by Milk » Tue Dec 03, 2019 5:08 pm
Was thinking of the differences between She-hulk and Hulk the other day and came away thinking that essentially Hulk is both a celebration and condemnation of toxic masculinity. The angrier he gets the stronger he gets, but also, he fucks shit up and often does more damage than good because ultimately Hulk is an idiot which suggest that anger just makes you stupid (which is always does, at least in its extremes, you can have a healthy dose of anger, if you know how to channel it, it's how positive changes are made in the world). It's especially true when you consider that in some of his runs Banner's had to deal with memories of childhood trauma which often got him to turn into the hulk, this is a classic pattern. On the other side, She-hulk is in full control of herself and her power, though because of this she never gets as strong as Hulk (sexist?) but has also never come to regret the ways she used her power. Of course Hulk is actually presented as a separate entity from Banner, which seems like a cop out (men can't be expected to be in control of their anger, of their primal bestial side) whereas She-Hulk is just Jennifer. Also, she-hulk is hot. Which is..probably sexist. You wouldn't want her to look too threatening, you can't have a woman character the nerds might not want to have sex with.
This actually got me to remember an 80's Fantastic Four comic i had as a kid (i still have it somewhere actually) in which She-hulk (who was in the FF for a while replacing Ben) is sunbathing topless on top of the Baxter Building and some paparazzis in a chopper come to take pics and i mean it doesn't show nudity but there's her naked back and then her trying to get her top back on and i might or might not have done things to myself while looking at this panel (yeah i didn'T require much but i mean this was way pre internet). And so therefore i plead guilty to having been one of those pathetic nerds. For the record She- Hulk catches up with the chopper, removes its occupants, wrecks it and then scares the shit out of the paparazzis. I feel this comic sent conflicting messages... don't be a creep to women...but also... check out how sexually appealing a woman's naked body is though. Well it was the 80's. I'm sure the guys who wrote it felt very progressive but in truth were just more interested in finding an excuse to draw She-Hulk half naked.
I must insist on being a pessimist, I'm a loner in a catastrophic mind