A Smurfette with Principles?

In film and media, a trope is a common pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in a character that conveys information to the audience.

In a New York Times article she wrote in 1991, the poet, Katha Pollit, identified a common problem with the portrayal of women in film and TV – there aren’t enough of them.  Pollit pointed out that even though women (obviously) make up half the population of the world, works of fiction with an ensemble cast – TV and film in particular but also books to some extent – very rarely have a 50/50 balance.  Indeed most often there is just one female added to the mix.

She named this The Smurfette Principle.

So what are the possible consequences of this scarcity of female characters in popular culture? Pollit suggests that this tendency has a huge impact on both boys and girls –

Little girls learn to split their consciousness, filtering their dreams and ambitions through boy characters while admiring the clothes of the princess. The more privileged and daring can dream of becoming exceptional women in a man’s world — Smurfettes. The others are being taught to accept the more usual fate, which is to be a passenger car drawn through life by a masculine train engine. Boys, who are rarely confronted with stories in which males play only minor roles, learn a simpler lesson: girls just don’t matter much. (1)

The Smurfette Principle holds true across the board, from Sesame Street and the Muppets to movies and TV programmes aimed at adults.

The message is clear. Boys are the norm, girls the variation; boys are central, girls peripheral; boys are individuals, girls types. Boys define the group, its story and its code of values. Girls exist only in relation to boys…”Let’s play weddings,” says my little niece. We grownups roll our eyes, but face it: it’s still the one scenario in which the girl is the central figure. (2)

There are exceptions to this (I knew there was a reason I loved Buffy!) but they’re rare. 

Now that I know about the Smurfette Principle I can see it everywhere – awareness is powerful.

It really makes you think…

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(1) Katha Pollit, Hers; The Smurfette Principle, New York Times, April, 07, 1991

(2) ibid

7 Comments

  1. I have been listening all week to radio ads for a golf tournament for “lady golfers” and wanting to throw the radio out the window.
    Regrettably, this didn’t start with popular culture – popular culture just allows us to see how extreme and stupid it is. Grrr.

  2. I have been listening all week to radio ads for a golf tournament for “lady golfers” and wanting to throw the radio out the window.
    Regrettably, this didn’t start with popular culture – popular culture just allows us to see how extreme and stupid it is. Grrr.

  3. I agree, Caroline – I’ve heard that ad. – seriously do you have to show pedigree papers to play? The thing for me was I would have been pretty sure that I’d notice stuff in movies etc and yet I didn’t really notice the Smurfette Principle until I read about it etc. I think popular culture is like a measure of attitudes as it reflects them more than creates them – but it most definitely perpetuates them.

    A lot of people think the Smurfette Principle still applies – this video is very interesting –
    http://youtu.be/opM3T2__lZA

    Seriously though, Caroline – bring back Buffy…

  4. I agree, Caroline – I’ve heard that ad. – seriously do you have to show pedigree papers to play? The thing for me was I would have been pretty sure that I’d notice stuff in movies etc and yet I didn’t really notice the Smurfette Principle until I read about it etc. I think popular culture is like a measure of attitudes as it reflects them more than creates them – but it most definitely perpetuates them.

    A lot of people think the Smurfette Principle still applies – this video is very interesting –
    http://youtu.be/opM3T2__lZA

    Seriously though, Caroline – bring back Buffy…

  5. I can think of many shows that follow this hypothesis:

    The Odd Couple ~ 2 guys
    Seinfeld ~ 3 & 1
    The Mary Tyler Moore Show
    Superman
    Batman & Robin

    And many that do NOT:

    Friends ~ 3 & 3
    Sex in the City ~ mostly women
    Everybody Loves Raymond ~ 3 & 2
    Archie Bunker ~ 2 & 2
    Home Improvement ~ Jill and Tim
    L.A. Law ~ strong female characters
    CSI ~ strong female characters

    It’s changing. Many men refuse to go to “chick flicks” . . . movie makers make fewer of those films because they appeal to a smaller pool.

    What if women refused to go to “dick flicks”??? 😉

    1. The thing that bothers me the most is that this contributes to the notion that the ‘standard’ for human beings is male – women are expected to model themselves on men by both men and women. Equality is seen as women becoming like men – I have to say I loved Legally Blonde for challenging that notion!

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