Two Narratives, Both Alike In Dignity--The Cover of Teen Titans #1

Something that keeps getting forgotten in the culture wars is how one and the same work, and even individual signs within a work, can be interpreted in exactly opposite ways.

Former DC Comics editor Janelle Asselin tore into the cover of Teen Titans #1 in a recent post on Comic Book Resources. She criticizes cover artist Kenneth Rocafort’s grasp of anatomy, perspective, design, and even signature placement. She also criticizes publisher DC Comics for not understanding the Teen Titan fanbase and potential markets. Along the way, a great deal of text is dedicated to what she considers the cover’s poor social sensibilities. Why does the teenage Wonder Girl have breasts the size of her head and the shape of implants? Why is she wearing a top that she’s going to fall out of the first time a supervillain sneezes? Why is Bunker, who is Mexican, so far in the background?

As is only to be expected, some people did not agree and spoke out. Those people included Teen Titans interior artist Brett Booth (tweets here), comic book fans who felt Asselin’s critique was overwrought, and men who express disagreement through rape threats. Also as only to be expected, a vigorous defense was mounted on Asselin’s behalf (an example).

Many of Asselin’s points are fine enough with me, but let’s look at the cover again. Why doesn’t she praise Rocafort for putting a female Teen Titan in the center, a position that indicates leadership and commands attention? Why doesn’t she compliment the fact that the Teen Titans have a person of color in their group at all? Bunker is indeed in the back, but he’s also hovering above everyone and noticeable at a glance. Why charge DC with being resistant to targeting diverse audiences, when only one of the five pictured Teen Titans is a white male (two if you count Beast Boy who is now green)?

Asselin does mention some of the aspects of the cover I have just highlighted, but she does not say anything positive about them. They merely come up in passing as part of a stream of insults. Why choose to put this particular spin on the cover? Because one narrative has been chosen at the exclusion of another.

 

A few more examples of opposing narratives:

 

If Jared Leto plays a trans woman and wins accolades (Dallas Buyers Club), does this show Hollywood’s willingness to embrace alternate lifestyles? Or because Leto himself isn’t transgender, does it show that trans people are still marginalized?

If Avril Lavigne uses Japanese backup dancers in a music video shot in Japan (“Hello Kitty”), is she using her dancers as props in an act of cultural appropriation? Or is she showing respect for her fans in Japan?

If DC Comics introduces a Muslim Green Lantern, is this mere tokenism? Or is this a move to include a minority in a medium traditionally geared toward white men?

What determines which narrative one chooses?

Narratives stitch together certain facts at the exclusion of others, projecting a version of the truth that is incomplete. Some narratives will be better grounded in fact than others, some more rigorous in their logic, and some offered in better faith. Some will be really bad: erroneous, ill-reasoned and deceptive. But here we have cases in which both narratives make reasonable claims based on a shared work of art.

Is it not possible to grapple with all the narratives? To negotiate them? To navigate them? If those prone to one-sided harangues have done so, they do not act like it. They do not write like it. Instead, they give every sign of a predisposition choosing, driving, their narrative. The same lack of critical thought is occurring throughout public discourse on nearly every issue. Everyone begins with a narrative. They’re just looking for a new excuse, a new stimulus, to begin laying it down.

What keeps amazing me is that the people who should know better, the educated bloggers and other critics who speak the language of postmodernism, are little better than their worst opponents at this level. They know better in theory, but their behavior, their tone, is that of the self-righteous who are certain they possess The Truth. One would think the only thing they learned from intersubjectivity is that their subjectivity is right.

Which is to say they haven’t really learned anything at all.

Asselin presents a compelling narrative--a selective take on a Teen Titans cover--but other narratives no less compelling or grounded in the same material are possible. The same plurality of responsible interpretations is available in many of the issues of our day. Surely most of us can recognize that and stitch together multiple threads into a broader tapestry?