By Lisa Fary
Oh, for god’s sake. I got buried in end of year paperwork and missed this. It’s like I’m print media with aged news.
I would have expected a girls’ guide to Comicon ’09 to have actual useful info, like shortcuts to the bathrooms, suggestions for carryall bags and footwear, or even a peek at where to buy your geek girl goods (visit Loter, Inc if they’re at the con for supercute, yet geeky tees). It looks one can only expect that kind of thing from outlets that get geek girls/ fangirls, not mainstream media.
So, what does the LA Times Girls’ Guide to Comicon 2009 consider to be a draw at the con for the ladies?
Flash Forward is considered a lady draw because of a character and emotion driven story. You know what that means, ladies. Better have some cheesecake handy.
The Time Travelers’ Wife for bittersweet tears. Even with Eric Bana’s hotness, I couldn’t make it all the way through the trailer, this looks so sappy.
Alice in Wonderland for Johnny Depp’s “quirky hotness”. Let’s get this straight: Johnny Depp doesn’t have “quirky hotness”. He has freakishly generation bridging hotness. Some of my high school students have been fawning over him since they were in sixth grade. Imagine their surprise when I reveal that I, too, have been fawning over him since I was in sixth grade.
Where the Wild Things Are for. . . I’m not sure. It’s a book many of us have owned, but dudes have, too. Maybe because it has a kid in it, and lord knows all women want kids. Or something.
Robert Downey, Jr. Yeah. I pretty much agree with this one. Teresa Jusino said it best when she said, “Not since Jake Gyllenhaal in Jarhead has an actor been so hot to me on screen that I felt my ovaries jump with the primal desire to reproduce.”
The Witches of Eastwick is a lady draw because it offers female empowerment through the devil and killer wardrobe.
V: The LA Times says, “The ladies who recall the ’80s miniseries this is based on will be hoping for a repeat of that forbidden reptilian allure, the ultimate in star-crossed lovers.” Actually, I’m hoping for an exploration of our pervasive corporate culture and the culture of the previous administration through a sci-fi lens. But, I’m not, like, a real girl.
The LA Times Girls’ Guide was, as expected, full of cliches about fangirl interests and behaviors and what women want in their genre shows. I’ve come to expect that in the same way I’ve come to expect extended family members to scoff, “Still not married, Lisa?” and then scuttle off to speculate on my orientation at family get-togethers.
I feel like I should have gotten angrier abut this, but at the same time, I can’t disagree with everything the LA Times is saying. Sometimes the only reason I want to watch something is because it provides the opportunity to ogle Alex O’Laughlin (or Robert Downey, Jr. or Jensen Ackles). I do look at things like wardrobe. The only thing I really disagree with is the idea that something will appeal to women simply because it has an emotion driven story or doomed love.
What’s most aggravating to me is that the LA Times didn’t include any remotely comic related items on the list, only film and television. I guess that, while the mainstream is finally getting (sort of) that women dig this stuff, the idea that we dig comics too is just too far out there for them to grasp.
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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Since when has Comicon been about comic books?
That's exactly what made me angry about it. The fact that it's COMIC Con, and yet they didn't feel the need to let ladies know about the awesome COMIC-related offerings there.
Not that San Diego hasn't already started ignoring comics in favor of big film openings and celebrities ANYWAY, but that's a whole other discussion.
But yeah, I was upset that every offering they listed in the Girls guide had to do with guys. Except for Angelina Jolie and, like, one other thing. Because clearly, the only thing that draws us to geekery is men. Don't get me wrong – they're a nice side benefit. But when I think of going to conventions because of men, I'm thinking more along the lines of I get to hit on the attainable ones who AREN'T on the panels – not about making eyes at Jake Gyllenhaal, fine stallion though he is.
EXACTLY, lisa, EXACTLY. thanks for the post and articulating what we all felt when we saw that article.
but yeah, robert downey, jr., jensen ackles, johnny depp….umm, i'd ogle the crap out of them any day, anywhere, and if they happent to be at comic-con…yeah, i'd do anything to get in their pants. i mean, express my deep respect for them as actors.