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Similar to San Diego Comic Con- Abjection and Objectification of Motherhood in the Fourth World
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San Diego Comic Con- Abjection and Objectification of Motherhood in the Fourth World
- 2. Kirby’s Fourth World • New Gods • Mister Miracle • Forever People
- 3. Reproduction, Family and Patrilineage
- 4. Reproduction on New Genesis and Apokolips
- 6. Granny Goodness and Mother Box
- 7. Modern Views on Motherhood • Modern social and cultural forces construct definitions of motherhood • Assumption that femininity/womanhood is innately oriented toward the reproduction and protection of children • Rosalind Petchesky: “... there is the Augustinian image of woman as ordained by God to procreate; the passive receptacle of male seed, ‘selfish’ and ‘sinful’ if she evades that destiny and directs her sexuality to nonprocreative ends."
- 8. Granny Goodness • Inappropriate mothering • Monstrosity of the abject maternal body
- 9. Granny Goodness “To know her is to hate her”
- 10. Visual Cues Violation of traditional paradigms of motherhood/femininity represented • Aging identity, outlived reproductive use • Emphasized body/materiality • Masculinized
- 11. Mother Box Demonstrates same set of assumptions about ‘true’ feminine nature/motherhood
- 12. Mother Box Separation of female sexuality from motherhood
- 13. Mother Box • Selflessness, weakness, sacrifice • Mystical connection with the source • Provides life, assists those in need • Private nature • Object of interaction, rather than subject
- 14. Visual Cues • Opposite to the unruly and monstrous feminine • ‘Clean’ form, secure boundaries • Bodiless—unable to age, degrade, consume • Lacks speech and agency
- 16. “While maternity is suspect in superhero comics, paternity is often glorified. In a genre obsessed with hegemonic masculinity superheroic male characters almost completely displace mothers as parental figures.” Jeff Brown, “Supermoms? Maternity and the Monstrous-Feminine in Superhero Comics” (Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 2011, 2:1) 84.
- 17. Bibliography Brown, Jeffrey A. “Supermoms? Maternity and the Monstrous-Feminine in Superhero Comics,” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 2:1, 2011, 77-87. Bukatman, Scott. Matters of Gravity: Special Effects and Supermen in the 20th Century. Durham (N.C.: Duke University Press) 2003. Evanier, Mark. Kirby, King of Comics, Abrams 2008. Hatfield, Charles. Hand of Fire: the Comics Art of Jack Kirby. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012. Johnston, Jessica R. The American Body in Context: an Anthology. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 2001. Kirby, Jack, and Vince Colletta. Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle. New York, NY: DC Comics, 1998. Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's New Gods. New York, NY: DC Comics, 1998. Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's The Forever People. New York, NY: DC Comics, 1999. Kirby, Jack, and Vince Colletta. Jimmy Olsen. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2003. Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: an Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. Tondro, Jason. Superheroes of the Round Table: Comics Connections to Medieval and Renaissance literature. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2011. Weitz, Rose. The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Editor's Notes
- Mother Box seems to represent patriarchal anxieties about reproduction and motherhood by attempting to objectify and technologize the womb. Samantha Holland suggests in her examination of cyborgian narratives that “Motherhood is feared by patriarchal masculinity because it deconstructs conceptual boundaries between “self” and “other”—throwing into question traditional assumptions about ‘self”-hood and personal identity—and that technology is thus looked to to control, limit, and regulate the maternal.” The control and regulation of the maternal that is evinced in cyborgian narratives like Terminator and Ghost in the Shell is paralleled by the uneasiness exhibited in comics. Although it certainly reveals problematic notions about women as possessions with reproductive power, the Fourth World narratives often argue against more blatant attempts to technologize life—as unnatural reproduction is frequently used by evil forces. Thus, as in cyborgian narratives expressing anxieties about motherhood and reproduction, naturalism and essentialized ideas about gender can remain intact.
- According to Jeff Brown’s analysis of the abjection of motherhood and the maternal in superhero narratives, the problematic depiction of motherhood is the rule rather than the exception. In superhero comics, pregnancy and motherhood is largely portrayed negatively. However, Brown notes, “while maternity is suspect in superhero comics, paternity is often glorified. In a genre obsessed with hegemonic masculinity superheroic male characters almost completely displace mothers as parental figures.” Why have mothers at all? The recurrent theme of paternity and need for fatherly guidance in the Fourth World is reliant on fantastical depictions of the maternal beings. The demonization (in the case of Granny Goodness) and objectification (as Mother Box) of femininity and motherhood protects the paternal authority model that is featured so heavily in The New Gods and Mister Miracle, and structures the superhero genre as a whole. Because the abjection of motherhood and maternal authority allows for the “proper social regulation with paternal law,” the patriarchal authority model that underpins Kirby’s Fourth World narratives is reinforced. Although the surface narratives revolve around embracing life and love, the embodied processes of living and reproduction is heavily policed, revealing deep anxieties about the nature of femininity and the female body.