butnotblackwidow reblogged
Disney Pins
If you’ve ever been on a Disney vacation, you may have noticed people wearing lanyards covered in pins. These are part of an activity known as Disney pin trading, where people buy and trade collectible pins featuring Disney characters, events, attractions, and other Disney things. Or if you’re us, you buy one and use it as a lapel pin.
The photo below was taken aboard a ship on the Disney Cruise Line.
You can participate in Disney pin trading with many Marvel heroes...
...but not Black Widow.
Halloween Costumes 2015
It’s late September, and Halloween costumes have hit stores! We checked a Halloween specialty store for their children’s superhero costume selection. Here’s what we found. On the “boys’“ side of the store:
Quite a few options, though some of our favorite superheroes of color are noticeably absent. That’s especially disappointing considering that so many of Marvel’s costumes are branded under Avengers Assemble.
On the “girls’” side of the store:
A much smaller selection. Four characters from DC and only one from Marvel. Black Widow and Spider-girl are available online but not carried in the store.
Of course, given that there are so many more male superheroes than female superheroes in movies and television, one might expect that the selection of female superhero costumes would be much smaller. But there are so many missing, even with the online options included--Scarlet Witch, Agent Carter, Agent May, Quake, Mockingbird... Plus, if American Dream is available, why not Miss America Chavez? Why not She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Spider-woman, Spider-Gwen, Kate Bishop, or any other Marvel heroines that aren’t on the big or small screen yet? Even just sticking with heroines that look somewhat like a movie or TV character (which may very well be what Marvel is doing with the American Dream costumes), there are several Spider-ladies, She-Hulk, Rescue, a Hawkeye, and a Thor that all fit that bill.
If you want a store-bought Halloween costume of a female superhero, you have only a few options...
...and not Black Widow.
butnotblackwidow reblogged
Let’s Talk About Hawkeye
Whenever someone complains about lack of Black Widow merchandise, a common response is that Hawkeye also doesn’t have much merchandise. There has been an uptick in those responses to this blog, so we want to take some time to address that. It is somewhat true that Hawkeye, like Black Widow, lacks merchandise. It is important to acknowledge that Hawkeye actually does have more merchandise than Black Widow in spite of having less screen time in both Avengers movies. But Hawkeye’s merchandise lags FAR behind that of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk. Like many of you, we think that sucks because we like Hawkeye and want to have stuff that shows it. Plus, he’s probably the most quiet and reserved hero in the MCU, and a lot of people can identify with that. So we want to take a few minutes to explain why we don’t write about Hawkeye on this blog.
As stated in our description, this blog is about symbolic annihilation. The next few paragraphs are an explanation of what symbolic annihilation is for anyone who is unfamiliar with that term. The term was coined by social scientist George Gerbner in the 1970s, though it’s used more in the humanities now. Gerbner used symbolic annihilation as part of his concept of cultivation. The basic idea behind cultivation is that when people receive very similar messages over and over and over again in media while also seeing few media messages providing counter examples, over time they begin to believe those repeated messages. While some of the original assumptions underlying cultivation have been questioned, the basic idea has been supported by TONS of research over the last 40ish years. (Sidebar: Cultivation is sometimes described as a “hypodermic needle” effect where audiences never think about or interact with the media they watch, and that is a gross oversimplification that is simply not true. If you want more information about cultivation, I highly recommend Morgan, Shanahan, and Signorielli’s chapter “Growing Up with Television” in the book Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research.)
Symbolic annihilation describes cultivation concerning certain groups of people. It occurs primarily in three ways: (1) a certain group of people is largely absent from media texts (e.g., gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters combined had only .4% of speaking roles in the top 100 movies in 2014) (2) a certain group of people is underrepresented (e.g., women make up about 50% of the population but had only 30.2% of speaking roles in the top 100 movies in the last several years–see link above) (3) a certain group of people fills the same roles but rarely fills other roles (e.g., being villains often but heroes rarely)
It is probably not surprising that in the current media landscape in the US, the groups that face symbolic annihilation are women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBT individuals, ACE individuals, people with disabilities, and other minority groups. The repetition across many media texts of the above things for the above groups contributes to stereotypes, can lead people to believe that majority groups are “default” settings for humans, and can send the message that minority groups are less important than others.
This blog is about how symbolic annihilation also occurs in merchandising. Even when movies, television shows, and other media do include at least a little diversity in their media texts, they often leave women, racial minorities, and other groups that face symbolic annihilation out of the merchandise. We interpret this as a kind of symbolic annihilation that contributes to the larger effects above.
When characters like Black Widow, Falcon, Wonder Woman, and others we have featured on this blog are left out of merchandise, this contributes to the larger of problem of symbolic annihilation as it exists in the current media landscape in the US. When Hawkeye is left out of merchandise, it does not contribute to symbolic annihilation. Hawkeye, as he currently exists in the MCU, is not a representation of any group that feels the effects of symbolic annihilation. Further, there are multiple other characters that occupy his exact intersectional identity in the MCU, many of whom have an abundance of available merchandise. We fully support Marvel, Disney, and their licensees making more Hawkeye merchandise, but we also recognize that the lack of Hawkeye merchandise is not problematic in the same way that the lack of Black Widow merchandise is.
If the MCU were to make Hawkeye deaf, as he is in some of the comics universes, then he would be one of very, very few disabled people in popular media and the only MCU hero with a physical disability. And if that happens, you’d better believe he will be on this blog (unless, of course, his merchandise increases, which would be wonderful).
But for now, we do not blog about Hawkeye merchandise because it does not fit the purpose of the blog, which is to document symbolic annihilation through merchandise.
Wonderful discussion! Thanks for sharing! I wonder if my submission the other day kind of prompted writing this all out. I agree 100% with what you said.
And as a side note, I hope they do eventually go on to make the MCU Hawkeye deaf. There’s so much they can do with his character that is in the comics, but not in the films.
-Rudy
Hey, Rudy! Just want to let you know that it was not your submission that prompted the post. It's not uncommon for us to get questions or comments about Hawkeye, and that's what prompted the post. It seemed like you pretty much understood all of our above points in your submission. Actually, we really appreciated your commentary! Thanks again for your submission and for following our blog!
Let’s Talk About Hawkeye
Whenever someone complains about lack of Black Widow merchandise, a common response is that Hawkeye also doesn’t have much merchandise. There has been an uptick in those responses to this blog, so we want to take some time to address that. It is somewhat true that Hawkeye, like Black Widow, lacks merchandise. It is important to acknowledge that Hawkeye actually does have more merchandise than Black Widow in spite of having less screen time in both Avengers movies. But Hawkeye’s merchandise lags FAR behind that of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk. Like many of you, we think that sucks because we like Hawkeye and want to have stuff that shows it. Plus, he’s probably the most quiet and reserved hero in the MCU, and a lot of people can identify with that. So we want to take a few minutes to explain why we don’t write about Hawkeye on this blog.
As stated in our description, this blog is about symbolic annihilation. The next few paragraphs are an explanation of what symbolic annihilation is for anyone who is unfamiliar with that term. The term was coined by social scientist George Gerbner in the 1970s, though it’s used more in the humanities now. Gerbner used symbolic annihilation as part of his concept of cultivation. The basic idea behind cultivation is that when people receive very similar messages over and over and over again in media while also seeing few media messages providing counter examples, over time they begin to believe those repeated messages. While some of the original assumptions underlying cultivation have been questioned, the basic idea has been supported by TONS of research over the last 40ish years. (Sidebar: Cultivation is sometimes described as a “hypodermic needle” effect where audiences never think about or interact with the media they watch, and that is a gross oversimplification that is simply not true. If you want more information about cultivation, I highly recommend Morgan, Shanahan, and Signorielli’s chapter “Growing Up with Television” in the book Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research.)
Symbolic annihilation describes cultivation concerning certain groups of people. It occurs primarily in three ways: (1) a certain group of people is largely absent from media texts (e.g., gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters combined had only .4% of speaking roles in the top 100 movies in 2014) (2) a certain group of people is underrepresented (e.g., women make up about 50% of the population but had only 30.2% of speaking roles in the top 100 movies in the last several years--see link above) (3) a certain group of people fills the same roles but rarely fills other roles (e.g., being villains often but heroes rarely)
It is probably not surprising that in the current media landscape in the US, the groups that face symbolic annihilation are women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBT individuals, ACE individuals, people with disabilities, and other minority groups. The repetition across many media texts of the above things for the above groups contributes to stereotypes, can lead people to believe that majority groups are “default” settings for humans, and can send the message that minority groups are less important than others.
This blog is about how symbolic annihilation also occurs in merchandising. Even when movies, television shows, and other media do include at least a little diversity in their media texts, they often leave women, racial minorities, and other groups that face symbolic annihilation out of the merchandise. We interpret this as a kind of symbolic annihilation that contributes to the larger effects above.
When characters like Black Widow, Falcon, Wonder Woman, and others we have featured on this blog are left out of merchandise, this contributes to the larger of problem of symbolic annihilation as it exists in the current media landscape in the US. When Hawkeye is left out of merchandise, it does not contribute to symbolic annihilation. Hawkeye, as he currently exists in the MCU, is not a representation of any group that feels the effects of symbolic annihilation. Further, there are multiple other characters that occupy his exact intersectional identity in the MCU, many of whom have an abundance of available merchandise. We fully support Marvel, Disney, and their licensees making more Hawkeye merchandise, but we also recognize that the lack of Hawkeye merchandise is not problematic in the same way that the lack of Black Widow merchandise is.
If the MCU were to make Hawkeye deaf, as he is in some of the comics universes, then he would be one of very, very few disabled people in popular media and the only MCU hero with a physical disability. And if that happens, you’d better believe he will be on this blog (unless, of course, his merchandise increases, which would be wonderful).
But for now, we do not blog about Hawkeye merchandise because it does not fit the purpose of the blog, which is to document symbolic annihilation through merchandise.
I know this is a blog for examples of exclusion, but I’d love to share a small moment of positivity with you, if I may.
I found this mug at a Spencer Gifts in the Midwest. It shows all the main Avengers team, including Black Widow! I was so excited when I saw this, I just had to buy it. I’m actually a huge fan of Hawkeye, but I understand that excluding him isn’t exactly the same as excluding the only two women superheroes, or the only black superheroes.
I want to see ALL the major players included in the merchandise!
-Rudy
Thanks for the submission, rudeonion! That’s a pretty sweet mug! I fully agree with your other points too.
Found these Avengers invitations at Walmart.
No Black Widow and no Falcon? I don’t see how that’s a party. Thanks for the submission, karlimeaghan!
Anonymous asked:
What about you tag the posts about Black Widow being excluded from the merchandise as "But Not Black Widow", but tag those with her presence as "But Yes Black Widow"? Then we followers can find search for those posts and thus the merchandise more easily in your blog :) Really appreciate your effort in illustrating the women absence trend :):):) Thanks for putting the time and effort in fighting for a more gender-equal merchandising world :):):) Thank You So Much!!!
This is a great idea! From now on, when we have the pleasure of posting that Black Widow or another typically absent character is featured on merchandise, we will tag it with “But YES Black Widow.”
Back to School 2015
It’s back to school time! Let’s take a look at the Avengers school supplies available this year.
We have folders featuring four totally awesome Avengers!
We have notebooks featuring...the same four Avengers.
But look! Black Widow is in the background of the Hulk folder! She’s just small and behind all the characters who already have their own notebooks. She’ll probably be featured more prominently on something else, right? Like maybe this year’s backpack/lunchbox combo?
Or the OTHER lunchbox?
Surely the Avengers Assemble school supplies will have Black Widow.
Nope. Also no Falcon, who is a major player in the TV show. But hey! At least there’s a tiny Natasha on a couple of these pencils!
Final count: 2 Black Widows featured with other characters 0 Falcons 0 Scarlet Witches
You can go back to school with your love of the Avengers...
...but not Black Widow.
Watches on Amazon
If you logged on to Amazon.com today, you may have seen this advertised on the homepage:
Comic book watches on sale! Clicking the link takes you here:
You may notice that Amazon has put 57 items in what it is calling “Comic-Con Watches.” How many women were featured on these 57 watches?
Black Widow is featured on 1/6 of one watch. This is the only instance of a female character anywhere in Amazon’s Comic-Con Watches special sale.
If you want to order a geeky watch during this sale, you have many choices for male heroes... ...but not Black Widow.
Avengers Assemble Toys by character
Three weeks ago we made this post where we looked at the availability of Avengers: Age of Ultron toys in our city. We noticed quite a bit of toys dedicated to the Avengers Assemble cartoon which couldn’t be counted. This weekend, we decided to count toys for the cartoon by character. As we’ve explained before, we feel that availability in stores is part of merchandising issue because online shopping is not always a realistic option and because not seeing certain characters on shelves reinforces the idea that those characters are somehow less valuable than the others. What we found was even worse.
First, the rules:
- We only counted toys. No school supplies, clothes, or anything else that might be official Avengers Assemble merchandise.
- We only counted toys that had the Avengers Assemble logo or characters on them. We didn’t count anything licensed under a movie or television show featured in the MCU, Superhero Squad, Ultimate Spider-Man, Hulk: Agents of SMASH, or any other Marvel based property.
We visited the same two Targets, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, and Disney Store as before.
Below is the number of toys found for each Avenger regularly featured in the cartoon:
And here is the graph representing how many toys were available for every character I found:
We see that, just like before, Iron Man is the most represented of the featured Avengers (with 117 toys), and Black Widow is, once again, the least represented character (with 6 toys). Below are some interesting notes from the trip:
- There was only one type of toy available at our Disney Store for Avengers Assemble. It was a Hulk action figure that wasn’t available anywhere else, and there were 32 of them. So thanks for wrecking the curve, Disney Store.
- Toys featuring AA Black Widow were only found at Toys R Us. She was featured in decals on a children’s bicycle and a children’s scooter. These decals featured the entire team. There was no action figure, doll, LEGO, or prop toy featuring Black Widow. (As we’ve explained in previous posts of this nature, we use the term “prop toy” for toys that put the user in the position of the hero, like a Hawkeye bow and arrow set).
- The most common toy we found was the Titan Hero Series line of action figures. There is a Falcon pictured in the link, so it does exist, but we couldn’t find him in any of the stores we visited. It appears that they do not make one for Black Widow.
Anonymous asked:
No one keeps track of requested stuff at the Disney Store. I worked at one for two years and it just doesn't happen, there is no official way to submit that information to home base. Sure, come in the store and tell every cast member but that's as far as it will go. I fully agree with your movement, but people need to stop spreading that "tell the cast members and disney will track demand" it's false
Thanks for letting us know. I first heard about it from Alex Hirsch, creator of Gravity Falls, during an AMA.
Great News!
We’ve had several messages in the last couple of weeks about places where you can ACTUALLY BUY BLACK WIDOW MERCHANDISE!
Her Universe and Hot Topic have teamed up, and some Black Widow clothing is available in Hot Topic Stores.
The Disney Store’s website is selling various Black Widow merchandise, though as the submitter points out, mostly for adults. Our local Disney store does not stock any of this other than the men’s pajama pants. Rumor has it that they keep track of requests for merchandise in stores, so if you have a Disney Store in your area, ask an employee about what you’re looking for!
The above Disney Store page is very similar to a page on Marvel’s website (which makes sense).
One reader also reported seeing some shirts with Black Widow at Meijer, though they don’t seem to be on Meijer’s website.
Happy shopping!
DC Characters Shirt
You’d think with this many characters on one shirt that they could have included at least one woman.
You can display well over 30 male DC characters on your torso at once...
...but not a single female DC character.
butnotblackwidow reblogged
What do you think they are gonna do with the Captain Marvel merch? I'm actually nervous they might not even sell her merchandise😔
Well, in three-and-a-half years I’d hope that Marvel, Disney, and their licensees would remove their heads from their butts and actually make some decent merchandise for their women characters. Though, I also fear a future where they make the movie and all the merch for it but don’t include Carol on anything. Just the logo on an empty action figure box.
I’m not going to talk for the other person who runs the blog, but Carol is my favorite Marvel character. I really hope they treat her better than they have Black Widow, Gamora, and Wanda.
Hi, new writer starting now. As the other person who runs this blog, Wanda is one of my favorite Marvel characters, and I really hope they start treating her better before 2018. Right now would be a great time.
This reminds me of something I saw recently about there being Doc McStuffins toys for boys, but how Disney deliberately kept Doc McStuffins’ photo off the merchandise when she’s the main character and the title of the show is literally her name.
So when people say that they fear Captain Marvel merch won’t have her image on it, just the logo, it’s not even an exaggeration, it’s something that already occurs with Disney shows with female starring characters.
The only thing to do is hope they’ll be slightly more evolved by then. Wonder Woman will have come out by then and as much as I want her to slay at the box office and stick it to Marvel who can give us another Spider-Man movie but not a Black Widow movie, I don’t have high hopes because I have my own fears about the decisions DC has made regarding WW and if they screw it up, DC and Marvel will once again blame women and hold WW up as proof that female superheros aren’t profitable so why spend money on their movies and merch?
Let’s compare the Doc McStuffins “for girls” toys…
…to the Doc McStuffins “for boys” toy.
Apparently the toy manufacturers think that boys can play with Stuffy…
…but not Doc McStuffins.
Not only Captain America, but Iron Man too. At least Cap is on a motorcycle at one point in the movie. Iron Man? The one who flies as their primary form of transportation? Sure. Why not.
Oh, and here’s War Machine, another character who can fucking fly on a motorcycle:
What do you think they are gonna do with the Captain Marvel merch? I'm actually nervous they might not even sell her merchandise😔
Well, in three-and-a-half years I’d hope that Marvel, Disney, and their licensees would remove their heads from their butts and actually make some decent merchandise for their women characters. Though, I also fear a future where they make the movie and all the merch for it but don’t include Carol on anything. Just the logo on an empty action figure box.
I’m not going to talk for the other person who runs the blog, but Carol is my favorite Marvel character. I really hope they treat her better than they have Black Widow, Gamora, and Wanda.
Hi, new writer starting now. As the other person who runs this blog, Wanda is one of my favorite Marvel characters, and I really hope they start treating her better before 2018. Right now would be a great time.