#The Smurfette Principle

[spacewarriorsam]

I find it funny that every time marvel needs to include a girl in the avengers, Black Widow is always the go to. Same with Wonder Woman in the justice league. Like I get most of the audience are boys, but like why not swap out WW with Black Canary? Or Like maybe Black Widow with Kate Bishop? Come on yall.

Not hating, I’m just saying.

[thekimspoblog]

Does anyone else remember the term "the smurfette principle"? For when writers aren't sure how to write a love interest for a male character, and so they just clone the male character and write him a female version of himself?

Yeah well... if Kim Wexler didn't start out like that, that's definitely who she is by the end of the show. I aint even mad; I just think it's something worth keeping in mind. I mean what's better than one scumbag lawyer who's deluded himself into thinking he's Robin Hood? 2 versions of that character operating harmoniously like a left and right hand, sharing a foundation of trust that goes deeper than any marital vow because they are both determined stick it to THE MAN, and screwing eachother's brains out when their madcap schemes work. Cloning Saul Goodman was a great idea! It's just that when people start going off about Kim being the "best written female character" I'm like... nah bro. Everything about her comes with its own preexistent TV Tropes page.

At the same time it is just endlessly amusing: BrBa fans hated Skyler because she was being "such an unreasonable bitch" for not going along with Walt's criminal activity. And so with BCS the writers were like "Ok fine, you want a love interest who won't get all morally indignant when the protagonist does questionable stuff??? Careful what you wish for!"

“We are a perfect match. Never believe anything else”

[rhys-ravenfeather]

80s/90s kids' cartoons be like:

-The Leader

-The Jokester

-The Muscle

-The Brains

-And The Girl

[flingmetothemoon]

Zeena: Who are you?

Rouge: I'm you, but better written~😘

May I ask how Zeena is a stereotype?

Her personality is “girl”.

The D6 are all walking stereotypes, but one thing is the “crazy” one whose personality is “violent and unhinged”, which can be pretty fun, but “girl” is pretty offensive for obvious reason (so is “fat”, by the way). It’s called the Smurfette Principle, and it’s the assumption that being a man is the default, so you can have other personalities, but being a woman is all there is to it.

Zeena is vain, cares more about her appearance than helping Zavok (she would have stayed in the base happily painting her nails if Zavok didn’t tell her that he considered her pretty enough for the job), and the worst thing she can say about Sonic is that he’s “a cockroach with terrible fashion sense”. On top of this, her design is by far the most humanoid and attractive of the 6 - can’t have a monstrious girl, can we? Some other quotes:

"Now, you wouldn't hurt a lady, would you?" 

"The last time we met you ruined my nail art. Now I have to reapply a whole new coat."

“You're gonna pay for that! ... as soon as my nails dry.”

"Gotta go. Call me!"

"What? No flowers?"

"I can't believe I lost to a boy!"

Everything she says revolves around being female. Sure, she’s evil like the others, that's a personality trait I guess, but... can you imagine her as a boy? The others would work as women because, as flat as they are, their personalities don’t revolve around their gender. (in fact female Zor and female Zazz would be pretty funny)

The sad thing is that I like how she resembles a chameleon. She’s green, has one horn like Espio, and a thin curled tail. She could have been written as manipulative, underhanded and a compulsive liar, to go with the chameleon motif. And sure, “manipulative woman” is also a stereotype, but I’d gladly take that over “MUH NAILS” :\

[theflashjaygarrick]

DC adaptation's obsession with retaining the smurfette principle is frankly absurd. Like with the batfamily it's so often Bruce, Alfred, a solid selection of (ex)robins and like one woman. She's probably babsgirl. She probably has a weird shoehorned romance with one of the batguys. She probably isn't even a librarian.

Steph who?? Cass never heard of her?? Helena? Kate? Guess we don't need them because we have the one token girl.

[aingeal98]

Thinking of Cass and Damian got me thinking of the New 52 and how the dynamic between Batgirl and Robin there is even more proof of the travesty that was Babsgirl. She's been the longest running Batgirl to Damian's Robin, has witnessed most of the events of his life as Robin and yet their dynamic is just... A nothing burger. She's there in batfamily group reactions in the New 52 as the most heinous use of the Smurfette Principle I've seen in a long while. Tim isn't Tim, Dick isn't fully treated as Bruce's son, Jason exists mostly to say funny one liners, and yet despite the shallow characterisation there are still moments and events you can point to and say look. This happened. They interacted with Damian and it meant something. With Babsgirl? Nothing. How can there be anything when they're shoving a grown woman into a role she's outgrown for years now and forcing her to be the Batgirl of a preteen Robin? Her original Robin gets his own mantle, gets to be an adult with a legacy. She's shoved back into this role she doesn't fit in and because they know damn well she doesn't fit in it and they're just doing it for misogyny, they don't even try to make Batgirl and Robin a thing. Any interaction they had during the new 52 was so unremarkable and flavourless, devoid of character and heart, that I've never seen a single panel of the two of them in my 16 years as a DC fan.

Steph had a 24 issue batgirl run where she interacted with Damian a few times. Cass got even less than that with a six issue miniseries to bond with him. And yet the characterisation, writing and dynamic created in those stories was interesting, entertaining and impactful enough to last in the fandom for YEARS when Cass and Steph got erased. When you think of Damian's big sister you think of Steph, Cass, Maya etc long before you think of Babsgirl.

It's just infuriating to me. All those years of potential Batgirl and Robin stories wasted on a duo with as much cultural impact on the Batgirl and Robin team up as the James Cameron Avatar movies had on the word Avatar. All so they could erase the women of the batfam and reduce the sole one remaining down to The Girl Bat. Yeah whatever she was there in Damian's life when Steph and Cass weren't why am I supposed to care when her standing there gave me nothing to work with emotionally compared to a single conversation Steph or Cass had with Damian back in 2011. Compared with them or even Oracle Babs, I care about Babsgirl and Damian's dynamic and bond as much as DC and it's writers do. Which is to say, not at all.

[tremendoustenderness]

I very much enjoyed the fact that for the majority of the season, the main team consisted of three women (Annette, Tera, Maria) and only one man (Richter).

I am very much sick of the "Smurfette principle" in which there is only one woman in a team full of man in media (see Black Widow in Avengers or Gamora in GOTG for example) , so this was refreshing.

[ravensroleplays]

Ian grinned a little before looking to the cameras. Seemed that Bonnie had already left the stage...and was on her way to the office.

*For one reason or another, Mike couldn’t come in for his shift that night, but luckily Donkey had needed a job and thus was going to be the replacement night guard.*

*Later that night, at 11:55, Donkey entered the pizzeria he’d be spending the night in, Freddy Fazbear’s pizza*

@shenanigoonies4life

@shenanigoonies4life

The ghost kids knew that Mike was out sick--Tricia and the twins had overheard a call one of the other workers had gotten saying that Mike had a bad flu. They were worried, of course, but they knew Mike, he'd pull through.

...though now that meant they'd be stuck with a stranger all night long. Suffice to say, they were a bit worried about THAT, too.

[spacewarriorsam]

I just noticed that every time there’s thinly one boy in a group of girls in a show, they always do the smurfette principle thing and just make him “the guy” much like how they make the girl “the girl”

It’s one thing if you just include one guy or girl in a group of another gender, but at least give them a personality besides being their gender

[persephinae]

I find it funny that the "No AI" animation strike cartoon characters, explaining what's at stake for the strike and bringing some light hearted humor to the situation, were both drawn as "default male" because in western society the default person is male

So of course people are drawing yaoi fanart of them and shipping them

And to me, it highlights yet again, that male is always viewed as default with no thought for female characters and it's just a microcosm of cartoon landscapes all over again

And when storytellers/animators discover that "oops we prioritized male characters again" they reinvent the smurfette principle

Also not even mentioning that they're white characters, and again white male is viewed as default

Just kinda funny if you take the long view of how humanity never reflects on itself or inherent biases

[besttropeveershowdown]

Brackets- Round 1

Less than 24 hours to go until the first polls are out! Here are the brackets and full list of matchups for the first round.

Side A:

Side B:

Side C:

Text list of matchups under cut for those who can't read the screenshots but are interested:

SIDE A

Redemption Equals Death vs. My Beloved Smother

Scarpia Ultimatum vs. Enemies to Lovers

Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto You vs. Miscommunication

Disability Magically Cured vs. Honor Thy Abuser

No Love for the Wicked vs. Chivalrous Pervert

Dude, She’s Like, In a Coma vs. Cop Crushes on Witness

Not Blood Siblings vs. Forgotten First Meeting

Cringe Comedy vs. Downer Ending

Femme Fatale vs. Older Than They Look

Dogged Nice Guy vs. Forced Hetero

Tsundere vs. Unrequited Love Switcheroo

Jailbait Wait vs. Yandere

Can’t Argue with Elves vs. Karma Houdini

Hollywood Healing vs. Non-Human Non-Binary

Abled in the Adaptation vs. Black Comedy Rape

Found the Right Person vs. The Power of Friendship

SIDE B

Manic Pixie Dream Girl vs. Hilariously Abusive Childhood

Ugly Girl Transformation vs. Race Lift

Offscreen Breakup vs. Product Placement

Stalker with a Crush vs. Found Family

Love Triangle vs. Humanoid Female Animal

Always Chaotic Evil vs. Plot Twist

“Not So Different” Remark vs. Hanahaki Disease

What Measure is a Mook vs. Chosen One

Sexual Harassment as Flirting vs. Smurfette Principle

Love at First Sight vs. Dying for Unborn Child

Aliens are Bastards vs. Of Corset Hurts

Fridging vs. Parental Incest

Pair the Spares vs. I Have You Now, My Pretty

Babies Ever After vs. Creepy Crossdresser

Bury Your Gays vs. Depraved Homosexual

Kudzu Plot vs. All Girls Want Bad Boys

SIDE C

Cheating as Plot Point vs. Wicked Stepmother

Damsel in Distress vs. Joker Immunity

All Just a Dream vs. Plot Armor

Crapsack World vs. Growing Up Sucks

Teacher/Student Romance vs. Born Evil

All Crimes are Equal vs. Black Dude Dies First

No Ending vs. Slavery in Fantasy

Loving Bully vs. Born Sexy Yesterday

Surprise Incest vs. Gender-Restricted Ability

Hero’s Journey vs. Comedic Pedophile

Africa is a Country vs. Out-of-Context Eavesdropping

Ragtag Bunch of Misfits vs. Bolivian Army Cliffhanger

Darker and Edgier vs. Lecherous Licking

Soulmates vs. Academic Alpha Bitch

Brother-Sister Incest vs. Humans are Special

Hiding Behind Religion vs. Found Family Breakup

[namjhyun]

DRAMA REVIEW | MOVING (2023)

In a time when we are suffering from an over-saturation of content and less than mediocre stories, particularly related to people with superpowers, South Korea has released MOVING and proved there's still hope for the genre.

Like its tittle the story is in constant move, not only pushing forward but going back to different timelines to give us context o our main characters and how the things happening in present time are a direct consequence to the past. Technically, MOVING is perfect. One of the strongest points is definitely the editing and this can be seen in the way the story jumps from one year to another but you never lose track of what's happening nor leaves you confused. There are gaps to fill but with other episodes that will give you answers. The score complements the actions and emotions of the characters to perfection.

The performances are top notch and it's not surprise considering this drama is stacked. If you have been watching korean dramas or films for a while, you will recognize even the most random character or one-episode-cameo it's performed by an award winning actor or actress. These people have a reputation for a reason and they deliver in every scene, with a look, a touch, a smile or a punch that will push you through a wall. For some characters in the drama literally speaking.

Zo In Sung hasn't starred in a drama since Dear My Friends (2016) and I am so glad this is his return to the tv format. In MOVING he delivered a nuance, charming and badass performance that in the hands of another would have fell flat. His character's entire existence it's what pushes most of the story forward: a person used as a weapon to kill but all he ever wanted was to live. The big mystery of the drama it's to find out what was his fate after he got separated from those he loves.

Ryoo Seung Ryong remains one of the most compelling actors of his generation, giving us the incredible story of a good man lost in life until he found his purpose and redemption. His storyline, full of gore and violence, was actually a tender love story about how far a man will go to protect his family. Marvelous.

Han Hyo Joo's character could have easily fallen into the Smurfette principle but no. She's an equal to the men who love her and those that want to kill her, with a very strong motivation to keep herself on the top of the game. This character's loneliness comes through every scene she's in, bottling everything up in order to be strong for her family but you can tell she's waiting for a chance to be free and, most importantly, for her son to be able to live freely.

Ko Yoon Jung, Lee Jeong Ha and Kim Do Hoon are really promising actors, particularly considering they hold their own while performance with so many household names. I think Kim Do Hoon and Kim Sun Kyun probably gave one of the most heartbreaking yet beautiful stories in the drama.

Like I mentioned before every single actor in this drama brought their A+ game face but I would be doing a disservice if I didn't mention Kim Hee Won, Cha Tae Hyun, Ryoo Seung Bum, Park Hee Soon, Yang Dong Geun, Jo Bok Rae, Park Kwang Jae, Kim Joong He and, of course, Kwak Sun Young. She in particular was SPECTACULAR.

None of these characters are one-dimensional, they are not defined by the label society wants to put on them. They are all joined together by the experiences, hardships, love, motivations and ambitions they share. At the end of the day, related or not by blood, they are a family. Even the so-called enemies.

MOVING it's absolutely worthy of the hype that surrounds it through all social media and news outlets putting in the category of one of 2023 best tv shows. I only regret I didn't have the time to watch it sooner so I could have add it to mine.

[cuchufletapl]

Some people discussing tropes in media need to get a better grip of the examples they're using, particularly when the tropes in question are bigoted in any way, because Jesus Christ does it detract from your point when it looks like you didn't even watch or read the thing.

I've just come across someone talking about scarce female representation and the Smurfette principle in kids' media, and the "cartoons from her childhood" that she cited having this problem included Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cardcaptor Sakura.

Like, the problem you're talking about is real but you've lost me with those choices.

[teruel-a-witch]

Sorry for hijacking your meta-writing abilities but I'm at work and I have just had an epiphany. You know what's really, insanely wild about the whole Cath/Billie/Steve problem? That when in 4x02 Steve rants that Cath will need a job, and Danny answers that they'll find her one, despite harping about Catherine’s unmatched abilities in recon and intel, Steve doesn't suggest, NOT EVEN AS A JOKE, no, it doesn't even cross his mind, that they could offer her a job in Five-0. Steve could do it. Later he will. BUT. NOT. HERE. AND. NOW. See, it would've solved any issue: give Cath a job exactly tailored onto her, keep her close to Steve, reinforce their bond. But neither Steve, nor Danny, even suggest it. Or think about it. It's like....dunno, it's like they don't want to break the perfect bubble of intimacy and closeness they've built for themselves. Like Cath would play among them the same role Billie plays between Steve and her. Or maybe I'm seein things.

You are not hijacking anything like I'm ever gonna pass up an opportunity to ramble (especially about my current obsession aka McDanno). You are not seeing things, unless you mean seeing what's actually shown on screen ;).

First, I'm gonna speculate on the reasons the writers wrote it this way and then I'll put my shipping goggles on.

As soon as they made Cath a regular on the show, I thought it's just a matter of time before she would have to join 5-0 just because, well, it's what the show is about.

BUT there were two problems with that, one - they didn't want to make it look like she only got the job because she's Steve's sometimes maybe girlfriend (even tho lbr that is why, not that she's not qualified, of course she is, but she was only considered for the job because of her connection to the boss, that is the definition of nepotism, not to mention they wanted to avoid the implication that she...uh...slept her way to the top) so they had to make it look like she had her own thing and they tried everything before just sticking her on the team.

The second problem, I imagine, is they didn't want to make it look like they immediately replaced Kono with Cath (while Grace was on her maternity leave which was a valid reason for her to be absent the optics are just not great especially after they already sidelined Kono for Lori in S2, since the show was allergic to having more than one woman on the team (had to adhere to the Smurfette Principle I guess).

The Powers That Be and the marketing doesn't care about the show *being* progressive it cares about *appearing* progressive which is why they had to cover their bases, so to speak. They had to go 'See? We have tried everything. We gave her her own job, that didn't work out, and now they are one team member short so it makes sense for her to be there since she is more than qualified, not because she's dating the boss, she's her own woman, hashtag feminism'.

So that's my conjecture/speculation for why it was written like that OUT OF universe.

Now *puts her shipping goggles on* since we don't have to consider the external reasons and only work with what we get on screen, you are absolutely right, it's veeeery curious how neither Steve nor Danny actually want Cath there, because 5-0 is ohana and no matter how much TPTB tried to force it she was never truly part of it.

But more than that, their job is their partnership, it's a Steve-and-Danny thing, of course they didn't want a third wheel to invade their own private little world.

It's absolutely in the same vein with Steve inviting Danny to go fishing to his father's secret spot and refusing to disclose to Cath where he is going. (He needs his very special male bonding time away from wymyn ;))

Steve NEEDS a place where he can escape to from the tiring burden of heteronormativity, Danny doesn't have to see his 'girlfriends' at work every day, this is the time where he can spend as much time as he wants with Steve without anyone invading that, of course they don't want Steve's 'girlfriend' to be there every day taking a giant bite out of their quality time cake.

Cath being there means they both have to be on™ all the time, the performance never stops and they can't relax and be themselves and it's exhausting. Steve prefers to compartmentalize and he was perfectly happy to keep Cath and 5-0 separate.

Not to mention he was perfectly okay with the little amount of time he usually spent with her (tells us everything we need to know, doesn't it, especially compared how him and Danny live in each other's pockets) and if she worked with them it would be like being forced to eat tasteless bran every day instead of only occasionally just to tick a box.

Lastly, I would argue that unlike with Billie, there IS actually a triangle of sorts with Cath - Steve - Danny (Billie - Cath - Steve isn't a real triangle because Steve is clearly not interested in competing with Billie).

Danny definitely doesn't enjoy Cath encroaching on his quality time with Steve, and he *cannot* watch any form of PDA between the two, as evidenced by him literally turning away and/or making a joke every time he has to witness the forced display. Her working with them would mean he would have to suffer through even more of that so of course it wouldn't be his suggestion. Danny may feel like 'the other woman' sometimes but in reality Cath simply couldn't compete with him, if Steve knew he returned his feelings he would have dropped Cath like a hot potato. It's not a real love triangle when the sides are extremely uneven and the choice is obvious.

TL;Dr: you are not so much seeing as perceiving correctly.

[mcnjushcge]

Obv since yao is a man the smurfette principle does not apply to his situation but in my heart I know it feels that way for him

[deadlockorignalfilms]

Homestuck definitely has some dated elements in terms of its edgy humor but one thing it's shockingly Progressive on is its gender representation, even up to act five where I'm at

If you go back and watch a lot of similar comedy/gamer/nerdy art pre 2014 you'll find alot of it operates under the assumptions that:

"Female characters aren't funny"

"Women don't like video games or nerd stuff"

"Female characters should mostly be love interests or relatives"

"And if there is a nerd girl, it should be like a hot nerd girl that all the guys want"

But by the point where I'm at in the comic, half the cast is female, it avoids the Smurfette principle and passes the bechdel test with flying colors, and all the female characters have their own Niche nerd interests.

You'd be hard hard pressed to find other comedic action adventure franchises (not exclusively marketed to girls) from that time to that have really long scenes where women talk to each other about things other than the male protagonists

For comparison, Adult Swim shows have a lot of intersecting humor and Aesthetics with Homestuck, I'm sure there's a good amount of people that are into both homestuck and adult swim, but in the first 10 years of it's existence I can only think of three [AS] original shows that have more than one female character in the main cast, and they are almost always the straight men to their wacky male counterparts

It's also funny in comparison to mainstream gaming discourse during that stretch of time. during gamergate one of the more popular talking points is that "feminism in video games is pointless because girls don't even play video games". Like a lot of men just insisted that women don't like video games, and meanwhile here's Homestuck, a massive gamer webcomic with a very large female audience running concurrently to these guys saying this shit

I don't know, maybe this all is kind of stupid to say. but I'm just very very happy cuz I'm used to female characters in older nerdy comedy/adventure franchises not being allowed to really participate and getting very bored or frustrated because of that

It's also just a worth remarking upon because a lot of hussie's art is so edgy and contrarian, and it's interesting that they were years ahead of their contemporaries on this one aspect