by Anne LaRose
on March 3, 2014
In August 2013, popular internet critic/comedian Nostalgia Critic decided to review Sailor Moon. At the time, I was unfamiliar with Nostalgia Critic, but the review reverberated throughout the fandom. The rumblings weren’t particularly positive, so I decided to skip it. Fast forward a few months later, and on a boring, lazy Sunday, my curiosity got the better of me. It turns out this piece of internet comedy has a lot to say about male sexuality, female sexuality and victim blaming.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
[Content Note: Discussion of rape, guns and victim blaming]
[click to continue…]
{ } by Anne LaRose
on January 31, 2014
Over the past ten years, Hollywood has been pumping out the live action superhero movies left and right–and it looks like there’s no end in sight. These movies has given us plenty of dude heroes, but not many lady heroes. It’s rather embarrassing–Batman, Spiderman and Superman have several movies each while the most recognizable American super heroine, Wonder Woman, has never appeared on the golden screen in the flesh. Finally, that will change in 2016.
To improve the number of lady heroes, a live action Sailor Moon movie would be a logical choice to bring to the big screen. In fact, in this recent interview with Naoko Takeuchi and Osabu, they reveal that Hollywood did approach them (probably in the late 90s) about doing a movie. However, they took a pass on it because they didn’t think it could stay true to the original. While that news is disappointing, we have quite a few fan films to satiate our thirst. For one, we have a beautiful short that covers Sailor Moon’s awakening. Meanwhile, Sailor Moon: The Movie attempts to condense the whole first season into one movie. For fans of the fourth season, there’s a fanfilm out of Australia which re-imagines the Dream Arc. It looks like there’s another in the works based on the first season. (Also relevant: I think this Madoka Magica short is absolutely amazing!)
The most recent Sailor Moon fan film to grace the internet is Sailor Moon & the Return of the Shadows. I had the pleasure of meeting the writer and director, Christina Neno last year at Senshi Matsuri and was able to chat with her recently about the completed project. [Editor’s Note: Interview has been edited from it’s original form for clarity.]
[click to continue…]
{ } by Anne LaRose
on January 20, 2014
A year ago, I was perusing nytimes.com when I stumbled upon an article titled, “Beate Gordon, Long-Unsung Heroine of Japanese Women’s Rights, Dies at 89.” This article BLEW. MY. MIND. After graduating college, a 22 year old white woman went to Japan and wrote part of the Japanese constitution?! How come I didn’t know this? I had to know more. [click to continue…]
{ } by Anne LaRose
on December 16, 2013
In 2011, the above image of the Avengers by artist Kevin Bolk made the rounds on the internet. He had noticed that in many promo images for the movie Black Widow was constantly posed in such a way that the viewer could gaze at both her boobs and butt at the same time. The male avengers, however, are never posed like this.
The original promo image.
And it’s just not the Avengers—TheMarySue.com has extensively covered this phenomena across several movies. American comics have been known to do this as well with this image of Catwoman and this image of Mary Jane being notable examples. To bring attention to this issue, on December 2nd 2012, The Hawkeye Initiative was born. Their mission? To insert male comic characters into these hyper-sexualized poses to illustrate the lengths that artists go to sexualize lady heroes. In other words, artists focus on dude heroes’ strength whereas lady heroes are reduced to their tits and ass. With this in mind, my thoughts turned to Sailor Moon. It turns out that Sailor Moon can teach American artists a thing or two about being both sexy, but not sexualized.
[click to continue…]
{ } by Anne LaRose
on December 2, 2013
Via tara-senpai
The English dub of Sailor Moon produced by DiC Entertainment made numerous changes that fans were not happy with. Genders were switched, gay love was erased, and whole episodes cut or spliced together–the list can go on and on. But there were a few small changes that no one really talks about that I think should be given its due credit. The Sailor Moon English dub goes out of its way to eliminate the notion that the words “dark” and “black” should be equated with evil.
[click to continue…]
{ } by Anne LaRose
on November 25, 2013
My mom was unable attend my panel at Senshi Matsuri so I wanted to offer her the next best thing–a series of posts based off of my powerpoint presentation. I realize I don’t have a post based on my “What is Feminism?” slide, but I suppose this post will have to do. Anywho, for your convenience (and your mother’s!), Sailor Moon & Feminism 2013:
1. Does Sailor Moon Pass the Bechdel Test?
2. LGBT Representation in Sailor Moon: Heroes Edition
3. LGBT Representation in Sailor Moon: Villains Edition
4. Sailor Moon Says: Treat Trans People with Dignity!
5. Does Sailor Moon Promote Fat Hatred?
6. Body Image in Sailor Moon: Skin Tone Edition
7. Sexiness as Evil in Sailor Moon
8. Sailor Moon Says: Stop Victim Blaming!
{ } by Anne LaRose
on November 18, 2013
SlutWalk NYC 2011
Content Note: Sexual Assault, Victim Blaming
In 2011, Toronto, Canada, a group of students attended a campus safety information session where a representative of the Toronto police gave this advice: “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” Unfortunately, this representative must have been talking out of their ass because people of both sexes, all ages, professions and styles of dress have become victims of sexual assaults. Dissatisfied that authorities would only blame them for assaults committed against them, these students began a world-wide protest movement called SlutWalk.* Activists hoped these protests would bring more awareness about the realities of sexual assault.
In October 2011, I was able to attend the SlutWalk protest in New York City. At St. Mark’s, I spotted the above Sailor Moon sign and I practically tripped over my pilgrim dress (I was sporting a Hester Prynne outfit with a prominent A+. HEHEHE.) to get the above photo. I think Sailor Moon would agree that wearing a short skirt or knee high boots isn’t an excuse for sexual assault! I also admired the word play on the sign that referenced Sailor Moon’s signature speech: I’m Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice– and in the name of the moon, I will punish you!
[click to continue…]
{ } by Anne LaRose
on November 11, 2013
Last Christmas, when I was at my childhood home, I sifted through my old Sailor Moon fanart. Among the Sailor Earth sketches, (YES SAILOR EARTH. I AM NOT ASHAMED.) there was a sketch of a villain–a woman with long black hair, crimson lips and long red nails. And it occurred to me–why does this woman have red lips? Why does she have long red nails? What was so evil about red lips or long red nails?
I took a look at my Sailor Earth–blue eyes, brown hair in pig tails (YEAH YEAH I KNOW) and I realized that she didn’t have red lips, long red nails nor long, black eyelashes even. And it dawned on me–why was the sexy woman evil? How did that happen?
[click to continue…]
{ } by Anne LaRose
on November 4, 2013
In 2009, the comedy/horror movie Jennifer’s Body was unleashed upon the world. Written by self-proclaimed feminist Diablo Cody (writer for Juno) and directed by Karyn Kusama (Aeon Flux), Jennifer’s Body tells the story of Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and bestie Jennifer (Megan Fox) who becomes a man-eating demon. I had been meaning to watch it for the longest time just to see how “feminist” this movie claimed to be—and finally! It happened!
And ZOMG YOU GUYS! I LOVED IT! Witty dialogue, two female leads, with a feministy theme?! YEAH! I spoke to a few of my Moonie friends on twitter about my new-found love, but unfortunately they didn’t share my enthusiasm–the movie just wasn’t their cup of their tea. I can see how one might feel that way–the movie is kinda one big “cat fight.” It also might be a bit boring if you aren’t busy looking for feminist elements like I was. But what really excites me about this movie is that you can read it in many different ways. Underlying the plots of horror movies and literature are social anxieties we don’t want to talk about. However, before I dive into that, Jennifer’s Body did make me think of Sailor Moon.
[click to continue…]
{ } by Anne LaRose
on October 25, 2013
When I heard there would be a Carrie remake with Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore and directed by Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Peirce, I was super excited. Would this be a feminist horror movie? It sounded like it! I had actually never seen the original movie directed by Brian De Palma which was released in 1976, so I immediately queued it up on Netflix Instant. I liked what I saw, but I definitely thought it could use an update.
Fast forward to opening weekend, and my boyfriend and I exited theater thinking that we just saw a successful remake. Well, not so, according to the reviews! I feel the need to chime in and set some things straight.
****SPOILERS AHOY****
[click to continue…]
{ } 
