Top 6 Ways to Undermine Your Female Hero Part 2
Part Two: In which we discuss how the Damsel in Distress trope has evolved and how it's still present in our stories today.
2. The Damsel In Distress
The trope being discussed today is one of the classics. It is also one of the most heavily discussed in older feminist critique (most prominently regarding the Disney princesses). This is because the “Damsel in Distress” is the most traditional role for a woman in traditional storytelling, and particularly in the action/adventure flick. Princess Leia was revolutionary, you see, because she was a damsel in distress who saved herself. Most other ladies of her time were not so lucky. But things have changed, right? Or at least, one would think that this trope had been buried years ago, but alas, it is not so. Instead of dying out, the ‘Damsel in Distress’ has evolved into a more subtle form. The new trope relies heavily on the failure of writers to ‘show, not tell.’ What this means is that, now, instead of having women waiting to be rescued by men, such as the women of the Indiana Jones films (or the Disney princesses), we have women who we are told are "strong" but who fail to be shown as competent in an organic way. The new Damsel in Distress is a woman who is said to be powerful, maybe even the most powerful character in the story, but is still ultimately either saved by men or becomes a victim to them. Often, her own power is the source of her ‘distress,’ as if powerful women were unstable women by default (otherwise known as women who need to be controlled by men).
For example, where Leia was given both smarts and agency in the original Star Wars trilogy, the female lead of the prequels, Padme Amidala, is reduced to a mere figurehead; a one-dimensional love-interest. We are told she is powerful, talented and vastly intelligent, but she is rarely shown to be, particularly in the third installment of the trilogy. Ultimately, her character is passive in terms of the plot, and in Revenge of the Sith (2005), she becomes the classic damsel in distress when her own husband attempts to kill her, but she is then saved by another man (Obi-Wan Kenobi) only to die of heartbreak over Anakin's fall to the dark side. While we could have had thrilling scenes showing off Padme’s political prowess and her keen insights into the situation with the obviously evil Palpatine (which would have added great depth to the trilogy’s plot) all we got were scenes of her standing around looking pretty and waiting for Anakin to come home. The origins of Darth Vader were always meant to be a tragedy, but ultimately, Padme’s wasted potential as a character is infinitely more tragic than Anakin Skywalker’s temper tantrums ever were. Interestingly, Padme fulfills this new Damsel in Distress trope by both falling victim to and being saved by a man, as well as giving us the perfect example of the “Women in Refrigerators” trope.
The X-Men films took the trope a step further with the character of Jean Grey, or Dark Phoenix. Ostensibly the most powerful character in the X-Men universe, Jean Grey is often a source of grave concern for the men in her life. In X2: X-Men United (2003) she uses her powers and sacrifices herself in order to save the team (and to further develop Wolverine and Cyclops' character arcs). The third film in the franchise, The Last Stand (2006), takes away any form of heroism Jean’s sacrifice may have had by informing us that Professor X, an old white man, has been telepathically controlling and manipulating her since her childhood in order to save her from the “beast,” which is what he calls her alternate, more powerful personality (which is predictably also the more sexually liberated one). The "beast" within Jean saves her from death. But at the end of the film, having grown more powerful and violent than ever, having given in to this “beast,” Jean begs Wolverine to kill her so that she may be free of it and her pain may come to an end. If we connect the dots of Jean's tragic life, we are given to understand that she was so powerful that she needed a man to control her and her powers since she was a child; and when that did not work, she needed a man to save her by killing her, because women, even phenomenally powerful women, are still damsels in distress. They are still the victims, even of their own power.
In all fairness, there is a lot more to the story and aspects of Jean’s powers, but the problem comes into play when this limiting of female heroes’ power, their ability to handle it, and their victimisation become a pattern in film culture. Again, one would think that this is a dated kind of story arc, but has anyone seen Raven in 2018’s Titans? Daenerys in Game of Thrones? Or Vanya in season one of The Umbrella Academy (2019), who appears to be so powerful that, unable to handle it, she succumbs to this power — which is equated with her ‘lower nature’ (read: confident and liberated) — and thus leaves the male heroes scrambling to find a way to fight and/or save her? Or Scarlet Witch, whose inability to control her powers forms the basis of the conflict in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Wandavision (2021), even though Thor seemed to have no problem coping with his newfound lightning powers the second he got them in Thor: Ragnarok (2017)? There are also female heroes who are painted as “women who kick ass,” but who still can’t seem to manage to get through the plot without being saved, controlled, or victimised by the men in the film — heroes and villains alike. For example, as the strongest Force user, Rey from the Star Wars sequels sacrifices herself to defeat the ever enduring Palpatine, only to be brought back to life by Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, who spent the previous three films trying to persuade her to join him in massacring people and to whom Rey now owes her life (which effectively transforms her from the hero of the story into a damsel to be saved). Mako Mori in Pacific Rim (2013), a woman who is professedly the most eligible candidate to pilot the Jaeger, is somehow still unable to do so without leading man Riley holding her hand (or without her adoptive father’s permission, for reasons). And Gamorra from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is murdered in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) at the hands of the ‘man’ who abused her and her sister their whole lives, but her sacrifice ultimately ends up serving as character development only for that particular man. All in all, this is only a small set of examples, but the point is that the Damsel in Distress trope is alive and well, and still worryingly prevalent no matter how much we power our female heroes up. In fact, the more power we seem to give women, as evidenced by most of these examples, the more lethal the consequences for them.
Wonder Woman has been the first glimmer of hope we’ve had to defeat this trope. Diana is a powerful woman who is in control of herself and is victim to no-one; she needs no rescuing, especially not from herself. If you think about it, the need to violently subdue powerful female characters and justifying it by framing the woman as a victim of her own power is horrifically twisted. As a storytelling practice, it essentially keeps the witch-hunts of the Renaissance and the Reformation periods alive because, really, what is the difference? Even centuries after women were burned alive for being witches, our stories continue to openly despise the very idea of a powerful woman who is non-submissive and non-conforming to the patriarchy. Except now, in a relatively more politically correct climate, being openly misogynist is no longer viable. It is much more palatable to insist that these poor women are not at fault because it is not they who are evil, but rather their power that corrupted them (a la Daenerys Targaryen, Jean Grey and Vanya Hargreeves). The (male) storytellers and filmmakers of today do not hate women, they just hate women who shamelessly dare to be powerful. Thus, the Damsel in Distress is no longer only a passive victim of the villain as she was in former times (although the numbers of fridged, raped and murdered wives and girlfriends is still preposterous), but rather a victim of herself. Woe betide any female hero who enjoys her power a little too much, or we might just have to kill her. (The poor thing.)
By R. Jordan Ortiz
Coming next week, the classic superhero trope of… The Tragic Origin! Stay tuned :D