Men Really Cannot Handle Female Protagonists in Nerd Media
This week brought the first full trailer for DC Studios’ Supergirl movie… and, unfortunately and unsurprisingly, it has started a lot of nonsense online.
On Thursday, right-wing YouTuber and Comicsgater Jon Del Arroz tweeted “Who’s the most insufferable strong, female lead?” The post attached a photo of Alcock from the newest Supergirl trailer, Rachel Zegler from the live-action Snow White, Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel in Avengers: Endgame, and a promotional shot of Daisy Ridley’s Rey from Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Plenty of men have taken to social media to be negative about Alcock since the trailer dropped, posting random frames in an attempt to call her unattractive. (With the shot Del Arroz uses in his tweet, it’s worth mentioning that no one would or should, realistically, be mogging to the camera while trying to save someone from being crushed by a runaway motorcycle. Alcock’s Kara is totally reacting to the moment in a normal way.) But the negativity began to bloom after a quote from Alcock’s profile with Vanity Fair went viral, in which she acknowledged the weird toxicity that actresses in her position often face.
“It definitely made me aware that simply existing as a woman in that space is something that people comment on,” Alcock explained. “We have become very comfortable having this weird ownership of women’s bodies. I can’t really stop them. I can only be myself.”
In just a few sentences, all Alcock did was acknowledge that men on the Internet can be weird and territorial… and then those men proceeded to be extremely weird and territorial. Comparisons to Larson and Zegler, both of whom have been vilified by right-wing nerd spaces for making candid comments about the entertainment industry, soon followed. So, in a way, Del Arroz’s tweet isn’t surprising… but it’s still frustrating.
It’s frustrating because, in part, this isn’t the first time that Del Arroz has caught flack for his blatant misogyny or weird behavior. Whether through the right-wing (and often incorrect) news website Bounding Into Comics, or his own personal YouTube channel or social media accounts, his comments or coverage have been… gross. For just a few examples: you don’t have to look far to find criticism of his belief that Superman is secretly a right-wing character, his coverage of the life and death of controversial comic creator Ed Piskor, his (incorrect) assumptions about the popularity of DC’s Absolute Wonder Woman series, and even his embracing of artificial intelligence to write his books.
He’s also specifically gotten flack for his comments regarding Supergirl and Alcock: after posting that she was dressed “like a man” during the film’s trailer debut event in New York last December, a viral TikTok from @starscream__ called him out in a pretty blunt way. He dug up court documents revealing that Del Arroz’s ex-wife filed a restraining order against him, after he committed acts of domestic violence against her. This topic comes up quite a bit in the replies to his “strong, female lead” tweet, as people are giving him flack for being predictable and demeaning towards women.
Part of what sucks about viral posts like this is: they’re, in some way, a desperate effort to get attention. Outrage gets noticed on social media, and that only works out in the favor of those who monetize their tweets or videos or TikToks. Honestly, even writing this article is probably giving Del Arroz and those like him way more oxygen than they deserve. But at the same time, these inflammatory and offensive comments shouldn’t be able to exist in a vacuum.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Warner Bros.)
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