ROWAN HAS AN issue, and it’s with DC comics. The 11-year-old is a big fan of superheroes but she has a gripe–why are most of them men?
A letter she wrote to the company is going viral today after she decided to question why only two out of twelve Justice League figurines she owns were female. And where’s Wonder Woman’s movie?
She explains:
My name is Rowan and I am 11 years old. I love superheroes and have been reading comics and watching superhero cartoons and movies since I was very young. I’m a girl, and I’m upset because there aren’t very many girl superheroes or movies and comics from DC.
She explains her dismay that only two girl figures in her Justice League set, and their background was coloured pink and purple. She also says she loves to watch Superman but would like a Wonder Woman show too.
Marvel Comics made a movie about a talking tree and raccoon awesome, but you haven’t made a movie with Wonder Woman.
I would really like a Hawkgirl or Catwoman or the girls of the Young Justice TV show action figures please. I love your comics, but I would love them a whole lot more, if there were more girls.
She says she “asked around” and yes, people would read books and watch movies with lead female characters, finishing with “Girls read comics too and they care”.
DC got back to her on Twitter, agreeing with the letter and said they’re developing more female superhero shows.
The family friend who posted it, David M Perry, addressed some bad feedback the letter had been getting as a consequence of it going viral.
Plenty of people criticized the letter by pointing out how many female characters there were in the DC Universe. This doesn’t in fact contradict Rowan’s letter, but is Rowan’s point. She loves Hawkgirl. Where’s the Hawkgirl merchandise?
He also said that the bigger picture needed to be addressed, rather than making some small promises on social media.
Because you can roll out six or seven new shows, movies, and more t-shirts. You can hire some women to write, do art, and direct. You can invest in diversity. But if you don’t de-stablize the corporate culture that led you astray in the first place, that consistenly de-emphasized female characters, or sexualized them, or put them only in pink and purple settings … the new products and shows will likewise fall prey to that culture.
