Happy Weekend Readers! I apologize for the sparse coverage this month. Parenting is busy work.
There is some great news on the Superman front that does not involve Zach Snyder ruining things. According to The AV Club, a movie about the real life production of the Superman vs the KKK radio show is in the works, based on the book of the same name by Rick Bowers.
In super heroine news, with her movie mere weeks away The Mary Sue wonders where the marketing for Wonder Woman has gone…
More likely: The studio just doesn’t know how to market this movie. This movie, which stars a female protagonist, but isn’t a typical female-oriented property, as they’ve become used to viewing them. Of course, as we all know, this very much is a movie women are clamoring to see, but studios tend to get stuck in the mindset of equating men with superheroes and women with romance. For an industry so fearful to exist outside of binaries, a female hero with the potential to appeal to a bunch of different demographics equally is bound to confuse them.
This lapse in promotion for the film itself seems deeply tied to the very public issues studios, manufacturers, and companies like Target and Toys R Us have been having with the way they’ve marketed merchandise for these types of movies. From #WheresRey, to the lack of Black Widow toys, to Princess Leia being swapped out of her own screengrabs for t-shirt sales, there’s an all-encompassing belief that 1) women and girls aren’t a strong enough demographic to be marketed to when it comes to action/sci-fi/general geek properties, and 2) men and boys won’t spend their money on toys/shirts/movie tickets on properties featuring female characters.
Trailblazing race car driver Dannika Patrick isn’t shying away from the Amazing Amazon, check out her new car in today’s feature image!
At Today’s Dad, Ryan Darcy discusses whether being a Stay at Home Dad is right for you.
A Portland 15 year old named Niko won a spot in the United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth , sponsored by the International Order of Odd Fellows, by submitting a winning essay on the history of the Ukraine. His invitation was rescinded when it was discovered that Niko was severely autistic. Both his parents and other members of the Odd Fellows across the country are rightfully upset.
Parents of young children with rare diseases often find themselves having to create their own support networks.
Families have evolved, language needs to evolve as well.
The idea is not so much to redefine the roles of father and mother – although such redefinition occurs constantly as historical contexts shift – but to abandon the binary restrictions those roles impose. Childcare has always been a collective activity. And relatedness grows ever more complicated and varied.
The whole system has changed beyond measure since feminism broadened the right to divorce, and thereby paved the way for step-parents, giving children multiple households (a phenomenon distinct from the historical step-families produced when widows and widowers remarried). Feminism likewise presses for a situation in which a father’s obligations are more commensurate with a mother’s, but does not remove the stigma fathers face when they are the primary caregivers – or the greater stigma their wives confront if they are not the primary caretakers.
Two videos this week. First from College Humor… what if Anti-vaxxers rode the Magic School Bus
https://youtu.be/nDjz5qHIzsc
And also a step by step manual for creating GIANT ASS BUBBLES from The Hellions. I have no idea what accent The Schmoo is going for here…
Featured Image Credit: Stewart Haas Racing
