THE JUNGLE GIRLS!
Colonialist Fantasy or Hedonist Revolutionaries? Orientalism Redux or Griot Grrrrls? Male Cheesecake or Amazon Transgressor? I'll let you sort out your own feelings about it. I like the unashamed goddess, one with nature and protective of it, fighting colonialists and land grabbers. Though jungle comics were sadly rife with stereotyped African natives, some creators -like legendary African-American artist Matt Baker (Sheena, Phantom Lady) - drew them as humans with dignity and respect (0:40). There's also an eco-consciousness to jungle heroes that more than speaks to our times, also. This is is a swing through those positives.
The first Jungle Girl archetype was Rima, from the 1904 novel "Green Mansions". In 1914, JANE PORTER met Tarzan (aka, Lord Greystoke) in Edgar Rice Burrough's "Tarzan of the Apes". Jane and later her daughter-in-law Meriem snubbed 'civilization' to live half-naked, free, and fierce in the wilderness. Jane was immortalized on screen by actor MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN. Burrough's short story "Jungle Girl" inspired the adventurer NYOKA, in movie serials and comics. Wiil ("The Spirit") Eisner then created the quintessential jungle queen in SHEENA, a leopard-bikinied warrior who could take on anything ('37). Sheena became a TV show starring the bold bombshell IRISH McCALLA ('56). The very first costumed superheroine was the creepy and vengeful FANTOMAH Of The Jungle ('40). A wildfire of women followed, including JANN Of The Jungle, RULAH The Jungle Goddess (shown unhanding the octopus), LORNA Of The Jungle, TIGER GIRL (and her whip), the other TIGER GIRL (on her tiger), and safaristas WONDER WOMAN and LOIS LANE. And who could forget BETTIE PAGE in her leopard leotard?
Jungle Girls still run strong today. Sheena spawned Marvel Comics' SHANNA The She-Devil ('73), the Tanya Roberts movie ('85), and the Gena Lee Nolin series (2000). Cavewoman ('93) and Jungle Girl (2007) prowl todays comics.
While the jungle girls have always been disproportionately peach, Alan Moore flipped the script with the regal Dhalua and Tesla Strong in TOM STRONG comics ('99). Wonder Woman met her proud maple sister Nubia in '73. And Vixen ('78) of the Justice League and Storm of the X-Men ('74) are African-born superheroines.
Singer DOTTY ANDERSON is a mystery to me. If anyone has deeper info, please let me know!
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_girl_(stock_character)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Porter_(Tarzan)
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i can't find this song anywhere? any ideas where i can get it?
thesmithsgirl 2 years ago
It's on the CD collection of 50's Rockabilly women called "Real Gone Girls" (Collector Records, 4473).
The company is from the Netherlands, but you should be able to find it on the internet for a good price.
funknroll 2 years ago