• Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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    4 days ago

    Because of the way the story exploits both the “damsel in distress” trope of Barbara Gordon (afaik, even Alan Moore is uncomfortable of that exploitation by now) and the weird "disability gives you superpowers angle.

    • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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      4 days ago

      Because of the way the story exploits both the “damsel in distress” trope of Barbara Gordon

      I’ll admit, I don’t read actual comics, so I’m only familiar with it from some of the times it’s been adapted for screen. But apart from the fridging-esque nature of how she becomes disabled, but I’m not sure how she’s used as a damsel in distress once she becomes Oracle.

      and the weird “disability gives you superpowers[”] angle

      Does it? I thought Oracle was just very competent and intelligent, what you’d expect of a Bat-family member who can’t be physically involved.

      • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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        3 days ago

        Yeah, “damsel in distress” is not really the right term. Rather the whole shtick of (brutally) harming women in order for the stakes to be raised for the male protagonists is just… a bit icky.

        • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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          3 days ago

          Yeah, I’m not going to disagree with you about how she became Oracle being highly problematic. But that, to me, is an entirely separate conversation from whether Oracle herself is good disabled representation, which is what I thought this conversation was about.

          • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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            3 days ago

            Yeah, I still think that the whole notion of mentally ill criminals reeks of the worldview of which Batman was born. But I don’t think that the inclusion of disabled characters is just a token effort of the comics by now.