Not Comics: Wow, Those DC T-Shirts Are Clearly Repulsive

So unless we're being pranked, some forward thinker in the Warners licensing empire has started putting out clothing aimed at younger consumers with icky -- you know, I'd say "retro" but that's almost like these were cool in a different context and they're just sort of asinine across space and time -- messages. Here's a piece about a Superman t-shirt that rebrands one of their great iconic licenses as a piece of ass; here's one that asks young women to aspire to be the wife of someone actually important.

I don't know the current situation with DC and their licensing; at one point I remember hearing that a lot of it was brought in-house in part to help keep the division relevant in relation to other Warners companies that might push to have control over those characters. But whether that was all the way true and what's true now I can't tell you. It's hard to imagine even the densest hardcore comics people going, "Yeah, that'll play well." It's easy to imagine a scenario in which such people have no say at all.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what to tell you. A loathesome message is a loathesome message, even if portrayed in a "ha ha we're being 14-year-old boys" way. I would have to imagine it's disheartening if you're a fan of those characters and see them primarily in cultural-capital terms to see them utilized that way, and I have to imagine if you're a parent who enjoys those characters and/or enjoys them through your kids, this goes past disheartening to discouraging.

One of the problems with corporate-owned characters in today's hyper-capitalistic world is that they're subject to these kinds of whims and episodes of bad decision-making to an incredible degree. They're product, and any way to make money with product that isn't vastly illegal is on the table at all times. Forget cultural stewardship; even displayed, common-sense management that drives long-term growth can be put aside for short-term buzz or trying to find profit centers for a variety of perceived audiences. As we know to be the case with superhero narratives, you can sometimes goose sales by working directly against more enlightened versions. Because of this, I'm never surprised when an entire comics line turns into a depressing slog of near-pornographic violence and cynicism. I also cringe a bit when people do backflips when someone finds another kind of space in which to enact a less-repulsive vision. They're empty suits. I feel badly for everyone that has to negotiate this kind of nonsense at the behest of a child's earnest enthusiasm, but I'm never, ever surprised when it happens.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

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