Harley Quinn began because some actress wanted a guest spot on Batman: The Animated Series. The actress in question actually is blond and her name is Arleen Frances Sorkin.
There wasn't originally a backstory for the character. They tacked on a made up backstory and clearly named her after the actress in question:
Although later explanations for the character assume she's the victim of the Joker, the original portrayal by the actress who asked to get a cameo appearance on the show in no way behaves like she is his victim and unable to leave the relationship.
The Joker constantly rolls his eyes behind her back like he is some kind of beleaguered boyfriend putting up with her and not really wanting to say anything to her about his complaints. He has no affectionate nicknames for her, but she calls him Puddin.
She orders his men around as if she is his equal partner in life and in business, not his abused and involuntary girlfriend. The Joker and everyone else is terrified of her pet hyenas that she refers to as her babies.
The invented backstory in no way makes any sense for the character. She's supposedly a young PhD genius and unlike Robin, there's no explanation for her athletic prowess that at times exceeds that of Batman.
I think they messed up big-time when they created the backstory. The tacked on backstory is obviously rooted in an assumption that no sane woman would choose to be with the Joker, so she must be there involuntarily.
I think it's possible to do better than that, but first you need to assume women have richer lives than just being the bauble on some man's arm and you have to assume they have agency -- the ability to make choices -- and they exercise it in a rational manner.
If you do that, a better backstory is she's fleeing trouble that makes the Joker a better deal for her than whatever she's fleeing and he feels some obligation to protect her for some reason that he puts up with her when he is obviously not as fond of her as she is of him.
Later portrayals of the character following the point at which they added a backstory are poisoned by that backstory and sometimes are written more in line with that backstory than in line with the original portrayal by a woman who asked for a role on the show and got it.
I hope future versions of the character get treated better.
Unlike Harley Quinn, Kim Possible actually has a logical and consistent framing. Her athletic prowess in the role of superhero is realistically explained as rooted in her normal teenage girl life where she's a cheerleader.
If you have watched Bring It On or any YouTube shorts with real cheerleaders, it's become a sport in its own right with competitions of its own and it's much more gymnastic than it used to be. Those chicks may wear short, cute skirts but they have muscle.
You know who else wears short skirts? Some female martial arts actresses in movies. Because you can still kick in a mini skirt and you don't want a gal in high heels with martial arts training to kick you.
Kim Possible is a traditional girly girl AND athletic and highly competent. The show never suggested she was effective in spite of being a girly girl. She was effective because she was a girly girl, including being a cheerleader who could do gymnastic moves because that's what girly girl cheerleaders do.
Kim Possible also has a girl scout troop led by a former special forces guy and they operate like a special forces unit. And he's too manly to care about YOUR stupid sexist opinions of him and his girl scout troop leadership position.
Comments
Post a Comment