Redlands Vol. 1-5 (5 points)

 

            There’s a section in the synopsis on the back of Redlands Vol. 1 that perfectly describes the comic’s approach to portraying witches, “…the characters of Redlands play victim and villain…”

            Redlands is a comic filled with bad people and morally grey people, and they don’t get much better than that. The main coven does some terrible things in the name of survival and Jodie Bellaire (the writer) wants us to question their actions. It’s rare to see women portrayed in such a complex way; usually, women are shown to either be saints or devils. This has gotten better over time of course, but the lack of a middle ground is still the norm in mainstream media. This is, of course, mainly because women are still primarily written by straight white men and not, well, women. Even if I didn’t read the introduction by Tom King talking about Bellaire, it would’ve been obvious that Redlands was written by a woman because it makes women feel like people. Are men incapable of writing nuanced women like this? No, of course not, but there are absolutely certain nuances that most men wouldn’t be privy to. That can be okay if the story being told happens to have a female protagonist, but Redlands is telling a story about being a woman.

While it’s hard to say for sure having only read the early issues provided, I get the feeling this comic is confronting the idea of women in power. Not in the way that Republicans are scared of Hillary Clinton, but in the way that left-leaning people condemn Hillary Clinton. Dear God yes do I wish she was president instead of Trump, but she’s still complicit in a corrupt system that hurts millions of people. So are the coven in Redlands: they’re cops who worked for a rapist/murderer/overall human trashcan in order to survive. They’ve killed a bunch of people to survive and stay in power, and I don’t know if I’d say that was very #girlboss of them. However, some of the people they’ve killed do totally deserve it, like the racist cops in the first issue, but others don’t, like the poor high school girl later on. They’re clearly not evil for the sake of being evil, which adds a realistic dimension to them. It’s complicated being a witch in Redlands, just like it’s complicated being a woman in America.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bloodchild (2 Points)

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?  That was…a lot. There’s a lot to unpack with the relationship between the Tlic and the Terrans. It’s disgusting in a literal sense, but it also mirrors a lot of things going on in the real world. Their parasitic relationship, which the Tlic make out to seem mutually beneficial, reminds me of how some white people view Black people. In America, the whites are the ruling race, like the Tlic in the Preserve. They make it seems like Black people are just part of the “mutually beneficial” system of capitalism, but really, they are an oppressed class, being used to further the wealth of those in charge. This parallels how the Tlic use the Terrans as host bodies for their young, but make it seem like they’re doing the Terrans a favor by “protecting” them, when in reality they are putting them in harm’s way.  2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect?  I was able t
Read more

Metropolis (2 Points)

A lot of Metropolis barely feels like fiction at this point, at least when it comes to its commentary on society. As a matter of fact, it weirdly feels like a predecessor to Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite. Both visually portray class in similar ways; the working class literally live under the upper-class, who don’t really care about those beneath them. Sure, you can argue it’s a bit of an obvious visual metaphor, but I don’t think it takes away from how effective it is. I’d argue that some of the most powerful imagery seems obvious. It speaks to the core of what it’s representing, in this case how the working class is seen as below the upper class. It’s kind of hard to analyze it beyond that, because the film sums it up better than I could with its final card: “The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart.”
Read more

Future Tense (2 Points)

The year is 2220. Humanity has, in essence, created immortality. When the body dies, an AI copy of the consciousness can be created and can live on through virtual reality. Some people use this to continue to interact with dead loved ones, and others meet AI versions of their idols. There has been a lot of debate over how legitimate these AI copies are considering they are created by humans. No matter how hard they try, the people who create these do have biases. This is especially true when the family is involved in crafting the AI version of their dead relative; is this a truly authentic version of the person, or an idealized version? How does this affect their legacy? In the end, does it really matter as long as the family is happy? The morality of turning this into an industry would be questioned, but capitalism was abolished after The Millennium War in 2100, so it’s no issue. VR has blown up in popularity after scientists figured out how to simulate the sens
Read more