I’LL MAKE A MAN OUT OF YOU1 ”: STRONG WOMEN IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY TELEVISION
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I’LL MAKE A MAN OUT OF YOU1 ”: STRONG WOMEN IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY TELEVISION
I’LL MAKE A MAN OUT OF YOU1 ”: STRONG WOMEN IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY TELEVISION
“I’LL MAKE A MAN OUT OF YOU1”: STRONG WOMEN IN SCIENCE
FICTION AND FANTASY TELEVISION
ANITA SARKEESIAN
Supervisor: Jennifer Jenson
Supervisor’s Signature:
A Research Paper submitted to the Graduate Program in
Social and Political Thought in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Social and Political Thought
Graduate Program in Social and Political Thought
York University
Toronto, Ontario
June 2010
1
The title is from a song in Disney’s Mulan, a film about a young woman who pretends to be a man in
order to fight during a war.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” ii
Abstract
Heroic women in science fiction and fantasy television shows have done much
to represent strong, successful women in leadership positions. However, these female
roles that are viewed as strong and empowered embody many masculine identified
traits, maintaining a patriarchal division of gender roles. This paper analyzes strong
female characters within nine television shows by deconstructing their stereotypically
“masculine” and “feminine” gender specific attributes and cross referencing how they
play within and against traditional archetypes.
Employing texts from cultural criticism and feminist theory, I explore how
representations of groups in popular culture and mass media messaging uphold
structures of power by giving higher value to masculine attributes as observed in
patriarchal discourse. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of why it is
critical to foster television media that supports feminist ideals and breaks out of
traditional oppressive gender binaries in order to promote, encourage and envision a
just future society.
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Acknowledgements
This project began as I was watching TV and found myself identifying with
and rooting for the strong female heroes. As I looked critically at their roles, I noticed
that many of them were replicating the traditional male hero archetype and
‘masculine’ defined values. I wanted to explore what this meant for women’s
representation and the impact it has on the existing patriarchal division of gender
roles.
I would like to thank my supervisor Jennifer Jenson for her wisdom and
enthusiasm. Her support and confidence in my work and in my graduate career was
invaluable. I would also like to thank Celia Haig Brown for her willingness to serve
as my second reader, which has made this effort possible.
Without the support of Julia D'Agostino and Nis Bojin, I would not have been
able to complete this project. And finally I would like to thank Jonathan McIntosh for
spending countless hours watching and critically analyzing television shows with me.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” iv
Table of Contents
Abstract..........................................................................................................................ii
Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................iii
Table of Contents..........................................................................................................iv
List of Tables ................................................................................................................vi
List of Figures...............................................................................................................vi
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 7
Feminist Theory and Visual Culture.............................................................................. 9
Feminist Theories on Patriarchy.................................................................................. 13
Female Representation in Television and Film ........................................................... 16
Testing Against Archetypes......................................................................................... 20
Warrior Archetype ............................................................................................................... 23
Sarah Connor, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ............................................. 24
Zoe Washburne, Firefly................................................................................................... 26
Aeryn Sun, Farscape........................................................................................................ 27
Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer .................................................................... 28
Echo, Dollhouse .............................................................................................................. 30
Leader Archetype................................................................................................................. 32
Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager ............................................................................ 33
Laura Roslin, Battlestar Galactica ................................................................................... 35
Anti-Hero Archetype ........................................................................................................... 36
Kara Thrace, Battlestar Galactica.................................................................................... 37
Faith, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ..................................................................................... 39
Ana Lucia, Lost ............................................................................................................... 40
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” v
Villain Archetype................................................................................................................. 41
Jasmine, Angel ................................................................................................................ 42
Helena Cain, Battlestar Galactica.................................................................................... 43
Discussion: The Dis/Empowerment of Strong Female Characters ............................. 44
Networks and Advertising ........................................................................................... 47
Conclusion: Making Sense of the Role of Women in SF/F Television Shows ........... 50
Appendix: Female Characters in Eleven SF/F Television Shows ............................... 56
Television Episode List ............................................................................................... 69
References.................................................................................................................... 72
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” vi
List of Tables
Table 1: Gender Specific Values ................................................................................. 22
Table 2: Gendered Traits Currently Valued on Television ......................................... 46
Table 3: Values for a More Feminist Television Landscape....................................... 47
List of Figures
Figure 1: Warrior Characters ....................................................................................... 24
Figure 2: Dollhouse Advertising and Promotion......................................................... 32
Figure 3: Leader Characters......................................................................................... 33
Figure 4: Anti-Hero Characters ................................................................................... 37
Figure 5: Villain Characters......................................................................................... 41
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 7
Introduction
Popular stories rely on archetypes to draw viewers in, to create something
recognizable, and often quickly ‘readable’. Most science fiction television
programming is heavily based in action; nearly every week there is an evil villain to
combat, and the shows that aren’t action-based seem to always include physical
brawls. The women that are identified as strong and tough, nearly always possess
physical strength, rarely ask for help, and hardly ever show emotion unless forced.
Strength remains a central attribute to female characters, and is seemingly highly
valued both by society and within fandoms. For example, fans rave about how Buffy
Summers is the strongest woman in Sunnydale, how Farscape’s Aeryn Sun will go in
guns a-blazing without ever batting an eye, and how Battlestar Galactica’s Starbuck
is being a smart ass even when she doesn’t know if she’s going to win the fight.
These characters triumph on-screen, but is their physical prowess the only
determinant of strength? While there are instances of female ‘braniacs' and scientists,
and of sensitive women who help devise plans, or are good wives, daughters, mothers
or teachers, these traits are often reserved for supporting characters, not starring roles.
The strength in these women is displayed through loyalty and courage, but the hope
they provide is nearly always trumped by those who can throw a serious punch.
Heroic women in science fiction and fantasy television shows have done much to
demonstrate women’s capabilities to play strong, successful leading characters. In
fact, as Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) demonstrated back in 1979, strong and brave
female leads are very much archetypal characters that North American (and other)
audiences connect to (Gallardo & Smith, 2004).
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For the past few years I’ve been actively seeking out television shows with
strong female leads, with female representations that I could bear to watch and I did
find some shows with wonderful, complex and rich characters. I especially gravitated
towards science fiction and fantasy programs because as I was attempting to imagine
a future economic and social system that is rooted in social justice values, I
anticipated that science fiction was a place that would portray futuristic societies with
different values. Unfortunately, I did not find much of this: many futuristic shows
still identify with the same value systems that western countries have today such as
individualism, hierarchal institutional and political structures, meritocracy, and most
often still exist in a capitalist economic system. I also began to notice that I identified
with and enjoyed watching the women who I was viewing. They have many
commonalities: they were strong, in charge, capable, confident and intelligent. As
much as I admired many of these traits I realized that if these characters had been
men, I would have been bored and would feel like the story was the same old heroic
masculine tale. Even today it is still exciting to see strong women taking control and
kicking butt, but that role isn’t really very different from their male counterparts.
Strong women are indeed sexualized and “feminized” in sometimes degrading ways,
but generally the aspects that are viewed as positive such as leadership, courage, and
independence are deeply identified as masculine. 2
2
Why are women still poorly and underrepresented in fictional media? And is it even reasonable to
ask this considering how women are represented in the real world: epidemic levels of sexual abuse,
child abuse, under pay, feminization of poverty even the legitimate fear that women might have their
reproductive rights taken away? Of course the media is not solely responsible for these things but the
cumulative and long term affects of women’s poor representation does play a role and could be used as
a force for positive change in women’s lives. In 2009, I was at a science fiction convention listening to
Kate Mulgrew speak about playing Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager. This show has
long since ended but fans, especially Star Trek fans still admire and feel deeply connected to these
characters. In the audience there was a woman who told her story of entering the field of science and
literally becoming a rocket scientist because of seeing Janeway’s character on Star Trek. This might
seem silly to some people but Mulgrew corroborated that she had heard this same story many times.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 9
Female roles in science fiction and fantasy television that are viewed as strong
and empowered embody many masculine identified traits, maintaining a patriarchal
division of gender roles. For example, values adopted by female characters in the
television shows I will examine in this major research paper maintain that
traditionally masculine attributes such as rationality, cool-headedness and physical
strength are superior and preferred over traditionally feminine attributes such as
cooperative decision making, and being emotionally expressive and empathetic. For
the purposes of this paper, I will examine female characters in nine popular television
shows and compare them with traditional masculine and feminine value systems.
Feminist Theory and Visual Culture
There has been much written on women in science fiction/fantasy television
and films. Ripley from Alien was a representation of a strong woman that got much
attention in the academic world as she was considered the first instance of a female
action hero in a mainstream movie. A second prominent lead female role went to
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in Terminator who played the hero in two
blockbuster movies. Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) of the television show
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS) has her own field of study and an academic journal.
Xena (Lucy Lawless) was celebrated as a feminist and queer3 icon. But newer shows
like Battlestar Galactica (BSG), the Terminator television series Terminator: The
Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC), and Lost haven’t received as much attention.
There are certainly articles published about particular characters but there aren’t as
many full texts or anthologies that directly address women in science fiction as a
3
I am using the term “queer” as opposed to gay and lesbian to signal gender/sexuality that is not
heterosexual including gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, and intersex.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 10
whole. I will attempt to continue the conversation about women’s representations in
speculative fiction television and expose the ways in which our society is influenced
by how female characters are written, cast and developed.
Representations of gender on television are still clearly binary with very little
blurring. This is disappointing considering that for over a century-and-a-half feminist
theorists have highlighted how what we now call ‘gender’ is not biologically
determined but rather socially constructed as Patricia Hill Collins points out in Black
Feminist Thought, and Sojourner Truth raised this issue in her famous 1851 “Ain’t I a
Woman” speech (200, 14-15). In Anne Fausto-Sterling’s (2000) Sexing the Body:
Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality she discusses the difference
between sex and gender:
Feminists argued that although men’s and women’s bodies serve different
reproductive functions, few other sex differences come with the territory,
unchangeable by life’s vicissitudes. If girls couldn’t learn math as easily as
boys, the problem wasn’t built into their brains. The difficulty resulted from
gender norms—different expectations and opportunities for boys and girls.
(Fausto-Sterling, 2000, p. 4)
Gender theorists have continued to argue for disrupting the traditional gender
binary theories, putting into flux essentialist understandings of masculine and
feminine. bell hooks (2000) observes however that even efforts to dismantle gender
roles have not overturned the way patriarchy instills a system of social values, and
women are still socialized into a particular power structure:
Women, though assigned different roles to play in society based on sex, are
not taught a different value system. It is women's overall acceptance of the
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 11
value system of the culture that leads her to passively absorb sexism and
willingly assume a pre-determined sex role. Although women do not have the
power ruling groups of men often exert, they do not conceptualize power
differently. (hooks, 2000, p. 87)
I borrow from hooks’ elucidation of gendered value systems to observe how even if
gender roles are swapped (e.g. women adopting typically masculine heroic roles)
women’s representations on television still uphold patriarchal values. hooks’ theory
is further illuminated by Laura Mulvey’s work on the “male gaze” (which has played
an important role in feminist film theory). Mulvey (1973) explains:
In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split
between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects
its phantasy on to the female form which is styled accordingly. In their
traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and
displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so
that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. (Mulvey, 1973)
This text was written in 1973 and still has relevance when analyzing films and
television today. Some contemporary female characters are more than simply
passive, but even in their active roles they are still created and cast for “erotic impact”
and “to-be-looked-at-ness”. Even when representations of strong women use
traditionally masculine archetypes as sources of strength, they are still subject to the
male gaze and usually the heterosexual male fantasy. The relevance of the male gaze
on strong female characters is pronounced in action films such as Charlie’s Angels or
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider where the protagonist’s ultimate role is to have “erotic
impact” and be hypersexualized as opposed to carrying on a genuinely interesting
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 12
storyline. Alien’s Ellen Ripley and Terminator’s Sarah Connor are two of the most
notable strong female action heroes who attempt to subvert the traditional male gaze
by becoming the traditionally male hero, but as Diana Dominguez (2005) observes
they, “…eventually repudiate the feminine, becoming, in effect, sexless and less
‘human’ mirrors of male action heroes” (Dominguez, 2005, para. 6) instead of fully
complex female action heroes.
In “Gender and the Action Heroine: Hardbodies and the Point of No Return,”
Jeffrey Brown (1996) argues, “The development of the hardbody, hardware, hard-as-
nails heroine who can take it, and give it, with the biggest and the baddest men of the
action cinema indicates a growing acceptance of nontraditional roles for women and
an awareness of the arbitrariness of gender traits” (Brown, 1996, p. 52). While these
female action hero roles are welcoming over the ‘damsel in distress’, placing women
in traditionally masculine roles without disrupting the male value systems associated
with them maintains male dominance. Female action heroes, although not helpless,
are still subject to the male gaze in a way that male heroes are not. Placing women in
these non-traditional roles makes it more acceptable for women to emulate masculine
power dynamics, not necessarily a positive step towards solid, complex and positive
representations of women. Lara Croft, for example, is the star of a video game and
movie series who emulates masculine behaviours through violent conflict resolution
and a tough emotional exterior. So while there are now female heroes that fit within
patriarchal norms and adopt masculine traits, it is still not acceptable to have a
situation wherein feminine qualities can be transformed as heroic characteristics.
Many female television viewers long to see more strong women in our media
landscape and cling to the few representations provided even if they subscribe to a
patriarchal model. For example, Ariel Levy’s introduction to Female Chauvinist Pigs
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(FCP) (2005) provides a landscape of some of the backlash the feminist movement
has received. She finds that FCP are those women who “get it” and who can be just
as raunchy as “one of the guys.” They can objectify women at strip clubs while
simultaneously creating a sexualized cartoon like persona of themselves. Levy argues
that these women behave like their counterparts, the “Male Chauvinist Pig” because
doing so provides them with a sense of power, albeit a pseudo sense of power that is
rooted in exploiting their own as well as other women’s sexuality (Levy, 2005). Not
all the examples in this paper are of “female chauvinist pigs,” however the underlying
premise of Levy’s theory is that women replicate masculine behaviour in order to
attain power. Strong women on television are acceptable to networks, advertisers and
audience members because they subscribe very closely to traditional power dynamics.
Usually strong female characters can be put into something leather, revealing, or
otherwise “girlie” which grounds their identity as essentially feminine and thus makes
it acceptable for them to exude a masculine attitude without challenging their
sexuality.
Feminist Theories on Patriarchy
Most feminist critique isn’t merely about “women’s issues” but it is largely
concerned with social justice generally. As bell hooks (2000) calls it “white
supremacist capitalist patriarchy” along with sexuality and ability can all intersect
with one another to create complex sites of both privilege and oppression
simultaneously. Allan G. Johnson’s (2005) systemic model of understanding privilege
and oppression is a useful tool to investigate how these representations are at work in
a fantasy world such as scripted television and also how they reinforce patriarchal
values.
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Johnson (2005) defines patriarchy as a society that “promotes male privilege
by being male dominated, male identified, and male centered. It is also organized
around an obsession with control and involves as one of its key aspects the oppression
of women” (Johnson, 2005, p. 5). When these four tenets work simultaneously, they
reinforce patriarchy and the effects are widespread and reoccurring. This is often
observed in news media, where there is a lack of coverage of specifically women’s
issues such as reproductive rights or sexual harassment and assault. Even women
who do attain positions of power such as politicians are subject to overt sexualization
in a way that their male counterparts typically are not4 (Wakeman, 2008). Women are
statistically underrepresented as guests on news debate shows (“Who Makes the
News”, 2010), and anecdotal evidence suggests that when they do rarely appear, they
are interrupted more often and given less time to speak. Jennifer L. Pozner, founder
and executive director of Women In Media & News (a media analysis, education and
advocacy group), has experienced this treatment firsthand and found that the majority
of her experience appearing on popular news networks such as Fox News, MSNBC
and CNN, she has been the only women on a panel of all men. And while she is often
introduced last and given less time to speak she is, “…typically interrupted with more
frequency than the male guests, sometimes within mere seconds of answering [her]
first question," (personal communication, May 14, 2010).
In entertainment media, men are the heroes and stars, the stories are about
them and their lives. Women, people of colour, queer folks, and those with
disabilities are relegated to the love interest, the sidekick, or just background. As
4
See the “Hilary Clinton Nutcracker” (http://gizmodo.com/302358/hillary-clinton-nutcracker-teaches-
those-republican-nuts-a-lesson) or “Not Sarah Palin blow up doll”
(http://www.topcosales.us/press.asp?CatID=0&PRID=292) or “Sarah Palin Action Figure” with
Catholic School Girl outfit (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/09/sarah-palin-action-
figure_n_125071.html)
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Johnson (2006) observes, men and men’s stories are valued in our society and this is
apparent in the films that win best picture at the academy awards from 1965-2003.
The strong majority of them are about white men, only four are female centered and
the few films about people of colour always has a white man sharing equal
importance. He states:
The closest that people of color get to powerful roles is as sidekicks to
powerful whites in "buddy" movies… And in a heterosexist culture, a
powerful gay man is a contradiction in terms, and powerful lesbians are often
dismissed as not being real women at all. (Johnson, 2006, p. 95)
Although Johnson notes that there are examples such The Color Purple and The
Manchurian Candidate, that these are exceptions that occur rarely.
Patriarchy coupled with race and class is used as a lens through which
institutional oppression can be understood. Institutional oppression is the way in
which people are subjected to widespread and systemic oppression as opposed to an
individual model that places blame on singular selves. Television reflects these
structural phenomena through its representations, or lack thereof, of social groups. For
instance, people of colour and queer people have a far higher chance of being killed
than their white counterparts (see appendix). It is not just coincidence that writers
and/or directors decide to kill off the oppressed characters, it is the exception that they
survive, and are considered good and noble. Additionally people of colour and queer
people are hardly ever chosen to star in heroic roles.
A recent study done by the UK based Research Communication Group (2010)
found that men still outnumber women by a two-to-one ratio in television roles,
despite the fact that population statistics show women in the majority (Thorpe, 2010).
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Even though this study only focused on one category of oppression—namely male
privilege—without looking at the intersections of privilege, it proves that women as a
group are still actively underrepresented in visual culture.
A key aspect of patriarchy is maintaining the illusion that men and women fit
within predetermined gender norms and that these norms are biological and fixed
(Johnson, 2005). Stereotypical gender-specific attributes are often identified in
opposition to one another with the “masculine” traits valued over “feminine” traits.
For example, masculine identified traits such as being strong and in control are valued
and feminine identified traits such as being weak and out of control are devalued.
These essentialist gender stereotypes of men and women have been discredited by
gender theorists but are still maintained in mainstream television. Even though men
and women in reality are far more complex than a list of traits, television show writers
and viewers still celebrate “masculine” values as positive and tend to be dismissive of
those deemed to be “feminine.” For the sake of clarity, I will identify these categories
as “masculine” and “feminine” although I do not believe these are essentialist or
biologically determined. However, much of western society and specifically our
media place men and women into these categories. Regardless of how much they are
disrupted it is generally believed that men and women encompass particular
personality traits the other gender does not.
Female Representation in Television and Film
Although in the real world men and women are more complex then a simple
binary of gendered traits, television characters tend to be more static and traditional.
The male dominated television industry introduced (pseudo) tough female characters
because it opened up another profitable market of potential consumers. To maintain
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ad revenue, they created the “empowered woman” that would appeal to women
desiring female characters beyond housewives and maids and also to male viewers by
putting the characters in sexy outfits and giving them fancy weapons. Women would
be happy to see a butt-kicking badass on TV each week and men could ogle the “hot
chick” in skimpy clothes. Although, superficially there may be some subversiveness
to the gender reversal, the basic patriarchal value system remains unquestioned
through most of this television programming.
For instance, in a recent study Jennifer Kesler (2008) exposed how film school
actually teaches students that audiences want “white, straight, male leads” (Kesler,
2008) and other characters including women and people of colour could be included
but could not be the hero. She was informed by her professor that “The audience
doesn’t want to listen to a bunch of women talking about whatever it is women talk
about,” (Kesler, 2008). This reveals that women (and allied men) cannot create the
empowered and complex characters that many fans want to see even if they do break
through the glass ceiling.
A recent study done by Neely Swanson (2010) investigated the number of
women writers in the 2010 pilot pickup season. She observed:
…a high of 20% involvement by women when writing alone and/or with men;
and just 11% when written by women without male participation. A closer
look at the all the names will reveal one writer of Hispanic origin, three Asian-
Americans and an entire absence of African American writers. (Swanson,
2010)
Swanson questions the lack of outcry and claims, “This isn’t a glass ceiling, it’s a
White Boys’ Club brick wall” (Swanson, 2010).
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 18
Even with all the impediments of women in the television industry, tough
women are becoming more common in the pop culture landscape, taking on the action
hero roles as Sherrie A. Inness (1999) in Tough Girls: Women, Warriors and Wonder
Women in Popular Culture points out. However, she observes that the role reversal
remains too shocking, that tough female characters possess attributes that remind the
viewer that these tough women are still women after all. Inness argues that tough
women who become the heroes are often still represented at some point in the
narrative as feminine, whether it’s through hair and clothing, or displays of nudity or
motherhood. Although she does not argue that fully “masculine” women are the
solution to the lack of strong women, she does identify these “feminine” markers as
problematic. Buffy Summers, for example, is a typical high school student with
blonde hair, “girly” clothing, and boyfriend problems yet she is the hero, endowed
with super strength. She is an example of the complexity and fluidity of gender traits
that is often missing from strong women.
When Inness wrote Tough Girls in 1999 she declared Xena to be “a tough girl
for a new century,” and without argument Xena is an iconic figure when discussing
heroes and women. However, Inness was quick to herald her as a celebratory female
icon. Television has seen many strong women since Xena aired in 1995, but has the
representation of these characters changed or improved? Strong, tough female
characters have become more serious, more common and more accepted, but still
possess many of the same qualities Inness outlined. Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica,
for instance, is a fully realized strong, complex character on a dramatic series as
opposed to Xena who is placed in a historical context filled with campy dialogue
reminding the viewer that she isn’t real. Both characters still perform “masculine”
acts in terms of conflict resolution and general interpersonal relations. Both Starbuck
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and Xena solve most of their problems using violence: Xena’s character is structured
around being one of the strongest warriors of her time and Starbuck is a military pilot
who is tougher than most of the men on the crew, using intimidation and threat of
physical harm to her advantage. They also both have difficulty expressing emotion
and have very limited interpersonal relationships.
A good example of how the masculine warrior trope might be enacted
differently is Buffy’s character, which Sara Buttsworth (2002) discusses in “‘Bite
Me’: Buffy and the penetration of the gendered warrior-hero”. Buttsworth states that,
“If warrior identity is simultaneously a quintessentially masculine identifier, and one
of the core expressions of ‘innate’ masculinity, then the biggest transgression of
warrior iconography posed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer is Buffy’s gender”
(Buttsworth, 2002, p. 185). Buttsworth discusses how Buffy blurs gendered
boundaries, providing a space to discuss what is possible with female identity in the
real world. Because, “soldier identities are ‘embodied’ by, and embody, heterosexual
masculinity—an embodiment whose integrity depends upon the externalization of the
feminine” (Theweleit, 1987, as cited in Buttsworth, 2002, p. 8) it is subversive to
place a physically feminine character such as Buffy into a warrior archetype. Buffy
embodies heterosexual masculinity in order to be deemed a warrior and the taken-for-
granted masculinity inherent in this role is played with and even pitted against
traditional military structure during the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
This portrayal of female characters is also evident in children’s cartoons. For
example, Baker and Raney found that although female superheroes were portrayed in
less stereotypical “feminine” ways in some cartoons, they have adopted still more
“masculine” traits in others. The authors were testing male and female representations
against previous studies conducted over the past forty years that found female
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 20
cartoons were portrayed in stereotypically “feminine” ways. In “Equally Super?:
Gender-Role Stereotyping of Superheroes in Children’s Animated Programs,” Baker
and Raney (2007) further observed “[that] females must compensate for being
portrayed as strong and powerful by emphasizing other traditional feminine traits
unassociated with power is not exclusive to children’s animated programming” (p.
37). These findings have also been proven by Inness in representations of tough
women in film and television.
Testing Against Archetypes
I began this research project because I noticed a scarcity of queer characters,
representations of disability, and women of colour in television, and when they did
appear they were more often villainized, demonized and killed than their white,
straight, female counterparts. Wanting to find evidence for my observations, I
watched and thematically categorized the female characters in eleven prominent
science fiction/fantasy television shows (see appendix A). First, I began by finding
all the female characters who appeared on the show in three or more episodes, tracked
their intersections of privilege, identified whether they were evil (and if so, whether
they were eventually redeemed) and if, when and how they died. My results (see
appendix) corroborated my casual observations, that when women of colour and queer
women are represented in television they die more often than white women. This lead
me to wonder, how far have women’s representations really come?
While deeply immersed in this categorization process, I noticed recurring
tropes in these female characters that are both degrading and troubling. In many
cases, women are often violated, have their bodies taken over by an alien life form or
are forcibly impregnated. They are infantilized and/or made to be a ‘damsel in
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 21
distress’. They are ‘women in refrigerators’5--characters who die a brutal death only
for the purpose of promoting revenge by the typically male hero. I began to be
curious to understand what specific qualities in female characters fans are drawn to,
and support (Jenkins, 2006). Most often the female characters that are celebrated as
empowered are physically strong, embodying the typically male hero archetype.
The sample for this study was taken from widely popular and cult classic
speculative fiction shows from the 1990s and 2000s. The characters chosen for
analysis were either stars of the show or have a significant and memorable role for at
least four episodes. All of the shows that I will discuss here aired for at least fourteen
episodes. Since most of the starring roles were white heterosexual women, the
representation of queer or women of colour played an important role in the analysis of
those few characters. The shows and characters researched were: The Sarah Connor
Chronicles: Sarah Connor, Firefly: Zoe Washburne, Farscape: Aeryn Sun, Xhalax
Sun, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy Summers, Faith, Dollhouse: Echo, Star Trek
Voyager: Captain Kathryn Janeway, Battlestar Galactica (2004): President Laura
Roslin, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, Admiral Helena Cain, Lost: Ana Lucia Cortez,
Angel: Jasmine.
The unit of analysis for this comparison was an individual female character on
a speculative fiction television show that is commonly considered “strong” to a North
American audience. A strong woman usually embodies certain traits (see Inness,
1999) but does not need to encompass all of them. For example, the strong female
character would have an aesthetically strong appearance through demonstrable
5
“Women in Refrigerators” is a term coined by Gail Simone (1999) when she noticed that many
female super heroes in comic books, “…are either depowered, raped, or cut up and stuck in the
refrigerator” (Simone, 1999). The term originated from the comic Green Lantern #54 where the hero’s
girlfriend was murdered and shoved in a refrigerator. It was used as a plot device to motivate the male
super hero to seek revenge. The term has also been applied to film and television.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 22
muscles, be physically fit, and have a particular physical style that may include a
leather warrior outfit or a military uniform. Strong characters demonstrate leadership
or a dominant, independent attitude.
The strong female characters I focused on were compared against a list of
stereotypically “masculine” and “feminine” gender specific attributes. I adapted
stereotypical gendered traits from previous studies to create a chart (see Table 1) as
have been identified in feminist texts and previous studies of gender representation on
television (Baker & Raney, 2007 & Johnson, 2005).
Masculine Feminine
Physically and more likely to
Rational Intuitive
verbally aggressive show affection
more likely to
Emotionally more frequently Emotionally
emphasize
Inexpressive rewarded Expressive
relationships
showed more
Strong Weak more helpless
ingenuity
more likely to ask
asked and answered
Cool Headed Hysterical for advice or
more questions
protection
In Control of emphasized more
Lack Self Control Passive
Themselves tasks
selfless in
Independent Violent Dependent situations of
forced submission
threatened others Materialistic/prone
Active Passive
more frequently to attachment
keen minds and
Objective problem-solving Erratic Unaggressive
abilities
muscularity and
Dominant Submissive Shy
strength
Decisive resourceful Indecisive Cautious
Lacking in Self
Self-Confident Daring Cooperative
Confidence
Not nurturing Competitive Nurturing
Table 1: Gender Specific Values
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 23
After I categorized the characters with the gender specific values chart, I identified
commonalities between them using historic archetypal figures. Archetypes and tropes
are character and narrative devices used to further stories. Many of them are so
familiar to audiences that their use can avoid excessive back stories or historical
contexts, but also makes stories obvious and easy to decipher. Archetypes date back
to Greek mythology and these character traits are still very similar in contemporary
stories. The hero is one of the most common archetypes and can be identified in
nearly all Hollywood films. Since many of these archetypes predate any feminist
analysis, they were typically written specifically for men and it is not surprising that
nearly all the identifiable strong women seem to be written within the masculine
boundaries of the hero and the villain. I’ve identified four archetypes that strong
women fit into, sometimes haphazardly: Warrior, Leader, Anti-Hero, and Villain. I
created these categories from a cross analysis of characters who embody specific
archetypal qualities, coupled with traits from the gender norms chart which I created
to identify how strong women are represented and where they diverge from a more
traditional archetypal representation. In the next section, I will look at strong women
characters in various television shows and identify their archetypal structures, and
what gendered values the characters are assigned. I will conclude with a broader
analysis of these representations and provide a chart of value assignments as a step in
creating a feminist archetype of the strong woman.
Warrior Archetype
The hero archetype is probably the most common historical character
appearing in many of the most popular films of all time. Joseph Campbell
(1949/2008) traces the patterns of the hero in “A Hero with a Thousand Faces.” In
that work, he identifies what the archetypal heroes go through on their journeys
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 24
including being called to adventure, refusing the call, having supernatural aids and
receiving a boon that assists in finally completing the goal. In contemporary films
and television, writers still rely on the heroic journey Campbell documents. The
warrior is identified by his/her physical strength and use of brawn to solve conflicts
and like the traditional hero s/he is fighting for a noble and selfless cause.
Figure 1: Warrior Characters
Sarah Connor, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the two starring women are
easily identified by their good looks and their physical strength. Cameron, played by
Summer Glau, is a cyborg who has come from the future in the body of a teenager, to
protect John Connor. John’s mother, who we’ve previously been introduced to in the
Terminator movies, has spent the majority of her adult life training to kill robots in
order to protect her son. Sarah (John’s mother), played by Lena Headey is calm,
reserved and nearly always stoic. During the episode “What He Beheld” John Connor
and Derek Reese are sitting in a car having a conversation that epitomizes the strength
of these two women:
Derek Reese: Remind me again, why are the boys out here and the girls in
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 25
there?
John Connor: Because [...] one of the girls is harder than nuclear nails.
Derek Reese: And the other one's a cyborg. (“What He Beheld”)
Sarah Connor has been resuscitated from her movie role in the first two Terminator
films to star in a television show that follows her difficult path of protecting her son
and trying to avert an apocalypse. Connor is an exemplar of the traditionally male
warrior archetype with the courage and strength to fight evil. The story is the same as
the films: Connor must destroy the artificial intelligence, Skynet, that will in the
future destroy the world. The introduction to the television series has a voice over by
Connor telling the audience that she is engaged in a war. She says, “Today we fight
to stop Skynet from ever being created, to change our future, to change [John
Connor’s] fate, the war to save mankind begins now.”
Warriors are primarily unwavering in their goal of destroying evil and
restoring justice; they are clear on what is right and wrong and will use their physical
strength and command of weaponry to accomplish their task. Typically, warriors did
not choose to be heroes and often are reluctant to follow the path at first but the
narrative clearly shows that they are the only ones who can stop the
evil/monster/robot/demon/all-around bad guy.
Throughout the two seasons that the television show aired, in over thirty-one
episodes, Connor shows very little emotion other than concern for her son’s life. The
audience is introduced to the television version of Connor when she leaves a man she
is engaged to in order to continue her life’s mission to protect her son (“Pilot”). She
is most often cool-tempered, speaks very little, and is suspicious of everyone. She
embodies many of the masculine traits commonly associated with a male hero. Her
warrior tenacity is epitomized when, in the episode “Earthlings Welcome Here,”
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 26
Connor goes on a quest to find out what a particular symbol means. She keeps seeing
the same three dots in many different places and she believes it has to do with the
cybernetic organism that will bring about the apocalypse. None of the other
characters support her quest but she decides to continue looking. She finds a
suspicious warehouse that she believes will provide her some answers but she is shot
in the leg by a security guard. This mini story arc demonstrates how daring,
aggressive and independent she is by risking her life in order to save the world. Sarah
Connor, in true warrior fashion, will never stop fighting.
The warrior’s physical strength and resilience is how s/he perseveres.
Connor’s combat training, stockpile of weapons, and shots of her cleaning and
reorganizing guns all position her as knowledgeable, capable and ready to fight her
war. Since terminators are sent back from the future with the sole purpose of killing
her son, the story immediately removes diplomatic means of conflict resolution. This
‘kill or be killed’ thematic approach in TSCC makes for some enjoyable fight scenes
but further supports militaristic and therefore masculinist modes of behaviour.
Zoe Washburne, Firefly
Sarah Connor’s warrior nature is occasionally made more complex through
attention to character development: she begins to care for those she loves, she fears
dying from cancer, she worries about pushing away her son, and she suffers mental
anguish after murdering another human being. These instances of emotional growth
somewhat expand Sarah Connor’s character out of the limited, masculine warrior
archetype, allowing her character some complexity. Unlike Connor, Zoe Washburne
(Gina Torres) of Firefly does not have this complexity. The pilot episode (“Serenity”)
of Firefly shows scenes from the “Unification War” with Zoe on the front lines.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 27
When the show returns to present day, Zoe is second in command on the starship
captained by Malcolm Reynolds (Mal), Zoe’s commander during the “Unification
War.” During the single season Firefly was on air, Zoe is hardly seen outside of the
rigidity of the warrior, except when her heterosexual identity is reinforced in sex
scenes and even then, arguably, she is still playing the warrior.
Zoe’s military training is apparent in her clear respect for hierarchy, her
emotionless and cool-headed appearance as well as her highly competent skills in
battle. Zoe is clearly the “muscle” on the ship. Zoe and Mal (the captain) were on the
losing side of the war and thus have committed their lives to evading the conquerors
(the Alliance) and making money however they can. It is clear that Zoe agrees with
Mal’s deep resentment and hatred for the Alliance and quickly they are established as
heroes trying to make it in a world that hates them. Zoe is a warrior in a very
militaristic sense: she takes and executes orders and uses her physical strength to
protect her crew when necessary.
Aeryn Sun, Farscape
Unlike the seriousness of TSCC and Firefly, Farscape uses humour and
hyperbole to ridicule the American military. In Farscape, the military is run by an
alien race called Sebacean who look identical to humans. They call themselves the
“Peacekeepers” because at one point in history they were the guardians of an ancient
race. Overtime the Peacekeepers became an imperialist force of oppression. Through
the course of the show the inner workings of the Peacekeepers are revealed through
the character Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black). Aeryn was born on a military ship and
raised to follow rules and obey orders. Since she knew no other way of life, Aeryn
was an exemplary soldier: cold, lack of emotional expression and highly trained in
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 28
combat. It isn’t until she became a fugitive on a ship of escaped prisoners that she
learns compassion and friendship. Aeryn’s physical military training sets her up with
the skills of a warrior, and although she struggles against her military training
throughout the series, she remains loyal to her friends and fights against those that
would harm them.
The caption under Aeryn’s photo on the Farscape wiki says, “Tough chick
with a gun,” which is an appropriate description for a strong female hero, but Aeryn’s
character is surprisingly and refreshingly complex due to her strong character
development. As stated previously, her character begins by embodying the rigid,
highly masculine structure of the military and is characterized by many masculine
traits such as aggressiveness, daring, rational, emotionally inexpressive, cool-headed,
pretty much all of the traits listed on the chart. But throughout the series Aeryn learns
how to be emotionally expressive, dependent on others, nurturing and not always in
control.
Although the show ends with Aeryn still embodying many of the masculine
characteristics, her growth is notable. The show is written to elevate cooperation and
emotional expression over the cold militaristic style and this sort of growth in Aeryn
sets her apart from other strong women. Aeryn is not positioned as a woman who
needs to be “tamed” or is ridiculed for showing emotion but she is celebrated for the
small steps she takes and the audience is carried along her personal journey.
Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Perhaps the most well-developed female warrior character that moves beyond
the masculine anchors seen in Sarah Connor, Zoe and Aeryn is Buffy Summers (Sarah
Michelle Gellar) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS). Buffy embodies nearly all
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 29
the warrior hero traits. She is fighting a nightly war in which she uses her super
strength to triumph over evil. In each season, the evil villain becomes stronger and
tougher to beat, but Buffy knows that she is on the side of good and that she must
keep fighting, although, in typical hero fashion she occasionally questions her powers
and her mission. Like Sarah Connor, Zoe and Aeryn, she is highly trained and
competent with weapons, using physical violence to resolve conflicts. She knows
what side she is on and she does not waver in her goal.
What sets Buffy apart from other strong women is that Buffy is the every high
school girl: blonde, petite, cheerleader, stylish and popular, but one day finds out that
she has been chosen. As the show’s introduction states, “In every generation there is
a chosen one, she alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of
darkness. She is the slayer” (“Welcome to the Hellmouth”). Joss Whedon, creator of
the show, said that he wrote Buffy because:
I’d seen a lot of horror movies which I’d loved very much, with blonde girls
getting themselves killed in dark alleys and I just germinated this idea about
how much I’d like to see a blonde girl go into a dark alley, get attacked by a big
monster and then kill it! (Whedon, 1998, qtd. in Buttsworth, 2002)
BTVS has been the site of much academic and feminist inquiry and remains a
large cult classic (Wilcox & Lavery, D, 2002); South, 2003; Levine & Parks, 2007).
Buffy is petite, blonde, sarcastic and just wants to have fun (but hardly ever gets to).
There is nothing about her appearance that marks her as hero or warrior, which is part
of the fascination and exceptionalism of the show. Although she is feminine in
appearance, she is not sexualized: “Unlike many of her predecessors (or
contemporaries) Buffy, although ‘sexy’, does not use her sexuality as an artifice or a
weapon, nor does it detract from her ability as a warrior” (Buttworth, 2002, p. 190).
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 30
Buffy breaks out of the traditional warrior mold in appearance and personality,
even if she does possess many of the archetypal traits. The show was dynamically
written to allow Buffy the emotional space to make mistakes and learn from them.
She draws from both masculine and feminine categories more than most other female
characters on television. While the show does rely on violence to solve nearly all the
major conflicts, similarly to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, it takes the
death of humans seriously (“Consequences”).
Echo, Dollhouse
Of the eleven series I examined, one notable exception to the stereotypical
warrior was a character (Echo) in the series Dollhouse. I briefly outline that character
here, as a woman who has been coerced into signing her life away to be used in a
futuristic brothel. Dollhouse was a controversial and short-lived two season series.
According to the futuristic vision of the show, technology has been built so a human
brain can be “wiped clean” (much like a hard drive) and alternative personality traits
and memories can be programmed into it creating “dolls” that are living and breathing
play things. This technology is used on individuals living in a secret location so they
can be rented out to the rich for many purposes, though primarily for sexual fantasies.
In many ways, the show is conceived of as a playground/dollhouse for the rich. The
series opens with a woman who has been coerced into signing her life away to
become an “active” (a programmable doll in the house), and is renamed Echo (Eliza
Dusku) to signal her transition and her status as a doll. During the show, the story line
revolves around her consistently being rented out (programmed) for the pleasure of
men, mostly for sexual fantasy but occasionally as a high tech thief or a kidnapping
negotiator. While there is no discussion about the dollhouse being a glorified brothel
that coerces individuals to contract out their life for the sexual gratification of rich
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 31
men, Echo is being violated both mentally and physically in each episode. She is
portrayed as a strong character both in terms of being programmed physical strength,
but as the story progresses viewers see her emotional development as “Echo” comes
to know herself and her past self (Caroline).
Just to be very clear, Dollhouse is about rape even if the creators deny such
allegations. Coerced consent is not in fact consent and therefore renting the bodies of
the actives/dolls is not merely prostitution but also rape. Echo is a part of this list of
strong women because she is often physically and mentally commanding, strong, and
in control but she is primarily a glorified prostitute. Although the creators have
developed a sympathetic character in Echo it is clear in the marketing campaign for
the program that Echo’s strength is not as important as her body (See Figure 2). This
is apparent through Fox’s advertising that includes images of Echo nearly naked lying
down seductively or fully naked covered with Polaroid photos. The image of a strong
woman is ultimately a façade because during most of the show she is little more than
a toy to be rented out. Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has been
widely celebrated for creating strong female characters, even winning a woman’s
human rights award from Equality Now, but even NPR noted the irony of his latest
show in a radio segment titled “Welcome to the ‘Dollhouse’: Meet the Anti-Buffy”
(“Welcome To The 'Dollhouse: Meet The Anti-Buffy”, 2009).
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 32
Figure 2: Dollhouse Advertising and Promotion
Leader Archetype
Authority is the strongest signifier of the leader archetype. A leader is
characterized by his/her commanding position, forcefulness, perseverance, rational
attitude and ability to make decisions under pressure. Leaders are traditionally men in
high positions of power such as a president or a military commander. Although in
reality more women have attained these prestigious positions of power such as
politicians and CEOs, men still control 485 of the fortune 500 companies ("Women
CEOs", 2009) and all three branches of government ("Senators of the 111th
Congress" & "Representative Offices", n.d.). The science fiction landscape is ideal
for introducing competent and intelligent women in leadership positions due to its
futuristic nature. Star Trek finally placed a woman as the captain of a starship on Star
Trek: Voyager and Battlestar Galactica introduced a female president with the
character of Laura Roslin. In this section I will examine the first female captain of a
Star Trek series with an analysis of Captain Kathryn Janeway, and contrast that with
the leadership role of President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 33
Figure 3: Leader Characters
Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager
Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), leader of the crew and ship of
Voyager is able to make and command decisions without hesitation, is capable in
hand to hand combat, and remains cool-headed and rational under pressure. Janeway
is the first female commander of a starship in the Star Trek television and movie
series, where a future Earth is a post capitalist world with no money, no poverty and
allegedly no racism or sexism. Since current society isn’t this utopian world, having a
female captain on a notable and respected television show is certainly significant.
The normalization of her leadership role is apparent when the crew encounters a
misogynistic alien race who attempt to undermine her authority. Members of the
alien race comment, for instance: “You'll be given no more respect than any Kazon
woman, now that your ship and technology are mine; I will tell you when you may
speak” (“Basics Part 2”), and “That's what we get for having a woman in the captain’s
seat” (“Deathwish”). These alien beings are most often framed as unenlightened and
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 34
inferior. They also contrast with how much her crew respects her, and acknowledges
her authority and position without hesitation.
What makes Janeway unique within this group of strong women is that her
strength doesn’t always come from physical violence. In true Star Trek fashion, she
values diplomacy over violence and only uses force when she sees no alternative.
What stands out with Janeway is that she is still feminine without being sexualized,
she is a captain who happens to be female, not a female captain. The difference here
is that strong women are immediately identifiable by very masculine traits and there is
often a tension between the female body and the male behaviour/characteristics,
whereas with Janeway, that tension is heavily minimized by her ability to adapt
positive representations of both strength and nurturing. She is physically comforting
with her crew in slight ways, occasionally she can be seen putting her hand on
someone’s shoulder or arm in a way that breaks out of the unemotional, uncaring
convention of the strong character6.
Janeway is a rare example of a strong woman who is relatively well-balanced
in terms of polarized gender norms. She is commanding and independent but she also
acknowledges that she needs her crew to help make informed decisions, and she does
not rely on violence as the primary means of conflict resolution even though it is used
on the show (this is due primarily to the fact that the writers have chosen storylines
that can be solved diplomatically or with some form of non violent resolution that
does not include photons and phasers). Janeway’s representation is especially
important for appreciating how much popular culture can affect real life. Many
6
At Dragon*Con 2009, the science fiction convention, I asked Kate Mulgrew if the writers
intentionally wrote her to be physically affectionate in small ways and she said that small detail was her
own addition.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 35
female engineers, for instance, have credited Janeway’s character as their inspiration
for entering such a male dominated field, (Mulgrew, 2009).
While Captain Janeway trained and moved up the ranks in Star Trek’s military
to attain her position as leader of a starship, in BSG, the character Laura Roslin
became president literally over night. When the series begins, Roslin is the Secretary
of Education at a time of massive human genocide inflicted by the cylons (an artificial
life form), and as the highest ranking survivor, she assumes the role of president with
much reluctance and nearly no support. Her journey on BSG explores a leadership
role, and specifically a female leader in a traditionally male position.
Laura Roslin, Battlestar Galactica
I imagine it’s somewhat controversial to add Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell)
to the list of strong women as she was generally used to amplify the male military
leader Admiral Adama. She is worth examining for two reasons: a) as a female
president and female leader she was portrayed with a very jagged form of the leader
archetype reminding the viewer that women ultimately are not leaders, and b) that in
order for Roslin to grow into a leader she eventually adopted traditionally patriarchal
ways of commanding. Laura begins very unsure of herself, and there are continual
references to the fact that a “school teacher” is now president (“Colonial Day”,
“Fragged”, “Precipice”).
Part of Roslin’s process of becoming a leader is being able to make difficult
decisions and see them through. Her apparent “toughness” is demonstrated in the way
she deals with cylons. During the first season they identify a human-looking cylon
and after a brief interrogation she decides to throw him out of the airlock (“Flesh and
Bone”). As the show progresses, Roslin becomes more and more manipulative. This
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 36
manipulation is often performed through a very calm and rational exterior, telling
someone she will do something while fully knowing that she does not intend to fulfill
her promise. An example that couples her manipulation and her tendencies to play
judge and jury with the enemy is found in “Home: Part 1”. In this episode, a cylon
returns to the ship voluntarily with two soldiers. Roslin promises that the cylon will
be put in a holding cell with no harm done to her in order to calm down angry soldiers
armed with weapons. As soon as all the guns are put down she yells, “Thank you,
now put that thing out the airlock.” Because the audience has followed the back story
of this particular cylon and has grown somewhat empathetic to her, the audience
breaks identification with Roslin’s decision, and her character thus appears irrational.
Typically, this cold, direct, and to-the-point behaviour is a trait that is considered
positive and admirable in a male leader.
Roslin’s growth into a leadership role is part of how she is framed as weak.
Her leadership abilities are constantly put into question by herself and others. As she
becomes more authoritative, she is often undermined by male leaders. Contrasting her
with Janeway who has already gone through the training and established her form of
management prior to her introduction on the show, Roslin appears somewhat
ridiculous.
Anti-Hero Archetype
The anti-hero is a contemporary archetype that provides a bit of complexity to
the firmly archetypal hero and villain. Although the anti-hero possess many traits
from the hero and villain they are often more selfish and reluctant to help solve
conflicts. Typically the anti-hero has little or no family, and they can often be
identified as the tortured soul who feels like they have no home. In this section I will
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 37
examine three characters: Kara Thrace, Faith and Ana Lucia, specifically focusing on
how they reaffirm or diverge from traditional masculine values through the anti-hero
archetype.
Figure 4: Anti-Hero Characters
Kara Thrace, Battlestar Galactica
Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) from BSG begins as an anti-hero
but becomes a hero by the end of the series. She might best be described as
“scrappy”: she is as physically and emotionally tough as any of the men on her ship
but she is also unstable. Actor Katee Sackhoff, who plays Starbuck, described her as
a character with “a lot of confidence and masculine energy” (Moore & Larson, 2003).
She is an interesting character study because she embodies patriarchal masculinity,
which gives her the air of toughness and strength, but she is framed as out of control,
implying that she can’t ‘handle’ a man’s world. Her stoicism is looked down upon,
even though this character trait is celebrated in patriarchy and she is instead framed as
not being self aware and as emotionally unstable (e.g. decidedly female).
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 38
When Starbuck is first introduced in the BSG miniseries, the audience
observes her punching a superior officer after a night of heavy drinking and poker-
style card games. Despite her obvious strengths as the best fighter pilot, she often
appears as rebellious and eccentric, constantly undermining authority and finding
unconventional ways to get out of the near death situations she regularly finds herself
in. In “Hand of God” Commander Adama brings Starbuck in to help plan a mission
because he needs “some serious out-of-the-box thinking” and he explains, “All due
respect, gentlemen, we're not as crazy as [Starbuck] is.” She constantly disobeys
orders and breaks the rules, actions which are often excused. In “The Captain’s
Hand” Apollo confesses that he has been angry and resentful of Starbuck because she
is always getting away with breaking the rules and the one time he did it he, “almost
lost everything.”
Although Starbuck is arguably the strongest woman on BSG, her character’s
evolution actually becomes regressive in terms of positive representations of strong
women. Her character falls victim to acts of gendered violence, and she is forced into
submission. For instance, in “The Farm,” cylon enemies attempt to forcibly
impregnate Starbuck, and in “Occupation” she is forced to play the wife of her
kidnapper. When Starbuck later realizes she is a messiah7 and sets out to lead her
people to Earth, she is forced to turn to her kidnapper and violator to help her find the
way. Starbuck is perpetually violated and even worse the creators make her assailant
be the only one who can “help” her in the end. Starbuck is again painted as out of
control, unable to navigate her “destiny” and she needs guidance to help her find the
7
If it were not for the ‘interference’ by the kidnapper cylon who took a particular interest in Starbuck
during various points in the television series, she would probably not have realized that she was in fact
a messiah (and furthermore would not have been able to achieve her goal without his direct help), so
while it might actually look like it is a subversive take on the traditional male messiah trope, it is
presenting women as unable to fulfill such a critical role.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 39
answers. I am quite fond of Starbuck and appreciate the strong and complex character
development, but her representation embodies the worst of both masculine and
feminism traits.
Faith, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Like Starbuck, Faith (Eliza Dushku), the “bad” slayer on Buffy the Vampire
Slayer is tough: suppresses her emotions, she is endowed with the strength of the
slayer, and she is promiscuous and emotionally detached when it comes to sex--all
traits commonly identified as masculine. Very quickly we learn that Faith is selfish
because of a rough childhood and absence of family support. These traits
(disregarding the special powers) are similar to Starbuck and the traits of the anti-
hero. Although Buffy and Faith are matched in physical strength it is clear that Faith
is unable to control her special powers. Faith’s emotional instability leads her to
“switch sides” and join the evil that is trying to take over the world. Instead of using
her superpowers to fight evil she becomes a hit wo/man and reaches a low point when
she kills and saws off a man’s hand in order to get handcuffs off of him (“Choices”).
At this point in the story there is a clear binary between the two slayers, and what is
interesting is that they both embody masculine traits of physical strength, aggression
and independence. But viewers are reminded that Faith is unable to control her
powers or emotions whereas Buffy, who possess the same traits such as brute force
and independence, is framed as the “right” way to deal with strength because of her
unwavering moral stance and confidence.
Faith’s character diverges from Starbuck’s representation through her decision
to join forces with evil and become the villain. Although she clearly is fighting
against all the warrior self-righteousness of Buffy, it isn’t until Buffy defeats and
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 40
nearly murders Faith that she begins to realize the horrors of what she has done. In
the end, Faith is redeemed and comes back to help save the day, though she is still
morally shaky about what it means to fight for good and makes jokes about it, “I pull
for the good guys now” (“Dirty Girls”). Faith’s redemption is an example of how
important emotional growth is on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Faith, despite all the
horrible things she’s done, is still able to learn and grow from her mistakes and make
attempts at reconciliation with those she has hurt.
Ana Lucia, Lost
Faith’s anti-hero status is informed by both her rough “outsider” personality
and her predestined calling which endowed her with special powers to help her fight.
Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez) on the show Lost similarly becomes the anti-
hero after being thrown into a situation that called upon her to use her skills.
Although she was only on twenty-five episodes, she played a central role on the show
during that time. Ana Lucia, a Latina woman, was a former police officer before she
and the other passengers on an Oceanic flight crashed on a mysterious island.
Because of her toughness and ability to suppress her emotions, Ana Lucia naturally
became a leader to the shipwrecked passengers. Although she has many heroic traits,
the writers utilized a familiar racist trope of the hot-headed Latina which helped
position Ana Lucia’s strength as unusually extreme, making her an anti-hero. Ana
Lucia is framed as out of control and extreme when she accidentally shoots and kills
an innocent person. Although she is slowly redeemed, Ana Lucia is eventually shot
and murdered.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 41
Villain Archetype
Historic villains are notable for their mustache twirling, cackling laugh and
generally suspicious demeanor. Contemporary villains are not always as cartoonlike
but are identified quickly as the adversary and foil to the hero of the story. Often they
are characterized as complete opposites to the heroes. Just as the strong female hero
will be sexualized through revealing clothing, the female villain will often be framed
as even more sexually suggestive and subversive.
Figure 5: Villain Characters
The strong female hero in television is nearly always represented as white and
heterosexual. Women of colour and queer women are rarely empowered, and when
they do appear in strong roles they are often villainous characters who ultimately die,
are killed, or are greatly weakened to the point that their character becomes obsolete.
These representations are visually obvious and the lack of self-reflection in television
and character writing remains truly problematic. While not all of the characters I will
talk about in this section are queer or are women of colour, it is worth noting that of
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 42
the four archetypes that strong female characters might fit into, the villain archetype
includes more queer women and women of colour than any other category.
Jasmine, Angel
Angel, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff is similar to its parent show in that it
has few if any women of colour in main or supporting roles. The most prominent
woman of colour in Angel is a deity called Jasmine (Gina Torres). She is immediately
positioned as a villain even though she is presented as a warm, friendly and caring
person. Jasmine casts an enchantment spell to convince people to follow in her quest
for world peace. Under mind control, her followers admire her hypnotic beauty.
Upon meeting her, the male hero and star of the series, Angel, says “You’re beautiful”
(“Inside Out”) and expresses that he is “unworthy” (“Shiny Happy People”) (this is
unusual behaviour for the emotionally inexpressive star of the show). Everyone that
comes into contact with her expresses how beautiful and gorgeous she is and how
they feel fulfilled, no longer lonely and lost. However, the audience learns along with
one of the show’s characters that Jasmine’s breathtaking appearance is a ruse and she
is a rotting corpse with maggots coming out of her eyesockets and mouth.
It is rare that women of colour are portrayed as beautiful in popular television
without being hyper sexualized or stereotyped8 and this case is no exception as
Jasmine is a woman of colour whose beauty is just a mask to cover her true self: a
grotesque, rotting corpse. This perpetuates the myth that women of colour are not
authentically beautiful, further pitting them up against the white heroes of the show
and demonstrating a clear good versus bad dichotomy (White = good, Black = bad).
8
Women of colour have historically and contemporarily been typecast into harmful racial stereotypes
such as the ‘jezebel’, ‘mammy’, ‘magical negro’, “hot headed Latina” and Asian women are often
framed as sexually submissive and fetishized.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 43
During the DVD extras of Angel, the creator, Joss Whedon and the woman who plays
Jasmine, Gina Torres congratulate the show for being so progressive and casting a
woman of colour as a shiny, beautiful woman. Torres says:
…and to be able to put me into this kind of a role where I basically don’t,
physically, don’t follow any rules… she’s so tall and she’s so different looking
and they just said, no we want you to be this image of this perfect woman and
I think it would be great, to put that out there, as this woman of colour, this
strong sort of woman of colour. (Norton, B. L., D. Straiton, et al., 2004)
While I agree having a progressive strong woman of colour character used to expand
the notion of beautiful would be wonderful to have on television, they must have
forgotten that Jasmine is an evil rotting corpse.
Helena Cain, Battlestar Galactica
Another example of the villain archetype that clashes appropriately with the
white, heterosexual female hero is Admiral Helena Cain (Michelle Forbes). Cain was
briefly on Battlestar Galactica and was a part of the main cast on the television film
Battlestar Galactica: Razor. Cain embodies many of the militaristic masculine traits:
tough attitude, strong physical appearance, decisive, emotionally inexpressive, and
violent. Cain’s representation has similar problems to that of Starbuck in that she
possesses many of the valued masculine traits but Cain is also framed as out of
control. Cain appears during season two and takes over command. At first she
appears gracious but she becomes increasingly sinister and manipulative: ordering the
deaths of entire families, leaving civilian ships to be captured or killed by the enemy,
and shooting a man in the head when he disobeyed her orders.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 44
In Razor9, the audience learns that Cain was in a sexual relationship with her
female cylon captive which is supposed to explain her vicious hatred of the cylon
race. This positions Cain as a queer woman in high command, and if she wasn’t
framed as out of control and evil it would be impressive to see a queer woman in such
a critical role. Instead, Cain’s character is villianized and murdered instead of
allowing an attempted redemption.
Discussion: The Dis/Empowerment of Strong Female Characters
The collection of strong women in this research varies significantly from
empowerment to ridicule. Most of these characters are not merely women-in-drag,
however the values associated with them are predominately masculine. While tracing
the representations of each of these strong women I found that they do in fact embody
many masculine traits, making them more pleasing to networks and advertisers. In
patriarchal society, masculine traits are socially valued over female traits and so it
follows that in order for a woman on television to appear strong and capable, she must
embody these masculine traits. Many of these television writers are subscribing to the
four archetypes so firmly that they are merely replicating patriarchy as opposed to
transcending the masculine archetypes and re-identifying and imagining what a
female heroic archetype might look like.
Through this examination, I found that even women who embody masculine
traits sometimes appear disempowered, out of control and ridiculous, as if Hollywood
is saying that women are not strong enough, capable enough or smart enough to be the
heroes. These characters are paltry facsimiles being signified as strong through the
9
It is perhaps worth noting that two prominent characters in the BSG universe were queer characters
but they were not revealed as such on the television program, only in the miniseries and online in the
webisodes.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 45
validation of male-dominated archetypes, but at the same time diminished in this way
so as to not appear equal.
This analysis of female representations is complex because I am arguing
against women replicating patriarchal values in order to be empowered. Until those
representations improve, I argue that women who do emulate traditional masculine
behaviour should not be framed as out of control and foolish. Additionally, each of
these shows constructs a different social and political landscape for the characters that
live within them, which predictably limits the possibilities of relationship and
character development. For example, Farscape has a strong overarching criticism of
imperialism and military power, leaving potentially more room for politically
progressive character development. But Battlestar Galactica sends clear pro-military
messages with their storylines, celebrating the masculine values associated with
political military regimes and leaving little room for criticism of patriarchal power10.
These thematic messages can either enable or stunt transformative character
development, because the characters can only grow within the boundaries of the
series.
I also found that the series with the most progressive value systems tended to
have the most complex, rich and interesting characters. Buffy and Janeway are two
examples that begin to transcend some of the rigidity of the stereotypical gender
binary and they also begin to promote a feminist character framework. A closer
examination of the values of these characters in future television writing could even
10
It is also worth noting here that all the main human female characters die at the end of the show
which is rather startling but not surprising when positioned within the heavy patriarchal values of the
show.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 46
help create a new archetype that can be used to identify the kinds of transformative
characters that might serve as anti-oppression role models in popular culture.
While a truly transformative and feminist character may not completely
transcend the categories of gendered stereotypes, it’s crucial to look closely at what
traits help promote a better world with social justice values free of racism, sexism,
classism, homophobia and abilism. I have begun to create a chart that lays out
traditionally masculine and feminine traits and I’ve assigned a positive or negative
value system to them based on how they are framed in the media (see Table 2). To
begin envisioning a strong female (and progressive male) character, I have reassigned
traits based on anti-oppression and social justice values (see Table 3). Removing
gender stereotyping and applying feminist values is a step towards creating a strong
female archetype and possibly a step towards a more feminist society.
Negative Positive
Rational
Control of themselves
Self Confident
Objective
Independent
Masculine
Decisive
Daring
Strong
Active
Violent
Emotionally Inexpressive
Dominant
Not nurturing
Competitive
Shy
Weak
Lack Self Confidence
Feminine
Lack Self Control
Dependent (only in women)
Indecisive
Passive (only in women)
Hysterical
Nurturing (only in women)
Submissive
Cooperative
Emotionally expressive
Intuitive
Table 2: Gendered Traits Currently Valued on Television
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 47
Negative Positive
Rational
Control of themselves
Violent Self Confident
Masculine
Emotionally Inexpressive Objective
Dominant Independent
Not nurturing Decisive
Competitive Daring
Strong
Active
Shy
Weak
Dependent
Feminine
Cooperative
Passive
Emotionally expressive
Lack Self Confidence
Intuitive
Lack Self Control
Nurturing
Indecisive
Hysterical
Submissive
Table 3: Values for a More Feminist Television Landscape
Networks and Advertising
I’ve attempted to analyze popular female representations in order to create
connections between popular culture representations and actual social phenomena.
These characters and storylines do not exist in a vacuum, they are created by a team
of people from the creators to the writers, producers and the directors. Clothing and
appearance, casting decisions, names and backgrounds of characters, screenplays,
lighting, set design, editing footage and camera angles are all chosen for specific
reasons. It is easy to get caught up in the fantasy of the story and forget about the
people behind the scenes. As Suzanna Danuta Walters (1995) puts it, “Even particular
kinds of editing, shots, and staging devices are implicated in the process of making
(patriarchal) meaning” (Walters, 1995, p. 69). She goes on to explain that:
The use of continuity editing – the attempt to project a sense of continuity in
space and time – makes editing appear ‘invisible’ so that the spectator is
encouraged to read the film without effort. Continuity editing bridges time
and space to create an illusion of events unfolding naturally. It is this
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 48
cinematic appearance of naturalness that, so often, serves to reinforce the
ideologies of “women’s place” presented in films as somehow “natural,” too.
(Walters, 1995, p. 69)
While editing reinforces “women’s place” it simultaneous reinforces patriarchal and
other oppressive values as well.11 In Jennifer Pozner’s (2010) upcoming book Reality
Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV she exposes the
intentional use of strategic editing in order to frame contestants as unintelligent,
pretentious, or bitchy (among many other stereotypes placed on women).
Furthermore, she found that strategic editing also reinforces racial and ethnic
stereotypes, thus perpetuating harmful typecasting and oppressive representations of
women, particularly women of color and low-income women (Pozner, 2010).
An important component to understanding women’s representations and how
women remain trapped within the confines of a patriarchal structure is advertising
revenue and network decisions. How do networks decide which television shows to
air and which ones to cancel? It’s a combination of how much the series will cost to
make, what the viewership of the show is12 and, perhaps most importantly, whether
advertisers are interested.
In the documentary Manufacturing Consent, based on Noam Chomsky’s book
of the same name, Chomsky explains, “What keeps the media functioning is not the
11
Political Video Remix artists have demonstrated this through reediting popular films to expose their
heteronormativity such as Elisa Kreisinger’s Queer Housewives of New York City
(http://www.politicalremixvideo.com/2009/06/22/the-queering-of-bethenny-frankel) or to expose the
romantic framing of problematic stories such as Becca Marcus’ reimagining of Pretty Woman as a
horror movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ2H37m_Yt8)
12
Notice how 4 million views on youtube is a highly successful viral video but 4 million views on an
episode of television is a failure. Also the numbers that determine whether a show is viable or not does
not take into consideration anything other than the show during that time, no Tivo, no Internet, no
downloads or Hulu.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 49
audience,” (Achbar & Wintonick, 2002). The media corporations are creating a
product that is attractive to advertisers by packaging audiences to sell to businesses.
This is clear when observing which products are being sold during various
programming times: Saturday morning cartoons are placed amid commercials selling
children’s toys and junk food, soap operas attract cleaning products and weight loss
solutions, and sporting events are predictably accompanied by beer and car
advertisements. In Susan Faludi’s (1991) best selling book Backlash, she discusses
the discrepancy between what female viewers actually want and the audience that
advertisers seek:
Female viewers consistently give their highest ratings to nontraditional female
characters such as leaders, heroines, and comedians. But TV’s biggest
advertisers, packaged-foods and household-goods manufacturers, want
traditional “family” shows that fit a sales pitch virtually unchanged in two
decades. Advertisers prefer to reflect the housewife viewer because she is
perceived as a more passive and willing consumer, because she is likely to
have more children, and because they are simply used to this arrangement.
(Faludi, 1991, p. 148)
Networks have started creating tougher male action heroes and while television
executives claim that it is because viewers don't want to see "wimps" anymore, their
only ‘proof’ is that there have been more macho movies (Faludi, 1991, p. 144). As
Faludi says, this is "yet another case of the makers of one cultural medium invoking
another's handiwork to reinforce the backlash" (Faludi, 1991, p. 144). George Gerbner
(2010), founder of cultivation theory, identifies a similar occurrence that speaks to
how systemic this problem really is:
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 50
[Media companies] have global marketing formulas that are imposed on the
creative people in Hollywood, and I’m in touch with them and they hate it.
They say, ‘Don’t talk to me about censorship from Washington.’ I’ve never
heard about that, I get censorship everyday. I am told put in more action, cut
out complicated solutions, apply this formula because it travels well on the
global market. These are formulas that need no translation and [are]
essentially image driven and speak action in any language. And of course the
leading element of that formula is violence. (Earp, 2010)
Between intentional decisions by the networks and creators to manifest television
shows that are simultaneously of interest to audiences and advertisers (the latter being
the most important), patriarchal and other oppressive values are most often reinforced.
Conclusion: Making Sense of the Role of Women in SF/F
Television Shows
According to the Neilson Company’s findings in 2008, television viewing is at
an all-time high with the average American watching 151 hours per month
(“Television, Internet and Mobile Usage in the U.S”, 2009). Video viewership on the
Internet and on mobile devices has risen as well but is only at three to four hours a
month, leaving television still the most dominant audio/visual form viewed by a wide
margin. These statistics reaffirm how important it is to critically investigate and
systemically change the representations on television. Scripted television shows
provide entertainment and escape in a way that does not promote critical viewing.
Instead, it is so captivating that viewers begin to place themselves in heroic and
villainous roles and they become friends with the characters that they follow each
week. This form of entertainment and escapism is not necessarily bad but should be
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 51
simultaneous with critical media literacy (Jenkins, 2006).
Speculative fiction is a genre that prides itself on being cutting edge, pushing
the limits of what audiences have come to expect in many mundane television shows
but it’s not pushing the limits on representations of women, or representations of
queer folks, or representations of many oppressed peoples. These characters have not
become role models but rather have been molded based on the ongoing systemic
oppression of those who are most marginalized in America. These “strong” women
and pseudo-feminist archetypal models cannot be all that Hollywood has to offer.
Occasionally other pop culture mediums have created good examples of positive anti-
oppressive, feminist work that explores a range of demographic representations and
encourages progressive politics. For example, bell hooks authored a series of
children’s books to promote positive growth unconstrained by oppressive norms and
many feminist artists such as Barbara Kruger attempt to disrupt sexism and the status
quo through art. Even Veronica Mars, a three-season television show provided an
unconventional female high school student who was intelligent, technologically
savvy, and she solved problems each week without the use of violence but instead
used her resourcefulness and prowess to bring a sense of poetic justice to each
conclusion. There is not a lack of creative people making entertaining work that
carries an anti-oppression message and if given the opportunity and resources could
produce interesting, groundbreaking, cutting edge characters and stories for a
mainstream audience.
A question I asked myself repeatedly throughout the process of researching
this paper is “what does a female hero (and even a male hero) look like outside of
patriarchy?” It’s incredibly hard to visualize; it requires imagining what a world
without patriarchy would look like from media personalities, to interpersonal
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 52
relationships, to advertising, to work and careers, to poverty and capitalism more
broadly. It’s nearly overwhelming to think about. I do, however, keep coming back
to a few ways in which we can transform our strong female representations and
television shows today in order to create a space for imagining a more equitable
future.
First, violence sells and violence as a means of conflict resolution is easy, but
in addition to the social arguments that can be made against an overabundance of
violence, it becomes monotonous. Writers can begin to create alternative scenarios
and break out of the villain and hero archetypes to create a variety of solutions, some
of which can include diplomacy, communication and other creative solutions.
Violence does not need to be eliminated from television altogether, however writers
should begin utilizing fewer storylines that rely on violence and instead encourage
scenarios that offer broader examples of real social and political conflicts.
Second, there always seems to be one hero and one villain but if fiction
attempts to reflect the world (to some degree) then these characters should be
represented in a more complex manner. In Ben Bova’s tips for writers he states:
In the real world there are no villains. No one actually sets out to do evil…
There are no villains cackling and rubbing their hands in glee as they
contemplate their evil deeds. There are only people with problems, struggling
to solve them. (Bova, n.d.)
If writers break out of the archetypes, television could provide much more complex
and interesting story lines. For example, many people could work together in order to
‘save’ the day through a process of collective decision making,13 or the evil villain
13
While watching the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I couldn’t help but imagine what it
would look like if all the potential slayers got to participate in decision making instead of Buffy taking
command in a traditional military structure.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 53
could be representative of the actual systemic problems that plague society as opposed
to the singular individual. The HBO television series The Wire attempts to destabilize
this rigid archetypal pattern by engaging with the systemic problems that cause people
to behave in certain ways. The show investigates the typically heroic cop and the
typically villainous drug dealers but manages to complicate each character through
elaborate personal development while also discussing the institutional pressures that
have positioned each individual.
Lastly, way too often stories revolve around a villain who caused global
destruction because they lost a family member. This story is rather absurd and often
relies on the women in the refrigerator trope. If television stories are supposed to
inspire and somewhat reflect aspects (even highly fabricated and augmented aspects)
of our society, shouldn’t the villain not be one single bad person but rather
acknowledging that the root of our problems lie in institutional systems? It’s not
about the singular evil corporation but the entire way corporations exist within
capitalism. I know these values of diplomacy, collective decision making and
systemic analysis is in opposition to the values that the media corporations and the
advertising firms want to promote but it’s time that our media structures change in
order to promote the well being of people, not the profits of corporations.
Anti-racist activist and author, Tim Wise (2010) said, "If you believe the
system is broken, you clearly don't understand the system. After a while, certain
outcomes stop being evidence of failure, and become, instead, evidence of a most
disturbing and twisted form of success" (Wise, 2010). Feminists and media critics
ought to stop looking at these marginalized and underrepresented groups in our media
as something to be merely fixed by simply including them but to look at larger
structures and institutions that actively work to promote patriarchy and white
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 54
supremacy. Television and film stories are replicating the values in a social system
that are far from equitable. As hooks (2000) states, "People are hurt by rigid sex-role
patterns" (hooks, 2000, p.74) and television programming reaffirms and attempts to
normalize gender and racial stereotyping.
Representations of women in the media have improved over television’s
history reflective of women’s fight for equal rights, but the representations of strong,
tough women provided in contemporary science fiction still carries with it a
patriarchal value system. Social systems and individuals have a cyclical relationship,
one cannot exist without the other:
Like everything else in social life, privilege and oppression exist only through
social systems and people's participation in them. People make systems and
their consequences happen through paths of least resistance that shape who
people are and how they participate. (Johnson, 2006, p. 90)
As feminists continue the fight for equal rights and an end to a patriarchal value
system, the struggle needs to move against the paths of least resistance and refuse to
accept the patriarchal status quo including the value systems ascribed to an essentialist
gender (and other oppressive forms of) stereotyping. People gain power by
"embracing, supporting and perpetuating the dominant ideology of the culture"
(hooks, 2000, p.86) and large-scale resistance is a step to destabilizing and equalizing
power. I hope that media’s representations of women will reflect that struggle and
strong female characters will develop and grow. As Levy (2006) concludes in Female
Chauvinist Pigs:
If we believed that we were sexy and funny and competent and smart, we
would not need to be like strippers or like men or like anyone other than our
own specific, individual selves. That won’t be easy, but ultimately it would be
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 55
no more difficult than the kind of contortions FCPs are constantly performing
in an effort to prove themselves. More importantly, the rewards would be the
very things Female Chauvinist Pigs want so desperately, the things women
deserve: freedom and power. (Levy, 2006, p. 200)
Story telling is an integral part of our society. It is how we communicate with
one another, how we make sense of the world, how we express emotion and how we
entertain. Narratives help us imagine a better, more just world and our media plays a
role in determining what that looks like. Instead of using traditional archetypes and
degrading stereotypes, media makers have the opportunity to resist the status quo and
inspire new social norms. While we can use critical media literacy to resist degrading
representations in television shows, movies, advertising, it is crucial that we hold the
mainstream media accountable and demand stories that encourage cooperation, justice
and democracy. We should have better representations but in our fight for media
justice we have to push back against the social systems that maintain dominate
cultural norms such as patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism. Our economic
system favours stories that reinforce the status quo and render oppression invisible.
As mainstream media shapes the dominant culture, it generates a common language
that allows us to communicate and connect with one another. Since this is a powerful
socialization tool, it could also be used to visualize the change we want to see in the
world. I dream of the day when it is common place for television shows to have
strong women who don’t subscribe to patriarchal values in order to be celebrated,
when people of colour and queer people are not typecasted, stereotyped and killed off
more often then their white counter parts, when media really starts giving us what we
want: good quality, complex, non-oppressive, stories!
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 56
Appendix: Female Characters in Eleven SF/F Television Shows
This chart is a selected version of the original research I had conducted. It
identifies the female characters on eleven different science fiction/fantasy television
shows who appeared on at least three episodes. Most of the shows have been
completed but for the two shows that are still airing (True Blood & Heroes) data was
collected as of May 2010. This chart is not intended to be comprehensive but provide
an overview of women’s representation. There are many grey areas in terms of each
character which is not accounted for on the chart due to its simplified form. Since
each character that appeared on at least three episodes is included in the list, the
statistical data does not account for the discrepancy between primary, supporting and
background characters. Although the original chart included disability as a category it
was removed due to its extraordinately low number. The intentional exclusion of
disability should be recognized as a lack of representations of people with disabilites
as a whole in the media and specifically in speculative fiction.
The categories are as follows:
Species: SF/F shows contain characters that are often other then human. Stories using
aliens are often analogies to facets of the human condition and thus aliens are thought
of as other. If the character is not human I have identified its race using the terms of
the show.
Race: The race category has two entries: white or person of colour (POC). This
category is divided up between white and people of colour because as a large
category, people of colour are still a minority in the television landscape which
privileges whiteness. This is based on the race of the actor (it becomes more
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 57
complicated when dealing with aliens or other fantastical beings which is not
accounted for on this chart).
Sexuality: The sexuality category has two entries: hetero or queer. Similar to real life the
world of television defaults sexual expression and relationships to those that are heterosexual.
If a character’s sexuality is not expressly stated it is just understood by the audience that she
is heterosexual and exclusively interested in men. Characters that display an alternative
sexuality are labeled queer, this includes but is not limited to homosexual, bisexual and
transsexual. One exception is Inara from Firefly. I have labeled her as queer but not counted
her towards the findings because there is only one episode in which she takes on a client who
is a woman, and it is framed in terms of work, not in terms of her sexuality.
Role: This identifies whether a character is good or evil. This category has the most grey
areas. If the characters role was unclear, the determination was made on whether the
character overall acted as a foil to the protagonist(s), or in someway worked against the goals
of the protagonist(s).
Redeemed: This identifies whether a character categorized as evil is redeemed by allying
with the protagonist(s) or in some way helping the protagonist(s).
Status: This category shows whether the character dies or remains alive.
Angel
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Cordelia Human/Demon White Hetero Good Dead
Fred Human White Hetero Good Dead
Lilah Human White Hetero Evil No Dead
Kate Lockley Human White Hetero Good Alive
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 58
Eve Immortal/Human White Hetero Evil No Unclear
Justine Human White Hetero Evil No Alive
Jasmine God POC Hetero Evil No Dead
Nina Ash Human/Werewolf White Hetero Good Alive
Trish Burkle Human White Hetero Good Alive
Virginia Brice Human White Hetero Good Alive
Gwen Unknown White Hetero Both Alive
Anne Steel Human White Hetero Good Alive
Illeryia Demon White Hetero Evil/Good Yes Alive
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Buffy Slayer White Hetero Good Alive
Willow Human/Witch White Queer Good Alive
Anya Demon/Human White Hetero Evil/Good Yes Dead
Dawn Human White Hetero Good Alive
Joyce Summers Human White Hetero Good Dead
Tara Human/Witch White Queer Good Dead
Faith Slayer White Hetero Both Yes Alive
Drusilla Vampire White Hetero Both No Alive
Harmony Human/Vampire White Hetero Evil No Alive
Jenny Calendar Human/Witch White Hetero Good/Evil Yes Alive
Kennedy Human/Slayer POC Queer Good Alive
Glory God White Hetero Evil No Dead
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 59
Amanda Human/Slayer White Hetero Good Dead
Maggie Walsh Human White Hetero Evil No Dead
Amy Human/Witch White Hetero Evil No Alive
Rona Human/Slayer POC Hetero Good Alive
Vi Human/Slayer White Hetero Good Alive
Halfrek Demon White Hetero Evil No Dead
Molly Human White Hetero Good Dead
Darla Vampire White Hetero Evil Yes Dead
Chao-Ahn Human/Slayer POC Hetero Good Alive
Kendra Human/Slayer POC Hetero Good Dead
Katrina Human White Hetero Good Dead
Olivia Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Shannon Human White Hetero Good Alive
Veruca Werewolf White Hetero Evil No Dead
Caridad Human/Slayer POC Hetero Good Alive
1st Slayer/PrimitiveSlayer POC Hetero Good -
Firefly
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Zoe Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Inara Human POC Queer (?) Good Alive
Kaylee Human White Hetero Good Alive
River Human White Hetero Good Alive
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 60
Dollhouse
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Echo Human White Hetero Good Alive
Sierra Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Adelle Human White Hetero Evil Yes Alive
November Human White Hetero Good Alive
Saunders/Whiskey Human White Hetero Good Alive
Ivy Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Loomis Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Bennet Human White Hetero Evil Yes Dead
Cindy Perrin Human White Hetero Evil No Dead
Kilo Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Battlestar Galactica
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Laura Roslin Human White Hetero Good Dead
Kara “Starbuck”
Human/Angel White Hetero Good Dead
Thrace
Dualla Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Callie Human White Hetero Good Dead
Ellen Tigh Cylon White Hetero Both Yes Alive
Sharon “Boomer” Cylon POC Hetero Evil Yes Dead
Sharon “Athena” Cylon POC Hetero Good Alive
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 61
Gina Inviere Cylon White Queer Evil No Dead
Kendra Shaw Human POC Hetero Evil Yes Dead
Helena Cain Human White Queer Evil No Dead
Caprica Six Cylon White Hetero Both Yes Alive
Number 3
Cylon White Hetero Both Yes-ish Dead
“D’Annas”
Number 6 Cylon White Queer Both Yes Alive
Number 8 Cylon POC Hetero Both Yes Alive
Elosha Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Louanne “Kat”
Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Katrine
Natalie (#6) Cylon White Hetero Good Dead
Farscape
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Aeryn Sun Sebacean White Hetero Good Alive
Chiana Nebari White Hetero Good Alive
Pa’u Zotoh Zhann Delvian White Hetero Good Dead
Utu-Noranti
Pralonatong Traskan White Hetero Good Dead
Traskan
Sikozu Syala Shanti
Kalish/Bioloid White Hetero Both Yes Dead
Sugaysi Shanu
Joolushko Tunai Interion White Hetero Good Dead
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 62
Fenta Hovalis
Mele-On Grayza Sebacean White Hetero Evil No Dead
Moya Ship/Leviathan - - Good Alive
Ahkna Scarran - Hetero Evil No Dead
Xhalax Sun Seacean White Hetero Evil No Dead
Gilina Renaez Sebacean White Hetero Good Dead
Linfer Relgarian White Hetero Good Dead
Furlow unknown White Hetero Evil No Alive
Natira Saltici - Hetero Evil No Alive
Princess Katralla Sebacean White Hetero Good Alive
Jenavian Charto Sebaean White Hetero Evil Yes Alive
Elack Pilot - Hetero Good Dead
Heroes
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Clare Bennet Human+ White Hetero Good Alive
Niki Sanders Human+ White Hetero Both Yes Dead
Tracy Strauss Human+ White Hetero Bad/Good Yes Alive
Angela Petrelli Human+ White Hetero Both Alive
Daphne Millbrook Human+ White Hetero Good Dead
Molly Walker Human+ White Hetero Good Dead
Maya Herrera Human+ POC Hetero Good Alive
Elle Bishop Human+ White Hetero Evil Yes Dead
Meredith Gordon Human+ White Hetero Good Dead
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 63
Eden McCain Human+ POC Hetero - Dead
Monica Dawson Human+ POC Hetero Good Alive
Alice Shaw Human+ White Hetero Good Alive
Ishi Nakamura Human+ POC Hetero Good Dead
Gretchen Human White Queer Good Alive
Emma Human+ White Hetero Good Alive
Lydia Human+ White Hetero Evil/Good Yes Dead
Sandra Bennett Human White Hetero Good Alive
Janice Parkman Human White Hetero Good Alive
Simone Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Jackie Wilcox Human White Hetero Evil No Dead
Audrey Hanson Human White Hetero Good Alive
Tina Human White Hetero Good Alive
Vanessa Human White Hetero Good Alive
Lauren Gilmore Human White Hetero Good Alive
Candice Wilmer Human+ White Hetero Evil No Dead
Yaeko Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Caitlin Human White Hetero Good Alive
Lynette Human White Hetero Good Alive
Kimiko Nakamura Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Amanda StrazzullaHuman+ White Hetero Good Alive
Heidi Petrelli Human White Hetero Good Alive
Nana Dawson Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Charlie Andrews Human+ White Hetero Good Alive
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 64
Rachel Mills Human+ White Hetero Evil Yes Alive
Elisa Thyaer Human White Hetero Evil Yes Alive
Debbie Marshall Human White Hetero Evil No Alive
Rebecca Taylor Human+ POC Hetero Evil No Alive
Virginia Grey Human White Hetero Good Dead
Nurse Hammer Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Allison Human White Hetero Good Alive
May Human White Hetero Good Alive
True Blood
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Sookie Human/Telepath White Hetero Good Alive
Tara Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Arlene Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Maryann God POC Hetero Evil No Dead
Lettie Mae Human POC Hetero Evil Yes Alive
Jessica Vampire White Hetero - Alive
Pam Vampire White Hetero Evil No Alive
Sarah Newlin Human White Hetero Evil No Alive
Daphne Landry Shapeshifter White Hetero Evil No Alive
Adele Stackhouse Human White Hetero Good Dead
Miss Jeanette Human POC Hetero Evil No Dead
Amy Burley Human White Hetero Evil No Dead
Maxine FortenberryHuman White Hetero Good Alive
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 65
Lorena Vampire White Hetero Evil - Alive
Dawn Green Human White Hetero Good Dead
Nan Flanagan Vampire White Hetero Good Alive
Ginger Human White Hetero Good Alive
Isabel Vampire White Hetero Good Alive
Jane Bodehouse Human White Hetero Good Alive
Kenya Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Maudette Pickens Human White Hetero Good Dead
Randi Sue Human White Hetero Good Alive
Diane Vampire POC Hetero Evil No Dead
Cindy Marshall Human White Hetero Good Dead
Star Trek: Voyager
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Kathryn Janeway Human White Hetero Good Alive
B’Elanna Torres Klingon POC Hetero Good Alive
Seven of Nine Human/Borg White Hetero Evil/Good Dead
Kes Ocampa White Hetero Good Alive
Naomi Wildman Human/Ktarian White Hetero Good Alive
Seska Cardassian White Hetero Evil No Dead
Samatha Wildman Human White Hetero Good Alive
Susan Nicoletti Human White Hetero Good Alive
Mezoti Norcadian White Hetero Good Alive
Borg Queen Borg White Hetero Evil No Dead
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 66
Deanna Troi Human/Betazoid White Hetero Good Alive
T’Pel Vulcan POC Hetero Good Dead
Ensign Kaplan Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Ensign Lang Human White Hetero Good Alive
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Sarah Connor Human White Hetero Good Alive
Cameron Robot White Hetero Good Dead
Catherine Weaver Robot White Hetero Evil Yes Alive
Riley Dawson Human White Hetero Good Dead
Jesse Flores Human POC Hetero Evil No Dead
Savannah Human White Hetero Good Alive
Michelle Dixon Human White Hetero Good Dead
Chola Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Greta Simpson Human White Hetero Good Dead
Cheri Westin Human White Hetero Good Alive
Kacy Corbin Human White Hetero Good Alive
Lost
Name Species Race Sexuality Role Redeemed Status
Sun Kwon Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Kate Austen Human White Hetero Good Alive
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 67
Claire Littleton Human White Hetero Both Yes Alive
Juliet Burke Human White Hetero Evil/Good Yes Dead
Shannon Rutherford
Human White Hetero Good Dead
Ana Lucia Cortez Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Illana Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Libby Human White Hetero Good Dead
Rose Nadler Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Charlotte Lewis Human White Hetero Good Dead
Danielle Rousseau Human White Hetero Good Dead
Alex Rousseau Human White Hetero Good Dead
Nikki Fernandez Human White Hetero Good Dead
Penelope WidmoreHuman White Hetero Good Alive
Naomi Dorrit Human POC Hetero Unclear Dead
Cindy Chandler Human White Hetero Good Alive
Diane Jansen Human White Hetero Good Alive
Sarah Human White Hetero Good Alive
Carmen Reyes Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Nadia Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Eloise Hawking Human White Hetero Evil Unclear Alive
Cassidy Phillips Human White Hetero Good Alive
Amy Goodspeed Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Bea Klugh Human POC Hetero Evil Dead
Carole Littleton Human White Hetero Good Alive
Zoe Human White Hetero Good Dead
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 68
Mrs. Palk Human POC Hetero Good Alive
Nadia Jazeem Human POC Hetero Good Dead
Findings
Women Dead Percentage
Total 207 88 43%
White 153 53 35%
POC 53 19 36%
Queer 6 3 50%
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 69
Television Episode List
Abrams, J. (Creator). (2004). Lost [Television series]. ABC Studios.
Grillo-Marxuach, J. & Dick, L. (Writers), Williams, S. (Director). (2005). Collision.
Lindelof, D. & Cuse, C. (Writers), Lanueville, E. (Director). (2005). The other
48 days.
Berman, R., Michael, P. & Taylor, J. (Creators). (1995). Star Trek: Voyager
[Television series]. Paramount Television.
Conway, J. (Director). (1996). Death wish.
Burger, R. (Writer), Kroeker, A. (Director). (2000). Fair Haven.
Piller, M. (Writer), Kolbe, W. (Director). (1996). Basics: part 2.
Taylor, J. (Writer), Livingston, D. (Director). (1998). Hunters.
Taylor, J. (Writer), Singer, A. (Director). (1996). Resolutions.
Cameron, J. (Writer). (2008). Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles [Television
series]. 20th Century Fox Television.
Chaidez, N. (Writer), & Alcalá, F. (Director). (2008). Earthlings welcome
Here.
Friedman, J. (Writer), & Nutter, D. (Director). (2008). Pilot.
Goldberg, I. (Writer), & Rohl, M. (Director). (2008). What he beheld.
Greenwalt, D. & Whedon, J. (Creators). (1999). Angel [Television series]. WB
Television Network.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 70
DeKnight, S. (Writer & Director). (2003). Inside out.
Craft, E. & Fain, S. (Writers), Grabiak, M (Director). (2003). Shiny happy
people.
Moore, R. & Eick, D. (Writers). (2004). Battlestar Galactica [Television series]. Sci-
Fi Channel.
Eick, D. (Writer), Mimica-Gezzan, S. (Director). (2005). Home part 1.
Graphia, T. (Writer), Turner, B. (Director). (2004). Flesh and bone.
Moore, R. (Writer), Mimica-Gezzan, S. (Director). (2006). Occupation.
Moore, R. (Writer), Mimica-Gezzan, S. (Director). (2006). Precipice.
Robinson, C. (Writer), Pate, J. (Director). (2005). Colonial day.
Robinson, C. (Writer), Hardy, R. (Director). (2005). The farm
Vlaming, J. (Writer), & Mimica-Gezzan, S. (Director). (2006). The captain’s
hand.
Weddle, D. & Thompson, B. (Writers), Woolnough, J. (Director). (2005).
Hand of god.
Yorkin, N. (Writer), Mimica-Gezzan, S. (Director). (2005). Fragged.
Moore, R. (Writer), Alcalá, F. (Director). (2007). Battlestar Galactica: Razor
[Television Broadcast]. Sci-Fi Channel.
Moore, R. & Larson, G. (Writers). (2003). Battlestar Galactica: The Mini Series
[Television series]. Sci-Fi Channel.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 71
Rockne S. O’Bannon (Creator). (1999). Farscape [Television series]. Nine Network
Australia & Sci-Fi Channel.
Simon, D. (Creator). (2002). The Wire [Television series]. Home Box Office.
Thomas, R. (Creator). (2004). Veronica Mars [Television series]. United Paramount
Network.
Whedon, J. (Creator). (1997). Buffy the Vampire Slayer [Television series]. USA: WB
Television Network & United Paramount Network.
Fury, D. (Writer), & Contner, J. (Director). (1999). Choices.
Goddard, D. (Writer) & Gershman, M. (Director). (2003). Dirty girls.
Noxon, M. (Writer), & Gershman, M. (Director). (1999). Consequences.
Whedon, J. (Writer), & Smith, C. (Director). (1997). Welcome to the hellmouth.
Whedon, J. (Creator). (2002). Firefly [Television series]. 20th Century Fox Television.
Whedon, J. (Writer & Director). (2002). Serenity.
Whedon, J. (Creator). (2009). Dollhouse [Television series]. 20th Century Fox
Television.
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 72
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“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” 75
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You”: Strong Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy
Television by Anita Sarkeesian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
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