alixtii | Injustice Bingo Cards

metafandomed post here, thinking about Injustice Bingo Cards (my term). From what I can tell, she's particularly looking for fandom-specific ones, the Girl-Wonder.org has a comics-specific one. That one comes with detailed explanations of why each argument

dirty_diana's post reminded me of something that occurred to me and I had been planning on posting about: the way the Bingo Card meme seems to be, in my experience, morphing into something which is missing the point as I understand it. (What she's looking for would bring it back in line with the point.)

The idea behind an Injustice Bingo Card isn't to log all the stupid arguments people make. On the contrary, it's supposed to respond to all to the incredibly plausible-sounding arguments which are actually, at the end of the day, sort of right. Most of the statements on the Comics Bingo Card are true. For each female character with a provocative outfit (read: all of them), there are valid characterological reasons why they dress that way. For every event which is demeaning to women, there are real narrative forces at work setting it up.

This is why the game is Bingo and not, I don't know, dodgeball; one's argument isn't problematic until one ends up arguing a bunch of the squares at once. When one thinks that Supergirl, Powergirl, Black Canary, Huntress, Emma Frost, and every one else are just dressing in line with their organically developed character, and the death of Stephanie Brown was a reasonable event in continuity, and . . .

At the point, if one's interlocutor doesn't recognize that no matter how reasonable each fact seems in isolation, there is a pervasive pattern of misogyny and sexism at work, then yes, they need to be thwapped upside the head.

The entire point of Injustice Bingo Cards is to help the interlocutor to see beyond the reasonable-seeming circumstances of the individual situation and see the patterns of oppression which exist, not to list 25 arguments one is sick of hearing. (Note: According to blog at Girl-Wonder, the latter reason is actually closer to their original intentions than the former. This is why i don't privilege biographical information or authorial intent.)

And . . . I feel this maybe gets lost sometimes in some appropriations of the Bingo Card meme?

(God/ess, I have no clue who my audience is right now.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No, you make perfect sense. It's like...there were real good reasons Tara died. And in and of itself that's a totally valid plot decision. Just...in context...and history...

so...i like your explanation better :)

Ah! That makes beautiful sense. Sadly the only way I have seen the bingo cards used is to let people laugh and point at the stupid ignorant bigot of choice, which has always made me loathe the things. It is actually very reassuring to know they can have a sensible purpose.

I think one of my problems actually is because I tend to find these sorts of discussions via metafandom I always come in at the later stages when tempers have already reached boiling point. It gives a biased view of all these issues.

I hadn't actually considered their use in this light, and it certainly makes more sense the way you're talking about it. They suddenly seem useful as a tool for education and awareness instead of being a sort of tool for mockery and feeling superior.

That said, I'm pretty sure that the concept evolved from anti-buzzword bingo in its various forms, and that clearly was intended to be a tool for mockery so I wouldn't be surprised if your own reading is not that originally intended. Then again, I could care less. If this isn't what the author meant, it's probably what the author should have meant.

One of those early things I learned in analytic philosophy: you don't always fight the author's arguments, you fight the best arguments that could be made for their side. Always assume that people are smarter and better than they are.

Anyway, thanks,
Ana

On the contrary, it's supposed to respond to all to the incredibly plausible-sounding arguments which are actually, at the end of the day, sort of right. Most of the statements on the Comics Bingo Card are true. For each female character with a provocative outfit (read: all of them), there are valid characterological reasons why they dress that way. For every event which is demeaning to women, there are real narrative forces at work setting it up.

I don't agree. The problem isn't just the accumulation of demeaning incident or oft-repeated explanation, but the different levels of analysis. When you focus on characterological analysis in this way, you ignore that you're dealing with a created story that's shaped by particular people from a particular culture and act as if these "real narrative forces" are independent of any social or political influence. Not necessarily you personally, but "you the reader": I see this as a common conflict in discussions of media, where a critic may be arguing that the *narrative* is sexist or racist and the response focuses on whether the *characters* are.

And frankly a lot of the time there *aren't* valid characterological reasons and one of the things that we criticize in media fandom is the difference between what we're told the characters *are* and how they actually *act*.

ETA: Added a comma and a sentence to clarify meaning.

When you focus on characterological analysis in this way, you ignore that you're dealing with a created story that's shaped by particular people from a particular culture and act as if these "real narrative forces" are independent of any social or political influence.

I think this is what I was saying? I'm not sure I see any real point of disagreement, so I'm not quite sure what you're saying.

Injustice Bingo Cards

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