Logical Progression Free Write

Even with as much writing as I've accomplished in the span of my life (which isn't as much as I'd like to think, I know), I still struggle to walk through what the most logical progression of the argument should be. For the sake of the piece I'm writing now, I'm going to free write below to hopefully hammer that out this evening while also journaling it here to meet my weekly writing quota.

Brief Synopsis of the Piece:

Main Topic: Gender Bent characters and how aggression translates between gendered bodies.

Main Characters of Reference: X-23 and Wolverine, Hulk and She-Hulk, Captain Marvel and Captain Mar-Vel

I'd like to focus on three central concepts that these characters seem to circle around when it comes to aggression and how they function as characters. In brief, X-23 operates based on the weaponization of her body; She-Hulk mediates her transformations through her emotions and her trauma in the 2016 rendition of her character, and Captain Marvel physically outlasts her predecessor - Captain Mar-Vel. So in short, I'd like to focus on: Weapon/Weaponization, Physical Strength, and Emotional Impact.

However, this could also be seen as two larger concepts - Physical and Emotional - which could be further broken down into weaponization, trauma, etc. For the sake of this 15-20 page paper, I'm not sure which route would be more logical. Writing here however, I think I prefer the two route with a bigger breakdown of the physical.

Aggression itself is understood in a multitude of ways and is in itself a vast topic when considering gender. Most commonly, people think of aggression in cases they are physically threatened, which is why it's a topic that goes so well with superheroes. But in reality aggression is a much bigger topic than anything physical. Aggression can be talked about in a means of verbal or emotional means, or in another end the representation of aggression by movement of or reflection on the body. For instance, a person is considered aggressive if they are punching something, but a person is considered aggressed on if they have been punched and that aggression is reflected exclusively on the body. From the very basic end, a woman could be considered aggressive if she speaks up in a room full of other people. The vastness of aggression and mediums in which it can be played out is what draws me to the complicated medium of the gender bend character. This is so important to talk about.

If I split the paper into two parts - Physical and emotional - I'd want the paper to carry a weight from one end to the next, and my first thought is to work through physical end first then progress to the emotional end - I'd be traveling from the traditionally masculine form of aggression to the feminine form of aggression, just like the character did. I also think that this will provide momentum from one end to the next - we're used to talking about physical aggression in fantasy / superhero genre texts; we're not used to talking about the repercussions of aggression on the emotional state and how that plays out on the body.

The physicality of these women is great and it is noted by the predecessor characters on the page: Carol Danvers literally carries Captain Mar-Vel away from danger in the last page of the comic they share. She openly admits that she likes to punch things not because she is aggressive, but because she likes to punch things. X-23 similarly physically out performs Wolverine - something he notices and points out. As he stabs one person, she takes on a page of bad guys. However, X-23 is also driven largely by a need for revenge and the anger that Wolverine dies so soon. Writing it out like this, I see that X-23 is a great middle character because she succeeds both physically in her role as a physically adept badass, but also guides herself through the pain of losing Wolverine so soon after she met him. This pain transitions into the points I'll make about emotions and how they play out on the body - most noticeably that this pain is shown on the body - X-23 is hurt multiple times in her time with the Wolverine, but Jen Walter's new body following the evenings of Civil War II directly reflect her trauma - her body changes from the classic green She-Hulk that we've known since the sixties to a grey ultra strong body with glowing green cuts all along her arms, legs, and face.

Excited to see how this plays out!