I can’t stop thinking about She-Hulk’s feet

In praise of an unruly body.

In the first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, there are several shots of Jen quietly slipping off her mild-mannered, work-appropriate leather pumps in advance of her hulking out, so she doesn’t rip them to smithereens. Her feet grow with the rest of her when she hulks out: they get wide, long, and green. She-Hulk is barefoot. Her body is unruly. She cannot be contained.

Hulk is barefoot, too. I never really thought about his feet. But She-Hulk: I don’t know. Her feet did something to me. She’s too big for shoes, y’all. For shoes.

Shoes are what I buy when my pants don’t fit. Shoes generate compliments. Shoes give the wearer height, charisma, style, authority.

And she doesn’t need them. She’s outgrown them.

She-Hulk’s CGI body is a revelation. She’s strong, yes, but she’s also big. She doesn’t fit. In the final scene of episode one where she’s forced to hulk out in a courtroom, we watch as her prim, tailored blazer rips at the shoulder.

I bought a blazer this weekend. I love blazers. They feel like armor. I slip my soft arms into the sleeves and button them over my round belly.

She-Hulk does not need protection. Or at least, she doesn’t need the illusion of protection…