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Is Batgirl #27 Reclaiming the Concept of Fridging? (Spoilers)

Recently, international news discussion has revived the concept of 'fridging', created by Gail Simone's Women In Refrigerators essay from the nineties. That uses, as its namesake, the Green Lantern plot that saw Kyle Raynor discover his girlfriend kills and stuffed into a refrigerator, as a means to motivate the hero. It was used to demonstrate and ask questions about the propensity of female characters' fate used to inspire male heroes into action. And a classic example was cited in Batman: The Killing Joke, in which Barbara Gordon was crippled by the Joker as a way to get to her father Commissioner Gordon.

And that event and Barbara Gordon's recovery gets referred to a lot in Batgirl #27, out today. As she faces more health issue, including possibly losing her eidetic memory…

A few counterexamples of fridging, when this happened to male characters to inspire female heroes was dubbed 'matchboxing'.  But in today's Batgirl #27, Batgirl heads towards the kitchen…

And opens the refrigerator door…

This is not a classic example. This is not there to inspire a moment of revenge. He was not there for her to see. This is not that kind of message. But the choice of body storage indicates that it is there to make a point… and maybe for fridging to move on?

BATGIRL #27
(W) Mairghread Scott (A) Paul Pelletier, Norm Rapmund (CA) Joshua Middleton
You can't go home again. But that's just where Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl, is forced to go when the chip granting her mobility keeps shorting out in the aftermath of her clash with Grotesque. Will Commissioner Gordon drive Babs totally bonkers with his bedside manner? Or will the malfunctioning tech impact more than just her legs? Plus, what's the deal with killer art critic Grotesque and his murderous new M.O.? It's all in part two of "Art of the Crime."In Shops: Sep 26, 2018
SRP: $3.99

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