Submitted by jewishlibrarian on Wed, 01/09/2008 - 19:10.
... or as Shakespeare summed it up, "What is in a name?"
If you're Go Girl, your name is important because it's the only signifier that you're Jewish.
At least Kitty Pryde proudly wears a Star of David --- not just when she's in her civilian garb and not just as a fashion statement.
In an interview that was part of the radio show "Chanukah : A Time for Supoerheroes", Trina made 2 comments about the ethnicity of the 3 friends in the Go Girl series. She said that she tries to use reverse stereotypes rather than using the usual stereotypes that we're so used to and that GG's Jewishness is less important than the fact that she's female.
Her 2 examples of reverse-stereotyping were the fact that Hasin (who's African-American) doesn't "talk ghetto", is smart and has a father who's a lawyer, while Heather Woo (who's Asian-American) is "an airhead".
Lindsay Goldman (Go Girl) doesn't seem to have the opposite of positive or negative Jewish stereotypes. The fact that Hasin is smart may jar reader's expectations, but that's because they can see that she's Black. Similarly, they can see that Heather is Asian. However, nothing about Linday Goldman / Go Girl indicates that she's Jewish except for her name. When Xmas comes around (in issue #2), she doesn't even talk about or think about Chanukah ; she's more angry that everyone seems to be forgetting about her upcoming birthday.
Even if the fact that Go Girl is a girl IS more important than the fact that she's Jewish, that would be different than saying that her Jewishness isn't important at all --- unless she's so secular and assimilated that she's only Jewish by birth and doesn't identify with her culture, history or religion at all.
It reminds me of a line from another comic - Static #6 (from the Milestone line) : "Blacks, by virtue of their skin color, are never allowed to forget their culture. They can't delude themselves into believeing they are fully accepted. I sometimes wonder if we [Jews] don't envy them that."
that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet
... or as Shakespeare summed it up, "What is in a name?"
If you're Go Girl, your name is important because it's the only signifier that you're Jewish.
At least Kitty Pryde proudly wears a Star of David --- not just when she's in her civilian garb and not just as a fashion statement.
In an interview that was part of the radio show "Chanukah : A Time for Supoerheroes", Trina made 2 comments about the ethnicity of the 3 friends in the Go Girl series. She said that she tries to use reverse stereotypes rather than using the usual stereotypes that we're so used to and that GG's Jewishness is less important than the fact that she's female.
Her 2 examples of reverse-stereotyping were the fact that Hasin (who's African-American) doesn't "talk ghetto", is smart and has a father who's a lawyer, while Heather Woo (who's Asian-American) is "an airhead".
Lindsay Goldman (Go Girl) doesn't seem to have the opposite of positive or negative Jewish stereotypes. The fact that Hasin is smart may jar reader's expectations, but that's because they can see that she's Black. Similarly, they can see that Heather is Asian. However, nothing about Linday Goldman / Go Girl indicates that she's Jewish except for her name. When Xmas comes around (in issue #2), she doesn't even talk about or think about Chanukah ; she's more angry that everyone seems to be forgetting about her upcoming birthday.
Even if the fact that Go Girl is a girl IS more important than the fact that she's Jewish, that would be different than saying that her Jewishness isn't important at all --- unless she's so secular and assimilated that she's only Jewish by birth and doesn't identify with her culture, history or religion at all.
It reminds me of a line from another comic - Static #6 (from the Milestone line) : "Blacks, by virtue of their skin color, are never allowed to forget their culture. They can't delude themselves into believeing they are fully accepted. I sometimes wonder if we [Jews] don't envy them that."