littlefroginapond

[littlefroginapond]

female comic fans treat Dick the same way that male comic fans have been treating female characters, and then when you call them out on it they get mad because “he’s a man, so it’s fine!”

like… no, it’s not okay. you get mad when men objectify Dinah or Selina or Kori, but not when it’s a male character?? seems like hypocrisy to me

especially because Dick has canonically been a victim of SA. currently, there has never been a comic that touched on the impact that this would have had on him. it doesn’t have to be a whole storyline or anything, but even a mention of it would be refreshing to see

I want to talk about Dick Grayson's beauty, sex symbol status, and how it all connects for a moment.

This is a prelude to an upcoming post but I needed to include this separately because the other was getting too big.

First of all Dick Grayson is a beautiful man.

And you're probably thinking "well, no duh. Everyone knows that." but what I mean is Dick Grayson was intentionally made to be beautiful.

For a little historical context, around the late 1950s the culture in the US was changing. It was around this time, that people began exploring and accepting what they called a "feminine man".

This was really taking place in cinema and stuff where they began to show softer versions of men doing "typically female roles" as heroes.

One example is the movie "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", a 1962 Hollywood film. In summary, it takes place in the midwest and is centered about Cowboys, gunslingers, the shebang. But the point is, there are two male leads in the movie - Ranse Stoddard (played by Jimmy Stewart) and Tom Donophon (played by John Wayne). Ranse and Tom are both the heroes in the film but with a key difference. Tom is like the sheriff of the town, loved by all and focusing his time on practicing his gun skills. The savior of women and normal people, he's the typical masculine hero. His face is rough and handsome. Ranse however was the new wave. He doesn't care about carrying the gun, he thinks it's uncouth and focuses much of his attention on sending the evil guy (Liberty Valance) to jail through laws. He doesn't want to kill and he takes a more advocative approach. He is also loved by everyone despite not being super masculine. Ranse's face is clean and almost dainty in comparison to Tom and Liberty Valance's.

Despite the complete opposites they are, both men are considered heroes. On one hand, you have the very male typical hero but on the other hand, you have the feminine male hero. At one point the evil guy laughs when Ranse walks in wearing an apron because serving tables is a "woman's job", but Ranse doesn't let it bother him.

How does this connect to Dick Grayson?

Dick Grayson is the feminine hero of DC. DC jumped on the pretty boy hero train.

That's also why in the Teen Titans (1966) comics, Dick keeps being referred to by endearingly feminine pet names by the titans which they seem to only use on him.

Standard gender roles: Men were expected to be strong, aggressive, and bold while women were expected to be polite, accommodating, and nurturing. Sound familiar about a certain duo?

But Dick? He plays both male and female gender roles in a time period where it wasn't socially acceptable to do so.

So my point is, Dick was created to blur the lines between gender and the way his character has progressed - he's meant to be the definition of a man opposite to male toxicity.

He can cook and do laundry whereas Bruce, the image of male dominance cannot.

This also falls into another role of Bruce and Dick's but it applies here as well in hindsight.

One thing people need to understand is that Dick was created to be the antithesis of Bruce Wayne. For all the gloominess that Bruce is Dick was meant to be the joy. He is the light to Bruce's darkness.

Which is why Dick often acts as the loving mother to the batfamily while Bruce acts as the stern father. Because Dick was created for the female role.

Part of the reason why I love Dick and Kory is because they do this at a time where girlbossing and malewifing wasn't a thing. Kori is consistently the dominant one when it comes to love in their relationship while Dick plays a softer, more "wife like" role. The way Kori is taller than Dick and buffer than him ✨

He is quite literally a queen consort - that is the role that Kori begs him to take after she is forced to marry someone her father picks out for her. But Dick refuses in tears because his morality cannot bear becoming a mistress and ruining someone else's marriage.

I know this is a long tangent but here's where the sex symbol comes in. Dick was created to be the most beautiful figure in DC but him being beautiful is not supposed to be confused with him being objectified.

Being beautiful is just something he was born as. What people do as a result has nothing to with DC

Take this for instance

He's literally just showering and comes out of the shower to find a random little girl singing about his and batman's identities. Creepy? Yes. Very much so. So he chases after her and finds her gone. Well there's nothing he can do now, he needs to go back and analyze what's going on and contact the other titans-

Crap.

Look at all the women that are ogling him, and even the ginger looks as if he doesn't know if he's jealous or wants to join - but there's nothing Dick did to make them do that. He's literally minding his own business and got caught outside. Did he hit on the women? Did he seduce them? Did he purposefully show off and make a loud commotion because he wanted the attention? No!

Arguing that Dick Grayson shouldn't be a sex symbol just seems wrong to me considering that it's not a fault of his.

It's like telling Kori not to have large breasts and telling Dinah not to wear fishnets.

People still ogle them regardless of how they dress because they're just that attractive. You can't tell someone to look a different way because you don't like the attention they're receiving...that's literally the opposite of everything people should be fighting for

Arguing that Dick Grayson being a sex symbol is a problem because he's too beautiful and blaming the actions of other characters for thinking so is just...

it's wrong.

He was created to be beautiful to fight male toxic masculinity. He's woman coded for a reason.

We should be embracing him. He represents everything male freedom should be about. He constantly placed in a female role, in female positions-

In queer positions-

He's acrobatic, slender, and sensual. He's gentle, loving, and beautiful.

When has the beauty of a person ever been a reflection of their character? The way fandom is going, it's implying that because female characters make sexualized comments about Dick's body, it's somehow Dick's fault for looking that way. We're blaming him for his "womanizing" ways as if he hasn't put his heart and soul into every relationship he's had. And while we're busy calling him a womanizer, we conveniently forget that the women he's in relationships with have significant personalities of their own. We inadvertently reduce their beings to plastic bags, ignoring that they have broken up with each other because of being unable to resolve conflicting beliefs, different career paths, different lifestyles, and more. It's not a one way road with our treatment of Dick. It's a two way street because we're harming both Dick and strong women like Kori, Barbara, Bea, Shawn, and Helena by pretending what they believe in and live for is unimportant in love.

Instead we should be exploring how the objectification might have an impact on Dick's mental health rather than blaming DC for using characters to describe how hot Dick is.

All the beautiful traits of Dick Grayson - his ambiguous sexuality, his overwhelming love for people, his affection for his friends, the way he cries and feels for others - all of it is beautiful, is it not?

From his very creation Dick was meant to be someone who breaks gender roles. The constant attraction he receives from both men and women in all of DC's media is evidence of that. The Grayson comics push the boundaries of his sexuality as much as DC will allow. To be queer without coming out with it. He is the feminine hero.

Everyone seems to hate that he's being called a sex symbol but why does that bother you? Dick Grayson IS the pretty girl of the comic universe. He IS the babygirl of DC.

DC has created the perfect view of what it's like to be a woman through Dick Grayson and we're spitting on the most accurate representation of a female that comics have ever created by blaming them for expressing what it's like to live as a woman.

#i wish that there was a writer that touched on these topics with his character #give me a dick grayson that can’t work on SA cases anymore #literally anything #dick grayson #nightwing #batman #dc

[littlefroginapond]

i just had a very visceral reaction to the timothee chalamet rumor.

like i already have anxiety, i don’t need the frail victorian sick boy making me even more anxious

but to the whole point of this: i’m applying to filmmaking schools currently and have been a DC fan for most of my life, so let me tell you that i have OPINIONS on DC casting

btw, these are of course my opinions, but as everyone always says, DC stands for Disregard Canon…

Dick Grayson - Nightwing/Robin I

My Casting: Anthony Keyvan

ideally i would want a Romani actor because Dick is canonically Romani (even if the the origin on why he is… well it’s pretty creepy), but i couldn’t find any.

i also tried finding Indian actors, because the Romani people are originally from a specific part of India and are officially recognized as Indian.

…but there was no luck there either. lmk if you have ideas

but this led me to Anthony Keyvan, who i’m pretty sure is Iranian and Filipino. Filipino actually works for Dick because eskrima (the weapon that Nightwing uses) is a Filipino style weapon, so becoming Nightwing could be a way to tie him back to his roots.

Jason Todd - Red Hood/Robin II

My Casting: Froy Gutierrez

do i headcanon Jason as latino? yes!

is it because Jason grew up poor and abused by his dad? no! (if you headcanon him bring latino because of this… that’s racist my dude)

i actually headcanon Jason being latino because of this actor, who’s half Mexican and half white. a combination of his past acting roles and just his general vibes feel very Jason to me.

Tim Drake - Red Robin/Robin III

My Casting: Aidan Gallagher OR Ian Chen

Tim is the one that i wouldn’t be incredibly mad if they cast Timothee Chalamet as. i mean, i have feelings about only casting A-list actors, but it wouldn’t be the absolute worst.

Tim is typically drawn very angular, which gives a lot of people the headcanon that he’s Asian. i don’t feel super strongly about this, which is why i found 2 actors.

i chose Aidan Gallagher for a couple reasons. one: he’s like 5’5” (at least according to google, i couldn’t find it on imdb). two: his role as Five in Umbrella Academy. UA has always gave me batfam vibes, and i do see Five as the Damian of the group, but for some reason, he also really reminds me of Tim

now if you do headcanon Tim as Asian (which i’m fine with, i’m just not super opinionated on it), then i think Ian Chen would be a good choice. he’s a pretty young actor (i think mid- to late teens), so he hasn’t been in much, but he’s a good comedy actor, which i think works pretty well for Tim.

and finally, the most contested casting of them all…

Damian Wayne - Robin V

DC’s Alleged Casting: Timothee Chalamet

My Casting: Ian Ho

NO. NO. NO.

STOP.

i refuse to let this little white ghost boy play a character that is canonically white, Chinese, and Middle Eastern.

i will say that i had a hard time finding a young actor that is white, Chinese, and Middle Eastern, but Ian Ho is Chinese (allegedly, idk where i actually heard this), so it was the closest i could get.

BUT IT’S STILL CLOSER THAN DC.

these are all my opinions ofc, so don’t take it too seriously. also i definitely have fancasts of the rest of the fam so lmk if you want those too ❤️

#i wrote this in between classes #because it pissed me off so much #dc #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #batfam #batman

[littlefroginapond]

listen, my family thinks i’m a complete nerd for liking comics, but they forget that my dad literally wore a superman pin at HIS WEDDING

#like he literally had my second bday party be supergirl themed?? #this was your fault?? #dc comics #superman