I have a confession to make. 
I didn’t like Kick-Ass.
(I’m sorry, guys.)
The comic, that is. And that means I don’t really have that much of a desire to see the movie, despite hearing good things about it. I might check it out when a good torrent goes up or something, but I’m not itching to see it over, say, The Losers. Usually I’m a fan of Millar, but sometimes his stuff goes right over my head, which I felt Kick-Ass did. I either love his work (Marvel’s Ultimates) or hate it (Wanted), but it’s a rare time that I’m in such a place where the most I can dig up is a a shrug.
The thing is, I can see what he did when it came to putting a new spin on the super hero genre, and I can appreciate it for that. I can admire him for creating a character in Hit Girl that is very rarely seen in media. (O-Ren Ishii from Kill Bill and Arya Stark from A Song of Ice and Fire are the only other violent, non-sexual teen/pre-teens I can think of on the spot.) But I couldn’t connect with the story as a whole. I was ambivalent toward all of the characters, and Millar’s penchant for over the top violence turns me off in the stuff I do like, let alone the stuff I don’t. (I hate you, Wanted. I loved the movie but I hate you.)
Ironically, the uproar over the Hit Girl and the righteous violence she creates is what’s driven me to this post.
I’ve seen the arguments on both sides, from Ebert putting the movie down for its immoral aspects involving Hit Girl as a violent creature to the geeks and friends I admire who are not only in love with Kick-Ass, but can and will kick your ass when defending and discussing the merits of the movie’s violence, and Hit Girl’s importance as a character.
- EruditeChick over at All Things Fangirl has written an excellent post defending Hit Girl, which is much more eloquent and thought out than anything I could hope to come up with for this topic.
- Then there’s The Mystery of Girls’ Media, who takes it a step furthur and discusses the aspects of all pre-teens driven to violence.
- And there is, of course, Roger Ebert’s review of Kick-Ass, which jump-started the discourse.
I’ll never be a fan of the way Millar uses violence for shock value in his work, but to dismiss Hit Girl because of one (granted, very large) aspect of her is the sort of close-mindedness that has comics so low on the creation totem pole.
Girls Read Comics Too 