Re-imagined. Right.

[trinityvixen]

Because everything old is new again, have some Disney Princesses reinvented as, well, strippers and porn stars--but drawn in comic book style!

Anyway, as for the art, I think this comment says it all:
So.... boobies and disfiguring spinal injuries all around then.

It may surprise some folks, but I don't really have a problem with this art except where it's bad. And some of these are pretty boring. Cinderella's a poor man's take on the vastly superior, but just as slutty, Emma Frost. Sexy-ing up Alice from Alice in Wonderland has been done better by those "Sexy [Fill in the Blank]" costume makers. Ditto this remark for his Snow White. Contrary to what the blogger thinks, that is NOT Maleficent, it's the wicked queen from Snow White, and her costume is only so-so (evil queens have dressed that way for forever, so it's hardly shocking). If you look too closely at the Sleeping Beauty one, as I did, you'll spend half the time wondering why Briar Rose or whoever cut out a slit in the sheet so her top leg could be uncovered. No, seriously, look at that picture! The sheet is clearly all she's wearing, and it falls smoothly over the bottom leg, but not the top! WTF? Did he forget halfway through that she wasn't wearing a corset like all the other ladies?

I actually really like Belle, Ariel, and Tinkerbell, though, which is amazing because I pretty much hate Tinkerbell with a passion. Belle, despite her come-hither gaze and sexful posture, does at least seem rather powerful because she stands in a superior position to a servile creature that is otherwise terrifying. Let's you know who wears the (strictly figurative, given her outfit) pants. Ariel's frighteningly slim waist is no worse than what Disney actually gave her in her movie. I really like her freckles--I find that kind of adorable, given how anyone as pasty as she is with that hair would probably have them (on land). She's more in a line with someone like Fathom, which, fine, whatever, that's Top Cow. It's a thing. Tinkerbell's outfit isn't even remotely modified, but what I like about that image is the comic behind it. That looks like a cool story!

What kills me is the written content, not the slutty pictures of Disney Princesses. Is it just me, or is it obvious that when you put forward the pwetty, pwetty pwincesses, you're selling them as these perfect, innocent (i.e. virginal) creatures, what you're really doing is inviting people to come up with the flip side of that dynamic, a.k.a. the whore versions? That's all this is. Natural progression, really.

Anyway, back to what the blog post said: apparently, Disney is letting the idiot who wrote the lamentably bad 27 Dresses--which could have been a good movie about how ridiculous it is to expect people to cater to the every whim of the modern bride, who is herself brainwashed by the wedding industrial complex, but of course wasn't--pen a live-action Cinderella movie. Honestly, the description of that travesty is worse than some of these pictures. It's no less ridiculous for the fact that a) all romantic comedies these days are Cinderella movies (what the hell is "girl loses boy" except an elaborate way to dress up the be-home-by-midnight, lose-your-shoe-in-the-process escape?) and b) they have actually made several live-action Cinderella movies. I think, like, Hilary Duff was in one, and she's still popular, so it had to have been in the last ten years, which ridiculous. GRAH.

Comments

[viridian.livejournal.com]

I like the same three you did. The others were just too bad, anatomically. Sorry, but it's not possible to contort oneself like that, even if one DOES somehow have an infinitesimally small waist to support one's monster boobs.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I am driven to distraction by the physical impossibility of the goddamn sheet covering Sleeping Beauty. Impossible spinal contortion, whatever--HOW DOES THAT SHEET WORK AND WHY DOES IT WORK THAT WAY?!

YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW, DO YOU, MR. ARTIST MAN?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I'm all for that. I think, given the irritation she's caused me, she should be assless. Go ahead and cut that shit right off.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Wow... These are not good. Who illustrated them? They remind me of Wildstorm's crappy Gen13 art.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Isn't that funny? That they look just like the work of that artist? BECAUSE THAT IS EXACTLY WHO DREW THEM. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Scott_Campbell)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Damn pixie.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Ariel was just too--grotesquely distorted. That's just--abdomens and backs don't do that. The proportions are bizarre.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Barf!

I guess I would have seen that if I hadn't skimmed the "article."

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Eh, she's a fish-person. I can deal with it. The boobs being too large are actually downplayed by her position, so it's got that going for it.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Only came across it in the comments myself, then I had to look it up.

And it's okay to skim anything on io9, since all they're doing is (maybe, if you're lucky) skimming something they found on the sidewalk that might be tangentially related to something geeky. That they have actual pictures in this case is downright impressive for their level of "reporting."

[saturn-shumba.livejournal.com]

Agreed with everything here. The Belle one is my favorite--it reminds of these feminist retelling of Fairy Tales I read in college where they delved into this dark sexual undercurrent to those stories (Beauty and the Beast being one of them). So I think that one's fitting.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It's funny that such sexful drawings should be, themselves, not all that sexy. I mean, they're lust-inducing for some, and they portray highly idealized sexual bodies for the purposes of being sexy. But it lacks something, something inviting, something enticing, which I think the Belle picture does not. There is still something powerful about it that the others, more explicit and less sexy, don't have.

[avram]

The bit that bugs me is how apparently "drawn in comic book style" now means (as you said) "strippers and porn stars". Because (at least as far as mainstream superhero comics are concerned) there are no other kinds of women.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It does a disservice to comic artists that this is the connection people make with their work, but, yeah, that is the connection people make. It's a shame.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Would that be Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber? We read those. At the end the beast licks Belle's skin until she turns into her beast? Yeah.

[saturn-shumba.livejournal.com]

It was that book! I just have a couple of photocopies of certain stories, I should buy the whole thing.

[slothshaman.livejournal.com]

Rather than strippers and pornstars, this is closer to 40's pinup art. Not saying it's a great example of it, but it's certainly closer to what you'd find on the nose of a B17 than anything modern and blatantly alluring.

[slackwench.livejournal.com]

I actually like her best because she looks inhuman. She's an underwater dwelling human/fish hybrid. She shouldn't look human, even above the waist.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I just came across this version, which is a little better: http://mimi-na.deviantart.com/art/Disney-Pinups-Wallpaper-87404466

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Those are quite cute, actually. It helps that they're stylized away from looking human.

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

I love the Ariel--there's something kind of threatening and alien about her, like the Peter Pan mermaids.

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

Read Fables instead - that features excellent reimaginings of Snow White, Cinderella, etc living in modern-day NYC, while keeping their fairy tale nature under wraps.

For instance, Cindy is a secret agent - no one ever pays attention to the maid. Snow White's story - I won't spoil it. There's loads going on.

Sometimes the two of them, plus Beauty, conclave and kvetch about super-himbo Prince Charming.

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

HAH! I thought the EXACT SAME THING! My assorted reactions:

Cindy: sad attempt at Emma Frost

Alice: I've seen that in Ricky's. She reminds me of a blonde Roxy from Gen13 ...

Belle: Ah, Bliss from the Deviants. Oh wait, that's BELLE? Uhhh ... not okay. (This turned out to be the least offensive or juvenile image, imo. Dear lord.) At least she looks in-charge. She is giving off distinct "evil summoner" vibes.

Snow's Wicked Stepmother - looks badass, but nothing unique interesting. She has Ivana's face. Next!

Beauty - ...............

Snow White - Ricky's ripoff. Whatever.

Ariel - like the freckles. Looking at her makes MY back hurt!

Tink: She has NO ass. And Captain Hook's leer seriously grosses me out.

[slackwench.livejournal.com]

I love that series.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Agreed--in her case, the inhumanity works for me. I have always liked the idea that mermaids, like syrens, were not to be trusted.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm a big Fables fan. I've read most of it at this point, minus a few recent issues. I love it.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Your reactions are so fun.

[hslayer.livejournal.com]

Jeez, you might as well ask Picasso how cubism "works".

...

That's right, I just compared J Scott Campbell to Picasso, and those of you who don't have the aesthetic sense of a 13-year-old can suck it!

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Sadly enough, Campbell's cartoonishly stripper-esque artwork is still better than the recent few issues of Gen13, which combined new costumes with making the characters look nothing like themselves, making it impossible to tell what the hell was going on.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Oh, and when you're talking about sexualizing fairy tale characters, there's only so long you can go before getting to Alan Moore's Lost Girls.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I had heard about those. Were the stories actually any good?

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I don't actually know--I've only skimmed it. I never actually got around to buying a copy, and it's the only Alan Moore book my dad hasn't purchased (for understandable reasons).

If I do buy it at some point and it's worth reading, you can certainly borrow it.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I'll wait to hear what you think before I request it, but cheers!