The bros at VOX DOT COM get super-duper-butthurt when you suggest that their embrace of the term "nerd" is little more than posturing designed to cover up a legitimate lack of expertise in, well, anything other than Googling. As Charles C.W. Cooke put it in a recent piece for National Review*:
Thus do we see unexceptional liberal-arts students lecturing other people about things they don’t understand themselves and terming the dissenters "flat-earthers." Thus do we see people who have never in their lives read a single academic paper clinging to the mantle of "science" as might Albert Einstein. Thus do we see residents of Brooklyn who are unable to tell you at what temperature water boils rolling their eyes at Bjørn Lomborg or Roger Pielke Jr. because he disagrees with Harry Reid on climate change.
A love for Venn Diagrams and a passing knowledge of Gene Rodenberry's brainchild does not a nerd one make. Actually having some knowledge on a topic helps, as Noah Pollak demonstrated ably here.
In an utterly unsurprising turn of events, VOX DOT COM's ignorance extends beyond events of actual importance, such as the ongoing campaign by Israel to avoid its eradication at the hands of a terrorist organization using a civilian population as human shields. Indeed, it extends to "nerdy" things like comic book movies. Consider, for instance, this post on the "lack" of female comic book characters in movies.
"We're finally getting a movie about a female Marvel superhero" the headline excitedly proclaims. Finally. FINALLY. Why have we been subjected to a dearth of female Marvel superhero movies? Why have the studios that control the rights to Marvel's characters refused to make one? The dread sexism, I'm sure. Marvel has never made a female superhero film because...
I'm sorry, what was that?
Wait. You're telling me that there's a Marvel movie that's focused on a Marvel superheroine? And it was released in theaters? And featured a legit (at the time, anyway) star? Are you sure?
Well I'll be damned. It's odd that, in his post, Alex Abad-Santos never once mentions Elektra. That seems like some pretty crucial context! Instead he claims "The idea that a female superhero movie can't make money is a myth," citing "The Hunger Games, Underworld, Frozen, and 2014 releases like Lucy and Maleficent." That's an interesting collection of titles: one (The Hunger Games) is based on a hugely popular YA novel that doesn't actually feature any "super heroines"; another (Underworld) has always been a marginal box office presence produced for relatively small sums (not really the Marvel model); another is a cartoon (Frozen), the latest in a long line of Disney cartoons about female heroines; and the last (Maleficent) is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
But the phrase "female superhero movie" is itself kind of a dodge. As I've noted in the past, "female comic book movies" have routinely tanked at the box office. PREPARE FOR A CRUCIAL CONTEXT BOMB:
And, just for good measure, here's one more that's not technically based on a comic book but felt super-comic-booky:
So, I dunno, there's actually some pretty compelling evidence that standalone super-heroine comic book films are not an awesome investment.**
Look: Maybe today it's different! Maybe audiences have been primed by an endless glut of Spider-Man and X-Men and Marvel Cinematic Universe and Batman films that they'll say "Okay, sure, I'm down with this." But, also, maybe not. Let's not pretend that studios are, like, holding off on jumping into the Black Cat business because of horrible no good very bad sexism. Mmkay?
Allow me to leave with one word of praise for Mr. Abad-Santos: I agree that Silver Sable would make for an awesome standalone super heroine. You're telling me you wouldn't watch her
hunt down Nazi war criminals?*** YOU LIE.
*Note to Ezra and Co: It's "National Review," not "The National Review."
**It's also worth noting that Marvel has actually done REALLY well by its female characters. Check out this post for more on that.
***I maintain my position that, rather than a First Class sequel, Marvel should've done a team-up with the Michael Fassbender-aged Magneto and Silver Sable hunting Nazi war criminals throughout South America. Box office gold.