The comic book series, ‘Y: The Last Man’ is written by Brian K. Vaughn. The series has many feminist elements that make it one of the most important feminist works of the 21st century. The book presents the world from both a masculine and a feminine perspective. The author creates many different kinds of female characters rarely seen in fiction elsewhere. Vaughn creates a feminine culture within the book showing how the world would be without all the men in it. The conflict and drama from the lost world still remain in the existing one and women find it important that the men be brought back to get the world back into harmony. Thus, in a way, although the book represents a feminist sensibility it nevertheless focuses on the idea of gender equality in which men must be as important as women. “Y: The Last Man’ offers deep insight into how men have impacted the world and provides a wide range of women characters to show their diversity and strength.
Vaughn has very cleverly characterized the women in the series. At the beginning of the story, most of the female characters are presented as stereotypical representations of them. While one woman might be slutty, another is presented as a contrasting Madonna but later these stereotypical representations are shattered as the story progresses and the characters are presented more in-depth. It is shown that women have been perceived in these stereotypical ways because the patriarchal world has created these personas for women which has dictated the perception of women throughout centuries. As Gross points out in her article showing how men manipulated the narrative, “The reader is immediately forced to abandon these preconceived notions because we no longer have the lens of the interactions with men to see them through. Is she a bitch if no one’s fighting against her with the veneer that she’s not worth respecting?…” (Gross). From Gross’ explanation, it becomes clear that it is not women who are actually negative and mean, slutty, bossy, or bitchy, rather it is; their representation by the men of the society, and second how they come off when they are engaged in toxic masculinity and manipulative men. All of these labels of being mean, slutty, bitchy, or bossy are given to women by men as they have defined their characters and controlled their narrative for a long time. Thus, Vaughn creates a space for women to emerge as they truly are in the absence of the Y chromosome and take back the control that had been taken over by patriarchy.
The book presents a very strong argument on gender roles and politics. Through his characters, Vaughn implies that while gender roles, may have been an important part of cultural and social structures in the past in the modern age of technology these definitions of gender roles only hurt the community. In a patriarchal culture, women are placed within countless restrictions which is one of the reasons why the technological age cannot afford any more gender-defining roles as the rate of connectivity between human beings has accelerated massively, and in this global village of sorts, gender discrimination has no place in the strain of human evolution. The debate on the reproductive order comes into play with this argument but as is pointed out here “…if we do assign social worth based solely on reproductive ability, men are less valuable, as all that is required from them is the genetic material needed to conceive…if women are only necessary for making babies, in the modern world men are almost unnecessary and technology may render them obsolete.” (Grigoriprime). As is highlighted in this quotation, the argument about the reproductive order of the system does not place at a disadvantage but rather at an advantage as it is the women who control the narrative of birth and reproduction while the men only donate their seeds. The series presents an argument that a highly technical age is not getting the sperm that is the biggest challenge but rather a successful pregnancy and birth. While technology has found alternative ways of conceiving a human being the reproductive system women have inside their bodies remains the best by far. Thus, women have the upper hand in the technological age since they have fewer limitations and more benefits.
Another significant argument present in the series is that of heterosexuality. The comic book argues that homosexuality is less common in society just because there are not enough openings for it. People do not have the opportunity to express who they are as individuals and the expression of their sexuality is even more of a taboo topic in most parts of the world still. Moreover, the book also shows that in the absence of men in society, not all women have turned to homosexuals because there are simply no other options. Rather there are still trans-men in the community and other women who do not engage in homosexuality. The point Vaughn makes here is that homosexuality is opted for as a choice not, as a necessity. Thus, giving the idea of sexuality and choice power the author presents the issue in a totally different light.
Gender politics is also one of the major concerns of the book. The book immerses the readers in a world in which all of the political narratives are suddenly controlled by women. And while there are some groups who want to get rid of the remaining men, like the Amazon women, many of them are also dedicated to protecting them. In this way, Vaughn reverses the role of men as protectors by placing the last man under the care of women. Moreover, gender politics is also shown as a futile conflict in an age where both genders must learn to live in harmony with each other.
Vaughan provides a critical, yet factual commentary on the state of the society and the patriarchy that exists within. The state of patriarchy and male domination was highlighted through the many events that followed the extinction of men from the earth, in the book. All the planes had fallen out of the sky and crashed, as 95% of all pilots were men. Countries and nations where women were given military and combat opportunities had the obvious and ultimate upper hand in many areas, whereas, most of the countries in the world lost their military manpower completely. Congress was sent in a state of total chaos. Vaughan was able to highlight the discrimination and the lack of opportunities that females have to go through on earth, simply by putting it into the question ‘What would happen if all the men on earth died spontaneously?’ The mere patriarchy is highlighted in the graphic novel, by making it absent and reviewing what the consequences were. This is a very unique and interesting way to have highlighted the issues related to feminism and patriarchy, on the part of Brian K. Vaughan. The author was able to paint a picture with words, which provided a wonderful story and tackled the important issues.
In the graphic novel, Brian K. Vaughan also explored the various sides of feminism and the multiple levels on which it exists. The world had fallen into a state of complete chaos and anarchy after the men had become extinct. This state forced different types of women to fall into different categories and find different purposes. For instance, many women were in a state of grieving, and searching for any male trace, while reminiscing about the lost patriarchy. On the other hand, women had formed alliances to destroy any traces of male existence that were still left on the earth. This symbolizes the different levels that exist within feminism. There is a tendency to take feminism to extremism and retire towards violent and extreme means to tackle the issues of patriarchy and male domination. However, other levels of feminism also believe in having peaceful conversations and fighting for equal rights in a very peaceful way, without ever resorting to violence or extremism. These two levels have been observed in the graphic novel, ‘Y: The Last Man’. The author portrayed these issues in the most interesting and unconventional manner, which kept the audience captivated and provided subtle hints of such issues, instead of being all about it.
The graphic novel provides the readers or the audience with both perspectives, the masculine as well as the feminine, in a world where masculinity has become extinct, so to speak. However, this fact is there to show that masculinity or femininity is nothing more than social constructs and stereotypes. It is something that can be in both men and women, therefore, in an all-female world, masculinity can be found in plenty. The all-female setting had been conflicted with what to do with the last man standing, which was Yorick or Y. Many women simply wanted to kill him, tear him apart, and destroy every proof of men ever existing. Whereas, many of them wanted to protect him, which they did. This was another commentary on, what is to be hated. For example, it is not the idea of masculinity that becomes dominating or patriarchal. Masculinity can be found in all the genders, although mostly associated with men. Therefore, by destroying the concept of masculinity, patriarchy or male domination would not automatically stop.
To sum up, in this paper a literary analysis of the graphic novel, Y: The Last Man Standing, by the author, Brian K. Vaughan has been provided from a feministic point of view. The paper has identified and analyzed the various forces, portrayed in the graphic novel, which highlighted the patriarchal, and the male-dominated worlds. Furthermore, the paper also analyzed how the novel provided a feministic voice, which was distorted through multiple levels of feminism, and the extremism that is associated with it. However, the realities of patriarchy and the institutionalized discrimination against women were highlighted in the book, which gave it its own feministic voice.
Works Cited
Grigoriprime. “Throwback Thursdays: Gender, Feminism, and Exploitation Tropes in Y: The Last Man.” 27 April 2017. ladygeekgril.wordpress.com. 27 November 2019 <https://ladygeekgirl.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/throwback-thursdays-pirates-ninjas-astronauts-and-monkeys-gender-and-society-in-y-the-last-man/>.
Gross, Melinda-Catherine. “Vertigo Book Club: An X Perspective on Y: The Last Man.” 9 April 2018. dccomics.com. 27 November 2019 <https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2018/10/30/vertigo-book-club-an-x-perspective-on-y-the-last-man>.