Our theme week for May 2016 will be Superheroines.
There has been such a resounding call for superheroine leads on the silver screen that both DC and Marvel finally caved to give us, respectively, a 2017 release of Wonder Woman and a 2019 release of Captain Marvel. On the small screen, CBS — which co-owns The CW, home to Arrow and The Flash — released Supergirl in 2015, and it’s a hit. Not only that, but the gritty Netflix original anti-superheroine series Jessica Jones has also gained incredible popularity, acclaim, and even serious critical analysis for its representations of race and rape culture. Despite industry claims that no one will pay and audiences aren’t interested in seeing a superheroine-led film, the dazzling success of series like The Hunger Games and Divergent prove that the world is ready for women to take charge and lead. While we’re seeing movement in response to growing demand for female superhero representation, there is still a long way to go before we reach parity.
Why is superheroine parity so important? The documentary Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines tells us that superheroines give little girls and even adult women the invaluable ability to envision themselves as heroines and champions. All women deserve a role model who represents attributes like strength, kindness, righteousness, and teamwork.
“Girls actually need superheroes much more than boys when you come right down to it because 90% of violence in the world is against females. Certainly women need protectors even more, and what’s revolutionary, of course, is to have a female protector not a male protector.”
Tell us about your favorite superheroines. What are your favorite superheroine representations? Show us how film and TV have gotten superheroines wrong and right. Which superheroine deserves her own franchise?
We’d like to avoid as much overlap as possible for this theme, so get your proposals in early if you know which topic you’d like to write about. We accept both original pieces and cross-posts, and we respond to queries within a week.
Most of our pieces are between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and include links and images. Please send your piece as a Microsoft Word document to btchflcks[at]gmail[dot]com, including links to all images, and include a 2- to 3-sentence bio.
If you have written for us before, please indicate that in your proposal, and if not, send a writing sample if possible.
Please be familiar with our publication and look over recent and popular posts to get an idea of Bitch Flicks’ style and purpose. We encourage writers to use our search function to see if your topic has been written about before, and link when appropriate (hyperlinks to sources are welcome, as well).
The final due date for these submissions is Friday, May 20, 2016 by midnight Eastern Time.
Here are some articles we’ve published on superheroines:
Wonder Women and Why We Need Superheroines
Top 10 Superheroes Who Are Better As Superheroines
Supergirl Premiere: The Enemy of My Enemy Is Super
Do Black Widow and Scarlet Witch Bring Female Power to Avengers: Age of Ultron?
Top 10 Superheroine Movies That Need a Reboot
Big Hero 6: Woman Up
Wonder Woman Short Fan Film Reminds Us to Want this Blockbuster
Top 10 Superheroines Who Deserve Their Own Movies
Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s Black Widow Blunders
Jessica Jones, The Kilgrave Mirror and the Distancing Effect of Negative Masculinity
Supergirl, “Fight or Flight”: No One Puts Kara in a Refrigerator
The Superman Exists and She is American: Scarlett Johansson in Lucy
The Feminism of Sailor Moon
The Avengers: Strong Female Characters and Failing the Bechdel Test
“Did I Step on Your Moment?” The Seductive and Psychological Violence of Female Superheroes
Rape, Consent and Race in Marvel’s Jessica Jones
She-Ra: Kinda, Sorta Accidentally Feministy
Jessica Jones: A Discomforting Yet Real Portrayal of Abuse