Moon Girls and Mythical Beasts: Analyzing Race, Gender, and Monstrosity
2019; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 45; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1086/705281
ISSN1545-6943
Autores Tópico(s)Science Education and Perceptions
ResumoCurrently, one of Marvel Comics’ most successful titles is Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, written by Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare. As adaptations of Jack Kirby’s original character creations, the titular characters, Moon Girl (Lunella Lafayette) and Devil Dinosaur, team up to fight crime. The comic’s success has been hailed as a win by those who argue for greater diversity and inclusivity in comics, and there is no doubt that Lunella and her story demonstrate positive changes in mainstream comics. For example, the character design and illustration of Lunella consistently shows her as a child, a somewhat unprecedented move in terms of representations of black girls, who are typically hypersexualized and drawn as miniature adults. Lunella’s precocious personality and scientific genius have been meaningful to black girls and women, as is evidenced in blogs by black women and in numerous instances of cosplay. However, it is also necessary to ask what challenges exist when monstrosity is paired with black girlhood. Comparing Lunella’s story with another narrative wherein black girlhood is linked to monstrosity, the 2012 film Beasts of the Southern Wild, this article examines the productive nature of this linkage and poses critical questions about the ways in which white creators and audiences have traditionally produced and consumed representations of monstrous black girls.
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