Heroines

Blabbermouth tells Haroun, “You think it’s easy for a girl to get a job like this? Don’t you know girls have to fool people everyday of their lives if they want to get anywhere?” Blabbermouth pulls a Mulan and pretends that she is a guy so she can get the job as a Page. This is true because people do stereotype female heroines. Heroines are different than heroes because there is no damsel to save, and there is no girl to be won in the end. Most female heroines in our culture are valued because of their looks rather than their heroic actions. The first contemporary female hero that I can think of is HitGirl from the movie Kick-Ass. She is the first that comes to mind because she is the only female hero that I can think of that isn’t valued because of her sex appeal or outfit. Unlike heroes like Elektra or Silk Spectre, who wear skimpy wetsuits and are wooed over because of their sex appeal, HitGirl is a 12 year old girl that knows how to fight, use weapons, and defeat her enemies. What makes her a hero and effective is that fact that she is a hero for what she does, not because she is a little girl, or has any sex appeal whatsoever.