The Smurfette Principle Explained

I have one major complaint about this video. What is a positive example she can give of a movie doing it right? At first I thought of a character like Ripley, but apparently that’s just my male mentality wanting a vagina version of a typical male action hero.

I also take issue with Princess Leia being grouped in the Smurfette Principal. She’s not, she’s a “Damsel in Distress” trope, and in that regard she’s quite above average feminist character in that she spends as much time rescuing the men as they spend rescuing her.

So what movie has many or more women in main roles but not a typical male action hero in a female body; just women being independent women?
Sex in the City?
Crossroads?
Like most divisive subjects I think it would be better to spend time saying what’s right rather than just berating what’s wrong.

I take issue with Big Bang Theory having the Smurfette principle. While it’s true that Penny’s was originally the only female, but they now have three female recurring characters–one of whom is as bad as Sheldon.

I think the video seemed to indicate that Buffy did it right since that was the image shown when discussing “passing the test”. I never watched Buffy so I really couldn’t tell you if it actually did or not.

Unfortunately, there really aren’t a whole lot of examples of TV/movies that pass the Bechdel Test. There are some, sure, but it’s a comparatively small number, and it will continue to be small unless people begin to demand otherwise. I think the point of this video is to do just that.

great, I check TMS for five minutes in a “paragraph break” while trying to read my psych chapter for this week and before I know it I’ve spent 2+ hours watching all of FemFreq’s videos on youtube.

Who says Leia can’t be in two tropes?

But she definitely fits the Smurfette Principle as it is defined. She’s the only female character in the original trilogy (unless you want to count Mon Mothma, Aunt Beru and Oola).

On an interesting flip side, you have a lot of Japanese manga and anime titles where the cast is almost entirely female. However, these females are fetishized and exist almost solely to fit a male fantasy. That is generally the case, aside from maybe “Sailor Moon” and a few other titles made for young girls.

Only one female muppet? You need to watch more muppets.

I think the point being made isn’t of the *quality* of the character in question, just that she is one female character amongst a cast of dudes.

Princess Leia is absolutely a “self (and others) rescuing princess,” but she’s still one of very, very few women in the cast.

Agreed.

Further, Penny, Bernadette, and Amy Farrah-Fowler get together on screen often and many times pass the Bechdel Test.

I even don’t mind when they don’t pass because Amy Farrah-Fowler looks at the whole thing like an anthropology experiment.

You missed C3PO off that list…

Don’t hit me!

Didn’t Ripley recently get lauded in a TMS article for NOT being a bloke with a vagina because she was written to be played by either a man or a woman? Or did I take the wrong idea from that article?

Though Ripley certainly fulfils the Smurfette Principle in Alien 3, and her being a woman amongst men (men who are murderers and rapists) was pointed out loud and clear in several scenes.

Anyway, movies with women (plural) in main roles that aren’t action heroes in skirts? I’m scanning my DVD collection and I don’t have many films with large or ensemble casts. What surprised me was the number of films I have with what I consider to be positive female roles (others might disagree) within a very small main cast; Shaun of the Dead, A Knight’s Tale, Ju-On, Ringu, My Girlfriend is a Cyborg (don’t judge it by its title, it’s not what you think!), Cowboy Bebop; Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (gender ratio of ‘good’ characters of any import; 3 women, 3 men, 1 dog), 28 Days, 28 Days Later (don’t mix those two up, they’re very different), Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, The Girl Who Jumped Through Time… yeah anything from Miyazaki, Serenity (let’s leave the arguing over that one to the article about Joss), The Court Jester (Maid Jean was pretty useful and feminine for the time), MirrorMask.

There don’t appear to be many action movies out there with female roles that satisfy feminists and even fewer with several female roles. Of the female centric action movies I can think of, most of the characters can be viewed as men with boobs or a male fantasy; Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, The Fifth Element, Kill Bill, Mr & Mrs Smith, Shadow Skill… and dare I even mention it; Sucker Punch.

I can only think of one… but I never did like The Muppets.

It’s interesting that in Western media it’s the Smurfette Principle and in Eastern media (at least within fandom) it’s a Reversed Harem and it’s NOT universally considered sexist.

Now, ‘harem’ gives the wrong impression here. Yes, Reverse Harem shows are USUALLY about love (and some lust, depending on the age of the intended audience) but they are often (though not always… I’m looking at you, Ouran) more than just a bunch of men running around after a girl. In Fruits Basket, Tohru (no SPOILERS please, I haven’t read all the manga yet), while not the lone female character is the focus for a good chunk of the time. Yes, several characters fall over themselves and each other for her but through her own strength and power she helps them to become stronger, better people.

Wolf’s Rain (not traditionally considered a Reverse Harem because it’s not about the lusty kind of love) is literally a pack of male wolves (plus a female half wolf) and their male enemy running around after a girl (a plant). It’s absolutely not sexual (although there’s one scene that I KNOW isn’t supposed to be sexual, but it really comes off that way and is slightly uncomfortable for it). She is NOT an object of sexual desire but she is the focus of the story and does help all the wolves in the pack to become better ‘people’ and admit to their own feelings (of comradeship, fear, loneliness etc).

In Miyazaki’s films the lead role is almost always female (Lupin III is the only exception I can think of right now) and she is the one that changes the world around her, saves the prince and improves the lives of her friends AND enemies. Even when the film is named for a male character (Howl’s Moving Castle) it’s the girl who’s the leader and hero. Yup, she’ll most likely be the only female character of any import but she, for want of a better word, wins.

This happens in Western media too (The Labyrinth, Mirror Mask, The Wizard of Oz even Disney’s vision of Alice In Wonderland), but it would seem not as often… and honestly, Sarah and Dorothy mostly annoy me, I can’t remember Mirror Mask all that well and my idea of Alice has been subjugated to a lot of mixing up due to the many versions of Alice I’ve seen, listened to, read and played.

However, comparing Western and Eastern entertainment is like comparing chalk and pears. They have different rules and goals, different cultural norms and expectations. I just thought it interesting to look at the differences… and wasn’t expecting to ramble on this much.

Back to the video!

Whenever someone complains of a bad action movie being sexist or racist, it makes me want to see it, just to check it out for myself (much like whenever Roger Ebert slates something). I might actually bother watching Transformers 2…

Hollywood will only stop producing 2D characters using all white, all male casts when people stop watching them. The only thing Hollywood, as a body, understands is money; bums on seats. Support the creators who make GOOD films, promote them to everyone you know and slowly Hollywood will take notice.

Until then… *licks Han Solo and watches The Empire Strikes Back for the 908th time*

It’s interesting that in Western media it’s the Smurfette Principle and in Eastern media (at least within fandom) it’s a Reversed Harem and it’s NOT universally considered sexist.

Now, ‘harem’ gives the wrong impression here. Yes, Reverse Harem shows are USUALLY about love (and some lust, depending on the age of the intended audience) but they are often (though not always… I’m looking at you, Ouran) more than just a bunch of men running around after a girl. In Fruits Basket, Tohru (no SPOILERS please, I haven’t read all the manga yet), while not the lone female character is the focus for a good chunk of the time. Yes, several characters fall over themselves and each other for her but through her own strength and power she helps them to become stronger, better people.

Wolf’s Rain (not traditionally considered a Reverse Harem because it’s not about the lusty kind of love) is literally a pack of male wolves (plus a female half wolf) and their male enemy running around after a girl (a plant). It’s absolutely not sexual (although there’s one scene that I KNOW isn’t supposed to be sexual, but it really comes off that way and is slightly uncomfortable for it). She is NOT an object of sexual desire but she is the focus of the story and does help all the wolves in the pack to become better ‘people’ and admit to their own feelings (of comradeship, fear, loneliness etc).

In Miyazaki’s films the lead role is almost always female (Lupin III is the only exception I can think of right now) and she is the one that changes the world around her, saves the prince and improves the lives of her friends AND enemies. Even when the film is named for a male character (Howl’s Moving Castle) it’s the girl who’s the leader and hero. Yup, she’ll most likely be the only female character of any import but she, for want of a better word, wins.

This happens in Western media too (The Labyrinth, Mirror Mask, The Wizard of Oz even Disney’s vision of Alice In Wonderland), but it would seem not as often… and honestly, Sarah and Dorothy mostly annoy me, I can’t remember Mirror Mask all that well and my idea of Alice has been subjugated to a lot of mixing up due to the many versions of Alice I’ve seen, listened to, read and played.

However, comparing Western and Eastern entertainment is like comparing chalk and pears. They have different rules and goals, different cultural norms and expectations. I just thought it interesting to look at the differences… and wasn’t expecting to ramble on this much.

Back to the video!

Whenever someone complains of a bad action movie being sexist or racist, it makes me want to see it, just to check it out for myself (much like whenever Roger Ebert slates something). I might actually bother watching Transformers 2…

Hollywood will only stop producing 2D characters using all white, all male casts when people stop watching them. The only thing Hollywood, as a body, understands is money; bums on seats. Support the creators who make GOOD films, promote them to everyone you know and slowly Hollywood will take notice.

Until then… *licks Han Solo and watches The Empire Strikes Back for the 908th time*

The video was made a couple of years ago so back when it was just Penny.

They definately have made a real effort to increase the amount of females in their show. Though I feel with mixed results.

Don’t want to nitpick a good essay (and I’m really not fond of the movie anyway), but the Star Trek reboot gave Uhura more to do in the space of one film than the entire previous forty years of the franchise had put together.

Hmm transformers… does it even make sense to distinguish between male and female robots? I mean they are machines, okay living and inteligent machines but creating sexes makes only sense if it is used in some form. I´m not sure about the background of the transformes but i thought they just have been created/build on their home planet.

You know, sometimes the Smurfette Principal happens in real life. For example, I’m the only girl out of 20 in my college course. I’m the only girl out of ten at work…. I don’t even have many girl friends at all….

Yeah.. but the problem becomes that people start to be upset because characters like Tohru are still “nurturing supporters” even though they do have such a large impact on the world around them. I like characters like that. But it’s becoming frustrating.

1. She’s too nurturing. Not feminist.
2. She’s too macho, she’s basically a dude with breasts! Not feminist.
3. She gets rescued too often or depends on other people! Not feminist.

It’s things like this that make it so hard to find “truly feminist” female characters.Women are so hard on female characters, I’ve heard girls say the most hateful things.

I would say that there’s no such thing as a ‘truly feminist’ character, real or otherwise. I think if I were to write myself and all my friends into a story we’d be a massive target for the hate of one group of feminists or another.