even think of something to speak. Also, they were so knowledgeable about what they were talking about, they lost me most of the time, since i am new at this comic thing. 

I do view these texts differently as a result from the course, because my standards of comics have changed. I really thought comics were for people that didn't want to read a legitimate book with chapters, because they were lazy, but i was wrong. Comics take time to read and understand, and there are many different elements within the panels that the reader must take time to analyze and interpret. 

I would subtract the in class discussions everyday. They were really irritating to hear the same three people talk the entire time, and i didn't find it to be interesting or a learning experience. Another thing i would get rid of in class was the cameras coming in here and filming us. I felt like it was sort of an invasion of privacy, and honestly, i felt like each student should have said if they wanted to be filmed or not. 

I would tell my peers that if they want to take a class that is completely out of their element, but they want to learn about a lot of new things, then this class is for them. All jokes aside, this class was a huge learning experience. I was really appreciative to be in a classroom with a bunch of people I wouldn't typically hangout with, and because of that, I made friendships and connections with people i otherwise wouldn't have. I think this is a great class that brings people together from many different backgrounds and majors, which is extremely unique and neat in itself. 

What should you know? I would honestly say you need to take control of the discussions a little more and make sure more people have a chance to talk. Also, i think the pass of the class could be slowed down. Not only was this class more geared to those that have already been emerged in comic, so i was left out, but also the constant readings were really rough. I legit had so much work to do and keep up with, and on top of that had other classes work. I found it really difficult to keep up with the readings. 

My favorite memory was when Alexandra and her partner did the walking dead scene in class. It was extremely interesting and funny. It really brightened up my day, I just thought it was a job well done. 

Aaron's Challenge--The Vacuous Page, Playground of the Mind

Required Response Choice:

• Paint an image that utilizes the themes of blank space in order to convey a message:

I decided to paint something very simple, so it would fit in with the themes of blank space. I only painted black onto the canvas, so I allowed the black lines to play off of the "blank space," and I was able to create a drawing and an empowered woman looking onward.

Final Project: Blog 5- "The Accidental Supermom: Superheroines and Maternal Performativity"

In "The Accidental Supermom: Superheroines and Maternal Performativity," it discusses how feminists were adopting modern superheroines to use as a symbol for a woman's ability to have it all, which led to the adoption of Wonder woman. These icons eventually became symbols for women's maternity, and D'amore explains, "The Wonder Woman glorified on the pages on Ms. in 1972 fostered identification with struggle, independence, and strength. Even for women who never read a comic book...the symbol of the superheroine was influential to their lives, by its feminist association as a symbol of personal empowerment" (1227). Women icons started to develop in a different direction, where they would depict what they thought a women should be and remaining characterized as nurturing and maternal. During this time, comics remained depicting women in traditional roles, even though the feminist movement was breaking ground in changing gendered roles, so that they could transmit information to their young, mass audience.

The first female superheroine discussed is Invisible Girl, which she first appears in the Fantastic Four. During Invisible Girl's comic life, she was the first superhero to get married, and then the first superhero to have a child and become a mother. Because of this, Invisible Girl "took on multiple personalities of the composite American woman--both feminist and domestic, equal and dependent, worker and mother" (1231). Invisible Girl becoming a mother and wife, mirrored modern day society and women in the 1960s. Invisible Girl was the modern day icon for how women should balance work and maternity, and there was no competition. When Invisible was faced with the decision to run away from a battle to keep her baby out of harms way or fight with the other fantastic 3, she was forced to leave. She was devalued as a worker by her teammates solely because she is a mother.

The next superheroine discussed was Storm, and Storm emerged during the 1970s feminist movement. During this time, the feminist movement hit a wall when people became angered over the fact that they only regarded issues that non-white, working class, and poor women faced. Black women felt extremely left out because not only did white women ignore their problems, but so did their black men. Because of this, there was ultimately no representations of black women in the media, but eventually Storm made her debut in the X Men. Storm was depicted as an animal like woman, who needed to be civilized. D'amore further explains, "She did not wear clothes, her hair was unkempt, and she spoke in deliberate (albeit grammatical) sentences, implicating her as primitive and exotic...immense power endowed her with the potential to be savage and brutal" (1241). Looking at the meaning of the name "Storm," the term literally means darkness, since a storm is powerful and absent of light, but their had a deeper meaning, since whites saw black people as darkness, which meant tainted. Thus, that was the personality that storm took on and embodied. Storm was also largely sexualized, since she was depicted wearing little to no clothes, where her hair covered her breasts and she had leaves over her genitals.

In D'amore's article, she discusses the large influences that society had on comics and ultimately, the subliminal messages being sent to the mass public. Social issues led comics to develop by discussing stereotypes and views about women, which is much like today. In "Wonder Woman," Wonder Woman's job was to serve War and follow his every command while she was training with him. The entire time Wonder Woman is being taught by War, she is entirely submissive and barely speaks. Finally, Wonder Woman stands up to War and defies his command, so he snaps and physically assaults her. This is much like society today, since many young women are silenced and taken advantage of by older men.

This is very similar to "Catwoman," because the comic begins with Catwoman being thrown out of a building into an alley after she was beaten by a past employer. Catwoman is a homeless orphan who needed that job to support herself, so the older man is asserting his power over Catwoman, knowing that there is nothing that she could do that would taint his name. Later, Catwoman is helped by a different man, who offers her a second chance as a secretary. He promises her that she can move up quickly, and I think this directly relates to society today. All secretaries are women, and there is really no promotion for a secretary. Sure you can get pay raises, but your title always stays the same, thus your position is the same.

Similarly in Supergirl, I think the huge societal influence was that women are trying to be the sole breadwinners of the house, if they choose to, but some men are threatened by this idea. They believe that it will damage our children, and ultimately, disrupt society. In "Supergirl," Supergirl is alone fighting off robots that are trying to kidnap her. When she can no longer fight them off any longer, Superman comes and saves the day. This shows the modern sexist ideals where women can work outside of the home and come close to saving the day, but it will always be the man that is able to put the pieces together and supply a happy life.

In "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," Wonder Woman is undercover during most of the movie, but she is seen as only a pretty face the entire time. She is seen with very skimpy dresses on and always flirtatiously smirking towards Batman. Wonder Woman's personality resembles the expected personalities of women today. We are taught to look beautiful at all costs, since that is what will be our leading attribute. I mean, women that are beautiful, get paid on average, more than women who are deemed less attractive. Pretty insane ideology, since beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

In "The Incredibles," Holly (known as Elastic Girl) is going to fight their biggest foe at the end of the movie, but Mr. Incredible commands her to stay at home with his family. She pleads to come with and that he needs her, but ultimately, he finds her requests inappropriate. Holly was never left behind before, but since there was a conflict between family and work, she is always forced to make the ultimately sacrifice, which is to choose family before work. That is the constant battle for women today, and when this movie was made, which was once a woman starts a family and has children, she is to leave behind her career and resume a domestic life.

Final Project- Blog 4: Shared Experiences Among Female Characters

After I analyzed the films and texts for comparisons of experiences, I found quite a few of them. There were some themes though that seemed more prevalent than others, which were being tricked by a male character, helping male characters defeat a villain, being physically abused by a male character, and having a savior help them and change their life.

The first shared experience I looked into was being tricked by a male character. There were two different women that shared this experience, and they were Catwoman and Wonder Woman (the graphic novel). Catwoman was tricked by the male character that gave her a second chance and allowed her to have a secretary position within his office. He told her that she would be able to move up and make a great life for herself, but in reality, we know that that can't be true because there are really no true promotions to being a secretary. Secondly, Catwoman is tricked when the male doesn't tell her that he knows of her true identity, and when she finds out, he throws her off a building to her death. Wonder Woman shared a similar experience to Catwoman. She had a man take interest in her, which made it seem like he was trying to allow her to grow and form a better life for herself. We later find out that this man, War, did not care about her at all, and he was actually using her in a plot to destroy all of her enemies, so he could live a carefree life with no worries or problems.

The second shared experience was helping
male characters defeat the major villain within the text or the film. Two women shared these experiences, and they were both from films. They were Wonder Woman and Holly, known as Elastic Girl, ("The Incredibles"). In "The Incredibles," Holly is told to stay home and that her husband will be able to defeat the villain on his own, but Holly decides not to listen last minute. When she shows up to the battle, it appears that her husband, Mr. Incredible, needs her help more than ever. She jumps into action and starts to defend her husband, but she her life begins to be threatened drastically as well. Elastic Girl and Mr. Incredible than realize that they must work as a team if they wish to defeat the villain, and that is just what they did. Wonder Woman shares many similarities to that of Elastic Girl. Originally, Batman and Superman are facing some large demon from another universe, and they do not ask for her help. When she shows up, Batman and Superman are getting their butts kicked from the villain. She jumps into action to help, but soon realizes that she too can't defeat him. So, Batman and Wonder Woman work together to fight and distract the villain, while Superman finds and acquires the kryptonite to defeat him. In both of these films, the leading female character must work together to defeat the villain, but he help and skills were drastically needed for the safety of all members.



The third theme or shared experience I found was female characters needing a savior. Three women that shared this theme was Supergirl, Wonder Woman (comic), and Catwoman. Supergirl was being kidnapped by robots and having her butt kicked by them, and even though she was trying her best to fight them off, she wasn't good enough. Eventually, Superman shows up and saves the day, and ultimately, by Superman showing up, it controlled her future life and destiny. Wonder Woman shares a similar to experience because at the end of the graphic novel, she decides to spare the Matador, but War becomes extremely displeased with her. War begins attacking Wonder Woman, and she can't seem to defend herself fully or protect herself, but because she didn't kill the Matador, he regains his strength and kills War, which ultimately spared Wonder Woman and protected her when she could not protect herself. Finally, Catwoman experienced something a little different than the last two. She didn't have anyone protect her physically, but someone that tried to protect her mentally and emotionally. The man that gives her a second chance serves as a savior because without him, she wouldn't have learned about her true identity. Also, this causes him to push her off of a building, which results in Selina Kyle to become Catwoman. Without this man inserting himself into her life, Selina Kyle would have just been Selina Kyle, and she would have never realized the true potential of herself and her identity.


The final theme or shared experience I saw was a female character experiencing physical abuse by a male character. There were two women that shared this experience and that was Catwoman and Wonder Woman (comic). Previously discusses, Catwoman is beaten by a passed employer and thrown into an alley way by a dumpster. After that abusive and physical encounter, she is then thrown off of a building by her new male employer. Both of these instances are extreme cases of physical abuse, but Wonder Woman does not experience physical abuse to this level. When Wonder Woman disobeys War, he begins attacking her and beating her up, but because she had the Matador right there, the abuse was short-lived and she left with minor injuries.

With all of these shared experiences or themes, it shows the female leading characters as weak, vulnerable, and victims. Hopefully graphic novels begin to move away from these themes, so women can be portrayed as strong and mighty individuals and not as helpless. The only positive theme I could find was in both of the movies and they work together to defeat the villain with their male counterparts.

Final Project- Blog 3: Relationships between Male and Female Characters

In "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," Wonder Woman does not have a relationship with Superman at all, but she does have one with Batman. When Batman and Wonder Woman are both portraying normal people in normal lives, she is portrayed as trying to win Batman over with her looks, or at least trying to memorize him. Once Batman becomes distracted by her for a little and loses track of her, Wonder Woman slips away and steals his hard drive. Her relationship with Batman is purely based off of looks and beauty, but there is also an element of mystery, which is her sneaky ways. Eventually, Wonder Woman emerges, but Batman is surprised to see her, even though he already knew her true identity. This lead me to believe that Batman viewed her as weaker than himself, even though Wonder Woman is the one with the true super abilities and Batman is purely technology and working out to build up his strength.

In "The Incredibles," Mr. Incredible attempts to work a normal job, while him and his wife, Holly (known as Elastic Girl), are trying to stay undercover and live the average life of a human. Unfortunately for Holly, her husband is the one that gets to leave the house and go work, but Holly has to stay home and maintain the household and children. When Mr. Incredible comes home after work, he is unappreciative of Holly and her efforts, and often times, Holly even needs to clean around him while he is sitting down and relaxing. Eventually when Elastic Girl and Mr. Incredible come out of hiding to face the villain of the movie, Mr. Incredible urges Elastic Girl to stay home, so she doesn't get hurt. Of course we could say that he does this because he loves her, which could be true, but they used to fight crime together all the time before they went into hiding. It seems to me that Mr. Incredible is worried that she may become hurt because he is female and less capable than other male superheroes. Besides Mr. Incredibles unwillingness for Holly to put herself in harms way, it seems that the only other troubling relationship aspect that they have would be his impatience and lack of help or appreciation he has for Holly's housework.

In "Wonder Woman," Wonder Woman is excelling than most of the young girls her age, so she is sought out by a man named war, whom is going to train her to become the ultimate warrior. Even though Wonder Woman excels at almost everything that she does while training, War still treats her as a mere child. He continues to call her "little one," which undermines the respect she has worked to gain. Also, Wonder Woman aims to please War at all times, and she even talks about wanting to him War proud and happy, which I found to be troubling. Why would she want to please a man that she really just met? Wonder Woman should be focused on bettering herself and making herself proud and happy, but that relates to modern day society. Women's lives are focused around pleasing a male in every sense, including, pleasing him mentally, emotionally, and sexually. Later on in the graphic novel, War sends Wonder Woman into a cave where nobody returns from, and ultimately, they die. When Wonder Woman finds the Matador within the cave, she decides to pardon the Matador and allow him to keep his life. War instantly appears within the cave, attacks her, and calls her his biggest failure because she didn't listen to his instructions. Ultimately, I think War was displeased because Wonder Woman did not submit to his final request, which in the end, War was tricking her to defeat all of his enemies. The relationship within this graphic novel was an older man taking advantage of a younger girl and making her complete all of his requests and desires, but eventually, he submissiveness passes, which reveals War's true colors.



In "Catwoman," Catwoman's relationships with men are very volatile. The comic is organized with present day action about Catwoman's life, known as Selina Kyle, but they have frequent flashbacks to the past to explain to us who the characters are that she is interacting with. The graphic novel begins with Catwoman being beaten by a past employer and thrown into a dark alley by a dumpster. As she sits there bleeding and crying, another man walks by and notices her in pain. Although he offers help to her at first, we find out in the end that he was actually just using her and hiding her from her true identity. This man, who offered her a second chance for a new job, eventually throws her off of a roof building, but thankfully, Catwoman hits a canopy and survives. Throughout the graphic novel, all of Catwoman's relationships with men are full of deceit, broken promises, and physical abuse. Catwoman learns quickly that a man is not to be trusted in life or with any aspect of herself, so it turns her into Catwoman. Even when the man was trying to help Catwoman in the alley, he described her as, "snarling girl in an alley who tried to scratch me." This proves that he thought of Catwoman as less than he was and that she was unworthy, so all of the relationships between Catwoman and male characters are relationships that any and every woman should want to and needs to stay away from.

In "Supergirl," Supergirl crashes down to some strange planet, where she is met immediately with hostile robots. We eventually find out that these robots are male humans who are controlling them, and they are trying to capture and kidnap Supergirl. Supergirl continues to fight back, but eventually the robots are able to overcome her and they begin the process of completely overpowering her to take her back with them. Just in time, Superman comes and saves the day for Supergirl, and he rescues her from the attacking robots. This is really the only male character within the graphic novel, and his role and relationship with Supergirl is that he is her savior. This portrays to the reader that Supergirl is unable to overcome her own struggles, so she needs a male superhero to come save the day for me, which depicts that Supergirl is inferior and weak when compared to the abilities and strength of Superman. In reality, Supergirl should have been able to defeat the robots since she has super powers herself, but when Superman shows up, he makes the battle look effortless, and he seems unfazed.

The female characters relationships with their male counterparts were similar in some ways, but I think they also related to female stereotyped roles. In their relationships with these male characters, they are filled with stereotypes and assumptions about women that are not always true. Often times, these women are portrayed as weak and in need of saving, in which the creators of these graphic novels offer up a savior, which is almost always a male. Hopefully, comics and graphic novels make a transition to more female leads within comics, and although they may need a friend or a shoulder to lean on once in awhile, they do not need a savior. They only need themselves and the ability to find the inner strength within them to overcome their battles and obstacles.

Final Project: Blog 2--Female Characters' Roles Compared to Gender-typed Roles

In "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," Wonder Woman is portrayed as a woman that stands there and shows off her pretty face. That is similar to society today, since there is so much emphasis from the media for women to look fabulous and young at all times. Also, Wonder Woman steals a zip drive from Batman, which she distracts him by her looks, and then she makes a quick, sly move and disappears with the drive. That reminds me of gender-typed roles in today society, since women are often portrayed and seen as sneaky. Oftentimes, women will be shown as a thief in movies, graphic novels, or in other forms of visual art, which send that message that women are untrustworthy, so men will remain the leader's in current society.


In "The Incredibles," Holly Hunter (elastic girl) goes into hiding with her husband, Mr. Incredible, so they are able to resume normal lives with their newly started family and with their children. When Holly is trying to live a normal, mundane life, she becomes a housewife and assumes all of the household responsibilities. This is similar to the gender-typed roles we have in society today. We tell women and girls that they are responsible for the wellbeing of the household, their husbands, and their children. When Holly is not only taking care of the house, she is often chasing after her children, since her husband is always at work. This seems to exhaust her throughout the animated, comedy film, but even when her husband does come home, he does not try to help her with those responsibilities and give her a break. He is shown in the movie as coming home and having his wife serve him his dinner, and then he retires to his office or bedroom. This is similar to society today with gendered roles, since women oftentimes are not giving breaks with their family responsibilities, and they are not shared with their husband. Because of this, women experience less satisfaction with their marriage after their first child, since they had expectations for how life would be, but all those that she thought would help her take care of the children, do not.

In "Wonder Woman," there are a lot of gendered roles that are so obvious, but unless you are consciously thinking of them, you likely would not notice them. Throughout the graphic novel, Wonder Woman is seen as emotional, which then drives her actions. Because she is so emotional, she can't control how she responds to these emotionally evoking situations. This is similar to gender-typed roles in society, since women are always described as being emotional beings, and because of this, women are not seen as leaders and typically do not hold powerful positions in life and in occupations. Another gendered role was when Wonder Woman met a powerful warrior, named War. War begins mentoring her and teaching her his craft, but he talks to her in a belittling fashion. War is seen throughout the graphic novel as calling Wonder Woman "little one," which derails her position and power that were establish within the comic. This is extremely similar to situations that occur in society, since men have "pet names" for women that seem endearing and sweet at first, but in reality, they are riddled with benevolent sexism. Wonder Woman eventually finds out that she has been tricked and fooled by War, which shows the mental incapability of women compared to men, which is often times thought about and believed in society. Especially if you look at history, there used to be falsified studies that said that women's brains differed from men's brains, which was an attempt to show that men were more superior to women in all aspects of life.


In "Catwoman," there is very prevalent gendered roles being depicted throughout the graphic novel. Selina Kyle (Catwoman) has a job as an office secretary, which directly related to gendered roles within society for women, since most, if not all of those positions are filled by women. Although these women may gain promotions or be promised the ability to move up within the company, these are jobs in which there is a glass ceiling effect, and it is utterly impossible to move up into a more powerful position. What would your title be called if you are promoted as secretary? Would you be called head secretary? Another gendered role in "Catwoman" is when she is lying in the alley, and a man comes up to her and tries to help her, but she says, "I like being invisible." This is the creators way of making Catwoman seem emotional and overdramatic, which is a role that women too often take on in everyday society, which also inhibits their ability to be described as the same characteristics as a male would be. Similar to Wonder Woman, Catwoman is tricked at the end of the graphic novel also. She is tricked by the man who tries to help her in the beginning of the novel, which was when she was very vulnerable in the book. This depicts more gendered roles, since battered women as seen as vulnerable and prey to those that are looking to take advantage of someone feeling desperate.


In "Supergirl," she is shown as being clueless and not understanding anything that is going on around her. She even claims that this may be a dream. This relates to gender-typed roles in society, since women are often times seen as less superior to men with mental abilities, especially math. Girls and young women are often graded more harshly on math exams than boys or young men, but not for ability...but for simply being a girl. Later in the graphic novel, Supergirl is being beat up by male robots, and when they start trying to kidnap her, they say, "calm down, okay honey?" This is the male mind showing that they think women over-exaggerate in many situations, and even in the most traumatic situations, we are depicted as being overly emotional or irrational.


Gender-typed roles are still extremely prevalent in society, and they can be seen in graphic novels, movies, and other media outlets. Although we have had some flexibility in these gendered roles, there is still a ridged structure that has specific guidelines that were established by society, which says how a man should be and act and how a woman should be and act.

Final Project: Blog 1--Visual Representations of Women within Comics

In "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," Wonder Woman is depicted throughout the movie. At first, she is pretending to be a normal person, just as Batman and Superman do, but the way she is depicted is very different from her male counterparts. She was always wearing skintight dresses with insanely high and uncomfortable high heels on, which said to me that it would be almost impossible for her to protect herself, even though she is suppose to be this very strong woman. When she is finally revealed as Wonder Woman later on in the film, she comes out wearing her costume. Her costume was extremely tight, and it had a lot of skin showing. Wonder Woman was shown as having large breasts and a larger butt than a normal, average person. She was extremely sexualized within the film, otherwise, they wouldn't have had her costume be so revealing, which clearly her bottoms were giving her a wedgie. How do you even fight crime with a wedgie?


In the "The Incredibles," there a couple main characters that are women. They were very similar to how Wonder Woman was dressed. These women had on very tight costumes, but they seemed to be made of latex. They differed from Wonder Woman, because they didn't have as much skin showing as she did within the film. The weird part about this movie is that all of the girls and women in the movie were wearing the same outfit as their male counterparts. Good job Disney! You didn't sexualize the women within this movie, but I doubt this is still true of newer movies.

In the graphic novel, "Catwoman," she is depicted in a skintight, latex jumper/suit, which is extremely similar to how the women and girls were depicted in "The Incredibles." Catwoman is also extremely sexualized on the cover, because she has an extremely, unnatural bust and butt. On top of that, she is posing in the most ridiculous manner, which does not suggest that she is strong or empowered in any way. In one part of "Catwoman," she is lying in an alleyway after being assaulted and a man says to her, "...snarling girl in an alley who tried to scratch me." Catwoman is clearly being depicted as some type of dirty, homeless animal, which makes her seem less superior when comparing her to the male characters within the graphic novel.

In "Supergirl," she is depicted as extremely muscular and fit, and you are able to see her six-pack through her costume, which i'm sure everyone can agree that that is extremely over-exaggerated. Supergirl is also shown to be extremely thin, and her boobs are made prominent in the graphics, which draws the readers eye right to her chest. Supergirl is very sexualized throughout this graphic novel, and when she falls from the sky and rises from the ground, she somehow has perfectly painted, long nails. That should not be the case since she was literally pulling herself out of the ground, and in reality, they would have been chipped or broken. This depiction shows that Supergirl is more materialistic and high maintenance than male superhero characters depicted.



Finally, in the graphic novel, "Wonder Woman," she is depicted as busty and curvy, and she also has a very skinny waist. She is always shown with a beautiful face even when she is shown crying throughout most of the graphic novel. We find out later in the novel that Wonder Woman is 11 to 13 years old in the comic, so when you think about the body the creators had given her, it seems extremely wrong to depict a young girl so sexualized. She didn't even look young when looking at the panels in the graphic novel, but instead, she looked like a woman, which created this uneasy feeling about the depiction of women and young girls in graphic novels and media imagery.


The visual representations of women within graphic novels are extremely important. They are sending subliminal messages to culture and society about women and young girls, and how these women and young girls should look. Also, these images are sending messages to young men that women are here for their pleasure and they are more than allowed to gaze and stare at them. If women were portrayed more realistically and without sexuality being their leading factor, we could depict the other important and more realistic characteristics in women.