Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 2887-2891 (2-6 February 2015)
eschaton:
--- Quote from: efrumttr on 06 Feb 2015, 08:53 ---I think you missed his point completely. Think about it like this: why did Jeph create Claire? Why did he introduce a transgender character into the comic? Just because? If that's the case, then okay. But if Jeph is trying to send a larger message about trans acceptance or to raise awareness of transgender issues (which I at least think it's obvious that he is), then to portray Claire's life as we've seen it so far is more questionable. No, we don't need super dark comics where super bad things happen to Claire. But this is what I was trying to put my finger on in my post yesterday: it's been too easy. It's not representative of what life is like for the majority of transgender people. The question then arises as to whether that's helpful to his larger goals, because if people who don't have any experience with transgender people or the transgender community read this comic, they don't even get a hint of those issues.
--- End quote ---
I think this is a difficult tightrope to walk however. On one hand, it's true that if you excised a few coming out strips, along with like two strips since they started dating, there has been nothing to signify that Claire isn't cis in the comic. This could be seen as problematic, the same way that putting a black character whose blackness is just an arbitrary assignment of race to a character* would be. On the other hand Claire should be her own person, and her trans status should not define everything about her. She doesn't have to speak for all trans people everywhere.
* Dale was arguably black when he was first introduced, but I'm pretty sure he isn't any longer.
HeavyP:
--- Quote from: TheEvilDog on 06 Feb 2015, 08:16 ---And then Marten wakes up from his years long coma, having fallen down the stairs going to the bar in the first comic.
The previous 2890 comics have been Marten attempting to get back to the land of the living.
--- End quote ---
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF........
Alternate Response: "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"
Edit: I have you one-upped. This is the last strip of QC. The next will be Alice from Alice Grove sitting bolt upright in bed and saying "That....was the most bizarre dream I have EVER had! No more five alarm chili before bed."
DillyDolly:
--- Quote from: eschaton on 06 Feb 2015, 06:37 ---Marten may have done this off-panel. Indeed, I'm expecting he did, and the lack of his eyes traveling downward is an oversight by Jeph. But it does make his "You're beautiful" come across as a bit disingenuous to me. Not that he doesn't think she's beautiful, but as if he's saying it to be supportive and reassuring. That his eyes not traveling south signals he's either uncomfortable to some degree, or worried she'd be uncomfortable with him doing so (which is a misread, IMHO).
--- End quote ---
Or he doesn't want to make her feel self-conscious—or he just doesn't care, or he's more concerned with being present with her than checking out her naughty bits. Given they live in a world that has robots who are citizens and body parts that can be effortlessly replaced with cyborg implants, I really wouldn't be surprised if being trans is as huge of a deal as it is in our own world.
And honestly, I really don't care to analyze it beyond that. It is a beautiful strip either way—and that is probably what Jeph intended (though none of us will know unless he wants to talk about it or we can read minds ;) ).
St.Clair:
--- Quote from: efrumttr on 06 Feb 2015, 09:06 ---
--- Quote from: St.Clair on 06 Feb 2015, 09:01 ---
--- Quote from: Technetium on 06 Feb 2015, 08:53 ---Yeah but come, life doesn't work like that.
--- End quote ---
When you sit down to a meal with friends and/or family, do you take time to remind them that, you know, many people around the world are starving and miserable and homeless and at risk of getting killed, raped, maimed, etc etc? To put the occasion in the proper perspective.
--- End quote ---
What the hell? Nobody in this thread is saying anything close to that.
--- End quote ---
But it's real, isn't it? It's true. It's "life". And we should acknowledge that, and never forget it, and remind people of it whenever anyone tries to say different, or is in an inappropriately good mood about anything.
[/sarcasm]
Neko_Ali:
I like the fact that if someone came into this not knowing Claire was trans, the comic today would still work. Clearly we have a girl getting nervous in front of a guy for the first time, hoping for his approval, with a hint that she is nervous about her body. That's a universal thing, not a transgender thing. "I hope my partner likes/accepts me." It could just as easily be nervousness about all her freckles, or or small breasts, or that giant mole on her butt the shape of Abraham Lincoln, who knows? The comic still works.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version