Escher Girls
| Tumblr | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Escher Girls |
| Date(s): | 2011-present |
| Submissions: | yes |
| Type: | |
| Fandom: | multifandom |
| Scope: | |
| URL: | http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/ |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Escher Girls is a popular Tumblr blog founded by Ami Angelwings focusing on "impossible and ridiculous female poses" in comics, video games, and other media.
About
I created this blog as an archive of the way women are portrayed in fictional mediums because in my blogging I kept wanting to explain the ways women are portrayed in comics and I thought it would be helpful to have a collection of examples so critics couldn’t just say “oh that’s just an exception!” Also because analyzing ridiculous art amuses me.Before you ask me any questions please check my commentary tag to find elaboration about various points on this blog. Thanks :)
NOTE: Just because something shows up on Escher Girls doesn’t mean I think the series is terrible, or I hate the character, or that nobody should buy/play/watch/read it. Often I’m just noting something I find ridiculous or amusing in an image, and I’m not making a comment on the rest of the series. I’ve said this a lot before. A thing can contribute to an overall way that women are portrayed in media, (and collecting them to show how often they occur is part of the point of this blog) but it doesn’t mean I’m condemning the show/comic/toy series/etc, saying that it’s inherently broken and must be ignored, or that fans of it are bad people.
This is also not about individual artists. The name of the artists are listed in the tags (and sometimes in the posts, when applicable) as a means of giving credit and for organization, but not to single them out. Often, the artist is being asked to depict a scene in a certain way at the behest of their bosses, or the company. Also, we’re all influenced by the culture we grow up in, and many depictions of women in a certain pose or context happen because that’s just the way we’re used to seeing it done. This blog’s critique is aimed at the greater culture and industries, not at individuals. I want this to be clear because sometimes people misunderstand and they go after individual artists as being the problem, and that is missing the point.
What qualifies for this blog is summarized on the front page as: “certain ways women are depicted in illustrated pop media, such as how women are posed, drawn, distorted, and/or sexualized out of context, often in ridiculous, impossible or disturbing ways that sacrifice storytelling.” This is meant as a loose summary, because there’s just so many ways that women can be portrayed in sexualized or distorted ways. (note the usage of “and/or”, “often”, the pictures often fit some of those categories, but not all.
(All art on this tumblr belongs to their respective artists and are being used in order to highlight and critique the ways women are depicted in the comics and video game industries.)