Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell | TEDxColoradoSprings
-
0:10 - 0:11I spend most of my time
-
0:11 - 0:13thinking about little girls,
-
0:13 - 0:16which is kind of a weird thing
for a grown man in our society to say. -
0:16 - 0:17But it's true.
-
0:17 - 0:20I spend most of my time
thinking about little girls, -
0:20 - 0:22and I think it's primarily
because I have one. -
0:22 - 0:24This one's mine,
-
0:26 - 0:29and the thing that I love
about my daughter -
0:29 - 0:31is that she is smart and funny
-
0:31 - 0:35and kind to people and I think
you would really like her. -
0:35 - 0:38But when I talk about my daughter,
the word I mostly use to describe her -
0:38 - 0:39is "athlete."
-
0:39 - 0:40My daughter is athletic.
-
0:41 - 0:44She is smart and fast
-
0:44 - 0:48and got good body control
and great balance and she's strong. -
0:48 - 0:52She is a three-time,
back-to-back-to-back state champion -
0:52 - 0:54in Shaolin Kempo.
-
0:54 - 0:58At nine years old, she is already
halfway to a black belt. -
0:58 - 1:00My daughter is an athlete.
-
1:00 - 1:05Now, when a man who is six feet two
and 265 pounds stands in front of you -
1:05 - 1:07and says his daughter is an athlete,
-
1:07 - 1:09you might think
that's a reflection of him. -
1:10 - 1:11It is not.
-
1:11 - 1:12(Laughter)
-
1:13 - 1:17My wife was a two-time
all-state soccer player in high school -
1:17 - 1:19and a two-time all-state
volleyball player, -
1:19 - 1:21and I played "Dungeons and Dragons."
-
1:21 - 1:23And that is why,
-
1:23 - 1:26although my kid is an athlete,
-
1:26 - 1:29she's also a huge nerd, which I love.
-
1:29 - 1:31She walks around our house
in a cloak of flames -
1:31 - 1:33that she made herself.
-
1:34 - 1:36She sits on the Iron Throne --
-
1:36 - 1:39(Laughter)
-
1:39 - 1:41even though she has never
seen "Game of Thrones," -
1:41 - 1:45primarily because we are not
the worst parents who ever lived. -
1:45 - 1:48But she knows there's someone
called the Mother of Dragons, -
1:48 - 1:50and she calls herself that
and she loves it. -
1:50 - 1:52She's a huge comic book fan.
-
1:52 - 1:54Right now, her favorite
character is Groot. -
1:54 - 1:55She loves Groot.
-
1:55 - 1:57She adores The Incredible Hulk.
-
1:58 - 2:00But my daughter really at heart,
-
2:00 - 2:03her thing is Star Wars.
-
2:03 - 2:04My kid is a Jedi.
-
2:05 - 2:07Although some days she's also a Sith,
-
2:07 - 2:10which is a choice that I can respect.
-
2:10 - 2:11(Laughter)
-
2:12 - 2:14But here's the question
that I have to ask. -
2:14 - 2:17Why is it that when
my daughter dresses up, -
2:17 - 2:19whether it's Groot or The Incredible Hulk,
-
2:19 - 2:23whether it's Obi-Wan Kenobi or Darth Maul,
-
2:23 - 2:27why is every character
she dresses up as a boy? -
2:28 - 2:30And where are all the female superheroes?
-
2:30 - 2:32And that is not actually the question,
-
2:32 - 2:34because there's plenty
of female superheroes. -
2:34 - 2:38My question really is,
where is all the female superhero stuff? -
2:39 - 2:41Where are the costumes?
Where are the toys? -
2:42 - 2:45Because every day when my daughter
plays when she dresses up, -
2:45 - 2:47she's learning stuff
-
2:48 - 2:50through a process that,
in my own line of work, -
2:50 - 2:52as a professor of media studies,
-
2:52 - 2:54we refer to as public pedagogy.
-
2:54 - 2:59That is, it is how societies
are taught ideologies. -
2:59 - 3:02It's how you learned what it meant
to be a man or a woman, -
3:02 - 3:05what it meant to behave
yourself in public, -
3:05 - 3:07what it meant to be a patriot
and have good manners. -
3:07 - 3:11It's all the constituent social relations
that make us up as a people. -
3:11 - 3:15It's, in short, how we learn
what we know about other people -
3:15 - 3:17and about the world.
-
3:18 - 3:22But we live in a 100-percent
media-saturated society. -
3:22 - 3:26What that means is that every single
aspect of your human existence -
3:26 - 3:28outside of your basic bodily functions
-
3:28 - 3:30is in some way touched by media.
-
3:30 - 3:33From the car that you drive
to the food that you eat -
3:33 - 3:34to the clothes that you wear
-
3:34 - 3:36to the way you construct
your relationships -
3:36 - 3:39to the very language
you use to formulate thought -- -
3:39 - 3:43all of that is in some way mediated.
-
3:43 - 3:45So the answer in our society
-
3:45 - 3:48to how do we learn what we know
about other people and about the world -
3:48 - 3:51is largely through media.
-
3:51 - 3:54Well, there's a wrinkle in that,
-
3:54 - 3:55in that our society,
-
3:55 - 4:01media don't simply exist as information
distribution technologies and devices. -
4:01 - 4:04They also exist as corporate entities.
-
4:04 - 4:09And when the distribution of information
is tied to financial gain, -
4:09 - 4:11there's a problem.
-
4:12 - 4:13How big of a problem?
-
4:13 - 4:14Well think about this:
-
4:14 - 4:21in 1983, 90 percent of American media
were owned by 50 companies. -
4:21 - 4:25In any market, 50 companies
doing something is a lot of companies. -
4:25 - 4:27It's a lot of different worldviews.
-
4:27 - 4:32In 2015, that number has shrunk to six,
-
4:32 - 4:33six companies.
-
4:33 - 4:37They are AOL Time Warner,
NBCUniversal Comcast, -
4:37 - 4:43the Walt Disney Company, News Corp,
Viacom and the CBS Corporation. -
4:43 - 4:47These six companies produce
nine out of every 10 movies you watch, -
4:47 - 4:50nine out of every 10 television shows,
nine out of every 10 songs, -
4:50 - 4:52nine out of every 10 books.
-
4:52 - 4:54So my question to you is,
-
4:54 - 4:58if six companies control
90 percent of American media, -
4:58 - 5:03how much influence do you think they have
over what you're allowed to see every day? -
5:04 - 5:06Because in media studies,
-
5:06 - 5:09we spend a lot of time saying
that media can't tell us what to think, -
5:09 - 5:11and they can't; they're terrible at that.
-
5:11 - 5:13But that's not their job.
-
5:13 - 5:15Media don't tell us what to think.
-
5:15 - 5:17Media tell us what to think about.
-
5:18 - 5:19They control the conversation,
-
5:19 - 5:21and in controlling the conversation,
-
5:21 - 5:24they don't have to get you
to think what they want you to think. -
5:24 - 5:28They'll just get you thinking about
the things they want you to think about, -
5:28 - 5:32and more importantly, not thinking about
things they don't want you to think about. -
5:32 - 5:34They control the conversation.
-
5:35 - 5:36How does this work in practice?
-
5:36 - 5:38Let's just take one of those companies.
-
5:38 - 5:39We'll do an easy one.
-
5:39 - 5:42Let's talk about the Walt Disney
Company for a second. -
5:42 - 5:45The reason why I always pick
the Walt Disney Company is this. -
5:45 - 5:48Is there a single person in this room
who has never seen a Disney movie? -
5:49 - 5:51Look around. Exactly.
-
5:51 - 5:55I picked Disney because they have
what we call 100 percent penetration -
5:55 - 5:56in our society.
-
5:56 - 5:59Every single person
has been exposed to Disney, -
5:59 - 6:01so it's an easy one for me to use.
-
6:01 - 6:05I could do this
about any one of the companies. -
6:05 - 6:10Since 1937, Disney has made most
of its money selling princesses to girls. -
6:10 - 6:12It's made a huge chunk of its money.
-
6:13 - 6:16Unless, of course, the princess
your daughter is interested in, -
6:16 - 6:17as my daughter is, is this one.
-
6:19 - 6:21See, in 2012,
-
6:22 - 6:26Disney purchased LucasFilm
for the sum of four billion dollars, -
6:26 - 6:30and immediately they flooded
the Disney stores with Han Solo -
6:30 - 6:34and Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Darth Vader
and Luke Skywalker and Yoda -
6:34 - 6:35and not Princess Leia.
-
6:36 - 6:39Why? Because this princess
messes up the public pedagogy -
6:39 - 6:41for these princesses.
-
6:41 - 6:44So Disney did not put Princess Leia
merchandise in the store, -
6:44 - 6:46and when people went to Disney and said,
-
6:46 - 6:48"Hey, where's all
the Princess Leia stuff?" -
6:48 - 6:50Disney said, "We have no intention
-
6:50 - 6:52of putting Princess Leia
merchandise in the store." -
6:52 - 6:55And fans were angry
and they took to Twitter -
6:55 - 6:57with the hashtag #WeWantLeia.
-
6:57 - 6:59And Disney said,
"Wait, that's not what we meant. -
6:59 - 7:01What we meant was,
-
7:01 - 7:04we don't have any Princess Leia
merchandise yet, but we will." -
7:05 - 7:08And that was in 2012, and it is 2015,
-
7:08 - 7:10and if you go to the Disney Store,
as I recently have, -
7:10 - 7:12and look for Princess Leia merchandise,
-
7:12 - 7:16do you know how many Princess Leia
items there are in the Disney Store? -
7:16 - 7:19Zero, because Disney has no intention
of putting Princess Leia in the store. -
7:19 - 7:23And we shouldn't be surprised
because we found out that was their policy -
7:23 - 7:27when they bought Marvel in 2009
-
7:27 - 7:30for the sum of 4.5 billion dollars.
-
7:30 - 7:33Because when you make a lot of money
selling princesses to girls, -
7:33 - 7:35you also kind of want
to make money from boys. -
7:36 - 7:38And so what better to sell boys
than superheroes? -
7:38 - 7:41So now Disney had access
to Captain America and to Thor, -
7:41 - 7:42The Incredible Hulk,
-
7:42 - 7:45and they had access even
-
7:45 - 7:48to a group of superheroes
no one had ever even heard of. -
7:48 - 7:51That's how good Marvel was
at selling superheroes. -
7:51 - 7:54Last year, they released a film
called "Guardians of the Galaxy." -
7:55 - 7:57It's a film that absolutely
should not work. -
7:57 - 8:01Nobody knew who they were
except for comic book nerds like me. -
8:01 - 8:04One of the characters is a talking tree.
-
8:04 - 8:06One of the characters
is an anthropomorphic raccoon. -
8:06 - 8:08It should not work.
-
8:08 - 8:11And they made a killing
off of "Guardians of the Galaxy." -
8:11 - 8:13This character here in the middle,
her name is Gamora. -
8:13 - 8:15She's played by Zoe Saldana,
-
8:15 - 8:19and she is strong and smart and fast
and fights like a ninja, -
8:19 - 8:21and she is played
by a beautiful black woman, -
8:21 - 8:23and my daughter fell in love with her.
-
8:23 - 8:27So like any good nerd dad,
I went to buy my daughter Gamora stuff, -
8:27 - 8:31and when I got to the store,
I learned a very interesting thing. -
8:31 - 8:33If I wanted to buy her a Gamora backpack,
-
8:33 - 8:35well, Gamora's not on it.
-
8:36 - 8:40They probably should have marketed this
as "some" of the Guardians of the Galaxy. -
8:40 - 8:42(Laughter)
-
8:42 - 8:45And if I wanted to buy her a lunchbox,
she wasn't on it, -
8:45 - 8:47and if I wanted to buy her a t-shirt,
-
8:47 - 8:48she wasn't on it.
-
8:48 - 8:50And as a matter of fact,
-
8:50 - 8:52if I went to the store, as I did,
-
8:52 - 8:54and looked at the display,
-
8:54 - 8:57you would find a small picture
of Gamora right here, -
8:57 - 9:00but if you look at any
of the actual merchandise on that shelf, -
9:00 - 9:03Gamora is not on any of it.
-
9:03 - 9:07Now, I could have taken to Twitter
with the hashtag #WheresGamora, -
9:07 - 9:10like millions of fans did
across the world, -
9:10 - 9:14but the truth was
I wasn't even really that surprised, -
9:14 - 9:18because I was there
when Disney had released "The Avengers." -
9:18 - 9:21And just this year, we got
a new Avengers movie, the "Age of Ultron," -
9:21 - 9:23and we were very excited,
-
9:23 - 9:25because there was not one
but two female superheroes, -
9:25 - 9:27Scarlet Witch and Black Widow.
-
9:27 - 9:28And we were very excited.
-
9:28 - 9:31But here's the real thing about this.
-
9:31 - 9:32Even though Scarlett Johansson,
-
9:32 - 9:36who is one of the most popular
actresses in America, plays Black Widow, -
9:36 - 9:37and Black Widow is the star
-
9:37 - 9:42of not one, not two,
but five different Marvel movies, -
9:42 - 9:47there is not a single piece
of Black Widow merchandise available. -
9:47 - 9:48Not one.
-
9:48 - 9:52And if you go to the Disney store
and look for a Black Widow costume, -
9:52 - 9:55what you will find, is you will find
Captain America and The Incredible Hulk. -
9:55 - 9:57You will find Iron Man and Thor.
-
9:57 - 9:58You will even find War Machine,
-
9:58 - 10:01who isn't even really
in the movie that long. -
10:01 - 10:04Who you will not find is Black Widow.
-
10:04 - 10:07And I could have gone to Twitter
with the hashtag, as many people did, -
10:07 - 10:09# WheresNatasha.
-
10:09 - 10:11But I'm tired of doing that.
-
10:11 - 10:13I'm tired of having to do that.
-
10:13 - 10:15All over the country right now,
-
10:15 - 10:18there are kids playing
with the Cycle Blast Quinjet play set, -
10:18 - 10:22where Captain America
rides a motorcycle out of a moving jet -
10:22 - 10:24and it's really awesome.
-
10:24 - 10:25You know how awesome it is?
-
10:25 - 10:28So awesome that when
it happened in the movie, -
10:28 - 10:30it was Black Widow that did it.
-
10:30 - 10:34Not only has she been erased,
-
10:34 - 10:38but she has been replaced
with a male figure. -
10:39 - 10:42And so what is this teaching us?
-
10:42 - 10:44I mean, over the next five years,
-
10:44 - 10:48Disney and Warner Bros.
and a bunch of movie studios -
10:48 - 10:51are going to release
over 30 feature-length films -
10:51 - 10:53with comic book characters,
-
10:53 - 10:55and of those 30 feature-length films,
-
10:55 - 11:00exactly two of them
will have female solo leads. -
11:00 - 11:01Two.
-
11:01 - 11:04Now, there will be females
in the rest of these movies, -
11:04 - 11:07but they will be sidekicks,
they will be love interests, -
11:07 - 11:08they will be members of teams.
-
11:08 - 11:10They will not be the main character.
-
11:10 - 11:13And if what we learn, what we know
-
11:13 - 11:16about other people and about the world
we learn through media, -
11:16 - 11:19then these companies are teaching
my daughter that even if she is strong -
11:19 - 11:22and smart and fast
and fights like a ninja, -
11:22 - 11:25all four of which are true of her,
-
11:25 - 11:27it doesn't matter.
-
11:27 - 11:30She will either be ignored like Gamora
-
11:30 - 11:32or erased and replaced with a boy
-
11:32 - 11:34like Black Widow.
-
11:35 - 11:36And it's not fair.
-
11:36 - 11:40It's not fair to her and it's not fair
to your sons and daughters either. -
11:40 - 11:42But here's the thing:
-
11:42 - 11:45I'm raising a little girl,
and she has a little tomboy in her, -
11:45 - 11:47which by the way is
a terrible thing to call a girl. -
11:47 - 11:51What that basically is saying is,
those traits that define you, -
11:51 - 11:52they're not really yours,
-
11:52 - 11:55they're just on loan to you
for a little while from boys. -
11:55 - 11:58But do you know how much grief
she's going to take in her life -
11:58 - 12:00for having a little tomboy in her?
-
12:01 - 12:03Zero. None.
-
12:03 - 12:04People will think it's cute.
-
12:04 - 12:07They'll call her feisty,
because in our society, -
12:07 - 12:09adding so-called male traits to girls
-
12:09 - 12:13is seen as an upgrade, seen as a bonus.
-
12:13 - 12:16I'm not raising a little boy, like Mike.
-
12:16 - 12:19Mike is a little boy in Florida.
He's 11 years old, -
12:19 - 12:21and the thing that he loves
most in the world -
12:21 - 12:24is a show called "My Little Pony:
Friendship is Magic," -
12:24 - 12:27like millions of other children
across America. -
12:27 - 12:31Now, the show is marketed to girls
ages five to nine, -
12:31 - 12:33but there are millions of boys
-
12:33 - 12:35and grown men
-
12:35 - 12:37who enjoy "My Little Pony:
Friendship is Magic." -
12:37 - 12:38They have a club.
-
12:38 - 12:40They call themselves Bronies,
-
12:40 - 12:44pony bros, guys who like ponies.
-
12:44 - 12:45I happen to be one of them.
-
12:46 - 12:49And what are Mike and myself
-
12:49 - 12:52and millions of other boys and men
learning in this feminine, -
12:52 - 12:55sissified world of "My Little Pony?"
-
12:55 - 13:00Well, they're learning to study hard
and to work hard and to party hard -
13:00 - 13:02and to look good and to feel good
-
13:02 - 13:03and to do good,
-
13:03 - 13:08and heaven preserve us from teaching
these wussified concepts to boys. -
13:08 - 13:12So the other kids in his neighborhood
pick on Mike and they beat him up -
13:12 - 13:14and they make fun of him,
-
13:14 - 13:16and at 11 years old, Mike goes home,
-
13:16 - 13:19finds a belt, wraps it around his neck,
-
13:19 - 13:21and hangs himself
from the top bunk of his bed. -
13:21 - 13:24Because we have developed a society
-
13:24 - 13:30in which you would rather be dead as a boy
than thought of as liking stuff for girls. -
13:30 - 13:33And that is not Mike's fault.
That is our fault. -
13:33 - 13:35We have failed him.
-
13:35 - 13:38We have failed our children.
-
13:38 - 13:40And we have to do better for them.
-
13:40 - 13:43We have to stop making it
so that the only female superheroes -
13:43 - 13:46appear on shirts that are pink
and cut for girls. -
13:46 - 13:48We have to stop.
-
13:48 - 13:50And when I was putting this together,
people said to me, -
13:51 - 13:53"Well, that's never going to happen."
And I said, "Oh really?" -
13:53 - 13:55Because just this year, Target announced
-
13:55 - 13:58that they were going to stop
gendering their toy aisles. -
13:59 - 14:00They were going to mix it up.
-
14:00 - 14:04Now, before we break our shoulders
patting Target on the back, -
14:04 - 14:06just this week they released a shirt
-
14:06 - 14:09in which one of the most
iconic scenes in "Star Wars: A New Hope" -
14:09 - 14:12where Princess Leia stands up
to the Dark Lord of the Sith, -
14:12 - 14:13was released on a t-shirt
-
14:13 - 14:16in which she's mysteriously
replaced by Luke. -
14:16 - 14:19So let's don't pat ourselves
on the back too much. -
14:19 - 14:20Just this week also,
-
14:20 - 14:25Disney announced it was no longer
going to gender its Halloween costumes, -
14:25 - 14:26which I say, "Thank you, Disney,
-
14:26 - 14:29except the only costumes you make
are of male superheroes, -
14:29 - 14:31so does it matter
who you have wearing them?" -
14:33 - 14:35Just this week, Mattel, who makes Barbie,
-
14:35 - 14:38announced they're going to release
a line of DC superhero girls. -
14:38 - 14:40And the funny thing is,
-
14:40 - 14:41they met with girls
-
14:41 - 14:43and asked them what they
wanted to see in dolls, -
14:43 - 14:46and you can see, they have calves
-
14:46 - 14:49and elbows that bend
so they can do superhero stuff. -
14:49 - 14:51And please buy them.
-
14:51 - 14:53And don't just buy them
for your daughters, -
14:53 - 14:54buy them for your sons.
-
14:54 - 14:59Because it's important that boys
play with and as female superheroes -
14:59 - 15:03just as my daughter plays
with and as male superheroes. -
15:03 - 15:05As a matter of fact, what I would love
-
15:05 - 15:08is a world in which every person
who goes to the store -
15:08 - 15:11goes with a little flowchart in their head
-
15:11 - 15:14of whether or not they should buy
this toy for a boy or a girl, -
15:14 - 15:17and it's a real simple flowchart
because it only has one question on it. -
15:17 - 15:20It says, "Is this toy
operated with your genitals?" -
15:20 - 15:22(Laughter)
-
15:22 - 15:24If the answer is yes,
-
15:25 - 15:27then that is not a toy for children.
-
15:27 - 15:29(Laughter)
-
15:30 - 15:34And if the answer is no,
-
15:34 - 15:36then it's for boys and girls.
-
15:36 - 15:37It's really simple.
-
15:37 - 15:41Because today is about the future
of the future, and in my future, -
15:41 - 15:45boys and girls are equally respected,
-
15:45 - 15:49equally valued, and most importantly,
equally represented. -
15:50 - 15:51Thank you.
-
15:51 - 15:55(Applause)
- Title:
- Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell | TEDxColoradoSprings
- Description:
-
Why is it so hard to find female superhero merchandise? In this passionate, sparkling talk, media studies scholar (and father of a Star Wars-obsessed daughter) Christopher Bell addresses the alarming lack of female superheroes in the toys and products marketed to kids -- and what it means for how we teach them about the world.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 16:03
Ellen commented on English subtitles for Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell | TEDxColoradoSprings | ||
Ellen edited English subtitles for Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell | TEDxColoradoSprings | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell | TEDxColoradoSprings | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell | TEDxColoradoSprings | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell | TEDxColoradoSprings | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell | TEDxColoradoSprings |
Ellen
English edited 23/01/2017 - two typos (5:27 "want" was missing", 15:27 "your" genitals)