Post by Beth on May 26, 2013 2:49:39 GMT -5
Or vice versa...
A couple of weeks ago we got to properly meet Urbanite for the first time, and given I was talking about paratexts with Sophie over here recently I found it really interesting the way that Urbanite on Twitter differed from comic book Urbanite, and my reaction to the two. I thought I'd see what you guys think.
The first thing that surprised me reading the comic the other week (http://www.mysocalledsecretidentity.com/comic/volume1/issue2/page13) was how violent Urbanite was towards Cat. I didn't expect that, partiularly from a (supposed) superhero who's keeping the city safe. And okay, I get that he sees Cat as a threat, but the violence he showed towards her actually really shocked me. I think a large part of that is because we've seen and spoken to Urby on Twitter (and to some extent on here) before seeing him the comic and what I take from Urby is very different to what I take from Urbanite (I'm differentiating between the two this way in this post for reasons I will explain below).
I said a while back that I found it really hard to knowing what to say in reply to Urbanite on Twitter. Part of that was the uber-masculine thing he's got going on and the SHOUTY CAPS, both of which I found it off-putting and really uncomfortable. It wasn't until I began reading Urbanite as hyper-masculine parody (and this is where the Urby name comes in) that I felt more comfortable responding to him. Having talked to Urby a lot on Twitter now (usually in the form of LOLing at some of the ridiculously hyper-masculine stuff he says, much of which can be read as innuendo if you try - and not too hard either) I had him in my head as a figure who could be made fun of, and certainly not taken too seriously.
Seeing him in the comic then, especially on p.13 which is very dark (in terms of colouring, not just subject matter) was a shock. And that's definitely testament to the writing and the artwork because we've been told all along that Urbanite is the defender of Gloria, etc. etc. and here you can really see it. There's no sense of Urby in the pages - Urbanite is hard, unmoving, armoured...he looks dangerous. And I keep coming back to it but the violence he used on Cat shocked me but also - and I think this is really important - made me feel very uncomfortable. He hurts Cat, and he does it deliberately, to scare her, to cause her pain.
So for me there are two different Urbanites, each of whom I get a different reading from, and each of whom I react to in different ways. But in reading and responding to them differently it also affects the way I read each other one. And that's what I'm finding really interesting. That's where the paratextual element is coming in and making me think.
Thoughts?
A couple of weeks ago we got to properly meet Urbanite for the first time, and given I was talking about paratexts with Sophie over here recently I found it really interesting the way that Urbanite on Twitter differed from comic book Urbanite, and my reaction to the two. I thought I'd see what you guys think.
The first thing that surprised me reading the comic the other week (http://www.mysocalledsecretidentity.com/comic/volume1/issue2/page13) was how violent Urbanite was towards Cat. I didn't expect that, partiularly from a (supposed) superhero who's keeping the city safe. And okay, I get that he sees Cat as a threat, but the violence he showed towards her actually really shocked me. I think a large part of that is because we've seen and spoken to Urby on Twitter (and to some extent on here) before seeing him the comic and what I take from Urby is very different to what I take from Urbanite (I'm differentiating between the two this way in this post for reasons I will explain below).
I said a while back that I found it really hard to knowing what to say in reply to Urbanite on Twitter. Part of that was the uber-masculine thing he's got going on and the SHOUTY CAPS, both of which I found it off-putting and really uncomfortable. It wasn't until I began reading Urbanite as hyper-masculine parody (and this is where the Urby name comes in) that I felt more comfortable responding to him. Having talked to Urby a lot on Twitter now (usually in the form of LOLing at some of the ridiculously hyper-masculine stuff he says, much of which can be read as innuendo if you try - and not too hard either) I had him in my head as a figure who could be made fun of, and certainly not taken too seriously.
Seeing him in the comic then, especially on p.13 which is very dark (in terms of colouring, not just subject matter) was a shock. And that's definitely testament to the writing and the artwork because we've been told all along that Urbanite is the defender of Gloria, etc. etc. and here you can really see it. There's no sense of Urby in the pages - Urbanite is hard, unmoving, armoured...he looks dangerous. And I keep coming back to it but the violence he used on Cat shocked me but also - and I think this is really important - made me feel very uncomfortable. He hurts Cat, and he does it deliberately, to scare her, to cause her pain.
So for me there are two different Urbanites, each of whom I get a different reading from, and each of whom I react to in different ways. But in reading and responding to them differently it also affects the way I read each other one. And that's what I'm finding really interesting. That's where the paratextual element is coming in and making me think.
Thoughts?
