Coined by Katha Pollitt in the distant 1991, the term “Smurfette Principle” described the phenomenon of female characters existing in media for the sole purpose of being the male counterparts and having no identity other than that: “The message is clear. Boys are the norm, girls the variation; boys are central, girls peripheral; boys are individuals, girls types.
Boys define the group, its story and its code of values. Girls exist only in relation to boys” (Pollitt, 1991, April 7, para. 4).Also known as a “token woman,” the given character originated from the attempts of the entertainment industry to market their product to a particular audience (Thompson & Heinberg, 1999).
However, despite the fact that the Smurfette principle is still applied towards modern media and especially film industry, considerable changes in the definition of the role of a female character have occurred, with the latter acquiring their own unique features outside of supplying color commentaries for the male characters, which can be traced in a number of present-day media specimens.
One of the most obvious changes that have occurred to female characters in media and that seems to have the greatest impact on the destruction of the Smurfette Principle is that most of the female characters created in 2000s–2010s clearly have distinct personalities – in contrast to the ones of the 90s era, when a female character had a personality of a powder compact (Smith, 2008).
Another obvious foot forward in promoting a less clichéd female character to younger audience is the fact that modern female leads do not need a male companion and often do not have one. The given feature of a “strong, independent” female character was launched by the creators of long-forgotten She-Ra franchise (Scheimer 1985–1986), where, though originally created as a counterpart to He-Man, the princess had a distinct personality, and her gender could be considered accidental.
Although the number of female protagonists with their unique story arc and personality still seems quite little, the prevalence of female antagonists whose gender could be defined as accidental is stunning. Even the notorious The little mermaid, which Pollitt despised so much for providing an unbearably bland character with the most trivial motivations that a female protagonist can get, provides the audience with a unique and compelling evil female character.
Ursula, though admittedly despicable, is much more compelling than Ariel, and her motivations are much more complex; the animators could have easily substituted her with a male character without changing a single line: “Come in. Come in, my child. We mustn’t lurk in doorways. It’s rude. One might question your upbringing” (Ashman, 1989, 0:39:17–0:39:25). Therefore, it can be assumed that the experience of writing negative female characters can be translated into creating unique female protagonists as well.
It must be admitted that the idea of splitting the characters into male protagonists and their female archetypes is extremely alluring for most of the present-day media companies. In fact, even the most gender neutral TV shows and cartoon series seem to recycle the same concept of a male lead and his shallow female counterpart.
In fact, female characters are provided with a leading part quite rarely even nowadays, especially in TV shows and animated series, with several major exceptions which only seem to make the Smurfette Principle even stronger.
Indeed, in a retrospective, the media targeted at children rarely features the shows in which a female protagonist plays just as important part as a male one. For instance, in 1990s and 2000s, most TV shows, such as Avatar (DiMartino, 2005–2008), had male leads, whereas all that girls were left with was My little pony (Faust, 2010).
The 2010s, however, changed a lot. Such shows as Kim Possible (for teens) and Dora the Explorer (for younger audience) showed that female protagonists could exist and, more importantly, were not supposed to follow the formula of shallow female archetypes.
What is even more surprising, these shows were targeted not primarily at boys, but largely at teens and kids, therefore, offering big gender neutral shows with a strong female lead, not to mention the famous and extremely well grossing “Avatar: The Legend of Korra” (with 4.5 rating, according to the Staff Writer (2013, November 14)).
The process of redefining female characters in media, especially in the media designed for children, is taking place at a very slow pace at present, mostly because of the creators’ unwillingness to try something new in terms of female character development. The intentions of the people involved into the media industry are hardly malicious; instead, they seem to be careless towards the way in which media shapes children’s perception of reality.
There are a few exceptions in the grand scheme, but for the most part, the Smurfette Principle seems to be affecting the evolution of a female character even nowadays, especially in children TV series and cartoons and mostly for the same reasons that it appears in the adult media. There seems to be a pattern of attitudes towards the media created by women and by men in that the latter are said to create the content for girls and women, while the latter are considered to be able to create content for both.
The 2010s, however, have changed the cultural landscape of female characters, in children media specifically. It is remarkable that a number of movies that were released in 2010s have a female protagonist that often does not require a male counterpart and seems to be able to exist on her own. Taking Merida from Brave (2012) as an example one will see that she is the compelling female character that does not fit the Smurfette Principle at all; she even stands the Bechdel test, for that matter (Freedman, 2009).
She interacts with male characters, yet marrying a prince is not her focus; true, she has suitors, but she prefers not to marry any of them at the end of the movie: “There are those who say fate is something beyond our command. That destiny is not our own, but I know better. Our fate lives within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it.” (Docter, Lasseter & Stanton, 2012).
The given movie is not the only example of female protagonists evolving into self-sufficient characters with their own unique story arcs. Although the process of changing the viewers’ idea of women in media, especially if these viewers are children, is not easy, it still has the potential, which more recent examples of portraying women in media show.
Another obvious change to female characters in media, especially in media for children, is that the female protagonists are no longer needed to be portrayed as the lead character’s love interest or a “sidekick” – quite on the contrary, they get their own unique stories and develop authentic character traits that inform, but not define them (Michael et al., 2012).
Synthesis
The present-day media, especially media designed for children, still seems to suffer from the abuse of token female characters. However, the basic tendencies in the media industry are clearly geared towards redefining female characters. The recent media products in general and media products for children in particular are the exact manifestation of such tendencies, as the analysis of shows and movies above displays (Taylor, 2003).
The creators of female characters in media have a number of complex and often contradictory tasks. On the one hand, they must create a female character, who is going to be authentic and will not be considered a bland attempt at recycling the character traits of the male protagonist.
On the other hand, it is necessary to create the female character whose key features are not going to inform her gender and be attributed to both men and women; in other words, it is necessary to step away from stereotypical portrayal of women in media (Aina & Cameron, 2011).
Conclusion
Assuming that female characters cannot evolve in the present-day media would be quite a stretch – as the recent movies and TV series for younger audience show, it is possible to write an interesting and compelling female protagonist. However, the introduction of such characters into popular media presupposes fighting a number of stereotypes.
As it turns out, it is possible not to fall for the trope of a female archetype in movies and come up with a unique personality for a female protagonist. Therefore, it is only a matter of time and effort before a range of new and inspiring female characters appear in mass media in general and children media in particular.
Reference List
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DiMartino, M. D. (2005–2008). Avatar: The last airbender. Studio City, LA: Nicelodeon Animation Studio.
Docter, P., Lasseter, J. & Stanton, A. (2012). Brave [DVD]. Emeryville, CA: Pixar.
Faust, L. (Executive Producer). (2010). My little pony. Vancouver: Studio B Productions.
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Staff Writer (2013). Legend of Korra director creates contest for book 2 episode 11: Ratings rising after timeslot change. KPopStarz. Web.
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