4) Spectatorship in She-Ra 55

Home , Beast Man, Hordak, Jungle girl, Princess of Power, Skeletor

The Active Heroine: Spectatorship, Female Representation and the Femininity of She-Ra

Diplomarbeit

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie

an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

vorgelegt von Saskia FUERST

am Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanisitk Begutachter Dr. Klaus Rieser

Graz, 15. Dezember 2009

For Mummy,Christa

and for Michi, too

“I’m afraid of nothing!”

- Force Captain Adora (aka Princess Adora)

“You can do anything, but not everything.”

- David Allen

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IV

INTRODUCTION 1 ANIMATED WORKS AND THE VIEWER 2 METHODOLOGY 4 PAPER OUTLINE 5

1) ANIMATION 7

1.1) HISTORY OF ANIMATION 7 1.2) GENRE OR MEDIUM 9 1.3) ANIMATED TELEVISION SERIES 11 1.4) WOMEN IN ANIMATION 13 1.5) ANIMATION: FOR CHILDREN OR ADULTS? 14 1.6) WHY ANIMATED FILMS? 16 1.7) CONCLUSION 18

2) SHE-RA AS A HEROINE 19

2.1) THE FOLK TALE AS A MOVIE 19 2.2) THE MORPHOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE SECRET OF THE SWORD 22 2.3) ANALYZATION OF THE CLASSIFICATION 24 2.3.1) THE TRADITIONAL VICTIM HERO 25 2.3.2) THE NEW ROLE OF WOMEN IN FILM AND SOCIETY 27 2.4) THE ACTIVE HEROINE 29

3) THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST 33

3.1) EARLY ANIMATED WOMEN 33 3.2) THE ACTION HEROINE 35 3.3) THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEX/GENDER 37 3.3.1) THE MARK OF GENDER/SEX 39 3.3.2) THE SOCIAL BODY 40 3.4) VISUAL CODES CONVEY MEANING 41 3.5) THE REPRESENTATION OF SHE-RA 43 3.6) CONCLUSION 52

4) SPECTATORSHIP IN SHE-RA 55

4.1) THE APPARATUS THEORY 56 4.1.2) FETISHISM WITHIN CINEMA 59 4.1.3) THE PLACE OF WOMEN IN CONVENTIONAL FILMS 60 4.2) OPPOSITIONAL GAZES AND SPECTATORS 62 4.3) FANTASY IN FILM VIEWING 66 4.4) CONCLUSION 68

5) SHE-RA’S TARGETED AUDIENCE: YOUNG GIRLS 69

5.1) PARENTS AND THE CHILD VIEWER 69 5.2) THE GIRL CHILD VIEWER 70 5.3) CONSUMPTION OF SHE-RA 72 5.4) GENDERING LITTLE GIRLS AND BOYS 73 5.5) CONCLUSION 74

6) CONCLUSION 76

BIBLIOGRAPHY 78

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1: FORCE CAPTAIN ADORA ENGAGING HE-MAN IN A SWORD FIGHT 30 FIGURE 2: QUEEN ANGELLA RESTORES HER POWERS 31 FIGURE 3: THE DVD COVER FOR THE SECRET OF THE SWORD 44 FIGURE 4: PRINCESS ADORA 46 FIGURE 5: SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER 48 FIGURE 6: THE SORCERESS OF GRAYSKULL 50 FIGURE 7: MADAME RAZZ 51 FIGURE 8: FORCE CAPTAIN ADORA DIRECTING THE CAMERA GAZE 62

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A Master’s thesis is a process, starting from the conception, along the bumpy path of research and actual writing until the final, completed version. As to be expected, it took longer than hoped for and required assistance from many people. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Rieser for becoming my advisor, even though his knowledge of my topic was limited, Dr. Schultermandl for inspiring me to become a university professor and Dr. Campbell for telling me to just get it done ☺.

As to be expected, there were many stages of doubt, lack of motivation and instances of procrastination. Thanks mom for bearing through all these stages with me! There was a point when I thought I may not actually finish this paper with all my other responsibilities crowding in on me, thank you so very much Michi for believing in me and always providing me with motivation, energy and a clear path to complete this task. You are one in a million!

And of course, there were numerous bureaucratic obstacles hindering the completion of my M.A. and formatting for the new, anti-plagiarism requirement of K.F. University was just one of the many. Thank you Andreas for “fixing” this paper! You are a life-saver ☺.

And to the readers of this paper, I hope you find (re)new(ed), positive and empowering reasons for delving into the wonderful, femininely powerful world of She- Ra!

S.F.

INTRODUCTION

Until the 1980s, the female action hero, the action heroine, was a scarce character in the American visual culture, especially regarding the animation industry. The predominant roles of female cartoon characters were based on traditionally defined female occupations and positions such as housewives, daughters, sisters, possessions and passive sidekicks for the male hero. When present in cartoons, female characters usually partook in “feminine” activities such as housewifely duties, playing with dolls and passively interacting with the other characters. Few female characters initiated plot sequences or had active roles in films or television series. In fact, women on screen often needed to be rescued by their male counterparts. Their sole function in the visual media entailed being an object to be fought over, saved or protected by the men on screen. In contrast, the male characters initiated plots and complications in action sequences, were the “doers” in the animated works and, as such, inhabited the active, “masculine” role in animated series and visual culture in general.

With the advent of the Feminist Movement, animated movies and television shows are now being produced and directed by women, who attempt to bring more variety and positive representations of women into visual media. The female hero is present in animated series and films but the “politics of representation” (cf. Hall 1997: 8) surrounding these figures is still highly contested. The introduction of progressive and varied, active images of women in the animation industry is constrained by the discourse of power between the sexes, the question of spectatorship, the sexualization of the female characters and the limited, often stereotypical, representations of femininity in the media. How advantageous is the female leading character in animation if she is still confined to specific though more varied roles? In the field of animation, the only limits a character faces are those imposed by the animator. Therefore, it is important to examine how female heroes are presented and why certain trends dominate their characterizations.

Animated Works and the Viewer

Most children growing up in a Western society today watch cartoons as part of their daily routines. While the exact number of hours for each child varies, it is safe to say that most Western children are familiar not only with a standard variety of television (TV) cartoons but also with animated films, especially those from the Disney Studios. It is not only children who are familiar with animation but also adults in their role as caretakers. Parents, guardians and caregivers watch animated film productions and cartoon series with their children, not only for entertainment but also to ascertain which animated works and cartoons are appropriate for their children or charges. They determine which shows and films the children are allowed to watch and offer them specific toys, associated with the movies and TV series, to play with, in order to influence the behavior of the children (cf. Bulger 1988: 184). Simultaneously, more animated works are targeted specifically towards adults, such as The Simpsons Movie (2007) and Shrek (2001). However, the genre of animation films and its impact on enforcing gender norms is not widely addressed due to the common impression that animation is only for children and thus not a “serious” topic.

The predominant figures in animated works, set by Disney Studios as the widely recognized benchmark in animated films, are associated with innocence and conservative family and gender norms and values. As a result, some scholars believe these animated works do not require academic or social critique. Yet, children grow up to become full-fledged members of society. The influences of animation and cartoons during children’s developmental stage certainly have an effect on their ideas of gender norms and the division of labor as adults in society at large. Animated works reinforce specific gendered views of society that should be examined, outlined and commented upon critically, as they reflect the gender norms and values deemed acceptable and, in a few cases, challenge the standard norms.

Animation, in itself, has the possibility to challenge reality and provide different possibilities, fantasies of a world in which characters can bend in an “unnatural” manner, animals can talk, inanimate objects can move and the animator can include her/his hands and drawing tools in the cartoon feature. The possibilities of challenging the social status quo are infinite. However, in order to be accepted by both the child and the adult viewer, the animated character or show has to be grounded in reality and is

often bound by socially accepted truths and norms, so that the viewer can identify with the character(s) in the animated work.

Examining animated films as a cultural representation of an historical period provides scholars with ample material to analyze specific social events and trends. The fantasy aspect of animation allows for the expression of varied, diverse and diverging representations, yet at the same time, it fits into the larger scheme of the dominant ideology of established social meaning and parameters (cf. Wells 2002a: 13). According to Paul Wells, “The cartoon becomes inherently metaphysical because it is playing out creative ideas which are extrapolated from, and interpretive of, observational and representational codings.” (Wells 2002a: 7) Each cartoon series and animated film is inherently intertextual, remarking upon society at large with the possibility for critiquing or upholding certain societal standards.

While this paper addresses the topics of animation and femininity broadly, it specifically explores the representations of the heroine, She-Ra: Princes of Power, in her debut film, The Secret of the Sword, released in 1985. The Secret of the Sword was the first, full length animation feature to have a female director, Gwen Wetzler, as part of the team working on the production (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985: commentary). It is also one of the first animated films to star a female character in the leading role as an active heroine. Upon its debut in the 1980s, feminists were concerned with the problems surrounding the combination of work and family life for many women which often led to the “superwoman syndrome.” This term encompasses the problem of the social attitude that women can successfully achieve both work and family care without help from a partner or family members. Women, in such situations, take on so many responsibilities that they no longer have quality time for themselves, leading to mental and physical health problems. She-Ra, as a superheroine that can achieve anything she chooses, reinforces the notion that women can accomplish everything that society sets for them, even impossible tasks. While She-Ra is a positive, innovative representation of an independent woman, taken literally, her characterization can also support the idea that woman can and should manage a job, domestic work, family care and personal activities while men are only responsible for their work and their individual free-time activities.

While the superwoman syndrome was particularly problematic for the 1980s and 1990s, it is still a valid dilemma in the 21st century. However in this paper, I am interested in questioning the possibility of a female active hero and the role of spectatorship in recognizing and acknowledging the possibility of activeness within the construction of femininity, as femininity is traditionally associated with passiveness. Is She-Ra, as an action heroine, a progressive and empowering figure for female viewers, or does the politics of her representation render her just another stereotypical, limited representation of a woman?

Methodology

Since 1985, several animation films have been released starring active female leading characters, most notably Mulan (1998) and The Powerpuff Girls (2002). While these films present a modern view of the female hero, I am purposefully addressing the character of She-Ra, as she is one of the forerunners of female cartoon action heroes and sets the standard for the following films and TV series. Scholarly academics have already analyzed the movies and female characters mentioned above, however, there is little academic work on The Secret of the Sword. In the 1980s, attitudes were just shifting towards the need to look at animation critically.

As a child, I watched episodes of She-Ra: Princes of Power as well as the movie. I remember wanting to be She-Ra with the power to tackle any problem with determination, gusto and the certainty of success. She was definitely one of my first role models and a great source of inspiration in my life. It is interesting to examine how one of the first animated series starring a female action hero handles the issues of spectatorship, sexuality and femininity, not only for a young audience but also for the adult audience that watches, approves and encourages their children to consume the movie, the television show and the array of She-Ra commercial products.

While this paper is sometimes limited in scope due to the inability to access certain texts from Graz, Austria, the use of general literature surrounding animation studies and the comparison of She-Ra to other cartoon characters that have been thoroughly critiqued, provide adequate academic material for a Master’s research paper

regarding this topic. With the renewed interest in animation in academic studies and the recent release of many 1980s cartoons and films on DVD, a new perspective can be gained on older works of animation. In this manner, this paper gives a critical examination of an infrequently mentioned but important American cultural artifact, “She-Ra: Princess of Power.”

Paper Outline

This paper is broken down into six main sections. Chapter One provides a brief overview of the history and techniques of animation within film studies and television series, the place of women within the animation industry and the targeted audience, whether children or adults. The section also includes a brief outline of the differences between film and television production as well as the problematic division of power between the sexes, or rather, the exclusion of women from powerful roles within visual culture. As visual culture often derives from written material, a part of this chapter is also devoted to the place of women in the literary field. These different aspects have an effect on the actual production of animation, in general, and thus are included in this chapter.

The second chapter looks specifically at the plot of The Secret of the Sword and analyzes its structure as a folk tale using Vladimir Propp’s classification system. This provides a basic framework for examining the extent to which the “She-Ra folk tale” fits the classical folk tale pattern and where the discrepancies emerge, especially regarding the changing ideas surrounding the role of women in society. The example of the Snow White fairy tale, both in the written format and the Disney Studios’ film version, is briefly outlined to provide a comparison to the She-Ra folk tale. As the first Western animated film to portray a female lead character, the Snow White fairy tale fits the Proppian model and provides a good contrast to the She-Ra folk tale, which diverges from the Proppian approach. Although Propp’s guideline is based on written texts, using an interdisciplinary approach, it is possible to apply this approach to The Secret of the Sword and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs considering both films as visual texts.

Chapter Three conducts an overarching survey of the visual presentation of women in films from the early 1900s to the late 1980s. The encoding of feminine characteristics into particular signs is only possible due to the socially constructed categories of sex and gender. The Secret of the Sword is situated within a specific historical context surrounding leading female characters in film, which is important to address, and at the same time a result of the patriarchal society. A thorough theoretical background into the construction of femininity and masculinity enables the reader to fully understand the visual presentation of the women in the film. Is the gendered, sexualized presentation of the female characters in some form empowering or just a reflection of traditional gender norms and social attitudes towards women?

As The Secret of the Sword is a film, it is crucial to examine the motivation for people to watch movies. In Chapter Four, the apparatus approach, using psychoanalytic theories from Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, provides an explanation for the pleasure viewers’ gain from the cinematic experience. Unfortunately, this approach excludes the position of women as spectators and does not address the inequality evident in mainstream films, as a direct result of the patriarchal society. Laura Mulvey, Jackie Stacey and bell hooks position the female viewer in mainstream cinema and, using examples from The Secret of the Sword, it is possible to locate the space for the female viewer within the rather limited scope of mainstream films.

One of the specific goals of this paper is to determine whether or not She-Ra is an empowering heroine for the female audience. As her movie specifically targets young girls, several specific aspects surrounding childhood and the girl child viewer are highlighted in Chapter Five. Is there a difference in the viewing strategies employed by young girls? What is the overall purpose, goal and effect of watching a film starring a heroine who does not fit the stereotypical role of femininity? This chapter shows the justification for including the perspective of children in the general discussion of “the viewer” throughout this paper and highlights an interesting study on the effect of gender stereotyping in visual media on children as well as their specific socialization process into gendered members of society. In conclusion, Chapter Six outlines the empowering aspects of the character of She-Ra and the ultimate impact her expanded version of femininity has on society.

1) ANIMATION

Until the early 1980s, the field of animation had been excluded from academic criticism as it was deemed “harmless” entertainment for children. As Kevin Sandler points out, Walt Disney entertainment is “sacred and nonnegotiable” due to the common belief that the world of Disney offers a safe haven for adults and children that leaves no room for critical evaluation (cf. 1998: 154). Yet Disney Studios perpetuates and enforces certain cultural norms and ideals that should indeed be evaluated with a critical eye. Not only current animated works need critical evaluation but the historical process of animation as well. Both adults and children consume cartoons to the same and sometimes an even greater extent than other cultural media. Excluding animation from a critical discourse leaves an important part of children’s social development, as well as adult viewing consumption and endorsement, unchallenged.

1.1) History of Animation

The very first animation developed from comic strips and the first animated film was produced by newspaper cartoonist, Stuart Blackton in 1906: Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. His project is the earliest example of an animated work. Two years later, in 1908, Emile Cohl made the first full-length animated feature, Fantasmagorie (Dirk 2009: para. 3 - 4). It lasts approximately two minutes long. The simply, line-drawn cartoon character morphs into different shapes as he participates in a short adventure. Cohl draws his own hands in the cartoon clip at the beginning and the end to show his authorship. His work is a precursor of independent and feminist animation, whereby the animators use similar techniques to dismantle the illusion of reality in animated works and show ownership as well. Towards the end of the clip, Cohl reassembles the main cartoon figure, after he falls and breaks apart, so that he can continue the show (cf. Cohl 1908: 1min). Mainstream animation studios, due to the impact of Disney, strive for the exact opposite in their animation films. They aim for a reflection of reality that does not require much thought or reflection as to the meaning

and intentions of the animated work and/or the goals of the animator producing the work.

As in mainstream “live” films, the first two examples of animated works were produced in black and white and without dialog. Animation quickly evolved to include color in the 1920s, and the first feature length movie is credited to Lotte Reiniger. In Germany, she produced The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed) in 1926. She used the technique of silhouette and color tinting to produce this film. Silhouetting is an intricate art of making animation whereby the figures as well as the backgrounds are cut out of black paper. A photograph or shot is taken of each stage of the figure’s movement from above with a light underneath the black silhouettes. This method produces a silhouette animated film, composed of thousands of individual shots (cf. Isaacs 1970: online; Dirks 2009: para. 12). The story itself is based on the tales from the Arabian Nights. While her work is not well known and often not credited, as she worked with silhouettes and produced her film in Germany, she is the first person and woman to make a feature length animated film. The film includes color as well as experimental sand and wax work and the use of a multi-plan camera for taking the shots (cf. Dirks 2009: para. 12). Reiniger is an early example of the work of female animators during the early stages of animation, but sadly her contribution and efforts are often overlooked in favor of other male animators.

Lotte Reininger’s feature length film was soon followed by Walt Disney’s work, first as a solo animator and then from his studios. The character of Mickey Mouse was produced by the Disney Studios in 1928 with Steamboat Willie, featuring Mickey Mouse as the leading character. Later in the same year, it was re-released with sound and was the first cartoon with a post-produced synchronized soundtrack which included dialog, sound effects and background music. At the same time, several competitors to Disney Studios emerged such as Fleisher Studios, founded by the Fleischer brothers: Max, Dave Joe and Lou. Fleischer Studios produced such characters as Betty Boop in the 1930s. Warner Brother Entertainment, Inc. developed an animation department headed by Leon Schlesinger from 1933 to 1944 and is well known for the series The Looney Toons, airing from 1930 to 1969. With the new director, Fred “Tex” Avery at Warner Bros in the 1940s, the style of animation changed to adult humor and content. He created the characters of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny

before moving over to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) where he created even more controversial cartoon series and films such as Red Hot Riding Hood, released in 1943. His characters were aimed at an adult audience and addressed adult issues in a satirical, outrageous and often crude manner (cf. Dirks 2009: para. 13 - 38).

Meanwhile in the 1930s, MGM established an animation unit and produced the Happy Harmonies series of animated works airing from 1934 to 1938. MGM was also home to animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbara who worked on the Tom and Jerry TV series from 1940 to 1957. This remarkable animation duo would later team together in direct competition with Disney as the second animators to win an Oscar award for their cartoons.1 They continued on to produce such animated shows as The Flintstones, airing from 1960 to 1966, which would set the standard for television cartoon series. As Walt Disney is known for setting the benchmark for animated feature length movies, William Hanna and Joseph Barbara are known for establishing the criteria for TV animated shows, embracing the new medium and the challenges which arose for animators in the then new, now dominant, form of entertainment (cf. Wells 2002b: 75 - 77).

1.2) Genre or Medium

Even within the film community, there is a debate as to whether animation is a genre or a film technique.2 While many animated films make use of genre-like elements, such as fairy tale, romance or action, animation in itself varies greatly and cannot always be simply lumped together into one category. Animated films use individual drawings, paintings or illustrations which are singularly photographed, one frame at a time, with slight variations which give the illusion of movement when projected on screen, usually at 24 frames per second (cf. Dirks 2008: online; Bordwell 1990: 347). Preston Blair gives a more precise definition:

1 Disney Studios was the first animation studio to win an Oscar (cf. Wells 2002b: 75 – 77). 2 See the website blog on AnimationNation.com where the discussion is, “Animation: Genre or medium” on the webpage http://www.animationnation.com/cgi- bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=012926;p= [2008, April 15].

[…] the process of drawing and photographing a character – a person, an animal, or an inanimate object – in successive positions to create lifelike movement. Animation is both art and craft; it is a process in which the cartoonist, illustrator, […] and motion picture director combine their skills to create a new breed of artist – the animator. (cited in Wells 2002a: 4)

This definition highlights the creative aspect of animation and does not necessarily set parameters for what should be included in animation. With the development of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), the idea that animation is defined as a series of individual photographs is no longer valid. Perhaps the best definition for animation is that it is not solely dependent on live performers and incorporates various different genres.

Regardless of the necessarily broad definition of animation, it is possible to notice different trends and genres within the category. Some of the earliest animation revolved around slap-stick comedy and the term animation includes cel animation, silhouette animation, clay animation and among many other techniques, CGI. Cel animation (the shortened term for celluloid animation), which was used for The Secret of the Sword, is an animation technique whereby the background or scenery is drawn on paper and the moving figures and objects are drawn on layers of clear plastic which can be lain over the background in layers and moved around. This method saved time and labor (cf. Bordwell 1990: 347). Clay animation makes use of clay figures which are then photographed. Presently, conventional animation studios produce feature length films using CGI. This reduces the dependence on photographic shots and grants animators other tools and means with which to create their fantasy worlds.

Interestingly, mainstream animation often conforms to rather strict and conservative ideas surrounding gender. Taking Walt Disney’s lead, conventional animation seeks to reflect the environment and reality as closely as possible. In the Disney Studios production concept, “The imperative to create entertaining stories which may be executed through an industrial model inevitably means that artistic compromise is necessary.” (Wells 2002a: 20) As such, individual creativity in Disney

studies is discouraged and in fact prohibited. According to Marc Eliot,3 Disney argued vehemently with the director of Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953), Ward Kimball, for its uncharacteristic style and banned all further stylistic experimentation in 1953 (cf. Wells 2002a: 23).

Still, Disney’s model has been quite successful and very lucrative. The popularity of Disney’s films and his worldwide marketing strategy has made Disney Studios one of the major benchmarks in animation. This is not to say that many artists and studios have not attempted to portray other styles of animation, but it does note that all other studios and animation techniques have, at some point, been compared to the Disney Studios’ “realistic” portrayal. Walt Disney and his followers have chosen to favor design strategies that create clear and “simple” emotions which do not invite the audience to contemplate or critique the artistry and belief values presented. This has created a very limited aesthetic that does not usually rise above or challenge the archetypical meanings that are associated with his images (cf. Wells 2002a: 21). Disney’s cartoons are very life-like. This form of animation, which avoids breaking the illusion of reality, provides a very uncomplicated and “believable” movie style that does not require the viewer to question society, cultural norms, and/or the viewer’s relation to such norms, which is otherwise prevalent in independent animation productions. Through this “realistic” method, Disney has created a style of animation, an orthodox hyper-realist styling, which is often regarded as “[…] the predominant language of animation.” (Wells 2002a: 4) If Disney’s approach is adopted, it restricts the inherent, unlimited possibilities of animation.

1.3) Animated Television Series

The Disney Studios are commonly regarded as the point of reference for animated films, however, television shows developed differently. They were influenced by different conditions than movie studios, namely, limited budgets and time restraints. Often, to save money and reduce time limitations, sketches were re-used. Each

3 The author of Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince: A Biography, is considered one of the first unauthorized biographies of Walt Disney, as Disney Studios did not read and approve this book. As a result, Eliot did not have access to the Disney archives, and the information provided in the book is taken from interviews he conducted and other secondary sources (cf. Wells 2002a: 23).

animated show had stock drawings which could be re-used for different episodes. Due to time constraints, shows were often “process-driven works.” (Wells 2002b: 81) A degree of sameness emerged that was successful for producing what Chuck Jones refers to as “Saturday Morning” cartoons. He suggests that dialogue surpassed visual and graphic elements so that the characters all moved the same, acted the same and even ran the same. This is best evidenced in Hanna-Barbera’s voice artists, whose tone and inflections defined the characters rather than the characters appearance and visual capabilities (cf. Wells 2002b: 78 - 79). Time was saved by using voice narration to individualize and develop the characters rather than using the lengthier process of drawing intricate facial and body sketches to show the feelings and emotions of the characters.

With the focus on dialog and the voice directing the narration, it was possible to re-use and recycle older stories to keep pace with the tight time schedule. As television is driven by the viewing audience and the popularity of the shows, cartoon series often emerged from existing movies or were crossovers from comic books or popular music stars, where an established fan base already existed. Not only was television concerned with retaining an audience, that would hopefully buy the products advertised during the commercials, but companies’ also perceived the potential marketable strategy of using animated works as a method to promote and advertise the products themselves. Disney Studios was one of the first companies to utilize this potential and saw television as a way to market Disney merchandise (cf. Wells 2002b: 77). The toy company, Mattel, took this a step further by producing animated TV shows to promote their existing or soon to be released toy lines and products. This trend became so popular, parents became concerned that animated works were only being created by toy manufacturers to serve their own interests (cf. Wells 2002b: 82). In 1990, the U.S. congress enacted The Children’s Television Act aimed at preventing such blatant use of television as a marketing tool. One of the main goals of the Act was to increase the educational content in children’s programming and, up until today, the U.S. government is still concerned as to whether the Act achieves this goal (“Children’s Television Programming” 1995: para. 1).

The film, The Secret of the Sword, was designed to promote the cartoon series, She-Ra: Princess of Power. The TV show was created to promote the action heroine

toy production line and accompanying accessories, such as comic books, magazines, clothes, jewelry, She-Ra themed school items, household items, etc., sold by Mattel. The movie was originally intended to debut on television, with TV’s specific constraints of limited budgets and short production times in comparison to standard mainstream animated films. These restraints are evident in the film, and as such, The Secret of the Sword is quite different in style and form of delivery when compared to Disney Studios films produced in the same time period.4

1.4) Women in Animation

A major issue concerning the representation of women in the animation industry is the lack of certain images and representations of women (cf. Furniss 1998: 1). Up until recently, female heroes simply were not present in animation as well as in “real life” TV series and movies. Female characters occupied only a few, limited positions and a variety of images and representations of women in the media just did not exist. This stems mainly from the fact that women were underrepresented in the animation industry, and when present, they were restricted to specific jobs in animation production. Usually, women in major animation production companies were relegated to the area of inking and painting of animation cells (cf. Furniss 1988: 234). The creative departments were filled with male animators. The decision-makers and directors were all men. In the 1930s, Disney Studios had only 200 women employed. They were all in the Painting and Inking Department. Disney Studios later hired women to be stenographers of reviews of works in progress; another tedious, repetitive and uncreative job specifically assigned to women in the industry (cf. Bell 1995: 107).

Only in the 1970s did the working prospects for women in animation gradually begin to expand due to the increased educational opportunities for women as a result of the Feminist Movement. Women began to take advantage of the various college film programs that became available and the introduction of animation classes in secondary educational institutions. Although they often began their careers in the Inking and Painting Departments, women were finally reaching the level of background layouts,

4 Disney released the films The Fox and the Hound in 1981, The Black Cauldron in 1985, Oliver and Company in 1988 and The Little Mermaid in 1989.

layout artists, animators, and even directors. Gwen Wetzler, as one of the directors of The Secret of the Sword, is one of the first women to direct a mainstream animated film in Hollywood in the mid 1980s.5

By 1997, an increase in the number of women in executive positions in the television industry and particularly in the children’s television industry occurred. Betty Cohen was the President of the Cartoon Network from August 1994 until June 2001, and Jean MacCurdy was the President of Warner Brothers Television Animation from 1989 until 2001 (cf. “Betty Cohen” 2001: online; Furniss 1998: 235, 237). These are just examples of two successful women, among many, in the animation industry. With the entrance of women into powerful, decision-making positions, a shift in the focus of animation occurred. More female characters were introduced in leadership roles with active qualities. The representation of the women in these roles became more diversified and positive. Previously, girls and women had to watch programs and movies addressing “masculine” issues with leading male characters and were expected to identify with these figures. The belief that boys and men would not watch programs featuring heroines and revolving around issues and experiences related to girls and women has been debunked by the popularity of Clarissa Knows All (a real life program airing from 1991 - 1994), Daria and Powerpuff Girls (animated series airing from 1997 to 2002 and from 2001 to present, respectively). These programs and other similar series are proving to be commercially successful, even though or perhaps because they target a female audience (cf. Furniss 1998: 238).

1.5) Animation: for Children or Adults?

Although it is assumed that only children watch animated series and films, this belief is a misconception. Adults watch cartoons either in their role as parents or for the entertainment value. Just as Tex Avery produced animated works for an adult audience in the late 1930s and early 1940s with the Warner Brothers, recently, animated series and movies have been produced which also target adult viewers. Aside from being specifically targeted by directors and writers, in their role as caretakers and parents,

5 Lotte Reiniger was the first female director of an animated feature film. Gwen Wetzler was the first female co-director for a mainstream film I discovered in my research.

adults choose and encourage children to watch certain cartoons, either for their educational value or because the adults approve of the moral values promoted by the series or film (cf. Bulger 1988: 184). For this reason, men and women are included in the discussion of the different effects the representations of female characters in animated works have on viewers in this paper.

Still from an historical perspective, animation is largely targeted towards children. In the early 1920s, the genre of children movies emerged. The space for children movies was predominantly occupied by animation. The institution of the family, Saturday matinee features, which showcased various children’s films, became an established ritual. This marketing strategy ensured a child audience and a future adult audience in the film industry. The custom of rewarding children for good behavior with a movie highlights that entertaining children has established legitimacy in American culture along with the modern ideas surrounding the proper socaialization of children (cf. Kline 1993: 110). Among these “new” ideas,6 is the removal of children from the workplace and placement into schools, adult accountability for children and “proper” parental care including a tender and loving disposition. By the early 1900s, society had decided that children needed to be sheltered from the adult world and, in the context of films, should only view educational and “wholesome” material. If a child had access to adult material, then s/he would no longer be a child (cf. Steinberg and Kincheloe 2004: 6).

Since then, some scholars, such as Shirley Steinberg and Joe Kincheloe, have argued that children are capable of actively contributing to their own self-construction and subjectivity (cf. 2004: 7). Thus, children are more capable and competent in navigating the boundaries between childhood and adulthood. This means that children are aware of their environment, the forces that influence their surroundings and self- construction, marketing strategies by toy companies, for example, and can choose, on their own behalf, what exactly should influence their identity-forming process. In either case, the effects of animated works on the child viewer can be both positive and negative. With regards to gendered stereotyping, more positive and diverse representations of women in animated works results in a less gender-biased audience,

6 These “new ideas” surrounding traditional childhood peaked from about 1850 to 1950 (cf. Steinberg and Kincheloe 2004: 2).

for at least a short period of time (cf. Davidson, Yasuna and Tower 1979: 600). The child viewer, comparable and equal to the adult viewer, is able to adjust her/his views regarding gender roles based on exposure to cartoon shows and films.

1.6) Why Animated Films?

Stories tell and teach individual members of society about their culture. Previously, stories were told orally and passed down from generation to generation. They served as a guide to future generations and current ones too, teaching tales about love, sex, money, marriage, birth, death and transformation (cf. Estés 1992: 16).7 Today, printed medium and film have served to replace these oral traditions but with certain limitations. Oral stories allow for flexibility and the ability to suit each story to the lesson being given and/or the audience it is addressed to. In the written and film format, a story loses its cultural fluidity (cf. Davis 2006: 10-11). Since oral histories and stories are traditionally passed down from generation to generation through the women, the decline in oral story telling means the loss of agency and power for women as creative artists with the ability to shape, define and adjust folk tales8 to suit their audience. The printed medium, as a domain historically reserved for men, has been largely restricted from women.

One of the major dilemmas in literature is the historical denial of women’s ability to create scholarly and literary texts. The field of literature has been dominated by men as it has been defined as a patriarchal domain. Language and the rules of language are aligned in the development of the child with the paternal rules of society. Here, the woman has no power or influence, according to psychoanalysis, as she has no

7 According to Clarissa Estés, the process of writing folk tales, by the Grimm brothers among various others, has scoured clean the pre-Christian, the Goddesses, the feminine and many other symbols and references to female power and divinity in oral stories and replaced them with evil symbols in their written versions. For example, the old healer woman became an evil witch and helpful creatures and animals became demons and ghosts. In her book, she seeks to recreate the original story that celebrates and values the “wild woman archetype” from the tales she has collected (cf. Estés 1992: 16-17). 8 I will use the term “folk tale” to refer both to folk tales and fairy tales, as fairy tales fall under the category of folk tale. As a sub-genre, the rule of thumb is that if there is a fairy or some form of magic in the tale with good triumphing over evil, then it is a fairy tale (cf. Dahl, et al. 2000: online). This is the case with The Secret of the Sword, however, in this paper I do not necessarily want the reader to associate the same cultural values and ideas that surround fairy tales with the story of She-Ra, as she represents a different heroine than traditionally portrayed in the fairy tale genre.

control over the paternal language (cf. Homer 2005: 49, 94). With language and creativity defined as a male sphere, the pen, as the symbol for phallic power, symbolizes masculine dominance in literary creativity. As it is the male’s power to produce “biological” offspring through the phallus, the pen is the literary phallus which produces written “offspring” (cf. Gilbert and Gubar 2000: 6). Not only is the man the author of the text, but he also owns the text he has written.

With the ownership of the text, it is inevitable to conclude the male ownership of the subjects included in the text, be it male characters or female ones (cf. Gilbert and Gubar 2000: 7). If the female subjects are owned within the texts by men as well, there is little space for female creativity and ownership. Rather, the female subject and writer is trapped, “penned in” as the property of male authorship (cf. Gilbert and Gubar 2000: 13). As a result, patriarchal values and norms are inscribed in texts. The female and male characters are portrayed as best reflects the male dominated society. With little or no counter images from female authors, limited and very stereotypical gender norms are presented in literary works that are only now being challenged as women find ways to break into the male dominated canon of literature and infuse multiple representations of women and female creativity into the written genre.

The stories told in films have been adapted not only from the oral to the written form but also to the film version. In this process, they have changed their target audience and the message which is disseminated (cf. Davis 2006: 13). The animated film versions of folk tales, in order to be readily accepted by the audience, must in some way reflect social norms and attitudes. According to Vladimir Propp, folklore does not merely reflect the values of a society; folklore emerges from a clash of two ages or systems (cited in Davis 2006: 12). Thus, a movie can tell the reader or viewer interesting details about a society and its changes and developments. As such, the film The Secret of the Sword, based on folklore, serves as a cultural snapshot of the clashing ideals surrounding the role and image of women in the 1980s. The rise in feminism and women working in public areas collides culturally with the previous role of women as housewives and token trophies for the men in their lives, whether the father, the brother or the husband. Reflecting the changes in society, She-Ra, as a character, embodies the “old” and the “new” woman to create something wholly new and modern. She functions successfully in the male sphere by saving her people, solving both political

and social problems and actively pursuing her goals in her animated world as the heroine of her own story. Currently, this is only possible in the fictional, fantasy setting of animation.

1.7) Conclusion

The ability of women to author texts and represent themselves, as they choose in mainstream settings, is highly limited due to patriarchal structures and norms in society. The presentation of She-Ra and the female characters in the movie and TV series often reflects residual male, patriarchal influences: the slender, sexualized female body, the mothering nature of She-Ra and the objectifying gaze of the intended heterosexual male viewer.

That She-Ra is the heroine of her own story is a step forward that may only reflect the previous lack of attention paid to a large consumption group: young girls. With a female targeted movie there is also the possibility for a large marketing campaign including action toy figures, comic books, apparel, games, coloring books and the animated television series itself. This is a powerful driving force in the American economy. It is important to sell a product that the watching female audience, both child and adult (who approves and controls what the child watches) find pleasurable and identify with. This dilemma makes analyzing The Secret of the Sword so interesting. She-Ra must be desirable for the female audience and therefore must embody the new ideas surrounding female identity and roles in society. Yet, she is still drawn largely by male artists, and the show is largely produced and directed by men, allowing for patriarchal norms to enter and play a role in the film. The question is to what extent does this male influence dominate and disrupt viewing pleasures for women, if at all, and where does the old and the new, modern role model of women clash? The movie and the resulting cartoon series offers an excellent cultural picture of the changing status of women in the 1980s and the role of women in the workforce and in the home, which is still a topic of discussion in modern society.

2) SHE-RA AS A HEROINE

She-Ra was the first superheroine to star in her own animated TV series. In 1985 Mattel, an American toy company, decided to launch a female action figure targeted towards girls to match their hugely popular, widely selling male action figure, He-Man and the various action figures accompanying his cartoon TV series. To promote sales for the female action figure, Mattel worked with Filmation to produce an animated TV series with 65 episodes. She-Ra: Princess of Power, airing from 1985 to 1987, was developed and launched with the sole purpose of targeting the female gap in their marketing strategy and to promote the sales of female action figures and other related commodities. Deciding to start the series with something special, Mattel instructed Filmation to trim the first five episodes to make a full length movie. The movie, The Secret of the Sword, opened in theatres in March 1985, and the life of She- Ra began (cf. “A Brief History” 2002: online).

The movie, The Secret of the Sword, is about the origins of She-Ra. She is the twin sister of He-Man, from the animated series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but is unaware of her parentage and her powers. He-Man must travel to Etheria in his alter ego, Prince Adam, and find his long-lost twin, unbeknownst to him at the beginning of his quest, and give her the sword of power which will enable her to become She-Ra. He discovers that his twin sister is Force Captain Adora who, under a spell, is working for the evil Hordak. With the help of the sword and the Sorceress, He- Man is able to free Force Captain Adora from her enchantment. Through the power of the sword, Princess Adora is able to transform into She-Ra. At the end of the film, she is reunited with her parents but chooses to stay in Etheria and help the rebellion fight for freedom and goodness against the evil Hord (cf. “A Brief History” 2002: online).

2.1) The Folk Tale as a Movie

The tale of She-Ra is loosely based on several different types of folk tales, legends and myths. The movie also falls under the folk tale genre within the larger category of animation. As such, it is important to determine the characteristics of folk tales and the roles and actions prescribed to the characters in a folk tale. For this

analysis, Propp’s Morphology of the Folk Tale provides a useful guideline. Propp classified and detailed the basic structure of folk tales based on the 100 Russian folk tales he examined. According to Propp, all fairy tales are composed of a various number of functions that constitute the components of the tale, however, folk tales use multiple and colorful ways to achieve these functions (cf. 1958: 19 - 20). Each story either has “victim heroes” or “seekers” (cf. Propp 1958: 34). An obstacle is placed before the heroine/hero and s/he must surmount this obstacle through an aid which s/he is given or obtains (cf. Propp 1958: 81). In surmounting this obstacle and any others faced in the folk tale, the heroine/hero displays a particular attribute which is the purpose of the task. Whoever places the obstacle in the path of the heroine/hero seeks to find out if s/he has the attribute(s) needed to overcome the obstacle (cf. Propp 1958: 81). The various obstacles and methods for surpassing the barriers form a basic formula and plot which can be used to study all folk tales, according to Propp. The heroine/hero then uses this newly gained magical aid to defeat the villain, or the magical aid can take the place of the hero to defeat the villain.

Through overcoming the series of obstacles, the heroine/hero finds the object or person s/he was searching for and returns with this object or person to her/his hometown. Usually, it is the male hero who seeks a girl, who is often a princess, and returns and marries the young woman, becoming a king and gaining a kingdom (if she is indeed a princess). There is the possibility that the heroine/hero is pursued once s/he returns home and s/he must either save her/himself or be rescued. Of course, it is possible that the previous steps are repeated infinitely, with new obstacles and new tasks, until the heroine/hero finally gets married. Marriage, according to Propp’s analysis, is the end goal of the folk tale. These basic guidelines allow for a universal formula for folk tales. The details which are then added have specific meanings in specific contexts (cf. Propp 1958: 82). Who performs the functions can change, but it is the completion of the limited functions that propels and makes a plot a folk tale (cf. Propp 1958: 20).

Using Propp’s morphology highlights an unsettling but not surprising tendency for a passive, female character as the “victim” heroine and an active, male character as the “seeker” hero. Based on the earlier discussion of male dominance in literature, active male characters embody the desirable characteristics in society and are then also

present in the visual representations of the written fairy tales. Men, as owners of literary creativity, infuse their patriarchal values into their versions of folk tales which is then incorporated into, in this particular case, the animated feature length movie and TV cartoon series. Indeed, a glance at Disney Studios films from the period of 1937 to 1985 illustrates that there are three fairy tale animated movies with victim heroines who embody passive feminine qualities.9 The folk tales, legends and book adaptations utilized for Disney Studios’ films feature active male characters who actively pursue specific goals and tasks. Only in 1989, with Arielle in The Little Mermaid, is the female hero depicted more actively pursuing her goal. Rather, the standard pursuit of female characters in Disney Studios films is that of true love and a suitable husband. It would seem that the U.S. society of the 1930s to early 1980s was not prepared to accept a heroine who actively went in search of a lost, abducted and/or imprisoned young man and, after accomplishing several daring tasks to prove her worth, is able to rescue the gentleman in distress and marry him to gain a kingdom.

While a 1900s’ audience is not prepared for such a radical female on screen, the possibility for a broader definition of the female leading character is present. The Secret of the Sword provides an excellent opportunity to discover in which ways Propp’s structure for an active heroine are valid and where exactly his classification system breaks down and no longer provides a structure for the modern folk tale that encompasses modern ideas of femininity and masculinity. As noted in the introductory remarks, Propp’s analysis is limited to one form of fairytale, notably those from Aarne- Thompson, set in the Russian culture (cf. Propp 1958: 4). It is not a universal study, however, it can be applied to other folk tales and cultures to show connections, discrepancies and provide a general guiding framework for the interconnectedness between actions in the folk tale.

9 The first three feature length Disney Studios movies were Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950) and Sleeping Beauty (1959).

2.2) The Morphology and Classification of The Secret of the Sword

The Secret of the Sword opens with the Sorceress of Grayskull, who is known to the audience from the cartoon TV series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The Sorceress has a dream in which she remembers the abduction of Princess Adora, Prince Adam’s twin sister, by the villain Hordak. The sword of power magically floats to her and opens a portal, presumably to the world where Adora now lives. The Sorceress then tells the hero, Prince Adam, of the need to find the person to whom the sword belongs. As she has no power outside the castle, she sends Adam to locate and rescue the missing person. The Sorceress does not tell Adam that the missing person is his sister, who also has a special destiny like Adam, for he is also He-Man, Master of the Universe and helps to protect his world, Eternia, from the villain Skeletor, his helpers and any other trouble-makers (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009a: para. 1 - 2).

With this initial structure, the folk tale is set up according to Propp’s guidelines. The narration follows Adam’s goal to find the missing person. Thus, he is a seeker hero with the narrative following his adventures. According to Propp, the hero is then tested by the donor in order to determine if he should receive a magical aid. Adam already has a magical sword which transforms him into He-Man and provides him with magical powers. However in order to find Adora, he requires assistance. He helps some local people in a bar to defend themselves from Hordak’s troops and thus proves himself worthy to receive aid. He becomes acquainted with Bow, a member of the rebellion, and is introduced to their leader, Glimmer. Through their efforts to rescue local citizens from enslavement by Hordak, He-Man comes into contact with Force Captain Adora, who is the object of his search (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009: para. 6 - 7). She has been bewitched and enspelled by one of Hordak’s minions and works for Hordak, thinking that she is doing good deeds for the people of Etheria. After several confrontations with He-Man, as he attempts to convince her of the evil nature of Hordak, Adora finally breaks free of her enchantments. With the help of the magical sword and the Sorceress, she transforms into She-Ra: Princess of Power with magical powers and super human strength. She then rescues He-Man from Hordak and together they fight Hordak and his forces (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009b: online).

At this point, the plot shifts from Adam predominantly narrating the story to a “joint” narration and ultimately to Adora narrating the film and thus becoming the clear

heroine. Using Propp’s guidelines, it is clear to see that approximately half way into the movie, Adora, as the twin hero to He-Man, is tested by her donor, the Sorceress, to see if she is worthy of receiving the magical sword. She must break through the spells of enchantment surrounding her, not once but twice throughout the film, and then she is deemed worthy of becoming She-Ra: Princess of Power. Through the jewel in the sword, the Sorceress informs Adora of her true heritage and that He-Man is her twin brother. Adora picks up the sword and transforms into She-Ra in order to save He-Man. Together, they stop Hordak from destroying the rebel forces, and then She-Ra informs He-Man of her true identity (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009b: online).

After saving Queen Angella of Bright Moon, the last kingdom conquered by the Hord, She-Ra feels that the rebellion can stand on its own for awhile and decides to visit her parents. Together, Adam and Adora return to Etheria where Adora is reunited with her royal family. It is then revealed to everyone (including the viewers) that Adora is the long lost, twin sister of Adam. She was abducted as a baby and the Sorceress removed the memory of Adora from the people of Eternia to save them from the pain of her loss (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009c: online). This explains why there is no mention of She-Ra or Princess Adora in the previous He-Man episodes.

While this part of the tale fulfills Propp’s guidelines with Adam as the seeker hero, bringing the lost person, Adora, back to her family and hometown, which is normally finalized through marriage, the plot of the movie continues in a different manner. Adam cannot marry Adora as she is his sister, and the movie is not over with the reunification of Adora with her family. Hordak, furious that Adora may be leaving Etheria, follows Adora and Adam back to Eternia unnoticed through the portal. He then teams up with his former apprentice, Skeletor, to abduct Adora again and return with her to Etheria, leaving Skeletor to conquer Eternia instead of trying to regain control of the planet again himself (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009c: online). In this turn of events, Adora, as the newly determined heroine of the movie is pursued and captured by Skeletor and Hordak. Propp clearly states that the heroine/hero is the character pursued and captured again in her/his efforts to return home with the lost object/person and in the course of the action is supplied with a magical agent (cf. 1958: 46, 51 - 52). Adora,

having previously been tested, already has her magical aid, the Sword of Honor,10 and uses the sword to free herself after her capture and imprisonment. Simultaneously, He- Man and his friends attempt to rescue her. Now, as the heroine of her tale, Princess Adora needs no assistance in saving herself and proves herself capable of defeating her enemies not only as Adora but also as her magical alter ego, She-Ra (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009d: online).

Realizing her true potential and destiny, Adora informs her parents that she will return to Etheria to help her people free themselves from the Hord. While her parents are not happy to part with her again, they accept her decision. The Sorceress sends Princess Adora and her horse, Spirit, back to Etheria. Adam surprises Adora by joining her to help her get the rebellion off to a solid start in their fight against the Hord. Together with the forces of the rebellion, they succeed in freeing Castle Bright Moon from Hordak’s forces and establish Queen Angella as the rightful ruler again. He-Man acknowledges that She-Ra must stay in Etheria until the Hord have been forced to leave the planet. The movie ends with He-Man bidding She-Ra farewell as she flies away on her magical, flying horse (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009d: online).

2.3) Analyzation of the Classification

I would like to argue that this movie allows for two heroes due to the nature of its story. Initially, He-Man is the seeker hero, as proposed by Propp, and initiates the search for She-Ra. However, as she is his twin sister, she is equally able to be the heroine of her own story and narrate the second half of the movie as a female “victim hero,” who is, contrary to the classification, active. While the story begins from He- Man’s perspective, there is a clear shift in narration when Adora gets captured on Eternia, saves herself and then chooses to return to Etheria. The final shot and parting words are told and seen from He-man’s perspective, but She-Ra is the subject of the film and narrates the story once she becomes aware of her true identity. The movie is about her journey to self-discovery, initiation into adulthood and status as a heroine. The traditional folk tale pattern of the victim hero does not fit the She-Ra folk tale as

10 Note that in the film, He-Man’s sword is referred to as the Sword of Power while She-Ra’s sword is one of “honor.” Gender norms surrounding masculinity and femininity are clearly evident in the different labeling of these two swords.

she is a strong, active heroine in her own right and often occupies the role of the seeker hero, even though she is not actively seeking a person or an object directly in the movie, rather freedom for her people living in a dictatorship.

The two types of heroes suggested by Propp’s analysis are clearly gender coded. With the entrance of female empowerment into the animated industry, thanks to the Feminist Movement, it is possible for the strict boundaries between feminine and masculine characteristics to blur and overlap. It is now socially acceptable to have an active seeker heroine, though her goal is not to find and marry the “object” of her search. The existence of a female hero as a “seeker” breaks the binary pattern which emerged from Propp’s analyzation. With the She-Ra folk tale, there is finally a return to oral traditions whereby female characters possess active roles and engage in active pursuits, identifiable by the female members of the audience watching the movie and TV series. She-Ra, as the role model for the female seeker hero, provides an expanded definition of “woman” presented in visual culture including, among other things, rescuing friends and family, completing a public job successfully, caring for friends and family and fighting for what she believes is right. These issues are universal and still face young girls and women today (as well as boys and men). Despite the span of over 20 years since the release of this movie, the definition of womanhood and the ideas surrounding what women can and cannot do are still restricted. The presentation of a woman who is able to successfully complete any goal she chooses, within the patriarchal society, is a valid role model for today’s young girls and still a necessary image.

2.3.1) The Traditional Victim Hero

Another reason for the discrepancy in the She-Ra folk tale arises from the fact that the movie was originally created as five separate cartoon episodes. The first four episodes follow the pattern of the male seeker hero. At the end of the fourth episode, Adam has returned to Eternia with his long lost sister. They do not marry as is traditional in the folk tale, because they are siblings. However, the traditional folk tale plot is satisfied with the return of the lost person by the male seeker hero, who is constantly active in seeking the lost person/object.

The final episode, viewed as a solo episode, shows Adora/She-Ra as the heroine of her own story. Normally, a victim hero is abducted or taken away and the narrative is initiated through a passive beginning. The heroine does not necessarily seek a method to return to her hometown actively. Her tasks to prove her worthiness for her magical aid(s) are often different and of a more domestic nature. The lack of value placed by society on domestic skills, more often performed by women, ensures that household activities are considered private thus less valuable and passive in structure, even though there is nothing passive about cleaning or caring for children. Following this trend, representations of female characters in written media and pre-1980s animated films relegated the female character to “passive,” “feminine” household duties and responsibilities.

An example of using domestic skills to prove the heroine’s worthiness can be found in the Grimm Brothers’ version of the fairy tale, “Snow White.” Snow White barters her domestic skills for a place to stay with the dwarves and they, in turn as her magical aids, provide her shelter and try to protect her from her wicked stepmother. It is pure chance that awakens Snow White from her deathly state as the Prince’s men stumble on a rock while carrying her glass coffin. This act dislodges the piece of apple from her throat and allows her to return to life. The Prince only wants Snow White as a possession, due to her beauty. The return to her kingdom and subsequent marriage to the Prince does not come from any clear, active actions on the part of Snow White (cf. Grimm Brothers 1857: online).

In the Disney animated version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Snow White hopes to meet the love of her life and be united with him. She appears even more passive in the film version as the hunter must tell her to flee for her life.11 She barters her domestic skills but is initially helped by the animals in her housekeeping duties. The apple, instead of getting stuck in her throat, contains a poison whose only antidote is love’s true kiss. Snow White does achieve her goal, true love, but it is the Prince’s kiss that returns her to life and not any actions of her own. However, if the viewer can accept that Snow White’s sole goal in life, as portrayed in the movie, is to attain true love, then aggressive action and an active nature are not

11 In the Grimm Brothers’ version, Snow White begs the Huntsman to spare her life and let her flee away into the forest, which he agrees to (cf. 1857: online).

necessary in order to achieve this goal. Passivity is indeed acceptable, because in the end, Snow White achieves her goal. In fact, passivity is required in order to reach the desired objective.

These two European examples of Snow White as the traditional victim hero, outlined by Propp, do not match the She-Ra folk tale. She-Ra does not use her domestic skills to gain her magical aid, rather, she must become aware of the horrible activities of the Hord and break through the spells that cloud her thinking through her own power of self-will, He-Man’s suggestions to examine Hord’s activities around the country and help from the sword and the Sorceress, the second time. Unlike the early protagonists of Disney, including The Little Mermaid which was released in 1989, Adora/She-Ra is not interested in finding a suitable husband to live with “happily ever after” or even to help her fight the military dictatorship. Adora would like to return home permanently, but within the film and the cartoon series, the safety and freedom of the people of Etheria are her top priority. She narrates her own animated series for two seasons and directs her own actions in the film. According to these criteria, She-Ra is an active, seeker hero, searching for the lost freedom of her planet rather than a specific object or a prince. This representation of a female hero is completely different from Disney’s protagonists (up until Mulan released in 1998) and other animated films produced prior to the 1980s. It is also different from the standard representation of female heroes in written fairy tales, as the Grimm Brothers’ folk tale illustrates.

2.3.2) The New Role of Women in Film and Society

While it is not impossible for the victim hero to be active, the animated films and cartoons in production up until the 1980s rather depicted the female hero as passive and dependent upon the male character to save her. In this sense, She-Ra is an innovative and new animated character. She fully occupies the active seeker role in the folk tale when it is time for her to “lead” the movie.

This shift in the acceptable roles for women in animated works is a direct reflection of changing social attitudes towards the role of women in society. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, produced in 1937, reflects’ a social period that valued

women as ornaments. As women were no longer needed to work to contribute to the household’s income, they became housewives and were seen as consumers.12 They increasingly became dependant on the male breadwinner (husband, father or brother), and their worth was no longer identified with what they could produce but rather in terms of what they could achieve, such as their outer beauty, musical talents, etc. (cf. Davis 2006: 116 - 7). As ornaments, women no longer had to actively produce or contribute to the family but were regarded as passive objects to be displayed when convenient.

However, several major advancements were made by and for women during the 1900s. The first was the right to vote in the United States (U.S.) which was achieved in August 26th, 1920 (cf. Linder 2009: online). Before this law was passed, women were barred from voting based on the premise that they were wives and mothers and thus not suited to public life and the responsibility of the right to vote. Shortly thereafter, women were once again encouraged to join the public workforce in the U.S. due to their participation in World War II (WWII).

Not only were women encouraged to work, but also adolescents.13 As a result of this, young women and men gained spending power and recognition within society as capable of accomplishing work in the public sphere. Manufacturers began targeting the youth with products as a consumer class, creating a new focus on youth culture in America, including specifically, films, music, clothing merchandise and magazines (cf. Kearney 2002: 127). This paved the way for toy companies to target younger audiences through visual media as part of their marketing campaigns.

The WWII period in history was then followed by the women’s movement in the 1960s that challenged women’s status as valuable ornaments and paved the way for equal job opportunities and equal rights for women. Increasingly, more women entered the work force, occupying formerly male dominated job positions. By 1979, 51% of all wife-husband families consisted of both partners working compared to only 22% in 1950 (cf. Bulger 1988: 179). To accompany this expansion of feminist ideals, new role models were needed to reflect the new status of women as workers as well as mothers.

12 Before industrialization, women contributed regularly to the family income, for example by working on the farm or in the family business (cf. Davis 2006: 116 - 7). 13 Lower class women always worked in public sectors but were not considered “real” women. They were not the idealized standard of femininity and thus not venerated by mainstream society.

This laid the perfect groundwork for shows such as She-Ra: Princess of Power to develop, which portrays an active woman, taking part in the world on equal footing with those around her, if not surpassing them in her achievements.

2.4) The Active Heroine

As a result of the women’s movement, more varied and multiple representations of women emerged in the media. Within film, two types of genres depicting female empowerment developed. The first involves women power films which explore female power through a singular, adult female character who not only occupies formerly male- oriented roles, but also incorporates traditionally considered “masculine” traits such as independence, leadership and physical strength. The second consists of “female buddy” films which show the strength, confidence and support women gain through same sex relationships.

The Secret of the Sword clearly falls under the category of women power films. Most of the female characters in the movie embody certain “masculine” characteristics throughout the film and the heroine, Princess Adora/She-Ra, is the adult female who occupies a formerly, traditionally male-dominated role in cinema. For example, Force Captain Adora has a forceful, commanding presence and maintains control over her troops without difficulties, despite opposing views on how to treat the civilians (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009a: para. 7). Her position as captain is already atypical of feminine standards. Adora is also unafraid to confront and challenge Hordak, leader of the villainous, military forces occupying Etheria and also her boss, when she begins to realize how horribly he treats the people of Etheria. She is athletic, agile, strong-willed, determined, intelligent, competent, kind and compassionate. When she first confronts He-Man, not knowing that he is her brother, she runs away from him in order to get a sword to fight him. It is Force Captain Adora who strikes first and cunningly distracts He-Man so that a trooper can stun him from behind (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009a: para. 7). Figure 1 shows Force Captain Adora with her sword raised and ready to take the initial action against He-Man, an opponent whose skill level she is unaware of, but she engages against him regardless. Even without her alter ego’s strength, Adora takes the initiative and is smart, resourceful and fully independent. She presents a completely

different representation of “woman” from the then current Disney Studios films and other movies and TV series in circulation. Force Captain Adora claims that she is afraid of nothing and this is quite an empowering statement to make for a female protagonist (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985: 21mins).

Figure 1: Force Captain Adora Engaging He-Man in a Sword Fight

(Taken from http://old.he-man.org/cartoon/episode_reviews/review.php?episodeNumber=PP002 [2009, September 10])

Similarly, She-Ra has a very active and empowering position throughout the movie and the animated TV series. Although He-Man is present, She-Ra does not occupy a secondary role in the fighting scenes and decision-making processes. She directs the narrative (evident in the last part) and sets the tone for the movie. They either work together to defeat the villains, or She-Ra works alone or with her other allies. She is equally as strong as her twin brother and does not need to be rescued by him. Not completely dominated by “masculine” qualities, She-Ra shows compassion and concern in the movie. When her magical, flying horse is hit by enemy weapons, she rushes to his side and uses her special powers to heal him (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009d: online). In this respect, she has retained her “feminine,” “motherly” qualities and is not consumed by her ability to forcefully effect her environment. As mentioned by Kyra Smith, “[…] that one of her defining characteristics is her compassion, so

much so that it’s almost a power of its own […]” (2009: para. 7) attests to the strength and power of femininity, if and when acknowledged by society.

Still, some conservative, traditional scenes occur as He-Man is a major part of the movie and sometimes shares the narrating position with She-Ra. When freeing Queen Angella from imprisonment, although He-Man and She-Ra fight side by side to defeat the Harpies, it is He-Man who unties Queen Angella’s bonds and frees her from her collar; thereby reinforcing the stereotype that women, as the passive and “weaker” sex, need to be rescued by men. However, the dignity in Queen Angella as she is rescued and then restores her own powers after the removal of the collar dispels this notion. All eyes are directed to her powerful status and dominance. As Figure 2 illustrates, Queen Angella fills the parameters of the screen and overwhelms it as she cannot be totally confined by its limitations: she is too powerful a woman for even a movie screen.

Figure 2: Queen Angella Restores Her Powers

(Taken from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Queen_Angella.jpg [2009, September 10])

2.5) CONCLUSION

The dual character of Adora and She-Ra reflects the attempt to create a new and broader image surrounding womanhood that is only possible with the “new” representation of women as active. The possibility of an active heroine, occupying at times the masculine position, presents greater possibilities for more positive and varied associations surrounding the constructed term “woman” and, by default, expands the traditional definition of femininity as well. The adoption of masculine actions and characteristics by the leading female character sends a clear message that in order to succeed in a patriarchal society masculine qualities are required. Feminine qualities, not as highly valued by society in general, are rather suited to the private sphere, the home. With the character of She-Ra, both feminine and masculine qualities are combined in a woman while maintaining a desirable picture of femininity that female viewers can identify with and seek to become in their own lives.

3) THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST Where does She-Ra fit in the history of animated women, and how is she represented in comparison to the other female protagonists of the time period? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to take a brief look at animated works starring female characters or live action films and TV shows available around the same time as the release of The Secret of the Sword. To this purpose, the animated TV series, Betty Boop, airing between 1932 and 1939, and Popeye, airing between 1933 and 1935, several Walt Disney films and two “real life” TV shows give a sample background of the types of femininity and roles of women characters in films and TV shows available to the audience from the 1930s to the 1980s. This, in addition to a thorough explanation of the process involved in constructing the categories of sex, gender and the body and implementing them in society through signifiers that mark femininity and masculinity, allows the reader to fully deconstruct the representation of the female characters in The Secret of the Sword, in a cultural, historical and feminist context.

3.1) Early Animated Women

The major animation industries have developed significantly in their representations of female characters, but the roles are still limited and positive images of minorities are scarce. The first leading female character in her own animated TV series was Betty in Betty Boop. Her representation in the cartoon is highly sexualized and objectified although her character is only sixteen years old. She has long eyelashes, a high voice, a curvaceous body and big eyes. She usually wears high heels and outfits with short skirts and tight-fitting, corset-style bodices. Her high pitched voice and big eyes give the impression of an innocent child needing protection. In various episodes, Betty needs to be saved from dangerous situations which even include sexual harassment and potential rape (cf. Fleischer 1932: 6mins.). Similarly, Olive Oyl (Olivia), from the series Popeye, constantly has to be saved from Brutus’ sexual advancements by Popeye. On a positive note, Olivia does not resemble a typical representation of a female character. She is tall and skinny with extra large feet and short black hair. Contradicting her “untraditional” image is the state of her passivity in the TV show. Olivia is usually depicted screaming to Popeye for help in various

different situations (cf. Sparber 1949: 3mins). In the typical presentation of a female character and femininity, Olivia only reacts to situations and never actively initiates a plot or complication.

In both TV series, femininity is directly linked to passiveness and helplessness, either by the implication of a childish quality in women due to their high voices and big round eyes or through their inability to escape dangerous situations. Betty is overtly sexualized through her clothing and figure, and both women are subject to sexual dominance by the male characters in the show. The problem surrounding female representations in these and similar animated TV shows is the sexualized male gaze towards women and the clear power inequality between the sexes. The male characters who occupy the powerful positions and direct the narrative are active, reflecting traditional societal norms. Meanwhile, the female characters are powerless, passive and are merely in the show for their ornamental value or as objects of male desire.

Another classical stereotype of the female leading character emerged from the Disney Studio films in the films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950) and Sleeping Beauty (1959). In his animation films, Walt Disney created and perpetuated a very traditional and stylized version of the graceful, female protagonist. This representation was fortified by drawing women with hour-glass figures who moved in the formal and poetic style of dancers. In fact, the cartoon sketches of Snow White, Cinderella and Princess Aurora were modeled after ballet dancers who remain unacknowledged publicly (cf. Bell 1985: 110). Such a depiction lends a highly artificial nature to the construction of femininity, and yet the representation has remained a strong image of femininity even up to today.

Walt Disney stressed that his characters seem as real and believable as possible in order to be accepted by the viewing audience as plausible (cf. Davis 2006: 84). To this effect, Disney often had workshops for his animators to work on their drawing skills and brought in specific people and sometimes even animals for the sketches to be modeled after. Addressing what he believed to be a female audience viewing his cartoons (Walt Disney did not make a distinction between the age, ethnicity, class or gender of the viewer), Disney sought not to “[…] cater to the child but to the child in the adult.” (Davis 2006: 110) As such, he felt that coarse humor was inappropriate, and rather, if they made cute characters, the female audience would like them (cf. Davis

2006: 129). This aspect is visible in the animal characters in the above mentioned Disney films.

The classical Disney female heroine is a teenage girl at the height of puberty with Anglo-Saxon features illustrating Eurocentric beauty through fair skin and fair eyes. The young woman is characterized by helplessness, passivity and the status of a victim (cf. Bell 1985: 108, 112). She is limited to a domestic role in the movie in preparation for her future function as a wife and mother. The culmination of the cartoon film, which implies the true meaning and purpose of adulthood for such a woman, is marriage. As Bell states, “With the logo ‘Walt Disney Pictures,’ Disney wrote his name and ownership on the folk stories of women, creating indelible images of the feminine.” (1985: 108) Disney clearly constructs a particular representation of femininity and solidifies that image in the first generation of female protagonists in his films. He evidently supports one particular view of family values, and accordingly, the leading female characters have limited options outside of traditionally accepted female roles. Disney’s standard of a female hero has remained a permanent benchmark in animation and in the minds of women, men and children.

3.2) The Action Heroine

The presentation of the leading female character as an action heroine, into which category She-Ra falls, emerged as one of the next constructions of femininity in the production of female oriented animated TV series and movies. The first female action hero was Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, a “real life” TV series that aired from 1955 to 1956. The series starred pin-up girl, Irish McCalla, and had a total of 26 episodes. Originally designed to be a female version of Tarzan, Sheena fit the profile of a shapely, blond-haired, blue-eyed woman in skimpy, animal print clothing, who was left to fend for herself in the jungle. As in Disney films, she epitomized Anglo-Saxon, Eurocentric beauty. Unlike the Disney movies or earlier TV series featuring women characters, Sheena played an active role. Instead of occupying the expected role of a treasured possession to be protected and saved by the male possessor at all times, Sheena often rescued her boyfriend (cf. Harris 1999: online). Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, in her original form as a comic book, was the first female comic book character

with her own publication in 1942. She set the genre for the jungle girl series but also set an image for subsequent female action stars (cf. “Sheena” 2007: online).

The next important figure for the action heroine emerged in the show The New Original Wonder Woman, first aired as a TV series on ABC in 1975. The show hosted an array of well known guest stars and had a strong supporting cast for Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman. As a heroine with superhuman strength, Wonder Woman was able to fight against the Nazis. The TV show had scripts written by Barbara Avedon and Barbara Corday, the co-creators of Cagney and Lacey, a famous TV series atypically starring two women as detectives (cf. Moirae 2006: online). Wonder Woman was the first superheroine character and molded the following representations of such characters.

Like Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, the TV show for Wonder Woman was based on a comic book series. Wonder Woman, the comic book, was released three months after Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, making it the second comic book publication to star a female character (cf. “Sheena” 2007: online). Wonder Woman, as a comic book character, was co-created by Elizabeth Marston and her husband, William Marston, in the 1940s. She was designed to reflect William Marston’s idea of a strong, independent and empowered woman. Her goal was to fill a lack in the representation of women in the superhero genre (cf. “Wonder Woman” 2007: online). As Marston says, “Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power […] The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.” (cited in “Wonder Woman” 2007: online)

However, following Western beauty trends and the image of a beautiful action heroine reinforced by characters like Sheena, Wonder Woman’s attire starkly bears the evidence of male objectification and sexualization. Wonder Woman is dressed in high- heeled boots, a short skirt or bikini style pants and a corset top. In the image of Wonder Woman, Marston has idealized the Western male sexual fantasy of the independent fighting woman. This characterization of a female hero is a new type of representation but with certain limitations, which will be discussed in depth later in this chapter.

3.3) The Construction of Sex/Gender

The principles supporting folk tales and The Secret of the Sword operate on clear and defined categories of sex: female and male and the characteristics of these two sexes, namely femininity and masculinity. However, as Judith Butler argues, these categories are socially constructed and operate in a patriarchal society to render girls and women to the subjugation of society, not to liberate women. In a post-feminist discourse, the category and subject of “woman” is “[…] produced and restrained by the very structures of power through which emancipation is sought.” (Butler 1990: 2) Why is this so? Feminists mark a distinction between sex and gender. Sex is the biological difference between male and female bodies while gender is the social and cultural interpretation of femininity and masculinity (cf. Butler 1990: 6 - 7). However, Butler argues that sex itself is a construction of society and historical processes, for who decided what defines which sex, and how was the duality of sex itself constructed. Obviously, it also has a history that was created, constructed, but it is presented as preexisting and “[…] prior to culture, a politically neutral surface […]” (Butler 1990: 7). This “neutral” surface, however, is a product of society, of social sciences and thus a social construction, designed to render the female sex as inferior, based on “natural” circumstances.

As Monique Wittig emphasizes, “The category of sex does not exist a priori, before all society.” (1992: 5) Rather it is a category that has been constructed to fulfill a specific purpose. It “[...] is the product of a heterosexual society which imposes on women the rigid obligation of the reproduction of the ‘species,’ that is, the reproduction of heterosexual society.” (Wittig 1992: 6) By limiting the category of woman to reproduction, one of the basic methods for enforcing male domination over women is established. This is only possible, of course, in a heterosexual society where the notion of preserving the species serves as a method of enforcing “compulsory heterosexuality” (cf. Rich 1980: online).14 However, this domination is not openly discussed, as perhaps then women would seek ways in which to liberate themselves. “Masculine/feminine, male/female are the categories which serve to conceal the fact that social differences

14 The notion of compulsory heterosexuality was first presented by Adrienne Rich in her 1980 article entitled, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” where she outlines the social devices within a patriarchy that enforce heterosexuality on all members of society. She especially addresses the situation of lesbians in U.S. society and illustrates how enforced heterosexuality contributes to the continued “natural” division of power between the sexes (cf. 1994: 23 – 75).

always belong to an economic, political, ideological order.” (Wittig 1992: 2) While the dominant male population does not want women to realize their secondary status, the inferior status of women is apparent throughout society, when closely analyzed.

The category of sex, a socially constructed category is used to reduce the definition of women to their biological capacity to reproduce, not only to limit the role of women in society but to ensure “compulsory heterosexuality” and thus, male dominance. “[…] ‘sex’ not only functions as a norm, but is part of a regulatory practice that produces the bodies it governs, that is, whose regulatory force is made clear as a kind of productive power, the power to produce - demarcate, circulate, differentiate - the bodies it controls.” (Butler 1993: 1) The body comes into existence through the norms surrounding sex, but only certain bodies occupy a powerful position in society. In this context, it becomes clear that, “[…] there is no sex. There is but sex that is oppressed and sex that oppresses.” (Wittig 1992: 2) There are only those who dominate and those who are dominated. The identity of woman is not defined as her own individual subject but rather as the object of male desire. “For what makes a woman is a specific social relation to a man, a relation that we have previously called servitude, a relation which implies personal and physical obligation as well as economic obligation […]” (Wittig 1992: 20) Thus the history of “compulsory heterosexuality” for women is clearly defined within a system of oppression.

What about the culturally constructed nature of gender? As previously discussed, the category of sex is constructed. Should gender be included in sex or treated as its own category? If it is agreed upon that sex is a historically defined category to permit a dichotomy of power between two identities, it then follows that gender is the discursive and cultural means by which “sexed nature” or “a natural sex” is produced and established as “[…] a politically neutral surface on which culture acts.” (Butler 1990: 7) It is the language used to enforce the notion that the categories of sex are natural and neutral, whereby culture then shapes these actions and describes them as feminine or masculine. As Wittig notes, “American feminists use gender as a sociological category […] They have extrapolated the term gender from grammar and they tend to superimpose it on the notion of sex.” (1992: 77) This allows for a discussion of the effects of the (re-)imposition of distinct markers to define femininity

and masculinity. However, it is important not to forget that these categories are derived from, and thus intrinsically linked to, the constructed category of sex.

For the purposes of this paper, the sex terms, female and male, will be used to mark the person “biologically,” and the gender terms, femininity and masculinity, to emphasize the social construction of the two groupings and the according set of actions and characteristics surrounding them. The ultimate goal of such binary categories in society is to grant one specific group, White, upper class men, special rights and privileges that seem to be justified by “nature” and to subjugate the other group, women, to the unequal power dichotomy of a patriarchal society.

3.3.1) The Mark of Gender/Sex

Within the societal discussion of gender, the only ones carrying the mark of gender are women. “The category of sex is the category that sticks to women, for only they cannot be conceived outside of it.” (Wittig 1992: 8) Here, Wittig refers to sex but this statement also applies to gender. “There is only one [gender]: the feminine, the “masculine” not being a gender.” (Wittig 1992: 60) This is clearly demonstrated in the English language with the terms doctor, lawyer and politician. These terms are neutral but imply male doctors, male lawyers and male politicians. Indeed, it is odd to mark these professions as male. However, if these positions are filled by a woman, a special distinction must be made to mark the female gender, thus “a female doctor” or a “female lawyer.” This makes the “neutral” category of gender apparent, but only by marking the female gender. The invisibility of the male gender is merely a farce that assists the dominant position and viewpoint of men. It establishes the man in the neutral role and marks the woman as “Other,” the “Fremd.”15 All gender (feminine) characterizations are then associated with the “Other,” the undesirable, and serve to further hinder true equality for women.

15 Fremd is the German word for stranger, foreigner, alien, different, etc. (cf. Langenscheidt’s Pocket German Dictionary 1993: 134). In the German context, it embodies the element of difference but also the idea of what is unknown, what is foreign to the home country is also different and thus “Other.” If male is considered universal, then female is unknown to the male and then also a stranger, different and Fremd.

3.3.2) The Social Body

Interestingly, throughout the discussion of gender and sex, the body is often assumed to be a neutral entity, a preexisting entity that has always been there and been defined as “the body.” Similarly to sex and gender, the body is not a neutral entity. Indeed, from a feminist perspective there is, at least, the male and the female body and from a queer prospective there is at least the heterosexual body, the homosexual body, the trans-gendered body and the inter-sexed body. But what exactly marks the boundary of the body?

From a humanities point of view, the body is much more than the physical matter it is made of. In fact, the body does not always end at the skin; it can extend beyond the physical limitations of organic matter. As such, the body incorporates cultural values that reflect the changing social attitudes. Consequently, the parameters of the body are constantly changing and morphing to reflect the norms of society. This makes it even harder to fully define the term, “the body,” as what the body incorporates expands and changes to mirror current ideologies. Most people assume that the existence of the body, its visibility, determines its definition as well, by de facto. The fact that it exists, physically, negates the necessity to thoroughly define the body. This leads to the use and misuse of the term and explains why there is no clear sociological definition of the body.

From a post-modernist perspective, the body is broken down into parts, fragmented. Each section of the body is analyzed by society, i.e. scientists, doctors, anthropologists, etc., and organized according to the current cultural ideas of the function of each body part. The process of body fragmentation is innumerable, and it is not surprising to see just how minute the dissections can be (cf. Lindemann 1996: 350). The body parts, once separate, do not constitute a knowledgeable being. The parts must be reassembled to function as a being, to constitute a body; however, it is an objectified body.

In animation, the animated body is a fluid concept. It has the ability to take on several forms and adapt to its surroundings, thus occupying a fluid position, a form in “flux.” This creates a space of instability surrounding the animated body as it tries to conform to the codes of realism (cf. Wells 1998:189). Both the “real” body and the

animated body reflect and symbolize a particular knowledge surrounding the objectified body. The feminist audience is critical of the “source of knowledge” created through the construction of both the “real” and animated female body. Certain “facts” are true only in that the socially constructed female body fits the role it has been assigned in society. The same can be said for other constructed bodies, such as the ethnic body, the homosexual body, the male body and the animated body.

While “[…] ‘the body’ appears as a passive medium on which cultural meanings are inscribed […] ‘the body’ is itself a construction, as are the myriad ‘bodies’ that constitute the domain of gendered subjects.” (Butler 1990: 8) Sex and gender are the ways in which the body is constituted and formed into a being, an entity. Still, as the cultural definition of sex and gender changes throughout history, the body is a construction that changes as society and cultural norms shift. As Butler outlines,

[…] what constitutes the fixity of the body, its contours, its movements, will be fully material, but materiality will be rethought as the effect of power, as power’s most productive effect […] once “sex” itself is understood in its normativity, the materiality of the body will not be thinkable apart from the materialization of that regulatory norm. “Sex” is, thus, not simply what one has, or a static description of what one is: it will be one of the norms by which the “one” becomes viable at all, that which qualifies a body for life within the domain of cultural intelligibility. (Butler 1993: 2)

The category of sex serves to define the contours and boundaries of the body in society today. Without sex, the body itself cannot be defined, yet “sex” itself is not a neutral category, and thus the body one inhabits, as one would imagine it to be, is also a manifestation of culture and society.

3.4) Visual Codes Convey Meaning

Throughout the history of social thoughts and social movements, social sciences regarded and treated the body differently during the different time periods. Initially, the body was analyzed as a mechanical organism. The social sciences were concerned with measuring the body and using these measurements to authenticate current social beliefs

and structures. With the introduction of psychoanalysis, the body was regarded as a structure for the inscription of a specific discourse, incorporating the ID and the Super Ego. More recently, the body has been regarded as a tool for communication. The body communicates not just on a verbal level but also through actions, rituals and various expressions (cf. Berthelot 1986: 394). The gestures, ritual performances and bodily attitudes that people enact send clear messages about the individuals’ status, gender, rank in society, etc. These messages are not always consciously understood but are certainly perceived subliminally. The performances by individuals are not separate from the definition of the body but are incorporated into its spectra of “being.” Following this idea, Berthelot argues that the notion of incorporation allows “[…] the idea of the body as a mirror to be replaced by the idea of the body as a text or social operator.” (1986: 397) The modern body can be read as a social text through its communication with other bodies using socially identifiable signs, rituals and gestures.

The semiotic approach to representation acknowledges that all cultural objects convey meaning and all social practices depend on meaning, so they must make use of signs. These signs work like a language and can thus be analyzed. French critic, Roland Barthes, used this approach to study several popular culture trends like wrestling and soap ads. He treated these activities or objects as a language through which meaning is communicated. He used two levels to his approach: the descriptive level, denotation, and the second level, connotation, which links the first signs to broader conceptual themes or meanings in culture. A simple example used to explain this concept is jeans. The cut and type of material used (the signifier) linked to our mental concept of it (signified) produces the sign that we understand as jeans. The second level links the sign jeans to clothes for casual occasions. This broader code, the "language of fashion," can be called the wider semantic fields of our culture. Barthes also referred to this second level of signification as the level of myth. A myth is a second-order semiological system, because it no longer deals with the first level and the linguistic schema, but takes that first level as the sign and continues the original process again in as much as it contributes to the myth (cf. Hall 1997: 36-41). He used the example of picture of a Black man in a French uniform saluting to describe how a myth operates. The first signifier is the man giving the salute. The signified is the French military (cf. Barthes 1984: 4-5). This leads to the next level of interpretation, the myth, whereby, “[…] the saluting Negro becomes the alibi of French imperiality.” (Barthes 1984: 10)

History, cultural values and the knowledge of social values are required to understand and “read” the myth. However, these are tools that a person acquires through social interaction, and thus, they are able to read the intended message within the myth.

With regards to femininity and masculinity, a myth operates on the basis of signs that have been coded into society as a representation of each specific gender. For example in animation, eyelids and eyelashes are usually drawn onto female characters which are lacking on the male figures. These features, which both men and women have, are used to signify femininity, but they carry with them the myth that women are either sexual beings and bat their eyelashes to lure a male into their “clutches” or are helpless creatures and bat their eyelashes to show their innocence and passivity. Other typical signs as markers of femininity in animation include underwear, high-heeled shoes and accessories such as a handbag (cf. Wells 1998: 204). The signs, often individual fragments of the body, which mark femininity and masculinity in society are used in animated films and TV series to clearly mark the cartoon characters as either male or female and link the animated character into broader myths of culture that connect specific meanings and understandings with these “feminine” and “masculine” signs and codes.

3.5) The Representation of She-Ra

The presentation of She-Ra and the other major female characters in the movie perpetuates a certain, “classical” form of femininity that is, at first glance, at odds with the notion of She-Ra as a heroine and an active “woman.” According to Propp, a folk tale represents the confrontation of two different ideas in society (cited in Davis 2006: 12). She-Ra, representing the confrontation between the new working woman of the early 1980s and the previous representation of “woman” as a homemaker, is sometimes at odds with and sometimes blends these two types of femininity. As the most powerful woman in the universe, she can conquer not only the working world, but also children, the home and marriage, if need be, fulfilling male ideals of beauty standards and what femininity means from a patriarchal point of view. The domination of male values and ideas surrounding feminine beauty standards are evident in the presentation of She-Ra, but the new ideas of womanhood and a broadening of the definition of femininity to

include “masculine” characteristics are also apparent in her actions and speech. The rest of this section will explore the presentation of She-Ra and Adora as well as other female characters in the film, several of which are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: The DVD Cover for The Secret of the Sword

She-Ra

Glimmer

Bow

Queen Angella

(Taken from: http://media.photobucket.com/image/princess%20of%20power/vf-zero/POP/POP_S1V1.jpg [2009, September 10])

Force Captain Adora, as presented visually in the film, shows the blending between the two ideals of womanhood expressed within male desires of female

sexuality. She first enters the movie as a dominating shadow in the upper, right-hand corner of the frame, however, her narrow waist and “shapely” curves are clearly visible. The “camera”16 then angles upwards from her boots to her face, in a full frontal shot. As can be seen in Figure 1 in Chapter 3 and in Figure 4 below, she is wearing red bikini-bottom-styled shorts, a jumper-style top with a long-sleeved white shirt and red high-heeled boots, all of which accentuate her feminine figure and mark her as feminine. Feature-wise, she has blond shoulder length hair, a small nose and blue eyes. Her high check bones, which are drawn in by the animator, illustrate her thin, seemingly anorexic body and lack of a muscular build. She has the classic Barbie doll figure on screen. Although her shirt has a high collar, it brings attention to her ample chest. The jumper highlights her slender hips and the bikini bottom and high-heeled boots bring attention to her long, slim legs. She has a fairly high-pitched voice and also wears red lipstick and purple eye shadow, typical markers of the female sex. The classical, Western Anglo-Saxon beauty standards are clearly maintained in the rendering of Princess Adora, except perhaps for the length of her hair.

16 Within animated works, “the camera” is actually the series of sketches, photos or computer drawings.

Figure 4: Princess Adora

(Taken from: http://www.serienoldies.de/images2/shera_adora.jpg [2009, September 10])

While the male cartoon character has no “special” markers to indicate his masculinity, is genderless and thus male, the female cartoon character is marked by a limited set of features, instantly recognized by the audience as “feminine” (cf. Sandler 1998: 160). Adora, as an animated human character, does not differ in this manner. Figure 4 clearly shows her accentuated facial features which include arched eyebrows, big, innocently shaped eyes that have eyelashes and purple eye-shadow. She has a small nose, small, red-painted lips and perfectly white teeth. Her clothes, make-up, figure and high-heeled boots, highly impractical for an army commander, mark her as a woman and code her as feminine. The constructed body of Adora complies with and fulfills the White, upper-class male depiction of the perfect, independent, fighting woman. Her drawn figure reflects the cultural values placed on the outwardly beautiful appearance of women and their commodification.

As an object for male possession, the idealized woman must then incorporate the typical feminine qualities of beauty, sexual attraction and passivity. This is achieved through Adora in her attire, body shape, the design of her face, the use of make-up, the

color-coding of her attire (red as sexy) and her accessories, such as high-heeled boots. From her appearance alone, the audience members cannot ascertain her public position in society, her job as an army commander, and thus presume that a passive nature and domestic role is assigned to Adora. Her high-pitched, child-like voice adds to the impression of femininity as a helpless state of being. From her presentation alone, the type of femininity Adora embodies presents no real challenge to the prevalent gender norms.

The same effect can be seen with She-Ra, Princess Adora’s alter ego. She-Ra’s facial features are identical to Princess Adora’s with similar high cheekbones and a slender body. Instead of a red-themed costume, She-Ra has a golden one, indicating her god-like status due to her superhuman strength. Another signifier of her majestic nature is found in her name which means “she god” (Friedman, et al. 1985: commentary). As shown in Figure 3 and Figure 5, she is attired in golden boots, a white corset top, a gold belt, a white mini-skirt, a red cape to her thighs, a golden headband with wings and a golden choker (necklace). In an identical presentation to Adora, She-Ra does not have a muscular build, which would befit her status as superheroine. Her waist is extremely thin and her skirt is short enough to highlight her long, slender legs. She wears a tight- fitting corset top which reveals her shapely upper-body and high-heeled boots, again impractical for fighting, which serve purely to accentuate her feminine curves for the gazing eyes of the heterosexual male audience.

Figure 5: She-Ra: Princess of Power

(Taken from: http://misslarson.com/walls/tv/she-ra.jpg [2009, September 10])

Despite her superhuman strength, She-Ra does not have arm or leg muscles as this would contradict the norms of male defined, feminine beauty standards. Interestingly, She-Ra has a deeper voice which symbolizes greater authority as a deeper voice indicates masculinity. However, she also has waist length hair which links the viewer back into the myth surrounding femininity. This contradiction in the tone of her voice and length of her hair, both traditionally considered gender markers, masculine versus feminine, respectively, shows the fluctuating ideas surrounding the visual and audio presentation of a modern, active woman. Giving a female character “masculine” attributes slowly deconstructs the strict, binary dichotomy of gender and gendered roles, yet there are still many traditional feminine markers on She-Ra to clearly indicate to the audience her status as female.

Following this trend of endowing the women with typically considered “masculine” attributes, all the powerful, public positions in Etheria are held by women: Glimmer is leader of the rebellion and Queen Angella is the sole ruler of her city. Glimmer, the daughter of Queen Angella, is perhaps a bit younger than Adora but already a leader in her own right and the Princess of Bright Moon. She is one of the few

female characters in the film who does not wear high-heeled boots. Still, her long, pink hair and slenderly drawn body are clearly gendered marked, granting the audience a sexualized presentation of a woman, as can be seen in Figure 3. When leading the Rebellion into their first battle, the “camera films her” in the center of the screen from an upwards angle with Prince Adam, Bow and Madam Razz flanking her and looking at her, amplifying her powerful position (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985: 14mins). Though soft-spoken and enamored with He-man, she is not afraid to enter battle to save her fellow countrymen or to do battle with the evil Harpie Queen to save her mother (cf. Angell and Eatock 2009c: online). While her visual presentation is sexualized, her social position and actions within the film provide a more active, less stereotypical presentation of femininity and a female character.

Glimmer’s mother, Queen Angella, as the last ruler to fall to the Hord, is strongly marked female in her attire, as shown in Figure 3: high-heeled boots, curvaceous hips, make-up, wings, a shorter hair style to mark her older age and a slender figure. Her facial features mirror Adora, She-Ra and Glimmer as well as the effect of her attire. Her outward appearance is sexualized by the attire she is wearing and the shape of her body, despite her older age. Interestingly, as Glimmer’s mother, she represents the age group that is often vilified by Disney Studios films, namely the “evil stepmother” category. Mothers, as powerful and sexual women, are not evident in Disney films. Normally, they are either dead or absent or, if present, have no power to help their children, forcing the children to save themselves (cf. Davis 2006: 103). In The Secret of the Sword, Queen Angella is presented as a caring and beloved ruler, loving mother and determined to free her citizens from enslavement.

Although it is He-Man who releases her collar which binds her magic, Queen Angella establishes her powerful status by renewing her powers and simultaneously restoring herself to a clean and no longer disheveled appearance. Her power and beauty, surrounded by magical sparks of light, is evident for the viewer to gaze upon and identify with and specifically remarked upon and gazed upon by She-Ra (see Figure 2 in Chapter 3). The camera looks directly at Queen Angella while She-Ra proclaims, “She’s magnificent!” (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985: 59mins) The shift from having a male gaze upon a woman, usually as a sexual object, to a woman gazing upon

a woman, desiring her for sexual and/or other reasons, is certainly an innovative trend in the film and will be further discussed in Chapter Four.

Similarly, the Sorceress, who is the most powerful woman on Eternia, is portrayed in a positive manner. She too has wings, though from a different bird of prey marking her as a powerful ally. Her white hair, underneath the hawk mask, indicates her old age. In her motherly role, she guides Adora into discovering the truth about her past and accepting her role as She-Ra. As an individual, she wields incredible power and is able to change the memories of all the people on her planet, a true indication of her immense power. She physically appears to be in the same age category as Queen Angela but is, of course, centuries old. The Sorceress maintains her youthful looks due to her magic, as can be seen in Figure 6. Both her power and her sexuality are not portrayed as evil or treacherous.

Figure 6: The Sorceress of Grayskull

(Taken from: http://www.geocities.com/obsession_seraglio/images/oldsorceressthrone.jpg [2009, September 10])

Falling under the category of the mother, her ability to guide and assist her “daughter” is a refreshingly new representation of mothers. In Disney films, mothers are barely present in the movies and thus powerless to help their children, either through death or due to a passive nature. The middle-aged step-mothers, who have agency, are presented as sexy, curvaceous, powerful and dangerous. It is exactly these “[…] iconic and congruous cinematic codes that inscribe middle age as a time of treachery, consumption, and danger in the feminine life cycle.” (Bell 1995: 116) Queen Angella and the Sorceress are two older, powerful, loving, caring and beautifully represented women, who mark a clear deviation from the standard representations of middle-aged women in other animated films. They both depict the mother role as not only present and active but caring and loving as well as sexy, desirable and powerful.

Figure 7: Madame Razz

(Taken from: http://http.cdnlayer.com/jwcinc01/2025/animation3/DSC03512.JPG [2009, September 10])

The final female character important to mention in the film is Madame Razz. She represents the grandmotherly figure and gives advice, practices magic and flies

around on a talking broom. She is forgetful and often makes a mistake in her magical incantation that results in the contrary results desired. Her spells do not always work, but when they do, they are quite powerful (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985). In contrast to Disney studios’ pear-shaped almost asexual grandmothers, Madame Razz is a rather progressive presentation of an older woman as sexy. Figure 7 shows her curvaceous figure and sexually attractive body.

The Disney Studios’ representation of grandmothers and fairy godmothers invokes cinematic codes for a caring and nurturing femininity. They are drawn without make-up, jewelry and other such accessories, embodying feminine sacrifice (cf. Bell 1995: 118). Madame Razz, though slightly overweight, wears pants unlike other representations of grandmothers and fairy godmothers. Her ample bosom and the ever present eyelashes mark her as feminine. While she does not wear make-up or jewelry, her “jazzy,” modern hair cut, though white and marking her as an elderly woman, offers a more desirable figure of an older woman. Her outfit fits her rather scatterbrained character in the film. She is probably the oldest character presented in Etheria, yet is not excluded from receiving her own set of “sexy” feminine markers. Her presentation is different from the classical Disney style of the fairy godmother as depicted in Cinderella and the three fairies in Sleeping Beauty. Madame Razz, as a sexy grandmother, provides yet another representation of an older woman than previously available, neither asexual nor passive.

3.6) Conclusion

Happily, the visual construction of passive femininity is addressed and repudiated through the actions of Princess Adora/She-Ra and the other women within the film. When Princess Adora is captured by the evil forces while visiting her family in Eternia she faints. The villain Skeletor remarks “Ah, just like a woman” (Friedman, et al. 1985: 1hr 28mins). However, the viewer is aware that Princess Adora fakes fainting to provide herself with an opportunity to defeat her foes. As has happened in shows like Betty Boop and Popeye, a scene arises which can lead to sexual harassment and rape. When putting her into the cell, the Beast Man says to Princess Adora, “You’re sure a pretty Princess. It’s too bad we have to lock you up in the dungeon!” (Friedman, et al. 1985: 1hr 29mins) The implications of a potential rape scenario are there for a mature audience to recognize; but instead of needing a man to save her,

Princess Adora outsmarts Beast Man and liberates herself. Particularly empowering for the watching female audience is that she manages this outmaneuvering and release from the jail cell as Princess Adora without the aid of supernatural powers. This progressively implies that every woman has the power within herself, without the need of superhuman powers or a male person, to take control of her life and direct it and the situations she encounters.

While one critique of the film is the sexualization of the female characters for the intended heterosexual, male gaze through the visual codes of idealized “independent” women, on the other hand, providing images of strong women, who are not vilified or punished for their sexuality, their “magical” power and their public job position expands the images surrounding femininity to include active, empowered female characters of various ages. Female sexuality is normally feared and repressed at all costs by men and male audiences due to the power it grants women, who are normally restricted from said power. According to Freud, men fear women’s sexuality and this is the key component of the Oedipus complex. The boy child originally loves/desires his mother but must leave the maternal haven and enter the world of law and language represented by the father. When the father enters the child’s life the relationship becomes a triad. The boy child represses his love for his mother due to fear of punishment from the father and castration, the loss of masculine power, symbolized by the mother as she has no phallus and thus no power in the family setting. The boy child represses his desire for his mother with the understanding that one day he will possess a woman of his own to desire and control (cf. Creed 2000: 76). Thus powerful and sexual women are objectified and thoroughly explored or fragmented into body parts to reduce their sexual threat to male power. The positive embrace of female sexuality by The Secret of the Sword is definitely a new, positive portrayal of women in the film industry.

Meanwhile, according to Freud, the female child in the Oedipus complex gives up her love for her mother because she blames her mother for not giving her a phallus, the representative tool for power. She transfers her love of her father onto her later husband and can only exercise her power through her ability to control the men in her life, thus the femme fetal in cinema (cf. Creed 2000: 76). However, tapping into the female sexuality apparent in the drawings of the female characters could grant women

the power, they are so often denied by men, to do and be whatever they choose without fear of repercussions. This notion supports the idea that a mixture of ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ traits combined in a woman who is aware of and uses her sexuality responsibly as a tool for power, can accomplish all her goals. Unlike the Disney female villains, who are punished for using their sexuality to gain status, the women in The Secret of the Sword are celebrated for their power, even when linked to their sexuality.

4) SPECTATORSHIP IN SHE-RA The institution of cinema does not just involve storytelling and the animators’ choice in what to portray and how to represent the characters involved, but the audience and the spectators are also involved in the process of watching movies. What the directors and animators wish to tell and the message they send, both directly and indirectly (through the actual drawings) must be received, acknowledged and accepted by the audience. As mentioned earlier, animation must in some ways adhere to the norms of society and culture to be accepted as identifiable to the viewer and provide some form of pleasure in order to be successful. However, the cultural norms and pleasure that the movie makers intend to deliver with their film is not always the message and the particular type of pleasure that the viewer engages in. The intended spectator17 is not always the actual viewer and the audience may be able to receive unintended pleasure and a different message than the intended one in the film. What is the target audience of The Secret of the Sword, what pleasure do these spectators gain from the movie and what are alternative methods of viewing that include pleasurable experiences for a more diverse audience? This chapter, while exploring the psychoanalytic approach to why people watch movies, seeks to answer these questions, moving on to other theoretical approaches when psychoanalysis proves inadequate to answer the questions completely.

The post 1970s study and analysis of film, notably the apparatus theory, has been deeply impacted by the psychoanalytic approach and remains, even today, one of the main methods of understanding why viewers gain pleasure from watching cinema. This approach was greatly influenced by Sigmund Freud’s work on the unconscious, sexuality and the formation of subjectivity. Jacques Lacan also impacted the apparatus theory with his development of the mirror stage, which is based on Freud’s development of subjectivity. However, these very influential theoretical thinkers did not provide an explanation for gender dynamics and inequalities in the viewing pleasure of films. From an apparatus theory approach, the female spectator and gaze, or lack thereof, in the cinema is not addressed. Another theorist is needed to explore the inequality of the sexes in film and the division of power, namely Laura Mulvey in her

17 According to Baudry, the institution of cinema creates an idealized viewing subject, the spectator. This spectator is not necessarily the “real” viewer or audience (cf. Creed 2000: 77, 84). I use the term spectator in this paper to reinforce the notion of the “idealized” viewer and the term viewer and audience, interchangeably, to refer to the “real” viewer(s).

essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Her text specifically addresses the less powerful and objectified position of women in films. But what about The Secret of the Sword, where the lead character is a woman and the goal of the film is to provide women with a dominant, powerful positioning film? Is there room for another type of film in mainstream cinema, whereby female spectatorship is possible in an empowering form? These questions can only be answered by looking at Jackie Stacey’s theory on female spectators and taking women’s TV genres, such as soap operas, into account. From this broad field of theory, it will be possible to determine the power dynamics in The Secret of the Sword and the space, if and where it exists, for the female spectator.

4.1) The Apparatus Theory

So why do people find pleasure in watching movies? According to psychoanalysis, one answer derives from the split identity that each individual has and which is resolved in cinema. Freud suggests that the child’s self or ego is divided into both the subject and the object, as the child also considers itself the object of its libido (cf. Creed 2000: 76). Transferred to the analysis of movies, when watching the hero in a film, the viewer either wants to be the main character or desires the main character, providing a narcissistic pleasure that satisfies the narcissistic ego.

Jacques Lacan further developed Freud’s idea of the split self and used it as the basis for his mirror stage theory. According to Lacan, humans go through three stages of development: the Imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real (cf. Creed 2000: 76). The Imaginary is a pre-language stage during which the ego/self presides (cf. Homer 2005: 31). The Symbolic stage is the introduction of language, symbolism and rules. The Real is the rejection or resistance to symbolization and symbolic order through the death drive and jouissance18 (cf. Homer 2005: 49, 94). The mirror stage occurs in the Imaginary stage of human development. The child first recognizes its image in the mirror as a complete being and experiences joy and fulfillment from this recognition. However, the child imagines itself to be more than it really is; thus a sense of mastery and bodily control that the infant does not yet posses. This instance of misrecognition,

18 The paradoxical situation of deriving pleasure from pain, but for Lacan it is of a religious or mystical, ecstatic experience (cf. Homer 2005: 89).

within the moment of recognition, provides a split within the self that the child, who later becomes an adult, can never repair. According to Lacan, this stage in development is what forms the ego, which will be referred to as the self in this paper, and it is a feature of the Imaginary stage (cf. Creed 2000: 78; Homer 2005: 25).

Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage was enormously influential for formulating the apparatus theory. The mirror stage, which applies to the individual, was transferred to the relationship between film spectators and the movie projected on the big screen. Jean-Louis Baudry, one of the first theorists to incorporate Lacan’s theory into film analysis, emphasized the recognition of the cinema as an institution or apparatus. In the institution of cinema, specific signifying practices of social ideology, viewer-screen relationship and the construction of the ideal viewer are created and/or reiterated and enforced. According to Baudry, in the viewer-screen relationship, the cinema creates the ideal spectator whose gaze and identity flows with the camera point of view and narration of the story. The invisibility of the camera techniques and the creation of surrealism through seamless editing allows the viewer to feel as though events are developing before her/his very eyes, allowing for the Lacanian process of identification, fulfillment and/or reunification of the self in the viewer (cf. Creed 2000: 77 - 78).

Similar to Freud’s narcissistic pleasure in viewing, the cinema spectator identifies with the larger than life, glamorous star and in that state of desiring to be them or desiring them, the viewer achieves the pre-mirror stage of unified self and finds joy and pleasure in identifying with her/his ideal self. Since this recognition is always associated with misrecognition, according to Lacan, it is only possible for an individual to be unified and see her/his ideal self through the cinema, that is, the reflection of an ideal self through the eyes of others, other viewers, or in the case of cinema, other characters. This results in the spectator simultaneously identifying with other, idealized, larger-than-life characters in the movie (cf. Creed 2000: 77 - 78).

While Christian Metz, another influential theorist of the apparatus approach, agrees with the juxtaposition of the cinema to Lacan’s mirror stage, which coincides with Freud’s uncomplicated state of being a child before the Oedipus moment of identification, he notes that there are flaws. The mirror image should reflect the viewer’s own image (not necessarily through a mirror but through some sort of

reflecting surface) but instead reflects an actor’s image. Also, the mirror stage occurs before language acquisition and in the Imaginary phase of development; however, the cinema is a symbolic system and thus involved with the Symbolic stage of development where the child learns language, laws of society and is acquainted with loss: the self as fragmented and sexual difference (cf. Creed 2000: 78 - 79). To address these shortcomings, Metz introduces the voyeuristic aspect of viewing in the cinema. There is always a distance between the viewing subject and its object, as the cinematic object cannot return the spectator’s gaze (cf. Creed 2000: 78 - 79). The cinema creates and supports this voyeuristic environment through the conventions it is built upon. The dark room, the patterns of light on screen and the sealed off world which is privately displayed for the audience without the knowledge of the characters on screen provide an atmosphere for the viewer to project her/his desire onto the performer on screen (cf. Mulvey 1975: 382).

The voyeuristic gaze becomes an important topic for Mulvey as she attempts to read women into the discussion of the cinematic institution.19 As society is organized unequally around the sexes, it follows that men and women have different roles in the cinema. Similar to the stereotypical roles surrounding men and women in society, the masculine protagonist is active in films while the female protagonist is passive. She bears the look of the male gaze: is there to be looked at, while the male protagonist actively looks: he directs the look (cf. Creed 2000: 80). Scopophilia, pleasure in looking, is ascribed to the active male. It can be perverted into voyeurism and controlling, objectifying others, but it is only possessed by the male viewer (cf. Mulvey 1975: 381).

This active/passive divide occurs not only at the visual level but also at the narrative level of the film. The male protagonist is the narrator and controls the story advancement not only through narrating the story but in directing the look or gaze of the camera: the audience “sees” through the male protagonist’s eyes. The “invisible” camera supports this through various camera techniques, such as the close shots; camera movements, such as following the male protagonist or allowing the film to be directed by him; and invisible editing which creates the surreal effect (cf. Mulvey 1975:

19 Even though I address both women and men in this discussion of the theories surrounding film analysis and viewing pleasure, until Mulvey, the spectator and the audience in the cinema were always considered male.

384 - 385). The female characters have negligible impact on plot development and are gazed at, fragmented and marginalized by the camera techniques. In fact, in “buddy movies” such as Rush Hour, the female figure is totally removed from the film or occupies an extremely limited role (cf. Mulvey 1975: 384). The “buddy movie” accurately shows how little importance female characters have previously had in narrative development.

4.1.2) Fetishism Within Cinema

With the introduction of female directors and more women involved in filmmaking, there was a shift in Hollywood cinema. Films have now been produced with female leading characters influencing the narration and story plots. The last part of The Secret of the Sword falls under this relatively new genre of women films. When Princess Adora returns to Etheria to help her people fight the military dictator, as the heroine, she directs the narration and story flow. Her “activeness” drives the film. The subsequent cartoon TV series, starring She-Ra/Adora, revolves around her adventures as the savior and defender of her country.

In this regard, She-Ra is an innovative representation of femininity and does not reflect the gender norms previously depicted in animated works. However, she is still subject to mainstream norms of sexualizing the female body for the male gaze and spectator. This is evident in the camera technique/drawing style of fragmenting her body, showing only her legs in certain scenes in The Secret of the Sword. Such a drawing style assumes, of course, that the idealized male viewer is heterosexual and derives pleasure from viewing a “de-powering” representation of a woman. Focusing solely on singular body parts of the female characters in the film reduces the threat women pose to men and the threat of the potential rupture of viewing pleasure when that fear is realized. Due to the Freudian Oedipus crisis, the female character in the film represents castration, lack of power, and can reduce the pleasure in viewing the film for the traditionally presumed male audience. In order to eliminate this threat, the female character is thoroughly explored and demystified, inviting voyeurism, or a disavowal of castration through fetishism. The fetishist process involves denying the lack of phallus

and instead focusing on another part of the female body that is not threatening such as the legs or breasts (cf. Creed 2000: 79).

As Metz points out, the fetishism and disavowal process involved with the Oedipus crisis and the women in the film is also an integral part of the whole cinema experience. The spectator believes in the “reality” of what is projected on screen, yet at the same time is aware that it is fictional. Knowing that the cinema signifies what is missing, the unified self and the real events, the spectator fetishizes his love of cinema as well (cf. Creed 2000: 80). Just as the male viewer knows that the female character signifies the missing phallus and must fetishize another female body part, so too does the cinema signify a lack and thus must be fetishized. The act of fetishizing is present in The Secret of the Sword specifically with regards to the female characters’ legs. The first presentation of Force Captain Adora, as already mentioned, is a panning view from her high-heeled boots, up her bare legs, to rest finally on her upper body (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985: 15mins). By looking at her in these three parts, the true power and force of her character is diminished and the process of desiring her body is established.

4.1.3) The Place of Women in Conventional Films

In summary, the theories of Freud and Lacan on the self and the divide or split that occurs in the infant self explain how the adult spectator then receives pleasure in the cinema as s/he attains a state where the self is unified. This is possible through the identification with the ideal character, the male protagonist. According to Metz, due to the imperfect reflection, this is only possible through a voyeuristic gaze. Mulvey supports this idea but stipulates that the gaze is located through the active male role, not only in actively looking but in directing the flow of the movie. As supported by the apparatus theory, the conventions of the cinema, camera techniques, the environment and the adherence to social norms in the narration of the film ensure a pleasurable experience for the male viewer (cf. Mulvey 1975: 388).

As such, the female characters on screen are only present to be viewed, sexualized, fetishized and the camera techniques ensure that the female character remains unthreatening, simply a pleasurable object to be consumed through viewing for

an enjoyable cinematic experience. Another example of such a camera technique is used when Force Captain Adora transforms into She-Ra for the first time. The initial shot is an upper body view of Adora. As she says, “For the honor of Grayskull, […]” (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985: 48mins) and raises the sword, the “camera angle” moves to just her hand holding the sword, diminishing the power of her transformation and reminding the audience that it is only through the phallic symbol of the sword that she gains her power. Her transformation is fragmented into segments that reduce her powerful stature. The phallic symbol of the sword even reassures the heterosexual male audience that she cannot achieve success without the socially considered requisite, the symbolization of male power, the phallus.

Therefore, within the cinematic environment, according to Mulvey, a female viewer can only achieve pleasure if she identifies with and occupies a masculine position, thus occupying a fluid identity which includes the masculine position (cf. Creed 2000: 82). Otherwise, the female viewer can only derive pleasure from the cinema if she accepts the projected gender norms.

The discussion, so far, does not address the different potentials available when the leading character is a woman. Mulvey would stipulate that it is not possible to have a mainstream film that has an empowered female character that does not bear the male gaze and suffer passivity, both in narration and in the camera techniques used to present her character. As mentioned above, She-Ra has access to the male symbol of power, the sword, and yields it perfectly to accomplish her goals and tasks. In this manner, The Secret of the Sword is a mainstream animated film with an active female hero who directs the narrative, in sections of the film, and directs the camera gaze. There are several instances when the camera looks directly out of her eyes or over her shoulder towards the other characters as shown in Figure 7. In these cases, it is clear that she directs the “eye” of the camera. Also, the women on screen are not always fragmented in their presentation, even when initiating empowering activities. For example at the beginning of the film, Glimmer gives a speech to motivate the rebels to rescue the enslaved villagers. She is shown from the waist up, at an upwards angle with her arms outstretched as she gives her rallying speech. She is surrounded by the other main characters in the film but dominates the middle of the screen (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985:

14mins). Unfortunately, Mulvey does not account for this possibility in mainstream cinema.

Figure 8: Force Captain Adora Directing the Camera Gaze

(Taken from http://old.he-man.org/cartoon/episode_reviews/review.php?episodeNumber=PP002 [2009, September, 10])

4.2) Oppositional Gazes and Spectators20

Using a psychoanalytic approach, even with Mulvey’s arguments, does not really satisfy the question regarding the space for female spectators and how the female audience can gain pleasure from watching a movie. According to Mulvey, She-Ra is still a sexual object. For women to gain pleasure from viewing The Secret of the Sword, they must occupy the ambivalent role of identifying with the male on screen and desiring the female character in a homosexual relationship. While the camera techniques and styling of She-Ra often fetishize her legs, her sword, or other parts of her body inviting a voyeuristic look to lessen the fear of male castration, the plot is clearly motivated by She-Ra as the narrator in the last section of the film. She does not always control the “eye” of the camera, but she directs the gaze the most throughout the

20 The term “the oppositional gaze” was first used by bell hooks in her article “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators” published in 1993 in Black American Cinema.

movie. Mulvey’s arguments do not succeed in clarifying Adora/She-Ra’s powerful position as narrator and the fact that heterosexual female viewers gain pleasure from the film, as evidenced by its popularity in the late 1980s. As Hollows points out, psychoanalysis fails to address the struggles surrounding the representation of women historically and does not allow for the negotiation of competing images and ideals surrounding the notion of femininity in film (cf. 2000: 56 – 58). It is, therefore, necessary to look for a different way of explaining the pleasure gained by a female audience when viewing a film or TV series starring a female protagonist. As I would like to look for ways of locating the female gaze and desire within mainstream films, I will turn towards Jackie Stacey and her essay “Desperately Seeking Difference,” published in 1988.

Stacey looks to find “[…] cinematic pleasures which may be available to the spectator in addition to those previously analyzed by feminist theory.” (1988: 398) She specifically addresses mainstream films and seeks to disrupt the notion of a monolithic Hollywood movie-making machine that only focuses on male pleasures (cf. Stacey 1988: 391). In order to locate female viewing pleasure, Stacey argues that it is important to separate gender identification with sexuality. While a male, heterosexual audience may read a female character on the screen as a sexual object, a female spectator may identify with this masculine heterosexual desire, or refuse or find a position somewhere in between acceptance and refusal (cf. Stacey 1988: 394). Using two films, All About Eve, released in 1950, and Desperately Seeking Susan, released in 1985, she argues that pleasures are available to the female audience, be it lesbian or heterosexual, that cannot be reduced to masculine heterosexual desire. Differences in the leading female characters lead to desires that are not linked to sexuality but rather to class, power and active versus passive qualities.

Exploring and gazing at female characters are undertaken by another female character in both films (cf. Stacey 1988: 396 - 399). A similar instance occurs in The Secret of the Sword when She-Ra gazes at Queen Angella, as previously mentioned in Chapter Four (cf. Friedman, et al. 1985: 59mins). This gaze is not necessarily sexual, but can be as well, when the audience is expanded to include women with same sex preferences. However, this gaze is also about desiring the differences presented in the other woman on screen. As is the case in this example, She-Ra admires the open show

of power by Queen Angella as well as the magnitude of her power. While a homosexual viewer may consider this gaze as sexual, a heterosexual viewer can interpret this gaze as admiration of Queen Angella’s ability to openly display her own power.

She-Ra embodies, for the female viewer, another form of femininity that is either not yet possible, newly made possible, or a possibility that parent’s hope their daughters will aspire towards. She represents the ability for girls to accomplish goals, resolve conflicts and manage their lives in the public sphere through active means using their innate sexual power, their physical strength when appropriate, their domestic skills, if necessary, and their intelligence and thoughtfulness. She-Ra does not always use brute strength to solve a problem, rather uses problem solving skills as well. Unlike He-Man who often uses brute strength and force, She-Ra resolves complicated situations resourcefully, which some viewers find more desirable and pleasing. She provides a role model for a homosexual female audience as she does not desire any of the men presented in the film and perhaps as well for transgenders and a homosexual male audience as her character successfully incorporates both masculine and feminine qualities. However for all viewers, complete identification is not possible due to She- Ra’s age, the fantasy realm in which the film is set and the many other differences that are present. As Stacey argues, complete identification with the other woman in the film is not possible because of the differences that exist between the women. The pleasure lies in desiring to be like the other woman but not completely replacing her, as that is not possible (cf. 1988: 400). As such, the female viewer can still desire to become She- Ra, an idealized additional representation of femininity.

Stacey’s approach allows for an investigation of the impact of cultural and historical aspects upon the reading of a film and the renegotiation and re-working of the meaning of femininity, which is not possible in a psychoanalytic approach (cf. Hollows 2000: 62). She provides an active, pleasurable model of spectatorship, that is not necessarily heterosexual and that allows for the acknowledgement of different femininities and the ability of the spectator to choose between these different representations of femininity, which may also be a source of pleasure (cf. Hollows 2000: 57 - 58). Still, her approach revolves around the fluidity in both a desire for and identification with the main character. While She-Ra is liberating in many ways, she

represents the notion of a woman able to accomplish all her goals and embrace her sexuality while facing these tasks, she is still a limited in her presentation of one “type” of femininity. She is the idealized, Anglo-Saxon fighting woman. As such, she is White, upper class and represents a certain age category that is only identifiable for a finite percentage of the female audience.

In the film, there are no women presented as She-Ra’s allies who could represent another ethnic background. There are at least different age categories of women available on screen, but many other differences evident in the female population are lacking in the movie. Women from other ethnic backgrounds, such as Black female spectators, view such films with a conscious awareness of the lack of diverse representations of the Black female body on the big screen. This omission stems from an historical context. Due to slavery in the U.S., mainstream films sought to perpetuate White supremacy, and therefore when present, depicted Black men and women in stereotypical, degrading and powerless roles (cf. hooks 1993: 291). While this trend is slowly changing, in order to combat their subordination, Black women have often actively resisted racist or undesirable representations in films, deconstructing Mulvey’s position that women in mainstream films are only there as objects to be gazed at while men actively look. Instead, a Black female spectator creates a space of resistance to the images presented on screen, consciously acknowledging the various techniques employed by movies to construct a specific, undesirable or inaccurate image of women, and/or Black women and their relationship to men, which they actively resist (cf. hooks 1993: 295).

While movies may have a preferred meaning and targeted spectator, approved by a patriarchal society, this meaning is not necessarily the one accepted by the various diverse members of the audience (cf. Hollows 2000: 58). As bell hooks outlines, for African American women viewers, the intended meaning is not always the meaning received (cf. hooks 1993: 295). It is important to make a distinction between the ideal spectator, that the film hopes to target, the differences that exist within this constructed target group and the actual viewer who may or may not occupy this targeted spectator position. As with the Black female spectator, she may totally reject the construction of passive White, female objectification on screen as representative of her as well as racist images of Black Matriarchs and Sapphires that are also limited and stereotypical in

their representation of Black women. The Black female viewer opens up the possibility for deconstructing the binary, passive/active position of female and male viewers, respectively, as presented by Mulvey (cf. hooks 1993: 295). However, hooks’ notion of the oppositional gaze creates the risk of dividing Black women into two categories: the educated, “critical” Black woman, who does not accept stereotypically degrading representations of women in film, and the “duped” Black woman, who does not critically question what she views on the screen. This categorization denies “uneducated” Black women the possibility of resisting, even partly, the negative images projected on screen regarding Black femininity and leaves them with no avenue for resistance (cf. Hollows 2000: 58 – 59). Still, hooks’ approach reminds the reader of the lack of diverse ethnic representation within cinema and the failure to address this lack within feminist critical literature.

Keeping in mind that films often lack positive representations of different members of society (particularly class and ethnicity in this movie), Stacey’s approach to female spectatorship provides broader possibilities for female viewers to choose and desire different femininities presented in visual culture. The female audience does not require a special education to resist unwanted and undesirable images. In this respect, female viewers of The Secret of the Sword can actively desire different aspects of She- Ra, without the need to fetishize her body, as there is no fear of castration for the daughter in Freud’s Oedipus complex. Yet, the audience members never completely identify with the leading female character, as it is clear to the viewers that not all differences can be incorporated into the spectator, nor are desired.

4.3) Fantasy in Film Viewing

As Ien Ang points out, the female characters of She-Ra/Adora, Glimmer, Queen Angella, etc., are not realistic images of women, which is clear thanks to the aspect of animation, but rather,

[…] textual constructions of possible modes of femininity: as embodying versions of gendered subjectivity endowed with specific forms of psychical and

emotional satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and specific ways of dealing with conflicts and dilemmas.” (1990: 162)

The Secret of the Sword is a fantasy realm providing women with fantastical situations in which to “[…] move beyond the structural constraints of everyday life and explore other situations, other identities, other lives.” (Ang 1990: 162) What it exactly means to be a woman is a site of continual development and (re-)construction. It is not always clear what society considers appropriate for a woman in a certain situation when she wants a specific result. As women become more aware of the constructed nature of sex and gender, the struggle continues as to what features an individual will chose as her own personal definition of “woman” that fits or even contradicts social expectations and definitions of femininity.

Fantasy, in this case in the form of an animated film, allows for the private means for a female audience to occupy roles and specific spaces that may not be possible in the real world or to practice for later use in the real world. Varied representations of femininity are conclusive to this exercise and no ideal film exists that encompass all potential roles for women; it is simply not possible. The Secret of the Sword offers one possible fantasy for girls and women who watch it, that may or may not be applicable in the real world, to a certain degree, but offers, at the very least, a safe space for girls and women to explore formerly deemed inappropriate active roles within society. While specifically targeting a certain audience, girls and women from other ethnic backgrounds and ages can also participate in the practice of desiring pleasurable differences in the character of She-Ra, while acknowledging (as does the White viewer) that the very differences which are desired also prevent total and complete identification with She-Ra. The female viewer21 acknowledges, through her desire for the character(s) on screen, that the very traits she lacks or considers lacking prevent total identification with the leading female figure in the movie.

21 I specifically limit this discussion to girls and women as they are the targeted audience, and they are often excluded from critical academic discussion.

4.4) Conclusion

The psychoanalytic approach, while providing an explanation for why people find pleasure in watching cinema, does not account for the power dynamics within a film and the space between the film and the viewer that allows for a (re-)negotiation or de/reconstruction of the femininity projected by the filmmakers. What is ultimately accepted and received by the viewer is not always the intended message from the filmmakers. Mulvey importantly highlights the problems with mainstream films in their treatment of women as passive objects; the bearers of the male gaze, often fragmented and demystified to become less threatening and even less powerful. Yet, bell hooks offers the critical viewer a place to recognize and acknowledge the objectification of women and actively resists the personal acceptance of such images and definitions of womanhood and femininity.

Furthermore, Stacey’s approach allows for a pleasurable viewing experience for the intended female spectator and actual female viewer, who desires the leading female character not solely sexually but also for her differences. Stacey’s theory acknowledges social and historical influences towards the representation of women in film and the attitudes of the viewers; what is desirable for women at a certain time periods. This approach is not possible with psychoanalysis as it is a universal approach. To find the female spectator and gaze within Hollywood films, it is necessary to move beyond psychoanalysis and towards Stacey’s approach of desiring the differences in the women presented in the film.

5) SHE-RA’S TARGETED AUDIENCE: YOUNG GIRLS So far, this paper has dealt mainly with the female viewer as an adult woman. How girls view, consume and identify with She-Ra in The Secret of the Sword has not yet been specifically addressed. Is there a difference between child and adult viewing and identifying with the character on the big screen? I will argue that to a large extent, there is no difference between these two age groups.22 The girl child viewer is often synonymous with the female viewer and is included in this term. However, there are several specific aspects of childhood that should be taken into account when discussing how girls find pleasure in watching She-Ra and in consuming her line of toy products and other commodities; namely, the role of parents in sanctioning the movie and TV show, to what extent the film influences the character development and beliefs surrounding gender division of the girl child viewer, and their position as consumers. The following sections will deal specifically with these three aspects of childhood and the cinema experience yet does not diminish or refute the observations made throughout this paper regarding the female viewer in general.

5.1) Parents and the Child Viewer

According to Bulger, childhood “[…] staples such as fairy tales and fables have been supplemented by mass media and Mattel, Inc. to provide role models and socialization messages to our children.” (1988: 178). The movie, TV shows, toys and all the paraphernalia surrounding She-Ra provides miniaturized representations of reality that are sanctioned by adults as the acceptable behavior and social attitudes for girls (cf. Bulger 1988: 178 - 9). Traditionally, women take responsibility for raising the children and determining not only what they eat, wear and learn but also what exactly they are allowed to do in their free time, which toys they can play with and with whom they can socialize. As more and more women have to work, either in a relationship were both partners are working or as a single parent, mothers are faced with the conflicting social influences of what a perfect mother should be: a housewife, an ideal mother, and/or the successful businesswoman (cf. Bulger 1988: 180 - 81).

22 I did not find any relevant sociological studies while exploring this topic in my research.

Additionally, the career woman spends less time at home monitoring what her children do and how they behave socially. The movies and TV shows the mother23 sanctions and encourages her daughter24 to watch influences the type of role models incorporated into the girl child’s repertoire. These role models take the place of the mother in guiding the daughter in her actions and beliefs concerning social practices. Specifically the toys and merchandise, used during play time or consumed during the daughter’s free time, encourage the girl child to identify with the preferred role model. Furthermore, children use the toys in their play time in order to continuously practice and perfect what it means, socially, to be a girl or a boy.

5.2) The Girl Child Viewer

It is important to remember that the notion of childhood is a social construction just like femininity and masculinity. In the Middle Ages, children worked alongside adults, learning vocational skills and were a part of the daily adult world. Only since the 1800s have children been removed from the workforce and placed in school systems. What is best for children also continuously changes depending on current social values (cf. Steinberg and Kincheloe 2004: 2). While society currently deems that there is a difference between adults and children, these differences should be considered valid and important, not inferior due to children’s current lower status in society. If children were previously considered able to work and function as individuals in society next to adults, then it is justifiable to include children in the sections of this paper that addresses adults. As women were formerly excluded from academic literature, so too are children presently excluded from academic writings, except within certain, limited contexts. While currently relegated to a school and home environment, children are still legitimate members of society and make decisions and operate in society in the same manner as adults.

But what effect exactly does movie watching have on children and what kind of spectators are they? Do movies influence their consumption of products and their role

23 I specifically address mothers as they are traditionally considered the homemaker and main caretaker of the child, even when working. However, it must be noted that fathers can and are active and present in the responsibilities of childcare and, in certain cases, are the main caretakers. 24 In this chapter, I specifically look at the audience of girls and young women, as they are directly targeted as viewers of The Secret of the Sword.

playing, thus their identity-forming process? Is it comparable to the adult female audience which watches movies to gain pleasure through identifying with and desiring the leading characters? Do children also identify with the characters on screen as role models or are animated movies and TV shows simply an elaborate gimmick to sell products to children? Some of these questions can be answered but others, unfortunately, cannot.

According to a study by Emily Davidson, Amy Yasuna and Alan Tower, the type of TV program a 5 to 6 year old girl watches effects (at least for a short period of time) sex-role stereotypes. They performed a study with 36 girls who watched three types of shows. One is reverse stereotyped in the form of an episode from the series “Kid Power,” where the girls in the episode are knowledgeable and active in aiding the boys present in building a clubhouse and gain access to the “all-boy” club by winning several sportive competitions. The neutral show is an episode from “Scooby-Do, Where Are You?” where the two girls and two boys resolve a mystery involving two robbers disguised as a witch and a zombie. The final show is highly stereotyped from the TV cartoon series, “Jeannie” where the male leading character is the master and Jeannie is the slave or servant. Her attempts to help the male protagonist are rejected with anger, and she is never successful in her attempt to help him. The girls in the study had to view one of these three shows in a neutral environment.

After watching the episode, each girl was interviewed by a female interviewee using a method developed by Williams, Bennet and Best to determine sex-role stereotyping. The results showed that the girls watching the reverse stereotyped show had lower scores of sex-role stereotyping for women. They scored a mean of 5 while for the other two shows the mean was approximately 7. Upon reviewing the results, the researchers determined that the neutral show was also subtly, highly stereotyped and thus had the same scores as the high stereotyped show. While this study does not show the length of time the affect of the reverse stereotyped shows has on the children, especially when the majority of TV shows are highly stereotyped, it does illustrate that the sex-roles presented in TV shows affects girls attitudes towards stereotypes surrounding women for a period of time. While there was not a comparable study with adult women, this study at least provides the reader with information regarding how young girls implement their identification with and desire for the female leading

character in the film into their everyday life. The effects of The Secret of the Sword, as a reverse-stereotype movie, on young girl viewers can then be determined as positive, even if some gender norms are evident in the appearance of the female characters.

5.3) Consumption of She-Ra

Although the film provides a positive role model and influence, it cannot be forgotten that the main goal in creating the movie was to promote consumerism. As parents condone and approve what children consume, including not only permission to watch the film or TV show but also by buying the toys and products, they must also endorse the consumption of the role model provided. As Joanne Hollows points out:

People use consumer goods to mark out distinctive and plural lifestyles. Furthermore, if our sense of who we are increasingly comes from what and how we consume, then this, it has been claimed, makes people aware that our identities are not fixed but something we can play with, construct and reconstruct through our use of commodities. (2000: 132)

Mothers, wanting their daughters to grow as liberated as they strove to be in the 1980s, purposefully bought She-Ra products as the show promoted a type of feminism that they identified with and condoned. Aware of this gap in children’s marketing, toy companies purposefully designed the cartoon characters in such a style so as to encourage young girls to buy the merchandise. As children today have their own spending power (allowance) and make requests to their parents for the toy products they personally desire, toy companies seek clever ways to directly target this youthful audience. The young consumer is ever present in today’s society and The Television Act of 1990 already addresses the danger of allowing toy companies unsupervised access to television in an attempt to influence the child viewer to buy their products.

The buying of toy products, one side of consumption, is followed by the actual use of the bought products. The play time and actual role playing activities of children, however, is not supervised by adults and can vary from the ideals presented in The Secret of the Sword. Even though She-Ra saves her friends and is very active in her show, Bulger noticed that her daughter and her daughter’s friend used the toy products

and ‘consumed’ She-Ra in more typical gendered practices. They beautified the dolls or went shopping with them or engaged in domestic activities (cf. Bulger 1988: 188). Toys and playtime are used by children as a further tool towards establishing their gender category. The two-hour length movie, though reverse stereotyped, is not enough to disrupt the rest of society’s influence on what it means to be a ‘girl’ in society, at least in the example of Bulger’s daughter. The toy figures, with their outfit changes, long hair that requires grooming and pink accessories are not as empowering and diversifying as the film and TV show itself.

5.4) Gendering Little Girls and Boys

As Spencer Cahill illustrates, children must learn how to function as adults in society and use their school and play time to practice gender. Children are concerned with distinguishing themselves from the classification of ‘baby’ to the preferred status of ‘girl/boy.’ Through this process of gender identification, they learn what society deems is ‘boy’ behavior, namely affecting the environment and ‘girl’ behavior, valuing appearance and becoming ornamented objects. At a young age, children know and understand the different sex categories and choose to act in the appropriate manner fitting each category. As such, they participate in self-regulatory practices to govern themselves (cf. Cahill 1986: 175).

The process of learning the features and characteristics ascribed to masculinity and femininity is outlined in the notion of performing gender. “Femininity is an artifice, an achievement.” (Bartky 1997: 132) The indicators of femininity and masculinity are learned and daily performed. As Butler says, “[…] the ‘being’ of gender is an effect [...]” (1990: 32) It is not, as pointed out previously, a natural phenomenon, rather the linguistic expression of the constructed category of sex. Sex, which is a defined and set category that creates and defines the body, is not an “[…] interior ‘truth’ of disposition and identity […]” but rather a “[…] performatively enacted signification.” (Butler 1990: 33) The daily routines the body performs directly dictates what is allowed and forbidden; the inner and outer realm of our bodies; the full extent of the boundaries of our bodies. These daily activities are threaded through with gender aspects as well as class, race and age (cf. Bordo 1993: 16). Therefore, it is apt to use Butler’s inference that gender is a performance, or rather series of performative acts. With regards to

young girls and boys, the period of establishing themselves as non-infants requires the enactment of gendered performances, which they master in their play time environment in preparation for the “real” world as adults.

5.5) Conclusion

When a baby is born, s/he is immediately assigned a sex. If it is an inter-sexed infant, a sex is assigned an operations are performed to provide the child with the appropriate sex organs. From that moment on, a child is raised as either a girl or a boy, including all the gendered practices and performances linked to that sex. It is not necessary for society to govern their actions as they govern themselves and each other as to whether these gendered performances are legitimate.25 The signifiers of gender are clear. Girls learn to walk with swaying hips, take up less space and concern themselves with dolls, the home and the emotional side of people. Boys are taught to take up space, to interrupt, to be competitive, to play with cars and to function in the public realm while hiding their emotions. Play time, among children, is a place where these gender norms and values are determined, further defined and appropriated. As the distinction between the “infant” and “girl/boy” is so important for children growing up, the social rules surrounding gender are ever present in their gender identification and role playing.

While young girls may desire to be like the She-Ra character on the screen, they already know that they must abide by certain societal rules in order to adequately fit the category of “girl,” should they desire to be a part of this group. As mentioned previously, the realm of fantasy in film watching and in The Secret of the Sword, particularly, allows for the “impossible” to be possible. Thus, features that are not normally considered a part of feminine behavior are indeed included in the movie version of femininity. By this very inclusion in the film and the proven effects of reverse stereotyping movies and TV shows on reducing binary gendering processes in

25 The self-regulation of gender performances operates through Michel Foucault’s circular idea of power which can be best evidenced in Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a model design for a prison. It operates on the principle of an observer from a central tower, who cannot be seen. As a result, the individuals in the cells surrounding the tower imagine their constant surveillance and self-regulate their own behavior. The state of conscious and constant visibility (whether actually in effect or not) enforces the individual’s self-consciousness and self-regulation. This can be applied not only to a prison but to today’s society and more specifically, the regulation of individual gendered performances (cf. Bartky 1997: 131).

young girls, the character of She-Ra broadens the definition of femininity, even if only to a certain extent due to limited exposure and the dominance of traditional, conservative images in society.

Hollows presents the notion that consumption can be liberating and empowering for consumers, specifically for women (cf. 2000: 61). It can be a site of resistance through what women choose to consume and how. Buying She-Ra products, from a parents’ point of view, provides a site of resistance to the status quo and traditional representations of femininity. Children are also consumers and are beginning to learn the power they have to influence and participate in the toy and entertainment market economy. Whether they are aware of this power and use it as older women can is not yet clear. More research in this area is needed to determine the answer to this question. However, it is certain that in the difficult stage of trying to establish their own identities in the miniature social world of play time, girls may revert to traditional stereotypes surrounding feminine behavior that they are exposed to daily in other settings, regardless of the role models presented to them in their toys. Yet the very presence of She-Ra, as a diversifying image of “womanhood,” has its own valuable impact on the boundaries of femininity.

6) CONCLUSION The Secret of the Sword, as a film, sought to provide young girls with an alternative, active heroine and encourage its viewers to consume the merchandise accompanying the movie, including the TV series, toys, clothing, magazines, etc. As a coming of age/women power film, it has several empowering aspects to offer its female viewers, namely a girl’s coming of age status is no longer linked to marriage, a commitment to a heterosexual relationship and/or the adoption of motherly and wifely roles (cf. Kearney 2002: 126). Rather, in The Secret of the Sword, the female audience witnesses a stage where females have social and financial independence, separate from the domestic sphere. This period of independence, however, is linked with earlier maturation of girls’ bodies and their treatment as sexual beings at an earlier age. Girls must learn and practice strategies to cope in a society that provides a hostile environment for youth and especially young women (cf. Kearney 2002: 129).

To this regard, the sexualization of the female bodies in The Secret of the Sword was particularly troubling. The presentation of the female characters could disrupt the empowering, radical impulse of the film. The high degree of sexuality of the female characters can only be resolved and deemed positive if the viewer acknowledges the power in female sexuality. As noted in Disney Studios films, only these “evil” women were presented as powerful, self-motivated and active. The male fear of female sexuality led to a series of movies where the sexuality of the women was demystified, nullified or sexually aware women were punished. The ‘good’ women were portrayed as meek, passive and adolescent. With The Secret of the Sword, female sexuality is celebrated as powerful, active and empowering with no hint of male or societal repercussions.

While The Secret of the Sword seems to celebrate female sexuality and empowerment, as Frances Gateward points out, the characters often act selflessly to preserve the standard patriarchal norms and laws (cf. 2002: 276). Atypical of the cultural norms established by Disney Studios, She-Ra does not find ultimate fulfillment and happiness in marriage. Her journey in life is not complete by devoting her life to her partner. However, it does not seem as though she undertakes many activities that she desires for her individual self. Only the visit to see her family stems from personal reasons. She raises the sword the first time to save her brother and remains in Etheria to

free her fellow people. Her actions always serve to better her society, sometimes simultaneously upholding patriarchal norms but not necessarily to serve her own private wishes. In this, she represents the ultimate self-sacrificing image of mother, which in this case makes for a good savior, but still, what about her personal needs? She is guided by a woman in the film, the Sorceress, surrounded by powerful, independent female allies, but it would be even more empowering to show more often her own personal wants, desires and emotional conflicts.

The representation of women and the new model that She-Ra represents is far from perfect, nowhere near ideal. Yet it reflects the historical changes of the Feminist Movement and the acceptance of woman as willing and able to have a career outside of homemaking and contribute to or be the sole ‘bread winner’ of the family. This concept, difficult to comprehend and accept in a patriarchal society with its strict gender boundaries, is more acceptable in the form of animation. In a fantasy realm, this new dimension of femininity can be safely explored. It does not disrupt society as it is cocooned in fantasy, in a movie setting. Animation, with its unlimited possibilities, provides a space to address this new shift, the clash between the old and new definition of femininity and the social concerns and fears surrounding this change.

Once the new and improved definition of femininity is addressed and explored within the safety of film, the possibility for real change within society emerges. As more reverse stereotyped films and TV shows are made and viewers actually choose to not only to desire the female character on screen but to implement her desirable characteristics into their own lives, the traditionally restrictive definition of femininity will no longer be valid. Instead, “womanhood” will be a more fluid and broader concept, encompassing characteristics and “performative acts” once deemed suitable only for men. The result of a more fluid concept of femininity will lead to a more fluid concept of masculinity by default and will pave the way towards greater equality between the sexes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“A Brief History: She-Ra Princess of Power.” (2002). He-Man.org. [Online]. http://old.he-man.org/cartoon/pop/index.shtml [2009, September 10]. “Betty Cohen Stepping Down as President of Cartoon Network Worldwide to Pursue Next Venture Within AOL Time Warner / Turner Broadcasting Family.” (2001, March 19). Toon Zone News. [Online]. http://news.toonzone.net/2001/ jun/18/cohen.php [2007, February 23]. “Children’s Television Programming” (April, 1995). Federal Communications Commission. [Online]. http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Factsheets/kidstv.txt [2009, June 24]. “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle” (2007, March 6). Wikipedia. [Online]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheena,_Queen_of_the_Jungle [2007, March 10]. “Wonder Woman” (2007, March 7). Wikipedia. [Online]. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Wonder_Woman [2007, February 24]. Ang, Ien (1990). “Melodramatic Identifications: Television Fiction and Women’s Fantasy.” In: Television and Women’s Culture: The Politics of the Popular. London: Sage. 75-88. Rpt. in I. Ang (1997). Feminist Television Criticism: A Reader. Ed. Charlotte Brunsdon, Julie D’Acci and Lynn Spigel. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 155-166. Angell, Zadoc and James Eatock (2009a). “Into Etheria.” He-Man.org. [Online]. http://old.he- man.org/cartoon/episode_reviews/review.php?episodeNumber=PP001 [2009, September 10]. Angell, Zadoc and James Eatock (2009b). “She Ra Unchained.” He-Man.org. [Online]. http://old.he- man.org/cartoon/episode_reviews/review.php?episodeNumber=PP003 [2009, September 10]. Angell, Zadoc and James Eatock (2009c). “Reunions.” He-Man.org. [Online]. http://old.he- man.org/cartoon/episode_reviews/review.php?episodeNumber=PP004 [2009, September 10].

Angell, Zadoc and James Eatock (2009d). “Battle for Bright Moon.” He-Man.org. [Online]. http://old.he- man.org/cartoon/episode_reviews/review.php?episodeNumber=PP005 [2009, September 10]. Barthes, Roland (1984). Mythologies. Trans. Annette Lavers. New York: Hill and Wang. Rpt. in R. Barthes. [Online]. http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/- marton/myth.htm [2004, November 15]. Bartky, Sandra Lee (1997). “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power.” In: Writing on the Body: Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory. Ed. Katie Conboy, Nadia Medina and Sarah Stanbury. New York: Columbia University Press. 129-154. Bell, Elizabeth (1995). “Somatexts at the Disney shop: Constructing the Pentimentos of Women’s Animated Bodies.” In: From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. Ed. Elizabeth Bell, Lynda Haas and Laure Sells. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 107-124. Berthelot, J.M. (1986). “Sociological Discourse and the Body.” Rpt. in J.M. Berthelot (1991). The Body: Social Processes and Cultural Theory. Ed. Mike Featherstone, Mike Hepworth and Bryan Turner. London: Sage Publications. 390-404. Bordo, Susan (1993). Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley: University of California Press. Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson (1990). Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education. Bulger, Peggy (1988). “The Princess of Power: Socializing Our Daughters Through TV, Toys, and Tradition.” The Lion and the Unicorn. 12.2: 178-192. Butler, Judith (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge. Butler, Judith (1993). Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” London: Routledge. Cahill, Spencer (1986). “Childhood Socialization as Recruitment Process: Some Lessons from the Study of Gender Development.” In: Sociological Studies of Child Development. Ed P. Adler and P. Adler. Connecticut: JAI Press. 163-186. Cohl, Emilie (1908). Fantasmagorie. [Online]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEAObel8yIE [2008, May 6].

Creed, Barbara (2000). “Film and Psychoanalysis.” In: Film Studies: Critical Approaches. Ed. John Hill and Pamela Church Gibon. London: Oxford University Press. 75-88. Dahl, Melinda, Stefanie Kelly, Dale Ray and Sheila Sweeney (2000). Once Upon A Time. [Online]. http://cuip.uchicago.edu/wit/2000/teams/onceupon/curriculumguide.html [2009, June 31] Davidson, Emily, Yasuna, Amy and Alan Tower (1979). “The Effects of Television Cartoons on Sex-Role Stereotyping in Young Girls.” Child Development. 50: 597-600. Davis, Amy (2006). Good Girls and Wicked Witches: Women in Disney’s Feature Animation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Dirks, Tim (2009). “Animated Films.” AMC Filmsite [Online]. American Movie Classics Company. http://www.filmsite.org/animatedfilms.html [2008, April 25]. Estés, Clarissa Pinkola (1992). Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype. New York: Ballantine Books. Fleischer, Dave, Director (1932). Boop-Oop-A-Doop. Fleischer Studios. Friedman, Ed, Lou Kachivas, Marsh Lamore, Bill Reed and Gwen Wetzler, Directors (1985). The Secret of the Sword. Filmation. Furniss, Maureen (1998). Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics. Australia: John Libbey & Company Limited. Gateward, Frances (2002). “Bubblegum and Heavy Metal.” In: Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: Cinemas of Girlhood. Ed. Frances Gateward and Murray Pomerance. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 269-284. Gilbert, Sandra and Susan Gubar (2000). The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination.” Connecticut: Yale University Press. Grimm Brothers (1857). “Snow White.” Trans. Margaret Hunt. [Online]. Virginia Commonwealth University. http://www.fln.vcu.edu/grimm/schneeeng.html [2009, October 12]. Hall, Stuart (1997). “The Work of Representation.” In: Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Ed. Stuart Hall. London: Sage Publications. 13-74.

Harris, Franklin (1999, January 14). “Sheena proves it is not easy being queen.” Pop Culture Productions. [Online]. http://home.hiwaay.net/~tfharris/pulpculture/ columns/990114. shtml [2007, February 24]. Hollows, Joanne (2000). Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Homer, Sean (2005). Jacques Lacan. New York: Routledge. hooks, bell (1993). “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators.” In: Black American Cinema. Ed. Manthia Diawara. New York: Routledge. 288-302. Isaacs, John, Director (1970). The Art of Lotte Reiniger. Primrose Productions. [Online]. Dailymotion. http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/lotte/video/x4wc6s_the-art-of- lotte-reiniger-19531971_shortfilms [2008, November 16]. Kearney, Mary Celeste (2009). “Girlfriends and Girl Power: Female Adolescence in Contemporary U.S. Cinema.” In: Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: Cinemas of Girlhood. Ed. Frances Gateward and Murray Pomerance. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 125-142. Kline, Stephen (1993). Out of the Garden: Toys, TV, and Children’s Culture in the Age of Marketing. New York: Verso. Langenscheidt’s Pocket German Dictionary (1993). Vienna: Langenscheidt KG. Lindemann, Gesa (1996). “The Body of Gender Difference.” The European Journal of Women’s Studies. 3.4: 341-361. Linder, Doug (2009). “Exploring Constitutional Law.” [Online]. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/home.html [2009, September 10]. Moirae, Alexander (1996). “The Wonder Women Pages: Television background.” The Wonder Woman Pages. [Online]. http://www.wonderwoman-online.com/tvshow. html [2007, February 24]. Mulvey, Laura (1975). “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Screen 16.3: 6-18. Rpt. in L. Mulvey (1999). Visual Culture: The Reader. Ed. Jessica Evans and Stuart Hall. London: Sage Publications. 381-389. Propp, Vladimir (1958). “Morphology of the Folktale.” International Journal of American Linguistics. 24. 4: 18-82. Rich, Adrienne (1994). “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” In: Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. New York: W.W. Norton

& Company, Inc. 23-75. Rpt. in A. Rich. [Online]. http://www.terry.uga.edu/~dawndba/4500compulsoryhet.htm [2009, September 9]. Sandler, Kevin (1998). “Gendered Evasion: Bugs Bunny in Drag.” In: Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation. Ed. Kevin Sandler. London: Rutgers University Press. 154-171. Smith, Kyra (2009, March 18). “She Ra Princess of Power Revisited.” FerretBrain.com. [Online]. http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-406 [2009, September 10]. Sparber, Izzy, Director (1949). Hot Air Aces. Famous Studious. Stacey, Jackie (1988). “Desperately Seeking Diference.” In: The Female Gaze. Ed. Lorraine Gamman and Margaret Marshment. London: The Woman’s Press. 112-200. Rpt. in J. Stacey (1999). Visual Culture: The Reader. Ed. Jessica Evans and Stuart Hall. London: Sage Publications. 390-401. Steinberg, Shirley and Joe Kincheloe (2004). Kinderculture: The Corporate Construction of Childhood. Colorado: Westview Press. Wells, Paul (1998). Understanding Imagination. New York: Routledge. Wells, Paul (2002a). Animation: Genre and Authorship. London: Wallflower. Wells, Paul (2002b). Animation and America. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. Wittig, Monique (1992). The Straight Mind and Other Essays. Massachusetts: Beacon Press. 12