halloween

Gender Defying Halloween PSA Gives Us All the Feels

The PSA tells children (and their parents) that it is OK to dress as anyone you want for Halloween, but the twist at the end has social media buzzing.

The two-minute PSA is simply titled “My Heroes.” It shows a family celebrating Halloween together. They buy costumes for their little boy and girl: Batman and Wonder Woman; carve Jack-o-Lanterns and excitedly speculate about the candy they will get.

Although they are having a good time, obvious expressions of concern and worry show on the parents faces when the kids aren’t looking. After a night of trick or treating, both kids are in candy-and-television induced comas. The mom and dad each grab a kid and tuck them into bed.

It is only as the camera pulls away that we realize that after they put on their costumes, we never saw the kids’ faces. It was the boy who was Wonder Woman, and the girl had chosen Batman.

The video ends as the dad looks back on his sleeping children and whispers, “My heroes,” before turning off the lights.

This 2-minute digital PSA was written by Alexander Day and Brian Carufe, directed by Almog Avidan Antonir, and produced by the team at Landwirth Legacy Productions, as means to challenge gender stereotypes when it comes to children’s Halloween costumes

Landwirth Legacy Productions aims to create entertaining and educational visual content and stories that seek to enrich, empower, and inspire audiences. Compassion is at the root of every project and relationship that Landwirth Legacy cultivates.

‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Harley Quinn’ Are the Most Searched for Costumes of 2017

Google has released their list of most searched for Halloween costumes this year, and comic book hero “Wonder Woman” tops the list, followed by villain (or antihero) “Harley Quinn.”

“Princess,” which has ruled the list of most popular costumes for more than a decade, didn’t even crack the top 10 on Google’s list, landing at number 11.

  1. Wonder Woman
  2. Harley Quinn
  3. Clown
  4. Unicorn
  5. Rabbit
  6. Witch
  7. Mouse
  8. Pirate
  9. Zombie
  10. Dinosaur
  11. Princess
  12. Moana
  13. Ninja
  14. Superhero
  15. Mermaid
  16. It
  17. Batman
  18. Monster
  19. Vampire
  20. Doll
Photo via halloweencostumes.com

Google also broke down the list state-by-state. Wonder Woman was the top choice in 24 states, while Harley was the top choice in five states and the District of Columbia.

Alaska: Ninja
Alabama: Wonder Woman
Arkansas: Clown
Arizona: Wonder Woman
California: Wonder Woman
Colorado: Wonder Woman
Connecticut: Wonder Woman
District of Columbia: Harley Quinn
Delaware: It
Florida: Wonder Woman
Georgia: Harley Quinn
Hawaii: Wonder Woman
Iowa: Wonder Woman
Idaho: Rabbit
Illinois: Wonder Woman
Indiana: Dinosaur
Kansas: Wonder Woman
Kentucky: Clown
Louisiana: Wonder Woman
Massachusetts: Wonder Woman
Maryland: Wonder Woman
Maine: Superhero
Michigan: Wonder Woman
Minnesota: Zombie
Missouri: Clown
Mississippi: Mouse
Montana: Dinosaur
North Carolina: Wonder Woman
North Dakota: Unicorn
Nebraska: Wonder Woman
New Hampshire: Rabbit
New Jersey: Wonder Woman
New Mexico: Harley Quinn
Nevada: Wonder Woman
New York: Wonder Woman
Ohio: Harley Quinn
Oklahoma: Wonder Woman
Oregon: Unicorn
Pennsylvania: Harley Quinn
Rhode Island: Witch
South Carolina: Harley Quinn
South Dakota: Witch
Tennessee: Wonder Woman
Texas: Wonder Woman
Utah: Witch
Virginia: Wonder Woman
Vermont: Catwoman
Washington: Wonder Woman
Wisconsin: Zombie
West Virginia: Clown
Wyoming: Joker

Story via Vogue.

‘Superhero’ Dethrones ‘Princess’ As Favorite Kids’ Costume

Kids are trading tiaras for capes in the latest national survey.

Every year, the National Retail Federation conducts a survey to determine the most popular Halloween costumes. After an eleven-year reign, ‘princess’ has been dethroned — by superheroes.

According to the survey “More than three million children will dress as their favorite action or superhero, 2.9 million will dress as their favorite princess and 2.5 million plan to dress as a cat, dog, bunny or other animal.”

no-princesses“Princesses don’t do a whole lot, their stories can only be reworked in so many ways. Girls have always loved adventure and being the heroine,” according to Melissa Atkins Wardy, author of Redefining Girly. “Girls have not changed. Instead marketers have gained a better understanding of who girls are and are no longer feeding them a gendered narrative.”

Wardy isn’t the only person who has noticed marketers are feeding girls a ‘gendered narrative.’ “I resent that the Disney Corporation has had such a far-reaching and lasting impact on children all over the world, redefining ‘girl’ as ‘princess,’ ” says Lori day, author of Her Next Chapter. “Girlhood has been branded. Perhaps finally the pendulum is swinging back.”

“It’s great to see this kind of change happening, but it didn’t happen overnight,” said Michele Sinisgalli-Yulo creator of the Princess Free Zone blog and brand. “Many voices have contributed to changing how companies exploit gender when marketing to children, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

As Wardy puts it, “There are many ways to be a girl. We’ve done princess to death, now girls want to show us other facets of their personalities.”

Especially if that facet wears a cape.

Most Popular Children’s Costumes

  1. Action/Superhero
  2. Princess
  3. Animal (Cat, Dog, Lion, Monkey, etc.)
  4. Batman Character
  5. Star Wars Character
  6. Tie: Witch AND DC Superhero (excl. Batman)
  7. Frozen Character (Anna, Elsa, Olaf)
  8. Marvel Superhero (excl. Spiderman)
  9. Zombie
  10. Spiderman

Announcing the Wear Your Superheroes 2014 Halloween Costume Contest!

Our good friends over at Wear Your Superheroes are having their first ever Halloween costume contest and everyone can (and should) enter! From their website:

We are pleased to announce the 2014 Wear Your Superheroes Halloween Costume Contest, which we hope will be the first of many!

To participate, simply post a picture of yourself (or your child) in your superhero-themed costume to the Wear Your Superheroes Facebook page, along with the hashtag #WYSCostumeContest in the description, between Friday, October 31 and Friday, November 7, 2014.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, there will be prizes!

  • The “People’s Choice” prize, a $50 code for merchandise at Zazzle.com, will go to the person whose photo receives the most Likes between October 31 and November 7.
  • The “Best Children’s Costume” prize, a free Super Blanky™ from SuperBlanky.com, will be awarded for the child’s costume (for a child 12 or under) that we select for being the most creative and well executed.
  • In addition, we will be giving away three gift certificate prizes to the top entries in our “Best Local Costume” category, which is for people in the Greater Cincinnati area. Anyone who wants to participate in the local contest should also use the hashtag #WYSCincy and must be a resident of Ohio, Kentucky, or Indiana. The first-place winner will receive a $25 gift certificate for Arcadian Comics & Games in Newport, KY, and the second- and third-place winners will each receive a $10 gift certificate for Arcadian.

Get all the details on the Wear Your Superheroes website, then get over to the Wear Your Superheroes Facebook page and enter the contest! Good luck everyone!

Costumes So Cute, It’s Scary

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We went to the local Halloween superstore for some supplies. While we were browsing, my wife Patti noticed they had a “Boys Career” section, complete with doctor, fireman and astronaut costumes.

We thought it would be interesting to compare the boys’ choices with the choices the girls were given in their career section. Would the girls get equivalent options? Or would they be offered nurse, secretary and cheerleader instead?

Halloween_Boys AisleThe good news is that I was wrong. The girls were not saddled with nurses and secretaries as their only career paths. The bad news is there was no “Girls Career” section at all. None.

They did, however, have an entire section – I am not making this up – labeled “Flutter Fairy”. This was separate from the regular fairy section. I’m guessing because there is more “fluttering” involved.

What message does that send to girls about who their heroes are? About whom they should aspire to be?

Looking more carefully at the costumes, we compared the “Boys Fright” section the “Girls Fright” section. The boys were given some truly terrifying options. Freddy Krueger, Jason, Bloody Skeleton, and more.

Over on the girls’ side, there was literally nothing that was legitimately scary. From “Feisty Fairy” to a tutu-clad “Zomberina”, real terror was in short supply.

I mentioned it to Patti, “None of these costumes are scary in any real way. They all are cute.”

Halloween_Girls Aisle 2A passing employee chimed in, “Most of the scary costumes involve a mask. Girls don’t like to cover their face.”  She added helpfully, “They want people to see them.”

The superheroes aisle was not much better. Spider-Girl wore a tutu and had a “princess wand”. Batgirl was clad in head to toe HOT PINK. There were dozens of choices to help a girl look cute. But what if she wants to look tough? What if she wants to look scary? What if she wants to look professional?

It was easy for me to draw a line in my mind connecting row after row of costumes that tell little girls that the only thing that is important is that they look “cute” to the row after row of costumes that tell young women that the only way society values them is if they look “sexy”.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love the spookiness, the costumes and the creativity. I’ve dressed up in everything from silly, to creative, to scary. Hell, if I could pull off sexy, I might go for that, too – but I really appreciate the fact that when I go to the store, I have other choices.

I hope that someday my girls will be able to say the same.

Free Comics for Candy

Heroic Girls and Empire’s Comics Vault are teaming up to promote reading while cutting down on tooth decay.

Starting Saturday, October 25 and running through Saturday, November 8, kids 16 and under can trade in their Halloween candy for age-appropriate comic books.

Comics Are Cavity-Free

To trade in candy:
  1. Fill our small candy measurement bowl with candy to receive one single-issue comic book.
  2. It fills easily and quickly, so fill it up again for another comic book.
  3. There’s no limit to the comics* you can get for trading in comics.
  4. Fill the bowl four times for four single-issue comics, or trade up for a collected edition* (which typically includes 4-6 issues)!

Note: Select children’s titles only. Available while supplies last.

Empire’s Comics Vault
1120 Fulton Ave,
Sacramento, CA 95825

(916) 482-8779

Google Maps

Calling All Heroic Girls!

Girls, come on. Leave the saving of the world to the men? I don’t think so.

–Elastigirl. The Incredibles

Are you a heroic girl?

Halloween is coming up, and we want to show the world that girls can be superheroes, too. Whether you cosplay every weekend or once a year for Halloween, whether you are eight or 80, we want to see your heroic side. Share your heroic costumes on Twitter or Tumblr  with the hashtag #iamaheroicgirl, or post them to our Facebook page. We will post the best ones on the Heroic Girls website.

Heroic Girls believes that there is nothing wrong with being cute, but that girls deserve more than just “cute.” They deserve the opportunity to be tough; to be smart; to fight for what they believe in.

They deserve the chance to be heroes.

Big Barda and Black Canary
Stella as Black Canary
Big Barda

Click here for the full gallery of Big Barda and Black Canary photos.

Heroic Girls is an organization dedicated to empowering girls by advocating for strong role models in alternative media — particularly comics.