In Anne Allison’s “Fierce Flesh,”
she discusses the powerful and feminine relationship in Sailor Moon: the Sailors are fierce action heroines as well as a
spectacles of flesh.
Sailor
Moon represented a new model in anime,
“fashion action” (129). While there are action elements in the show, as seen
through Usagi’s fight with Morga in the pilot episode, the world is one
entrenched in fashion and other “feminine” delights. Usagi’s transformation
sequence makes her more powerful and able to defeat deadly, dangerous monsters.
For her to get to that point of power, the narrative is stopped in order for
Usagi’s to morph. As Allison remarks, “the process is more of a ‘makeover’ than
a ‘power-up,’” since Usagi turns sparkly, pink, adorned with jewels, and wears
an overly feminine outfit (138). The fashion and action within Sailor Moon cannot be separated; it is
inherently linked to the world and how the heroine behaves.
Usagi represents a strong link
between fashion, and by extension femininity, and power. Allison notes fantasy
within fashion action. Young girls who watch Sailor Moon want “to be powerful yet selfish…in indulging one’s
earthy desires” (135). This sentiment is the same as Usagi’s proclamation
against the evil Morga: “For Love and Justice, the pretty sailor suited soldier
Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon I will punish you!” Usagi is combining
both qualities, to be selfish and earthly while having a sense of goodness and
justice. Love and justice are uttered in the same breath, equating the two, and
Usagi is as quick to point out she is pretty as she is to point out being
punishing.
This power usually reserved for
masculine heroes being awarded to female characters performing ultra-femininity
can be empowering, but it has negative connotations as well. Empowerment is
secondary to marketing and merchandise sales. In the construction of the
fashion action genre, boy action shows were “adapted” to girls (131), and in
this case, adaption meant fashion and feminine traits such as ditziness,
romance problems, and shopping. Power itself is still coded as masculine unless
properly dressed up in enough glitter and tulle. Instead of increasing the
market and audience of Power Rangers, they created a “girl” version to bring in
girl consumers. Gender roles and gender dynamic are not being investigated or
challenged, just capitalized on to create a new product. The fetishization and sexualized
merchandise of Sailor Moon characters
is an extension of this. Knowing that the morphing sequence and outfit is
skimpier and more sexualized, it can be co-opted to bring in sales from adult
men.
I agree with you and Allison in terms of the action of Sailor Moon being closely linked to fashion, or makeovers. I see how this could prove to be a problem when seeing it from a feminist point of view: the female fighters do not become more powerful to fight; instead they are more powerful because of makeup. I do not think, however, that this makes the show anti-feminist in any way however. It may be that I am a bit biased since I am an avid fan of the show, but as Allison also points out in some parts of her argument, it creates this perspective that normal, clumsy girls can be fighters too. I do think, after reading this, that the makeover part of the show could be changed as to make it more feminist. Maybe it could be focused just a bit less in fashion or some actual power-ups not linked to fashion could be added to the transformation. Would this change the image of normal girls being the Sailor Scouts however? Normal girls do not have power-ups. I think fashion and makeup has been too closely linked to the traditional view of feminism (in which a woman must always look pretty in makeup for men). Why not look at it in a way in which fashion and makeup is powerful? Especially with models (the best advocates of this world nowadays) are powerful business entrepreneurs and some of the most powerful women in our modern world.
ReplyDeleteI think that the tension between the empowering ideas of Sailor Moon and the problematic images is characteristic of a larger feminist issue – what can be considered feminist? I agree with Zoe and Allison that Sailor Moon is simultaneously feminist and antifeminist. The Sailor Scouts are providing children with characters that are crime-fighting, superhero girls who have different interests and can be both vulnerable and powerful. At the same time, the cartoon also sexualizes young girls and provides traditionally negative feminine representations like materialism, naivety, and emotional. Sailor Moon, like anything else that has been labeled feminist, is complicated. Some women who identify as feminist argue against wearing makeup and objectifying oneself to fit societal ideas of femininity. Others find embracing their sexuality and dressing up empowering and see it as taking control of their bodies. Personally I think that feminism is ultimately about having unlimited choices of representation and therefore seeing a wide range of characters in media.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zoe’s post in that there are elements of power, femininity and fashion in Sailor Moon. I disagree, however, with the implications of the statement “Instead of increasing the market and audience of Power Rangers, they created a “girl” version to bring in girl consumers.” This statement revolves around the idea that creating a show like Sailor Moon outside of already-existing male-driven shows is a detriment to feminism. In my opinion, creating “girl” genres can certainly be a powerful tool in feminism. Take, for example, female-driven comedies like Bridesmaids or The Heat. Those women are funny and could have been placed into an already male-heavy cast in that genre of blockbuster-comedies, as more female characters could have been placed into Power Rangers to expand its audience. That being said, I think there’s arguably more value in giving women a place of their own, and saying this is your product, your TV show, your movie, etc., as was done with Sailor Moon. As Allison puts it, the appeal is in being both “a cool fighter” and “a just normal kid.” (135) I don’t think female characters have to be dropped into a show for girls to find someone to relate with. In fact, I think that seeing female characters get their own spot in their own show is better in terms of empowering and inspiring female viewers.
ReplyDeleteZoe, I definitely agree with you that having an ultra-feminized female action hero can be both empowering and problematic. It's a complex issue, because it's really important that such characters exist. After all, having only "non-feminine" female action heros would only emphasize the fact that masculine traits are desirable ones. I think it's a flaw of the hollywood industry that American female action heros are almost too masculine, their personalities very deliberately straying away from any signs of femininity because that would should weakness. (However, this doesn't stop their bodies from being sexualized on screen.) I think it's important for girls who are interested in things like hair and makeup to see a female hero such as Sailor Moon to enforce the fact that these sorts of interests are valid. However, I think the bottom line is that there need to be more diverse female protagonists in general (and not just in the action world, obviously). Seeing such polarized characters might cause girls to think that there are only two ways to be - either ultra feminine or a tomboy actively trying to avoid femininity. Sailor Moon is an important character, but she's obviously not the idol to beat all other idols.
ReplyDeleteZoe's analysis of the Allison article focused in on the potentially detrimental properties of the Sailor Moon franchise, but I agree with Megan's assertion that oftentimes a female-focused show allows young girls to identify more strongly than a female character inserted into a male-dominated show. Very often female characters recede to a sidekick or ancillary role on these type of shows. My mind went to the pink Power Ranger, the female of the group, who is so outwardly defined by her femininity that even when she wears a completely concealing costume, it continues to signify her femininity and otherness. Carley, Zoe, and Allison's acknowledgement that the show is at once feminist and antifeminist should be the jumping-off point for discussion about the show's value for girls who watch it. Yes, it is problematic to imply that a girl can only be powerful once she puts on makeup, but there is something liberating about a female superhero who can power up and become a force to be reckoned with without concealing her body and appearance (like the pink Power Ranger). Much like male superheroes, whose washboard abs show through their tight costumes, maybe ownership of one's body is an empowering factor when creating female superheroes.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do think that Megan brings up a valid point in response to Zoe, I also would not go so far as to say that female-dominated shows with relatable female characters are strictly “better” than other types of shows when it comes to female empowerment. “Girl genres” do play a hugely valuable role in terms of identification, but I would also argue that just relying on “girl genres” or fiction, by themselves, to empower women ends up failing to challenge the “separation of spheres” that still characterizes a lot of misogynistic thought, institutionalized or otherwise. Female characters should not have to disguise their femininity or be “one of the boys” (a loathsome phrase which invokes the idea that “feminine” traits are strictly worse) like the Pink Power Ranger to receive acceptance inside or outside of their fictional universes, true, but that does not mean that having relatable female characters is impossible outside of girl genres, either. If “relatable” female concerns are only shown in “girl genres,” and “masculine” power fantasies shown in everything else, then that just upholds the “separation of spheres” that is so fundamental to patriarchal power structures that have rigidly defined boundaries between people of different genders.
ReplyDeleteThat is not to say, of course, that shows like Sailor Moon are not important; I think it’s very important that such shows exist, and to deny women a “space of their own,” as Megan puts it, would help no one. That being said, while shows such as Sailor Moon that are very explicitly “girls-oriented” are helpful when it comes to empowering women, they don’t necessarily help to change the strict societal gender divisions that are so present in a lot of other fiction. Indeed, it must be remembered that there is nothing inherently about fiction that requires one to make it either “boys-oriented” or “girls-oriented” or white-male dominated or anything else of the sort; and it should be fully possible to write fiction that is not male-dominated, fiction that has fully fleshed-out, relatable female characters that stand on their own and don’t cleanly fit into “masculine” or “feminine” categories, provided that people are willing to write such fiction in the first place. The fact that so many writers in so many areas of popular entertainment don’t seem willing to write such fiction, in my mind, a pretty clear indicator that society still has a ways to go gender equality-wise.
I agree with Carley that the feminist ideas in Sailor Moon are problematic and that they speak to larger feminist issues. There has always been tension among feminists about whether make-up and ‘feminine’ clothing and styling are anti-feminist or not. It is something that has been an ongoing debate. I think Allison’s ideas about the transformation sequence being a makeover rather than merely a transformation are valid. While it may seem like something that can be more relatable to girls, it seems to be to be implying that only with makeup can a girl be powerful. This is problematic, not because makeup itself is problematic, but because it encourages the idea that young girls need to wear makeup or certain clothes in order to be powerful. While this interpretation is not the best message, I think it can also be construed as feminist by interpreting the sequence as saying that girls are powerful because they are feminine. It is an ambiguous sequence, but it is most readily seen as objectifying and sexualizing Usagi, rather than only empowering her. This is a testament to the way women and girls are portrayed in media and other forms of pop culture. An idea of femininity can’t be agreed upon. While it is nice that young girls can relate to Usagi and her imperfections, the fact that she must become physically perfect as Sailor Moon may imply that striving for impossible perfection is the only way to be a powerful woman.
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