Tue, 25 June 2024
Betrayal is not a fave theme of mine in any media. I really dislike it, but it's so popular! We've talked about this one before but no one really remembers Quackcast 427 so we're having another crack at it! We talk about all the different aspects: political, love, country, loyalty etc and really have fun with it! What I dislike most about the betrayal theme is when a character lies to get into a relationship with another character, or betrays the trust of someone they're in a relationship with. It's like nails on a blackboard to me, and yet it's done all the time so it must be entertaining and popular to other people? Betrayal by an organisation, a country, or superiors is also pretty popular but I don't think that approach is so bad because it usually reflects how people feel rather than a personal attack. Take Rambo for example: in that his country betrays him, but we all understand that it's a parable about how Vietnam war veterans were abandoned by their country and not given the support they needed. In my comic Pinky TA I use the “betrayed by superiors” theme, mainly because I was influenced by Ghost in the Shell when I wrote it and that was a popular theme in more serious anime at the time. It's also a good parable for growing into adulthood. Have you used a betrayal theme? Do you like it, or do you hate it like me? This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Oswald the Overman in the Lesser Planes of Hell - Starting off cutesy and friendly and pink this tune quickly spirals down into surreal, mind melting weirdness followed by a little bit of Louie Louie on the keyboards just to get us back to feeling in a party mood again! Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Featured music: Special thanks to:
Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS
Comments[0]
|
Tue, 18 June 2024
Benevolent racism, sexism, ableism, and whatever other “isim” is an interesting aspect of those otherwise negative things. It's not as obvious in its negativity, it's well-meaning and yet quite misguided. So what is it? The term “Benevolent” makes it seem nice and harmless and that IS how people mean it, but that's because they're a bit clueless and ignorant. Benevolent sexism, ableism, and racism is basically using a “positive” stereotype to characterise someone based on their ethnicity, gender etc, like “all black people have natural rhythm”, or “women are more sensitive and in touch with nature”, or “blind people have all their other senses massively heightened”. So why is that a problem, you might ask? Because a stereotype that characterises an individual based on an assumption about their gender, their ethnicity or any other group they belong to is STILL a stereotype, it's still false and has nothing to do with them as an INDIVIDUAL person. What people really do when they use these benevolent stereotypes is to keep that person “other” from themselves, preventing them from relating to that person as a fellow human. It also puts the person in an awkward position, having to fit into or live up to standards that have nothing to do with them, i.e. “I'm an Asian so that means I have to be amazing at maths, a doctor, expert at martial arts, and constantly doing spiritual Buddhist ceremonies…” Anything that prevents us properly relating to people as fellow humans is a problem whether it's openly negative or seemingly positive. The argument in favour of benevolent stereotypes is to combat the negative ones and in that it has a place, a limited one but a place nonetheless. Think about the old “noble Savage” idea, native people used to be universally looked down upon but then this idea developed that they had a “nobility” of their own, free from the constraints of civilisation, they were in touch with the natural world etc. For black people it was the “magical Negro”, an older black person who's only trait seemed to be that they were friendly and there to offer wise life advice to white people. For south Asian people it was unarmed martial arts expertise, spirituality, and ceremony. For gay people it was “the gay best friend” who would give sage love-life advice to a female main character, do her hair and pick our her shoes and look fabulous. These stereotypes served the purpose of combating negative images and making a place for these groups in the mainstream. They had a place, but their time has passed. Examples are legion and usually very silly. Can you recognise them when you see them? Have you experienced them yourself? Do you use them yourself? What are some you can think of? One I hate the most is when bad stand up comedians tell us the “differences” between men and women, and it's just a list of stupid stereotypes.
Topics and shownotes Links
Featured music: Special thanks to:
Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS
Direct download: Quackcast_692_-_Benevolent_racism_and_other_isms.mp3
Category:Webcomics -- posted at: 12:00am PDT
Comments[0]
|
Tue, 11 June 2024
Thirst trap is the topic of today's Quackcast! What is a thirst trap? It's basically someone presenting themselves as very sexy in order to get attention for some sort of reason, rather than just happening to look attractive. So it's usually used for some sort of advertising purpose, to sell their OnlyFans, to get a date, or more conventional advertising. Today we're talking about it it terms of comics :) Years and years ago there ws an explosively popular comic on Drunk Duck called Craving Control. It was very well drawn and featured a sex, very busty women who would eat uncontrollably and get very fat and then slim down again quite suddenly. For some reason this was MASSIVELY interesting to people. The reason I mention it hear though is that their thumbnail pronominally featured a very boobular cleavage shot of the main character. Many of us creators on the site envied the popularity of this comic and chose to copy that thumbnail style. Suddenly there were all sorts of comics on the site being advertised with boob or butt thumbnails. Thirst traps everywhere! It started a fad on the site. People all suddenly re-learned the ancient lesson that “sex sells”. In our cast we expand this a bit to talk about some of the famous thirst trap comics that often don't deliver on the promise of their covers like Vampirella, along with Witchblade and Red Sonja. This was something that existed even before comics back with the old pulps. Artists like Margeret Brundage were famous for their scantily clad, busty women in compromising situations, which the stories within weren't nearly as racy. The of course we have “bodice-ripper” romance novels featuring women in tight corsets and men with bulging chests… Have you been guilty or at least tempted to use this tactic to promote your work? I know I have! Future topic: Benevolent sexism, also benevolent racism. This week Gunwallace was still unwell so I picked a sexy sounding past one to go along with the the topic today - Pep Squad - These girls are here to get you motivated! You can almost SEE the dance routine in your mind’s eye, and believe me, it’s pretty sexy… They’ve got some moves. The crowd roars as the pep squad performs, bumping, grinding and sliding on the stage. (from Quackcast 409) Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Featured music: Special thanks to:
Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS
Comments[0]
|
Tue, 4 June 2024
Mister V, aka Arborcides is our guest today, doing an interview with us about his huge project “Dozer Manifesto”, now finally completed! You can read the entire thing here on DD. It's about a fellow called Marv Heemeyer, resident of the Colorado town of Granby, and his decent into craziness, resulting in him creating an armour-plated, armed bulldozer, designed to be invulnerable, so he could crush the town and destroy his enemies with impunity. You might have heard of it being call the “killdozer”. The story was pretty sensationalised at the time and most people rooted for Marv as some sort of Robin Hood, or avenging angel, righteously taking revenge on enemies who had unfairly crossed him. There was very little consideration given to the other side, or the lives of the people he impacted. Mister V's comic really takes pains to tell the story the right way! In this age of mediated and sensationalised “reality” where fake conflict is inserted to tell better stories, people are characterised according to tropes, the truth is spun, and our very image of what is real is continually distorted, Mister V beautifully fights against that and delivers a fully balanced, nuanced view of the entire story from beginning to end and many years after. As a resident himself of Granby where the action happened, he had special access to the locations and the witnesses involved, which makes the Dozer Manifesto fascinating reading and elevates it from a comic to an actual historical document. This week Gunwallace was under the weather so we reissued an older track that fit this theme perfectly! Dozer Manifesto - Start your engine… The sound of the powerful diesel motor as it comes time life… you can smell the fumes. Dry, dusty, industrial, rocky, the guitar thrums with a mechanical rhythm, hot and fast. (from Quackcast 465) Topics and shownotes Links Our intview subject today: Mister V, aka Arborcides - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/arborcides/
Featured music: Special thanks to:
Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS
Direct download: Quackcast_690_-_Mister_V_Dozer_Maifesto.mp3
Category:Webcomics -- posted at: 12:00am PDT
Comments[0]
|
|
The QuackCast features Ozoneocean, Banes, Tantz Aerine, and Pitface, talking about writing, movies, webcomics, art, politics, philosophy, sexuality, and everything else! We're the hosts of the oldest webcomic host on the net, Drunkduck.com, aka theduckwebcomics. 20 years this year!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
