When to Be and When Not to Be “Feminist,” part 1

The girl being carried is called Clarisse. Don't she just look like a damsel? I've also heard that she inspired moé...

I’m probably only inadvertently feminist. I’d rather call myself anti-feminist because my attitudes go against the grain in so many ways. But I don’t hate women, of course not. I’ll have to explain that later. Here, I’m just going to talk about situations where a woman’s female injustice sense goes off and turns out to be wrong.

It brings  this episode to mind.

I agree with the top comment; its point was a little hard to grasp when I  first saw it, but when I watch it now. Wow… They had some gall to even tackle that.

I kind of hate strong female characters. I like well-rounded characters, male or female. In short, I think they make real women look weaker and praise male traits in female bodies. The good thing is, I think all decent women understand this, so I’m not alone.

I will give some example of acceptably weak female characters:

1) everything Ghibli. Apparently, the damsel in distress he wrote for Castle of Cagliostro left such a bad taste in Hayao Miyazaki’s mouth that he became a feminist.

But the only one of his characters I’d call strong is Princess Mononoke, and her violence is seen as misguided. Moreover, she has a counterpoint in the movie, a woman more like the strong sort, but with her own flaws. Sheeta  and Pazu seem equal in strength, complimentary. Kiki doesn’t fight but she fights internal & external battles and is  able to save Tombo. Similarly, Chihiro recovers her parents without a fight scene, but through hard work and a small quest or two. Sophie is, like in the source novel, more clever that strong, although she does have (strong!) power that eventually saves those in trouble. I could go on, but I think the point is made.

 

acceptably weak example 2) Princess Arete.

 

 

It’s very slow movie, Ghibli-esque but more atmospheric. Arete is captured like a damsel in distress, she spends long quiet moments doubting herself or being passive. But she’s clever. Terriibly clever, she escaped imprisonment, defeated her captor (without raising a fist!), and saves a village. And she does it all with a sort of feminine grace.

That’s not to say she’s supposed to perfect. She’s plain to the point people don’t recognize her as a princess, she’s bookish and curious to the point she invites trouble, and last of all, she is very, very quiet.

 

I can imagine a fan of Strong Female Characters watching this movie and being bored. They might even think it sexist ! But that would be exactly the sort of false alarm I mean.

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