Magical Girls as Metaphor: Why coded queer narratives still have value
July 22, 2020 10:41 PM   Subscribe

 
Is this the thread where we get to talk about She-Ra?
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:07 AM on July 23, 2020 [8 favorites]


Magicals girls were queer far earlier than ten years ago! God bless Revolutionary Girl Utena (the tapes for which I had to rent from the local comic book store), Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sailor Moon who were formative to my baby lesbian heart. Anyway can't wait to read this!
posted by wellifyouinsist at 9:58 AM on July 23, 2020 [9 favorites]


This is great.
In that vein, then, the narrative drive of both magical girl and idol anime, built around women and relationships between women, exemplifies what one might refer to as a lesbian narrative structure. Indeed, men and boys are almost entirely absent in magical girl and idol anime; and where they are present, they are certainly not central.
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:14 AM on July 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


Sara Khan is considering writing her dissertation comparing She-Ra to Utena, so I think they're fair comparisons, though She-Ra in particular ends up being a bit more "explicit" and less "coded" than some of the things this article discusses.
posted by one for the books at 11:38 AM on July 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


If you're into tabletop RPGs of the Apocalypse World variety, I recommend checking out Andrew Gillis' Girl by Moonlight.

Girl by Moonlight is a multi-genre RPG of Magical Girls grappling with destiny: hopes thwarted, defended, redeemed, and betrayed. It explores the heartbreak of denying who you really are, fighting for what you believe in, and the transcendent power of relationships and community. These Magical Girls clutch their tragic struggles tight, seeking to score defiant triumphs against the darkness of an oppressive society.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 3:03 PM on July 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


If you love you some magical girls, check out Sleepless Domain, it has all the ridiculous clothes, friendship, love and darkness you could ask for.
posted by emjaybee at 4:35 PM on July 23, 2020 [3 favorites]


I was caught by the title's subject of "coded" queer narratives. I throughly enjoyed the article though I'm not queer, nor an animaniac. Haha. I do enjoy reading the continental philosophers who write about representation, meaning and structure. I have watched episodes of the X-Files and asked myself, Huh? (unable to decode the story). And, I have experienced deep emotions reading stories from authors, who I only later discovered are in their personal lives homosexual. (life can be complex for everyone, who knew!? Haha Our personal lives inform our art. Yay!). Diary, 2003 novel by Chuck Palahniuk comes to mind.

I'm terribly interested in the topic of coded narratives and very much a novice. I read the article, and even wrote down each of the tropes as I went along:

- Transformation into fully realized self enable character to contribute to society

- Weakness becomes strength

- Choosing your 'family' for love and support

- Developing trust and understanding with peers

That's just the first few. I believe I'm on to the author's intent because the author repeats (very helpfully) at the end the words: transformation, better world, growth, solidarity.

Yet, I'm not reading these themes as inherently 'queer'. The 'de-centering' of men from narrative is also a feminist trope. Where is the author providing us with an understanding of coded narratives? I think the clue is at the end of the third paragraph:

"To understand ... requires thinking _beyond_ representation; it requires thinking about structure."

Later when the author talks about narrative resolution going "from the positive, affirming ending to something bordering on the 'psycho lesbian' trope.", I read this _resolution_ as potentially subversive of earlier values (which might be in a narrative). It's another discussion to talk about whether I misunderstood the 'psycho lesbian' trope, or if it actually undermines queer narratives (in any story). The sentence did give rise to the notion the _structure_ of these tropes constitutes the 'code' of queerness within a narrative. If you don't relate to the individual elements (I would like to say signifiers), then you will miss the subtext--you miss the payoff a queer auditor enjoys. This is the stated theme of the article (explicit v coded, confirmed v vague allusions to queerness). Wow.

If I have one criticism, it's the polysemous use of the word 'structure'. The author's third paragraph promise of structure over representation becomes muted (for me) by later use referring to society as 'structure of the world' or as character's arc (personal goal->conflict->perseverance) which is a classic narrative structure. Both of these uses seem to diverge from the meaning of structure I take from the continental philosophers who speak explicitly about structure as organizing signifiers to convey meaning. (I'm not going to quibble about "centering" and meaning, and instead I'm just happy to see it in mentioned. Haha).

Any thoughts from other writer's who also enjoy Structuralism's influence on narrative (literature)?
posted by xtian at 9:34 AM on July 25, 2020


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