The Smurfette principle puts a name
to a common television trope in which a “group of male buddies are accented by
a lone female, stereotypically defined” (Pollitt, 1991). As demand grew for
more female representation in the media, creators listened. Girls begun to be
featured in many more children’s television shows including Winnie-the-Pooh, Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Smurfs. With the win of gaining more female representation, some
begun to notice a reoccurring problem. The females featured were attached to a
common female stereotype, the girl’s defining features were that they were
little sisters, wives, girlfriends, or mothers. These characters typically
remained secondary to the plot lines, when they were featured they were
supporting a male-dominated story.
In my photo, I chose to focus in
this subject because it’s something that I’ve noticed my entire life, but never
heard the name of. Reading the name of this principle validated my feelings, it
was reassuring to know that I was not alone in my thinking. In my photo, I used
a variety of techniques to demonstrate the principle. The first, and most
important, technique in my photo is the use of symbolism. I used a pink
lipstick to symbolize a female character. Makeup is generally a symbol of
femininity, by using a pink lipstick I believe that this captures the
stereotypical nature of female television portrayals. Additionally, the
scattered tools symbolize the large amount of male representation. The tools
are widely varied, this symbolizes the large amount of character traits that
male characters can take on, unlike their female counterparts which are
confined to a narrow range of female clichés. Another technique I used was the
taking up of space. The lipstick takes up a much smaller amount of space in
comparison to the tools, this is meant to portray the vastly smaller amount of
representation that girls get in these television shows. Finally, the last technique
that I used was the use of color. The bright pink nature of the lipstick makes
it stand out from the tools, which are much subtler in color. This is meant to
portray how female characters are typically treated in these shows, they are
treated as the odd-one-out in a male dominated cast of characters.
As time goes on, female
representation in the media is growing. Movies such as Frozen, Tangled, and
shows such as Dora the Explorer, Kim Possible, and The Powerpuff Girls, which feature powerful female leads, are proof
that this problem is being dealt with. However, there is still a plethora of
male dominated cartoons that only feature females as shallow portrayals of
tired stereotypes. Things have gotten better, but there is still work to be
done in order to eliminate the Smurfette principle from contemporary media.
Work Cited
Pollitt, Katha. “Hers; The Smurfette
Principle.” The New York Times, 7 Apr. 1991.
4 comments:
This is an excellent photo to showcase the Smurfette Principle. I think the use of tools work well to represent masculinity and male representation as the author mentioned. I also thought the tools serve to represent the kinds of roles men get to play in media. Tools are useful, they have a purpose and ultimately get things accomplished, much like leading male characters in movies and television. Men get to solve the mysteries and be the heroes a majority of the time. Meanwhile, women’s roles, especially in action films, are tokenized. They’re literally there to be a pop of color/diversity, the femme fatale, who is meant to mostly sit there, look nice, and earn producers a notch in their diversity belt. The tube of lipstick represents the role women play in these narratives. However, the female role in films and television is rarely ever created to suit a female audience. Therefore, women are presented as sex symbols, love interests, and damsels in distress and men get to see themselves using their utility to assist or “get” women. Women also consume this media and, in many ways, echo these stereotypes by seeking to be like women in these narratives. Because of this, these tropes remain smeared all over our media like it’s the norm. The great part about this photo is the fact that while the lipstick serves to represent the “smurfette” any of the tools in this photo could represent female characters. It’s great to see a trend in current media moving towards this perspective.
^From Nick
From: Shannon
I am completely fascinated by this photo! If I ever tried to explain the smurfette principle to something I would definitely bring up this image as a reference. In my opinion it represents the idea that of lone women in a man's world. Using the tools to represent men and how they are meant to be durable and the fixer of all problems. Contrarily, women are seen as pretty and fragile shown in this image as lipstick. I have also seen this idea of smurfette principle play out many times on television and in real life but had also never thought it had a name until reading the article. Ultimately, I believe this idea that women are damsels in distress that need to be rescued is absurd but with many females and males feeding into this mindset and feeling as though men should be responsible for helping women could cause women to become too dependent on the opposite sex for help with just normal tasks any humans should know how to do for themselves. What if a women's tire goes flat in the middle of the night, phones dead, and no one is around to help and she never learned to change a tire for herself? Usually, if you drive a car you know how to change a tire. If she happened to break down on the side of the road during a normal time of day or someone does happen to pass more likely than not they will stop to ask if you need help and offer to change it for you. (At least from my experience)
I also believe that the media is one of the biggest influences regarding the smurfette principle. Cartoons I had grown up on such as Animaniacs and tiny toon adventures have female main characters that always seemed to get themselves in situations that only the Male characters could get them out of. In more recent years I have seen stronger female roles and hopefully that trend continues.
In this photo, I liked how you took a picture of tools and a lipstick to relate to the article called, “The Smurfette Principle.” In this photo, I can see colors and symbols. When I saw this photo, I immediately thought that all of the items in this photo, which are the tools, is masculine. The lipstick is the only feminine item in this photo. Some of the tools in this photo are small and some are large. Each tool has it’s on purpose. Most of the tools are silver and black. When I think of silver as well as black, I think of masculine. The lipstick looks pink. When I think of pink, I think of feminine. In your essay, I liked how you stated, “Additionally, the scattered tools symbolize the large amount of male representation. The tools are widely varied, this symbolizes the large amount of character traits that male characters can take on, unlike their female counterparts which are confined to a narrow range of female clichés.” I agree with this statement. I would like to add on to what you just stated. When watching television, you see a lot of male characters especially in cartoons. On the television program called, “Cartoon Network,” you see a lot of male cartoon characters played by male actors. I feel as though the female representation in children movies and cartoons is slowing growing. I also feel that society is starting to accept female representation in children movies as well as cartoons.
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