As little girls, a typical wish list for super-heroines we wanted to be included Barbie, Jem and She-Ra. My friends would fight over who got to "be" whom for the day. I, however, never had an issue with these "good" girls. Though I watched their shows and played with their action figures, the characters who were of real interest to me were the ones with the darker, more intricate storylines. The real heroines to me were the ones who had to struggle to be seen and heard.
My favorite was Pizzazz and her band, The Misfits. (For those of you not born in the 80s, she was the nemesis to Jem and the Holograms.) Basic plot: fighting between the bands and the girls over one boy and who was going to top the charts. Very important stuff.
Pizzazz, like most of the "evil" characters, was so much cooler. She definitely had the sexier costumes - darker shades, eyeliner and hair. Bad girls were always so focused on a goal, and really had to fight for themselves. They were always painted as being the bitch, but the need and portrayal of their fight was so compelling.
Sadly, their fight was generally with other women. I understood the focus and ambition of wanting to be the best, but I didn't want to play the game of stepping on other women in order to have my dreams come true.
One woman's success is not another woman's failure.
The girl Pizzazz was up against, our star, was Jem, was viewed as being perfect. We were supposed to cheer for her. She was pale, blonde, and always clad in pink. And, take their names: Jem and the Holograms? A hologram is basically an optical illusion - thereby, a fake! Pizzazz's band, The Misfits? A group of people who are outcasts, whose lead singer's name is, by definition, "an attractive combination of vitality and glamour"? Why wouldn't I want to be Pizzazz?
Why was I so much more intrigued by these "evil" characters?
It all goes back to the question: what is good and what is evil? Who makes that decision for all of us, and what makes one woman's goal more acceptable than another woman's goal? I always wanted to know the story behind the need of the evil girl. What happened to her to make her so miserable? Why did she feel that the only way to get ahead was to diminish the girl who was generally considered to be "good," pretty and sweet?
Why were we taught by our childhood cartoons that to be competitive and powerful meant being evil and, at the end of the episode, punished?
These women were focused, powerful and sexy. I love that they were my favorites. I want to collaborate to create characters for our current little girls to grow up wanting to be; characters who have the qualities of these "evil" 80s villains - focus, drive, power - but without the added cruelty that makes them destroy other women in order to achieve their goals.
Wouldn't it have been cool if Pizzazz joined forces with Jem and created a killer concert tour? (Lilith Fair!) Here's my challenge to all you brilliant writers and show runners out there: create more characters like these girls, and let them get what they want. I'm here to read and collab.
Jem & the Holograms, I haven't thought about that show in ages! I think there was a really similar dynamic in Josie and the Pussycats too (the earlier incarnation of the girl-band cartoon), where the rivalry is between two groups that really would do better if they collaborated instead.
Now that I have a daughter who loves the "bad guys" more than then protagonists, this post makes me feel better about that, and less like she'll grow up to be an evil genius!
Posted by: tiggrrl | October 19, 2009 at 11:20 AM