The second episode of Marvel's 616 documentary series is about the contribution that women have made to Marvel publishing over the years, and particularly today.
The documentary gives historical context to the story of Women within the comic industry. Post the introduction of the Comics Code, the industry shifted focus onto what it thought was it's most likely demographic, Superhero comics aimed a young boys. Over the year's women did still join Marvel in writing, drawing and editing capacities, but opportunities to prove themselves weren't as forthcoming. Today, though still a male dominated industry, more women, and more women from different backgrounds and cultures are getting the opportunity to reflect themselves and their experiences in the stories.
Actress Gillian Jacobs is the director of this documentary and does a good job of explaining everything in the context of history whilst maintaining a narrative that makes sense, despite regularly leaping to the present for some of the focus individuals. The most high profile of which is probably Sana Amanat, who allowed Jacobs into her home for some candid footage with her parents. Now an editor at Marvel, Amanat's real back story, that of a Pakistani American Muslim living in New Jersey, was inspiration for the current iteration of Ms. Marvel - who is hitting the big time now with the starring role in the 2020 Avengers video game and an upcoming Disney Plus series.
From a pure documentary standpoint, I suppose you do have to consider that this was financed by Marvel/Disney and perhaps if researching the film had produced a litany of abuse accusations and mistreatment, then perhaps we'd never have seen it. That said, it was an interesting and entertaining documentary showing there's definitely scope for an increasing variety of voices within the comic producing world.
The documentary gives historical context to the story of Women within the comic industry. Post the introduction of the Comics Code, the industry shifted focus onto what it thought was it's most likely demographic, Superhero comics aimed a young boys. Over the year's women did still join Marvel in writing, drawing and editing capacities, but opportunities to prove themselves weren't as forthcoming. Today, though still a male dominated industry, more women, and more women from different backgrounds and cultures are getting the opportunity to reflect themselves and their experiences in the stories.
Actress Gillian Jacobs is the director of this documentary and does a good job of explaining everything in the context of history whilst maintaining a narrative that makes sense, despite regularly leaping to the present for some of the focus individuals. The most high profile of which is probably Sana Amanat, who allowed Jacobs into her home for some candid footage with her parents. Now an editor at Marvel, Amanat's real back story, that of a Pakistani American Muslim living in New Jersey, was inspiration for the current iteration of Ms. Marvel - who is hitting the big time now with the starring role in the 2020 Avengers video game and an upcoming Disney Plus series.
From a pure documentary standpoint, I suppose you do have to consider that this was financed by Marvel/Disney and perhaps if researching the film had produced a litany of abuse accusations and mistreatment, then perhaps we'd never have seen it. That said, it was an interesting and entertaining documentary showing there's definitely scope for an increasing variety of voices within the comic producing world.
