From: Connie
From
a very young age, boys are brought up idolizing superheroes and senses of power
or control. In Laurie Rudman’s “The ‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood,” she explains
how dolls, for boys, are commonly referred to as action figures due to their
ability to fantasize fighting or toughness (Rudman, 61). Obviously, this can
also be said for dolls for girls, such as Barbies, as they can also perform
action-packed sequences if our imagination desires. Unfortunately, this is not
a common practice due to societal and cultural ideas affecting how children
play.
The
Smurfette Principle, coined by Katha Pollit, describes how in the media, it is
the standard for there to be a group made up of mostly males and only one
female. Furthermore, this female does not have the same amount of importance
and tends to just fit sick stereotypes. Pollit best puts it as “boys are the
norm, girls the variation; boys are central, girls peripheral; boys are
individuals, girls types” (Pollit, 2).
In
my image, it is clear that the majority are big powerful men, with Wonder Woman
being put off to the side. All of the male heroes are covered in armor, but
Wonder Woman? She’s all skin to show her real ‘power’ in society: her body.
These superheroes are only ever being showcased for the male gaze, which is
easily seen in Wonder Woman’s short shorts, corset, and thigh-high boots. How
is that comfortable to fight in? It's quite possibly the most inconvenient
costume for battling, but who cares right? This underscores the objectification
of female characters and their subordination to male counterparts.
I
also use different camera angles to showcase the importance of each superhero
in this line-up. Clearly, the men are being looked up to because they symbolize
power and confidence. On the other hand, Wonder Woman is being looked down upon
because even though she is a superhero, she is not above her peers because she
is simply there to show a strange form of diversity as she “exists only in
relation to boys” (Pollit, 2).
Lastly,
I wanted to use color to further depict how the women in these groups are
overlooked. The walls behind all these heroes are blue, while the floor is
pink. It is very common for the walls of a building to tell a story and be more
important than the look of the flooring, as floors are only ever walked over,
but walls are looked at and admired. These females are constantly being walked
over because they are sidekicks or secondary, explaining why the floor needed
to be pink in this image. The walls are blue and bright showing male dominance
in groups of fiction, always being idolized, looked up to, popular, and
primary.
It
becomes very clear how many groups in media, television, and toys are examples
of the Smurfette Principle when you first learn of this topic. Not only is it
very easy to find these specific groups, but it is difficult to show the
opposite, as the opposite is not often popularized or successful.This is not
only an issue of children's toys or media; it is widely seen in mature films
and productions. We as a society eat up this idea, without knowing, which only
makes it even scarier to know we blindly support an idea that is so clearly
harmful to one's self-image and self-worth growing up and being grown.
Works
Cited:
Rudman, Laurie A., et al. “The Two Cultures of
Childhood.” The Social Psychology of
Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press,
2015, 59-63.
Pollitt, Katha. “Hers; The Smurfette Principle.” The New York Times, The New York Times,
7 Apr. 1991,
www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/magazine/hers-the-smurfette-principle.html.