“Strong” Female Characters Vs Real Female Characters

The Black Widow near the end of The Avengers

This is a rant about people who try to make strong female characters, and succeed, but make them so stereotypical that they might as well just be unique and squeal when there’s anything remotely dangerous. One of the characters that bothers me is Marvel’s the Black Widow. I do like the Avengers, but the Black Widow is exactly what I’m talking about. She always has perfect hair and makeup, even after she’s been fighting, and she walks around in a tight fitting catsuit that’s unzipped just a little too far, being a perfect Mary Sue character. It always seems like she can do anything. She’s always making witty statements as she dramatically knocks someone out. She’s a character who can actually do something, but she’s really good at pretty much everything. It seems like every female character has to either be wimpy, or has to be able to do everything. Having long hair gets in the way if it isn’t tied back, and if her outfit is designed to be multipurpose, then shouldn’t it have a few pockets? Also, in every movie that she’s in, her hair changes, and it just doesn’t seem realistic that she has time to either straighten or curl her hair everyday, and even if she did, her hair would get messed up at the end. If you’ve been fighting aliens for hours, you’re not going to be pretty, you’re just going to need a shower and a hospital. The Black Widow, however, still has great hair and makeup, with only a small cut on her lip and a bit of blood on her forehead, and just a little bit of dust. I wish that people would just get over the fact that people, especially women, need to look nice all of the time, or be laughed at. Sure, it would be nice if you could come back from a day of hard work, whether it’s defending earth from aliens, or something more ordinary, and look perfect, but that’s just not going to happen.

Another character that I don’t like is Melinda May from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Melinda May is almost an exact copy of the Black Widow, but with a different back story, a slightly changed personality, and not as well known. However, she still is highly skilled in martial arts, can still win any evenly matched battle, and always looks perfect. In my opinion, Melinda May is worse than the Black Widow, because at least the Black Widow doesn’t wear heels, and never tried to put stitches in her own shoulder because she was tough.

Merida with a realistically dirty and torn dress

What my point is, is that all female characters seem to all be idealized, and something that no one could ever live up to. Maybe, if you trained for years, you could be good at martial arts while wearing high heels, but your hair just isn’t going to look good if you’ve been in combat, unless you put so much hair spray in it that it can’t move, which means you can’t dramatically peer out through a curtain of hair. A character that I do like, however, is Merida from Brave. I know, big surprise. In case you haven’t guessed yet, we really like Disney princesses. Merida actually has a personality, is sometimes selfish, and doesn’t always win every battle. She also can do things, and won’t just wait for a handsome prince to solve all of her problems either, and she doesn’t look perfect after she falls off of her horse. Her hair does still look the same before and after, but since it’s so curly, it’s still realistic. I really like it when characters aren’t either perfect or weak, whether it’s in their personality, their looks, or both. People need to stop making everyone seem perfect, and start making them real. It would probably make many more people happy, which would be good for business, so logically it makes more sense to have more realistic characters.

--Luna Lovegood

Unhealthy Food Allergy Stereotypes

Sorry this is late, I had my first ever AP exam this week, which I think went pretty well.  Anyway, this past week was Food Allergy Awareness Week, so I thought I'd cover food allergy stereotypes in the media with this post.

As a teen with  life threatening food allergies, the stereotypes about food allergies in the media deeply bother me, and I am on the receiving end of the negative side effects these stereotypes and portrayals create.

Allergies are complicated. Some people have very mild food allergies, some have life threatening ones where symptoms include projectile vomiting and throat swelling, while most have allergies everywhere in between. Food allergies are autoimmune disorders where your body's white blood cells attack food proteins instead of germs. There are so many things that take years of living with food allergies to understand and everything varies greatly for each individual with allergies. It's very hard on the people who are trying to help you. The stereotypes in the media just make it worse. The media portrays allergies as a weakness, and annoying habit, something funny to laugh at "Oh look, you're swelling up like a balloon and your throats closing because you ate a walnut. How hilarious!". Do I laugh at you for having cancer or alzheimer's? Of course not! Allergies are not a joke. They are not a preference or someone "just being picky." They are a medical condition

Whenever I see allergies portrayed in movies, TV shows or other media, it's always a negative portrayal. I have only once seen an allergy just be part of a character and not have a big deal made out of it (in The Help). Mostly I see food allergies laughed at. In Meet the Robinsons they make fun of a man having an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts.  In Sleepless in Seattle, one of the characters had food allergies, but they're shown as a weakness and a reason to not like the character which is absurd.

A peanut allergy being made fun of in Meet the Robinsons

It's rare to see any mention of allergies at all, and when they are mentioned you can be assured they are cast in a negative light. They are simply not taken seriously. Food allergies are a real challenge, but they're not a weakness in your character or something humourous. Some people don't know anyone with food allergies and so their only exposure to the concept of allergies are these stereotypes. This makes them treat allergies like a joke, which in turn can harm those with allergies. When you have food allergies, you sometimes have to rely on other people and it's incredibly hard for the people to "get it". Stereotypes make it harder still.

It's very annoying when the media shows a reality that doesn't exist, like they do with food allergies. You'd figure someone making that movie or that TV show has an allergy or knows someone with one -- surely they will speak up, and say "hey, this isn't what a food allergies are like." But no, the stereotypes continue.

Many people have food allergies today and they are gradually becoming much more common. As they do, I hope the media will start to portray them realistically and stop treating them like a joke. Allergies are not a laughing matter, and it's high time for the media to stop laughing and treat allergies like the serious medical condition that they are.

If you want to learn more about food allergies check out http://www.foodallergy.org/ They have some great resources.
-- Captain Sarah Jane

Of Cardboard Boxes and Unhealthy Expectations from Society

Hey there you lovely people from potentially over eight different countries! (Yep, that's right, eight. One of which I didn't know existed until I noticed that someone from that country had viewed this blog.)

I'm gonna tackle a rather broad but also complex issue here, and one that I could write a book on- sexism, and, more specifically, the sexist standards that society and the media have set up for women. (This is a rather lengthy rant. You've been warned.)

There are so many stereotypes about women in the media, but what I want to get at isn't so much the specific stereotypes within media so much as the stereotype- society's expectations and everything that we're expected to be, and how those expectations are sustained by the media. We have to be pretty enough, smart enough. We have to be gentle or aggressive or sexy or quiet or whatever it is society wants us to be. The worst part is, if we have any two things we aspire to be that- gasp -don't both fit inside of one of society's pretty little cardboard boxes, then people will be poking us with their pencils and shouting us down until we conform into one single mold.

And that idea that everyone has to fit into one particular mold is only helped along by the media. I mean, come on, when have you ever seen a character in mainstream media who instantly reminds you of a real person you know? Almost never, because we feel the need to be the same as everyone else. TV shows and such don't write themselves- they're written by people, and that's why the majority of characters in the media are so extremely unrealistic. We're all so insecure because we feel this need to be squished into a box, so the people who write the media portray that in their writing.

When have you seen a celebrity who's simply comfortable with being who they are in front of the world and doesn't feel the need to change or enhance who they are with plastic surgery and fancy clothing and false personalities? Never, right? That's because all of this surgery and makeup and fakeness is brought upon us (sometimes by ourselves) to make us conform to one mold.

I think we can all agree that this is an issue for everyone, but especially so for women and girls. It makes me so mad when a little girl who's still trying to learn who she is gets pushed around and manipulated so she'll grow up to be exactly what society thinks a woman should be. If your daughter prefers "boyish" colors like blue and green, then the alarm bells go off. Smother her with purple and pink, otherwise she won't grow up to be like "other" women. Even if she does fit some of society's requirements for a woman, she has to stay exactly within that little pinprick-sized center of balance. She can't be glamorous and be into sports and enjoy being active. She can't be a good student and a social butterfly.

Y'know, it's kind of like when women were forced to wear corsets way back when. Someone developed this twisted mental image that all women had to look a certain way, and forced this device upon society that forced all women to conform, even though it was uncomfortable and literally oppressing. Not only is that an example to prove my point, but it also fits as a perfect analogy over the entire issue.

I guess I'll end this with a quote from one of my favorite actresses, Alice Eve from Star Trek: Into Darkness. Some idiot interviewer asked her a stupid question and she gave a great answer.

So yeah, this is exactly what I've been trying to get to through this entire rant. There's a certain list of requirements that we have to stick to. Because we're women, we get judged if we do anything that doesn't live up to society's expectations of what a woman should be.

Anyway, it's a complex issue and I don't know how to resolve it for you guys or myself. I was fortunate enough to be raised by parents who taught me that I can be anything that I want to be, regardless of my gender, but I know that wasn't and isn't the case for so many. Basically, I just think that no one should be told what they can't or should do just because of something they were born with. I think it's fair to judge everyone based on their merit as a person and not by their gender, or to dig deeper, their race or their culture or their financial class. I think everyone should be allowed to pursue their passions and be what they want to, regardless of any physical aspects or things they can't help otherwise.

I know this isn't so much an issue in the media as it is an issue in the whole world, but it's definitely one that is displayed in and is made worse by the media.

Hope you liked this little rant, and I hope I've inspired you a bit with my own opinions.
~Oswin

Wake Up Call

Rose Tyler in "Rose"

Hey guys! This is my first post and, as my AP exams are fast approaching, I will devote this post to sleep - and more importantly, though certainly less pleasant - waking up.

Now, I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices this, but whenever I see a TV show or a movie, when a character wakes up they're a little ball of radiant sunshine with perfect makeup and hair. Occasionally, I'll see a character wake up like an actual human, like in Frozen and in season one of Doctor Who, but much more often I see characters waking up unrealistically. Don't get me wrong, I understand most TV shows and movies are supposed to be fiction. Still, sometimes it's nice to see some reality in the characters.

All of these images in the media suggest that girls should be wearing makeup to bed and that it's normal to look perfect waking up. But let's be honest, if you wore makeup to bed you'd get it all over your pillow! Girls don't have to look good every single moment of the day, and I wish the media would realize this. Viewers don't mind seeing real humans occasionally! It helps audiences to identify with the character. Anyway, no one's going to be watching you while you sleep(at least I hope so), and if there was someone you should call the police and have them drag the creeper off to jail(ahem, Bella).

Anna from Frozen looking like an actual human
waking up in the morning

So, I guess what I'm trying to get at is that characters don't have to be perfect. No one's perfect and that's okay. Imperfections in a character just make that character seem more real.  But the media often is telling us that it's not okay to be imperfect, not okay to look and act the way we are. This is a harmful message. And though, most people probably don't feel insecure about the way they wake up, these images do make us feel insecure about our imperfections, and that is not okay.

-- Captain Sarah Jane