Damsel in distress roles in the media: should they still be a thing?
Society is changing more than ever now, especially women’s roles. Women nowadays are more independent, outspoken, and strong-willed. We now have many feminist movements taking place, such as the Women’s March and the #MeToo Movement. The most recent superhero blockbusters such as Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel were female-led. Even the mostly male-dominated Avengers: Endgame took time to show all the heroines (that’s right, just the heroines) fighting together! Hollywood actresses nowadays won’t hesitate to take “empowered woman” roles and always go on and on about how they love representing women as being just as brave and strong as, if not more than, men. Which raises the rhetorical question: should damsel in distress roles even still be a thing?
Regardless of the generation we grew up in, we’ve seen the vast differences between how men and women are portrayed in movies, TV shows, commercials, magazine ads, books, video games, and or any other form of media ever since birth. Take Disney princess movies, for instance. Boys will notice how many of the male characters are brave, strong, powerful, and always saving the day. Girls will take not of how the princesses are in need of rescuing by a man. Bottom line is, being male means that you must always be in charge, save the day, be the one to destroy the bad guy and find the treasure, (Bates, 2016 ) and that romantic relationships aren’t as high priority as the aforementioned and that being female means you must always be the helpless damsel in distress whose only life goal is finding your Prince Charming or Mr. Right. But one term stands out in particular: damsel in distress.
Damsel in distress…damsel in distress…hmm…what does it mean exactly?
“Damsel in distress” might as well be the term that is every feminist’s kryptonite. She is the young and beautiful woman in world literature, art, film, and video games who is in constant need of rescuing by the male hero (What does “damsel in distress” mean? , n.d.). She will often provide motivation for and soften up the one-dimensional knight-in-shining-armor hero. Other times she will elicit an exasperated eye-roll, especially from stronger women. (Black, 2017)
The damsel in distress role imparts the notion that women must be unable to or reluctant to do something about the sticky situations that they get into, so a man can help them out of it. Even in children’s movies, little girls get the message that when they’re in trouble, they shouldn’t worry, not because they can be capable of being more self-sufficient and taking care of themselves, but because some handsome stranger will come and rescue them (Stereotype of the Day: The Damsel in Distress , 2013). And even with action girls dominating both the big and small screens more than ever nowadays, the distressed damsel continues to make the occasional appearance here and there. Which leads us to her foil: the action girl.
The action girl actively defies the “women stay in the kitchen” mindset that is associated with traditional female gender roles. She actually participates in the action and conflict taking place in the story instead of just doing nothing more than sitting around, looking pretty, letting the hero save them from the dragon, riding into the sunset with him, or making him a sandwich. She is not afraid of getting her hands dirty and kicking just as much, if not more, ass than her male cast members. (Stereotype of the Day: The Action Girl, 2013)
Now that we have discussed feminism in fiction, this leads us back to reality: are feminists real-life damsels in distress even though they’re against everything they stand for?
Even though gender equality is now more ubiquitous than ever, women are better at portraying themselves as victims than the media ever did. Which is highly contradictory since they want to be seen as strong, independent individuals. Feminism is supposed to be all about both female and male inclusion but that is only true when it is convenient. Metaphorically speaking, women can’t take care of themselves (be confident with who they are) and need a man to “save” them by believing in women’s rights and or not acting chauvinistic. For example, a woman says she wants to pay for her own dinner but come evening, she complains that chivalry is dead. A wife will complain that her husband did not do a job her way but only to say to him “You started it, you finished it,” acquiescing with her own words that came before he even got started: “My way is better.”
Petty arguments over sex and patriarchy are all for what end? To assert that females need the dominant sex to believe in what they believe in in order for them to be their “knight in shining armor” or that men are the real damsels in distress who need a big, strong woman to rescue them?
Feminists play the role of the radical rebel with their slogan trees and give credence not just to the equally victimized women they march with but to all inferior women. As if these women did not know how to stand up for themselves already. (Wiggins, 2018)
Feminism is keen on defying any level attributed to femininity, including being physically or emotionally needy, even when a female isn’t being held hostage by a dragon or creepy mastermind. Women were created women, and men created men. There is nothing wrong with being a feminist if it means women with equal opportunity. There shouldn’t be an issue with women identifying as female and as a feminist at the same time. It only becomes an issue when they have victim mentality when they don’t want to be seen as helpless anymore. In fact, it may come as a shock to many feminists, but they can use some feminine traits as strengths as well.
Bottom line is, if women want to feel more empowered and equal to men now, they should only focus on that instead of flying off the handle when someone calls them out for their feminism.
References:
Girl Up (2016) by Laura Bates
Google (People also ask)
What does “damsel in distress” mean? (Pop Culture by Dictionary.com)
https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/damsel-in-distress/
All You Need to Know About the Classic Damsel in Distress by Valeria Black (published Jun. 28, 2017)
Stereotype of the Day: The Damsel in Distress (published May 17, 2013)
http://stereotypeoftheday.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-damsel-in-distress.html
Stereotype of the Day: Action Girl (published May 14, 2013)
http://stereotypeoftheday.blogspot.com/2013/05/action-girl.html
Men and Women Should Know A Feminist Can’t Be An Independent Woman and a Damsel in Distress by Brent Mitchell Wiggins (published Sep. 18, 2018)
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/feminist-independent-woman-damsel-distress
