Everyone knows how Michelangelo likes women: like men, with half grapefruits stuck to their chests. But the Cumaean Sibyl is unique in Western art for another 5 centuries. There are relatively few men in Western art depicted with the linebacker breadth of shoulder our Sybil has.
It's true that Mannerism presents some examples. You've got Hendrick Goltzius' Hercules, for example. But he 'solves' the problem of how to design a superhero by just adding bumps. Eh, it's an ethos.
'Hulk Smash!' tiny head atop vast acreage of ramifying trapezius, flying buttressed by quadrants of deltoids, really awaits "Heavy Metal" and only becomes normalized for the Hulk himself by the 90's. Originally the Hulk has wide shoulders but also a large head. Like Goltzius.
These days it's much more common to show the Hulk with a shoulder-span that is 5 or 6 Hulk heads wide. Rather than the head as apex of wide-based triangle you get a sense of head as pillbox turret embedded in a triangular hill.
Female body-building as an aesthetic is almost unknown before the 1950's. Abbye Stockton is a big breakout example. She's nowhere near as thick in the shoulders or back as Michelangelo's Sybil, obviously.
The early She-Hulk designs are very much on the Stockton model. Even today you almost never get 'tiny head' She-Hulk. But Michelangelo gave us 'tiny head' Sybil, way back in 1510. Make of it what you will.

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More from @jholbo1

4 Jul
Again, Kevin Drum brings the half-truth, I would say. But no time today to work that out. But think how culture shift is not culture war. It's also important to think about how some moderate positions paradoxically become very radical over time.
Consider the following evolution of attitudes.
1) Gays are horrible so we should treat them horribly.
2) Gays are medium bad so we should treat them medium bad.
3) Gays are fine yet we should be allowed to treat them a little bit bad.
There is an obvious sense in which 3) is the most moderate position, hence the one LGBTQ folks should prefer to be in, of the three. But there is also a sense in which it is the most radical, in a 'who holds the whip hand' sense. It pulls back the mask back as 1) & 2) did not.
Read 4 tweets
3 Jul
True, Texas has seceded twice to defend slavery - once from Mexico, once from the US. But not enough attention is paid to how the Alamo's defenders were illegal immigrants and their massacre due to anti-immigrant xenophobia drummed up by conservative nationalist Santa Anna. Image
Santa Anna, in office, was quite Trumpy. So this whole dynamic makes sense. (And the way Mexico kept losing and losing under Santa Anna's leadership.) Image
Dan Patrick, of all people, ought to be open to correction on this point. You would think the fact that Texas has been successfully invaded by illegal immigrants before, over the objections of bloviating, Trumpy right-wingers, would bolster his case. texasobserver.org/dan-patrick-hi… Image
Read 4 tweets
2 Jul
What are the oldest narrative fiction works you would class as, generically, horror or weird or just ‘scary stories’? The first nightmare the first time someone fell asleep, yeah. I’m sure it goes all the way back. But preserved tales that aim to entertain by inspiring fear?
‘Entertain’ is not it but you get it: I’m trying to distinguish, say, religion, although obviously that’s problematic.
Ancient China is famous for being full of ghost stories. I should know more about that.
Read 4 tweets
2 Jul
Scott and everyone else (I'm all tangled up in @HeerJeet's thread) is highlighting this bit, and making the CRT connection. But there's more. 1/
The blackletter-plus-intent of the VRA was to be strict about this, especially after 1982. And the SC backs it up in unanimous "Thornburg v. Gingles" (1986). 2/ justice.gov/crt/section-2-… ImageImage
Alito & co. are not alleging the VRA is unconstitutional, or that "Thornburg v. Gingles" was wrongly decided. They are in effect rewriting the VRA to make it weaker, on the grounds that this is better. It's worth thinking about what a bone-deep betrayal of textualism this is. 3/
Read 16 tweets
25 Jun
Gonna lose followers if I keep Pantheismusstreitundpessimismusstreittweeting. OK, something to help you out. These days kids - boys - love dinosaurs and Pokemon, right? But in the not-so-distant past it was all Spinoza. Every 7-year old boy was obsessed with God-Nature.
Hence, collectible cards. (I think there were 50 in all, in the series. Here are just the first four. Sadly, I don't have a complete set, but if you like and retweet I might 'find' a few more.) I hope this gives a more intuitive sense of the stakes.
Read 5 tweets
24 Jun
Eduard von Hartmann is the craziest right-wing reactionary ever. His book was a huge bestseller, setting off decades of back-and-forth polemics. He was basically selling trickle-down nihilism. Say what you will, it’s an ethos.
I forgot to give the source. The passages are from Beiser: "Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900". books.google.com.sg/books/about/We…
I am struck by the similarities between German Kulturkampf and US Kulturkampf. The 19th Century, in German culture, is bookended by 'Streits' - the Pantheismusstreit and the Pessimismusstreit. They have, seemingly, a unsuitably abstract, metaphysicalized character.
Read 12 tweets

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