I know I've mentioned this before, but I finally caught up with GLC and Blue Beetle and one question just kept running through my head.
Why does Brik have breasts?
At first glance I love her design. She's big and blocky and strong. Not normal for a female character. But... She has boobs. Big honkin' boobs.
Okay, I know, they wanted something to mark her as "female" and a basically humanoid female-shaped rock can work, but even with that in mind it makes no fucking sense that they should be round.
She's not a mammal or even made of flesh. She's not carved by an artificer. They don't suit her original story purpose. She was made to be the "ugly girl" who had a crush on Hal while he went crazy for Carol! Why did they feel a need to give her boobs?
Its just so fucking ridiculous. I can't read a scene with Brik without wondering why she has them. I especially can't read a scene where the artist draws her shirt torn without wondering why they're drawn like Arisia's breasts. I mean, okay, a Generation 1 Arcee-style "shelf" placed strategically in the spot where it mimics a human woman's chest (a "rack"?) would be one thing, but these are round bouncy boobs. They are almost always drawn as round bouncy boobs, even though the rest of her character design suggests there should be a blocky shelf instead. (The blocky shelf would imply female just as well, by the way.)
It just doesn't work. Why does a silicone-based rock entity have boobs?! There's no in-story reason for it. What sort of fucked up evolutionary path led to giant rockwomen with breasts? (It must be an evolutionary path, because if there was a deity actively involved in her creation there's no way that sort of feature would be there. Agony in childbirth? At least there's a physiological reason. Giant rockwomen with breasts? No reason. No reason whatsoever. Only humans think of that shit.) What kind of universe do they live in that such a design came about? What was the artist thinking when they designed her? Did they realize it totally takes you out of the story that you have to stop and think "oh yeah, some artist wanted to draw boobs" and then try and immerse yourself back into the universe of Green Lantern which only works until you see Brik's boobs again. They boggle the mind. Why do they exist?
It distracts from an otherwise lovely story.
Come to think of it, this is the first I've seen Brik since Recharge. Did they realize her design is tough to explain and just shove her in the background until the Blue Beetle guy wanted to use her, or do they just not know what to do with a full-figured rock-woman whose primary story purpose is to crush on Hal?
And I think I'd be okay with them if just one single character were to wonder aloud why a rock entity has boobs. Just a throwaway line in the dialogue. You can't tell me Guy's too polite to mention it. Or that the Doctor isn't curious.
I mean, is there no sanity in Green Lantern whatsoever?
Y'know, I was wondering why somebody who looked like a snake-humanoid had a name like Brik. She's made of rock. That would explain it. I've learned something today! :D
ReplyDelete...I think I need to start actually reading some Green Lantern titles. Scratch that, I know I need to start actually reading Green Lantern titles.
Hotandcold -- (Yes, you should read Green Lantern) To be fair, Gleason drew her with boobies, a belly button, and bleeding (but still kicking the enemy's ass) in one panel, so maybe you're not the only one who doesn't realize she's made of rock.
ReplyDeleteI mean, is there no sanity in Green Lantern whatsoever?
ReplyDeleteThanks to the HEAT legacy, I'd say no, and what little there is gets ignored.
Reading this made me think of a character from L.E.G.I.O.N. who was also a silicon based lifeform. Males and females of her race were identical in shape, but the men had a texture that resembled stone, while the women had a more crystalline texture. While it still played to stereotypes (women=jewels), it didn't give either of them mammal-traits that wouldn't make sense.
Why does a silicone-based rock entity have boobs?!
ReplyDeleteWell, if she's made of silicone I think it would be obvious where the boobs come into play. (Sorry - completely unable to pass that one up.)
Anyway, since Brik was created in the 90s I imagine her design is based probably quite a lot on a lack of imagination on the part of her designers (what makes a character female? I know - BREASTS!). There was a lot of that going on in the 90s - not just with female characters, but with character design in general - lousy visual shorthand replaced interesting character design.
She's a rock alien? Oh, I thought she was some kind of reptile. Which still wouldn't require the boobs. Them being mammallian feeding organ thingies...
ReplyDeleteNow that I now she's meant to be a rock, I'd rather have something that fits my mental image of the "female" golem in Making Money...
"Reading this made me think of a character from L.E.G.I.O.N. who was also a silicon based lifeform. Males and females of her race were identical in shape, but the men had a texture that resembled stone, while the women had a more crystalline texture. While it still played to stereotypes (women=jewels), it didn't give either of them mammal-traits that wouldn't make sense."
ReplyDeleteHere's what you didn't know: Brik and that Legion guy (Blok?) come from the same planet. However, Brik lived on the surface (almost the last of her kind) and Blok comes from subterranean depths, so they're probably evolutionarily divergent.
I think I have an answer, and that is CERTAINLY silicone. Brik has never gotten anywhere with Hal, because being a rock woman without breasts, he found her to be somewhat unappealing. Poor Brik! So, she decided to follow Arisia's advice, went to Hollywood on the sly, and visited a Plastic Surgeon, who for a...price...gave her those magnificent boobs. Sooner or later, Hal has GOT to notice!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I'm positive that Guy has indeed noticed, and finds it hilarious.
Don't forget when DC did it right:
ReplyDeleteIn L.E.G.I.O.N., Strata went around topless ALL THE TIME and no one noticed.
It also depends on the artist. When she appeared in Blue Beetle, I had no idea it was a woman untill a few pages in there was the smallest bit of side boob. This confused me, 'cause I was wondering if it was the same Brik
ReplyDeleteMike-Really? I'd say she was drawn pretty clearly feminine in Blue Beetle. I mean, the very first shot of her in the book, she very clearly has chestage. And plenty of hips to speak of, too.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the stone thing either, but then, I'm not paid to draw superheroes for a living. It's like someone flubbing the national anthem at a ball game - (*any* national anthem) sure I might have done the same without preparation, but I am not a professional singer whose job it is to perform for a living under pressure, and if I am getting paid thise bucks I make it my job to do some homework.
ReplyDeleteYou can't be female without boobs duh XD
ReplyDeleteOur body defines us xD
Oh, Ragnell, I think it's sweet how you hang onto your girlish dreams of things making sense this way . . .
ReplyDeleteTammy
I'm sorry. I keep thinking about the chemical composition of the supposed "milk" they'd produce.
ReplyDelete"Why does a silicone-based rock
ReplyDeleteentity have boobs?!"
Why? To paraphrase Chris Sims:
Because Pat Broderick. That's why.
If she's silicone-based, she's not made of rock, but of highly viscous lipids & lipoproteins.
ReplyDeleteAlso, she probably should freeze to death at Earth's temperatures, but that's not certain.
Anyway, who says she can't be a silicon-based quasi-mammal?
It's not that much more ridiculous than all these alien races that somehow see in our visible light spectrum & can somehow differentiate green from yellow & red. Even some of us can't do that!
My point is, GL is not science fiction; it's fantasy.
Due to a necessary impurity in the power battery, Green Lanterns are oblivious to logic.
ReplyDelete