Observing the rule of threes…

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Clint

Well, in this case actually more of a syndrome of threes. A Trinity Syndrome.

Don’t have time or inclination to read that link? Well, it’s an interesting article from June 2014 which points out an interesting aspect of how a “strong female character” can end up ultimately unsatisfying in a narrative, because in the end she ends up being sidelined or subverted in favor of the male protagonist. It’s named after Carrie-Anne Moss’s character Trinity from The Matrix, who starts off presented to us as an ultimate badass but it’s all downhill from there as Neo comes into his own. Another example brought up in the article is Wyldstyle from The Lego Movie, again introduced as someone ultra-competent that the buffoonish Emmett is awed by — but she isn’t the Chosen One, he is, and so by the end she’s relegated to a supporting role.

When you start thinking about it this is a trope that reoccurs time and time again in fiction. The bumbling nebbish of a man meets some beautiful exotic badass woman who doesn’t have the time of day for him at the beginning, but by the end he’s eclipsed her, saved the day, and almost always wins her love and adoration in the bargain. If that sounds like a fantasy scenario, oh boy howdy is it. Is there anything inherently wrong with that? Well, perhaps not, except that it’s overwhelmingly shown in that particular gender balance.

You see, the only sci-fi/fantasy example I’ve really thought of that does the same thing in reverse is the anime series Sailor Moon, where it’s the young girl who’s the scatterbrained incompetent protagonist having to be rescued at first by the mysterious and handsome Tuxedo Mask, until she eventually discovers her true destiny and ends up saving the world (and him).

Not coincidentally (as far as I’m concerned), Sailor Moon was created and written by a woman.

See, this is one of those things that reinforces my thought that men and women aren’t really alien creatures who can’t possibly understand the way the “other” thinks, because the hero’s journey works for (and speaks to) both genders if given the chance. Also, perhaps unfortunately, the Trinity Syndrome could apply in both cases, but in movies at least we still overwhelmingly see it with the man on the upward arc while the woman stays static or regresses, and at root that’s because most writers are men, writing from a male point of view.

I don’t even think it’s consciously sexist in most cases, it’s just much easier to tell a classic hero’s journey tale where everyone else is (or becomes) support. And it still resonates — but yet I fully understand the frustration that can be inherent in seeing your identified representation sidelined, especially if they were introduced looking really cool to start with. So in your own tales when you’ve got your aspiring young lad setting out towards his destiny and he meets that ultra-cool lady, maybe go over those bullet point questions in the article:

  1. After being introduced, does your Strong Female Character then fail to do anything fundamentally significant to the outcome of the plot? Anything at all?
  2. If she does accomplish something plot-significant, is it primarily getting raped, beaten, or killed to motivate a male hero? Or deciding to have sex with/not have sex with/agreeing to date/deciding to break up with a male hero? Or nagging a male hero into growing up, or nagging him to stop being so heroic? Basically, does she only exist to service the male hero’s needs, development, or motivations?
  3. Could your Strong Female Character be seamlessly replaced with a floor lamp with some useful information written on it to help a male hero?
  4. Is a fundamental point of your plot that your Strong Female Character is the strongest, smartest, meanest, toughest, or most experienced character in the story—until the protagonist arrives?
  5. …or worse, does he enter the story as a bumbling fuck-up, but spend the whole movie rapidly evolving past her, while she stays entirely static, and even cheers him on? Does your Strong Female Character exist primarily so the protagonist can impress her?
  6. It’s nice if she’s hyper-cool, but does she only start off that way so a male hero will look even cooler by comparison when he rescues or surpasses her?
  7. Is she so strong and capable that she’s never needed rescuing before now, but once the plot kicks into gear, she’s suddenly captured or threatened by the villain, and needs the hero’s intervention? Is breaking down her pride a fundamental part of the story?
  8. Does she disappear entirely for the second half/third act of the film, for any reason other than because she’s doing something significant to the plot (besides being a hostage, or dying)?

It’s at least worth keeping under observation.

4 thoughts on “Observing the rule of threes…”

  1. Mattexian

    Certainly an interesting point. The only strong female protagonist I can think of is Ridley from the “Alien” movies. I was waiting for one of the crew in “Prometheus” to take on Ridley’s role as strong character, feeling more than a little disappointed with the ending. Even then, the one female still seemed to spend half the movie as a cheerleader (comparitively) to the males.

    I suppose one might claim the lead female from “Resident Evil” is the strong protagonist, but as the sequels show, she was trained/engineered to be that way, not thru any character development. At least, as I understand the movies; I have a little trouble taking seriously any films based on a video game. I think that should include the Lara Croft/ Tomb Raider franchise.

  2. Clint

    Yeah, Alice (from Resident Evil) isn’t the deepest protagonist, nor is Selene from the Underworld movies. They at least don’t end up playing second fiddle in their own movies (that I know of) so it’s not really a Trinity Syndrome situation.

    As for Prometheus, ugh, that movie has so many problems it’s hard to even point at one in particular, but yeah, the leading lady didn’t really give off a strong vibe beyond I guess being able to do gymnastics after having her midsection cut open and crudely stapled back together.

  3. Otaku

    Um… Clint? Sir? Wyldstyle is a parody of Trinity, with The Lego Movie intentionally spoofing many aspects of The Matrix. Doesn’t seem right to count that twice, does it?

    I’m leading with that because it sets the tone. That was a pretty big clue that maybe something was being missed by the article… namely that this isn’t limited to female/male relationships and is to some degree someone LOOKING for a problem that isn’t there, or in this case isn’t the narrow focus that matches up to the writer’s personal interests and causes.

    This is something that happens in stories; the main character is presented as being inexperienced and/or incompetent and/or in some capacity “less” than another character, often with that other character serving as either a mentor, a rival, a friend, etc. to the main. While not always necessary, within the story there can be no choice but to have the more competent character decrease so that the less competent character can increase.

    This is due to the fact that the more competent character isn’t meant to be the main focus and there are only so many resources available, both in the real world with respect to things like story length and often in the setting. Sometimes you can simply elevate the main, originally less impressive character to the level of the initially competent character so that they are now equals, or even have the originally less impressive character exceed the initially competent character without diminishing said initially competent character, but it isn’t easy.

    There is also the need to keep the competent character real (relative to the setting). In real life, I’ve heard it said that you should only have heroes who are long dead so that they can’t disappoint you. Realistic characters are eventually going to make mistakes because that’s being real. Put it all together and it only makes sense that yeah, the initially competent character is going to decrease so the initially less impressive character can grow. Obi-Wan allows himself to be struck down to keep Vader distracted and so that as a Force ghost he can nag – I mean advice – Luke throughout the rest. Kyle Reese has to die so that Sarah Conner can finally rise up to becoming a strong, competent fighter herself instead of just the damsel that needs to be protected, destroying the Terminator that slaughtered so many in trying to murder her.

    Bad writing happens. I never watched The Matrix movies because the core concept wasn’t novel to me; I’d seen a much less impressive story use it and that killed some of the “cool” factor. I could enjoy the “style” aspects of it without seeing it so I never felt like I was missing out. Coming back to it now, it still doesn’t interest me and it looks less appealing than it did back then. I have read reviews of it and the ones that think it hasn’t aged well ring true… which relevant to this discussion makes it just that much more likely that Trinity isn’t the victim of sexism so much as bad writing (or of course, of both).

  4. Clint

    Yep, that’s why I said I don’t think there’s anything consciously sexist about the tendency, and brought up Sailor Moon as the counterexample. The problem is that’s the only counterexample I could think of; there continues to be an imbalance to the Force where pop culture is full of dude protagonists outgrowing and surpassing the mentor figures around them while the distaff examples are far rarer, at least for properties with big audience exposure like mainstream movies.

    You might have something there with Sarah Conner, since Kyle does have that ultra-cool badass mentor (and romantic) aspect. And yes, sometimes there’s arguable oversensitivity: if genders were swapped, would people look back on the movie, wrinkle their noses and declare Kyle was “fridged” for Sarah’s benefit? That’s technically what’s happening, right?

    But still, the average girl grows up with movies where the person on screen who resembles her doesn’t get to do much, or worse yet, seems like she’s going to be a big deal and then isn’t. The boy experiencing that feeling on occasion has any number of other fiction to move onto instead where his fantasies get fulfilled, whereas Ripley and Sarah Conner are still clung to 30 years down the line because they got that rare chance to be heroes.

    The questions being asked in the article aren’t something I advocate needs to be slavishly followed any more than the Bechdel Test. Just again, something to keep in mind, since for many many years questions like this weren’t even being considered.

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