I'm usually not this kind of feminist, but I just had to ask my kids today why Princess Peach is always getting kidnapped in all the Mario Brothers games. While I don't mind men learning to defend and protect women (since that is part of their duty in the family), shouldn't she learn how to defend herself?
No, the kids said. That's not what princesses do. (And that from Anda!). And besides, then there would be no plot left to any of the Mario games.
Well, I said, Princesses SHOULD learn how to defend themselves. It would be wise.
Then I had to know: are there any powerful women in the Mario games?
Sure, they said. The final boss. The worst of the worst bad guys who masterminded the whole plot is a woman.
Really?
So good girls are helpless, but bad girls are the most powerful of all--even more than the men?
Not sure I like that plan.....
But I see it everywhere in the media--even (perhaps especially) in things produced with a feminist sensibility in mind. (Like "Grease". I HATE "Grease" because of how they treat women in that show.)
I just don't understand why good girls can never be portrayed as powerful without also portraying them as masculine or wicked. The most common theme I see for women is that their power comes from rejecting their femininity or embracing pure sexualization (either one), and from choosing wrong. It's like Freud has taken control of all things feminine!
What are we teaching the women nowaday? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
2 comments:
Which Mario game is THAT? I've been a Nintendo nerd forever and can't remember a female final boss in any of them. (Then again, all the Mario games are so similar that they do become something of a blur.)
It's Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It's about Mario trying to stop the evil X-Nauts from resurrecting an evil-er demon, the Shadow Queen. (Bowser also tries to kidnap Peach, but for his usual reasons.)
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