But I did enjoy "X-Men 2" (that was the first one I saw, with some friends during law school-- then I went back and watched the first one. It didn't lose much by watching the second one first.). And I did enjoy "The Watchmen," even more so when my dear spouse Mr.W told me what a huge fan he was and what the deal was with Alan Moore and his vision. Once I got a sense of how sweeping Moore's vision was, I started to really respect not just the story he was telling but also the medium. I saw how fundamental the visual was to the way he was telling his story-- that it wasn't a way of getting around the words, but really a beautiful way of storytelling in and of itself.
So anyhoo, when I saw this SF Chronicle article about The Supergirls-- written by a guy who used to be creative director for The GAP!-- I took notice. Here was an interesting guy writing on an interesting topics-- kick ass superheroes, women for girls to look up to and dream about being. I thought he had a great point with this:
Little girls are told they can be princesses who wait for someone to rescue them, rather than being someone who's going to go out and take control of things and help other people.
Paloma is in Major Princess Mode right now, but happily does recognize they're "heads of state" and will sometimes say that instead, which I think is super fabulous. I totally get the appeal of escaping into a princess fantasy, but I think superheroes are just way more fun when you think about it. She can FLY, or deflect bullets with her bracelets (not that I want Paloma thinking about that), or you know, just walk around at night in kickass boots and a cape and not feel scared, because SHE's the scary one who'll win a fight and drag your ass to jail herself.
Man. This superhero stuff could really come in handy when more bad dreams come our way. Going to start infusing this into potty time stories. Being a mom is fun!!
