The Potential of Asian Lois Lane: An extra addition
A bonus addition to my Asian Lois essay. I know Lois Chaudhari isn't technically a Lois since the premise of the comic she's from is where the Superman mythos is fictional and the characters in it happen to be named Clark/Lois etc. But since she's a Lois stand in and romantic partner to the Clark Kent of that story, I figured she deserves an honorable mention at least.
Here's where I position her in my Spectrum of Asian Lois Lane chart. And I'd like to talk about her!
Compared to American Alien, this Lois is actually specific and textually Indian in Superman: Secret Identity. Unlike American Alien Lois (that never specified what kind of Asian Lois was), she can't be replaced as a white woman because the text acknowledges her Indian identity (her name, lines of dialogue like this, etc.) hence she's not interchangeable with whiteness. So this take has that going for it.
Where Lois Chaudhari still falls behind Girl Taking Over (and what it shares in common with American Alien) is yet again a sense of missed opportunities narratively.
In Superman: Secret Identity, a man named Clark Kent from Picketsville suddenly has Superman's powers. After years of being made fun of for his namesake, he suddenly is what everyone has been making fun of him for- and as he lives through life he slowly understands why fictional!Superman is the way he is. It's a great story but where it misses the mark for me is its failure to recognize Superman as an immigrant. Secret Identity's Clark isn't an alien immigrant, or a human immigrant, and is instead ostracized because of his name. Government baddies want to do experiments on him so he has to hide from them too. But then he meets city girl Lois Chaudhari, and they connect because people keep teasing them for their names and Lois knows what it's like to keep secrets because she,,, committed a crime as a teen once.
"I guess we're both dangerous felons, then. Public menaces."
Being hunted by the government and being experimented on isn't really the same as being caught shoplifting.
It works well enough as a connection but to me is a huge missed opportunity to have an Indian American relate to your Superman stand-in as an immigrant. To connect on a deeper level other than "people make fun of us for sharing names with fictional characters". Later in the story, Clark and Lois have twin daughters who are visibly Indian. They too, have Superman's powers. While we're treated extensively to the narrative showing us why Clark would hide his powers from the government wishing to seek harm on him, we never get to see what Clark's daughters have to deal with on top of being visibly non-white.
Superman as an alien immigrant is an anecdote in this story. Because after all, that's not what a white American man from Picketsville would find relatable about him, is it? I have the same thing to say about Secret Identity that I did with American Alien: "Clark isn’t the only American Alien in American Alien, if you catch my drift."
I think this story is the perfect encapsulation of the limits of a white writer. One of my hottest takes on Superman is that the best and most holistic take on his character doesn't exist in the white imagination. Take a look once more at the Spectrum of Asian Lois Lanes chart that I made. All save for Girl Taking Over were headed by white men (MAWS may have Asian directors and writers on their team but ultimately its pitch and main ideas are the brain child of Jake Wyatt, a white man).
People have taken issue with me saying this and assume that I mean white people can't write a good Superman story, and no. That's not what I'm saying. I like Superman: Secret Identity. I even like American Alien. But it's been 80 years of predominantly white writers of all backgrounds getting the chance to write Superman- and already multiple attempts at an Asian Lois- and yet it took until Gene Yang (and artists Gurihiru) with Smashes the Klan and Sarah Kuhn (and artist Arielle Jovellanos) with Girl Taking Over that I felt Superman's themes as an immigrant finally took center stage and weren't just a mention or anecdote.
In no way do I want to imply that getting writers of color or Asian writers specifically will mean you'll be guaranteed a great Superman story. I'm against promoting the idea that diverse talent is infallible or tokenizing and essentializing them in such a way. What I am saying is that the best and most holistic story on Superman as an alien immigrant isn't even a goal in the white imagination. Immigrant Superman doesn't live in that mind. He doesn't pay rent there. He doesn't stop by to visit. And no, Superman creators Shuster and Siegel wouldn't have written that story either. Superman may have been the "Champion of the Oppressed" from another planet under their pen, but he would never have related to or have had immigrant solidarity with America's perpetual foreigners the way Smashes the Klan portrayed him as having. Superman's creators were too busy writing Slam Bradley to be able to write that kind of Superman.
The appeal of these cape characters for me, is the process of adaptation. Seeing them be handed off to someone else with different life experience. Seeing them bring a whole new perspective that surpasses even the creator's intentions on their character. That's what makes these characters rich and worthy of constant revisits. I just think that people of different backgrounds should be able to get as many chances as white men have with writing Superman and his cast of characters.
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(1991 Disney version) Beauty and the Beast au where they met as kids,belle was 8 while Adam was 11 but Adam has been recently turned into a beast,he act a bit bratty but in reality he’s a kid scared of his own situation
Happy Beauty and the Beast week! Here's Day One. I really hope you like it.
Hope this goes without saying, but this is just a fluff piece.
Maurice hated the idea of taking his daughter to that spoiled Prince's castle, but what choice did he have? The Prince's parents had died, and while he was nothing more than a low level engineering advisor to the boy's father, he knew that he was still expected to check in on him, and this would be his first large celebration without them. Maurice also knew that he couldn't leave his motherless daughter at home alone. Not to mention, while he didn't like to admit it, he understood that the boy truly wasn't terrible. He was dealing with more than any child should have to.
It was a short journey to the castle, but when the rain started, Maurice pulled the cart to the side. Belle, bundled in her small cloak, was huddled close to her father, trying to keep warm and somewhat sheltered from the rain.
"Father, we're going to be late," she said through chattering teeth.
"I know Belle, but it's not safe to continue in this kind of weather. We have to wait out the storm," her father sighed, looking up through the canopy of the forest at the falling rain. "Why don't we make ourselves comfortable, hm? You can take a nap so that way you have plenty of energy to make it up to Prince Adam. I'll let you stay up later so the two of you can play when we get there."
Belle puffed out her cheeks and furrowed her brows, looking incredibly cute, but also incredibly annoyed. "But father, I don't like playing with him. He always has to win and if he doesn't, he's mean and will ignore me for the rest of the day."
"I know Belle, but he lost both of his parents. He's just trying to control what he can. You can be nice for a night, can't you?" Maurice was trying to be sympathetic to the boy, though he understood why it was frustrating for his daughter.
The girl hung her head, as if ashamed. She had lost her mother, but at least she still had her father. She couldn't imagine life without either of them. "Okay. I can be nice, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him win."
The rain suddenly stopped, and the clouds parted, allowing for the bright moonlight to rain down. "Well, look at that Belle. Maybe we won't be late for the party after all."
With that, they headed off towards the castle, with no idea what was in store for them. When they arrived, they were confused to see that there didn't seem to be anyone else there. Just the typical servants. Maurice took the horse to the stables while Belle dried off. After that, they made their way to the front doors of the castle. No one was there to greet them.
"How odd," Maurice muttered after knocking again. This time when no one appeared, he opened the door for himself. "Potts? Are you there? Cogsworth?" the man's voice verberated throughout the empty hallways, reaching for the ears of the servants he was closest with. No one answered. "Belle, maybe you should wait here."
"No, I want to come with you. It's scary here," Belle said in a soft voice as she grabbed her father's hand.
"LEAVE," suddenly a booming voice filled the entire castle, but it sounded young. Belle's ears perked up. It sounded almost like Adam. "I said LEAVE!"
"Adam, what are you doing?" she huffed, letting go of her father's arm to walk towards his voice. "We were barely late at all. There's no reason to talk to us like that."
"Belle," Maurice reached for her, but she had already begun to run off, his heart pounding in his chest as his blood felt like it was turning to ice.
"Leave peasant," the voice, somewhat like Adam's but somewhat different, came again.
"Why are you being so rude? I came all the way here, in the rain, to come to your party. The least you can do is greet me properly," Belle called back, stopping at the top of a set of stairs and looking around. Where was he?
Finally, Maurice caught up with Belle, huffing and puffing as he did. "Belle, please, I think we should leave. Prince Adam clearly does not want our company at the moment."
"No! He's being rude," the girl insisted, darting off towards the library, where she knew Adam often spent time.
The large doors were partially open, and she saw a flickering flame inside. That gave her the courage to finish pushing one of the doors open. Inside the library was a small, furry beast of a boy. Unable to keep it inside, a scream ripped from Belle's throat. She stumbled back, and the beast covered his ears, shrinking into himself.
"I told you to leave," the beast whispered with a cracking voice.
Belle stopped just as she turned to run. She recognized that voice. Even as her father was screaming her name, she turned back to look at the puddle of fur and self pity on the floor. "Adam?"
"You really should use my proper title," the beast muttered, pulling his tattered cape tighter around him.
"Are you okay?" Belle asked in a soft voice, cautiously walking over to him.
That was all it took for the boy to break out in tears, grabbing at his ears. "No! How could I be? Look at me? I'm a monster. A beast."
Belle sat beside him, twiddling her thumbs. Adam didn't make any move to get up, or to seek comfort with his only friend. Finally, Maurice made his way into the library. He ran towards his daughter, ready to strike the creature she was sitting beside, even as she shouted protests. However, when the small beast looked up at him, he faltered. He knew those eyes.
"Prince Adam?" he asked, stumbling to a halt.
The boy nodded, now extending and retracting his claws. "Can... can you get Mrs. Potts? She's in the kitchen, and I can't see her right now."
Maurice nodded dumbly, still staring. "Alright my boy, but after that, you'll tell me what's going on here."
"Okay," Adam whispered, plopping his head back on the rug in front of the fireplace.
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Something I've been ruminating on lately is an iteration on the "someone kills Joker for Jason" fic idea (personally, I'm leaning towards Alfred) that actually reckons with the fact that Bruce, in fact, did try to kill the Joker, in broad-ass daylight in public, while Joker had 'diplomatic immunity' for his crimes and had to be physically restrained by Superman, and also that he kept trying to kill him the moment that immunity was revoked, including deliberately leaving Joker to die in a crashing (possibly also exploding?) helicopter.
Partially because I do think there's an interesting level of reckoning that I wish we saw more of about Bruce deciding not to kill as a code for himself. He works with people who kill, and while he's personally against killing, he isn't proselytizing that opinion like someone desperately seeking converts. (This does get more complex in the context of how he deals with his children's' choices in this matter, but as a general principal I don't think its inherently bad for parents to try and teach their children the values they uphold. That is, in fact, a part of parenting.) I also think there is something somewhat noble, or at least deeply admirable, about Bruce's level of self-awareness in saying that "I, an imperfect human being, should not be making the judgement call on who deserves to live." Especially since in most contexts, that's a permanent decision.
(We are setting aside how this is more wishy-washy with DC, but that's a whole other interesting sidebar, on how to reckon with the "only permanent for some" reality of death in a comics-based universe.)
All this to say: if Alfred pulled out a gun from his old League of Extraordinary Gentlemen days, and found a way to permanently remove the Joker Problem, I'm not actually convinced Bruce would seriously mind.
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