Sunday, May 26, 2013

A Feminist Critique of Ms.Sara Bellum

I've made a discovery! Kinda...you know how now we realize all these subliminal messages in the old cartoons/ movies we used to watch as kids? Like how Shaggy from Scooby Dooby Doo is actually a huge pot head? lol Well heres a few things about Ms. Sara Bellum, it's completely right wing I admit but still interesting. And as always, tell me your thoughts :) ( ask.fm/askShourouk)

Ms. Sara Bellum

As a character in the Cartoon series ‘The Power Puff Girls’, Ms. Sara Bellum is the Mayor’s very competent, statuesque, and redhead right-hand assistant who often handles things the Mayor can’t, which is practically everything. The multi-stereotypical face is never revealed on screen, clearly producing a gaze that objectifies women as it shapes the minds of the youngsters to believe that you don’t need a ‘head’ in order to be successful.
Among eyes Ms. Bellum is a common predilection because of her sexy appearance. The hyper-feminist has an ‘Hour-Glass’ shaped body that the majority of men dream about. Simply constructed from a thin waist (the base); making its way up to large breasts or down to her round hips and toned butt, her body is considered as full. Characters in the cartoon often claim that she is very beautiful (Pro.  Utonium is always stunned and usually weakened in her presence) which makes sense because all her features are ‘long’ which is considered beautiful or attractive now, and apparently when the cartoon was being produced. She is a tall woman with long legs, hair, nails, and also a long neck which is said to be beautiful as is symbolizes a horse’s neck. Ms. Bellum with her perfect lady-like posture always struts herself in a pair of red (the color of seduction) heels, a short skin-tight skirt, a golden necklace, and a black belt to make her tight, slightly revealing business vest even tighter. Whenever in the center of attention an object has to cover her face or just her great deal of curly red hair does the job. But what impact does this have on the viewer and did it affect our society today? Yes, the girl eyes staring at screens know that since they are smart they will have a successful future but because of Ms. Bellum they now think that there success won’t come a long unless they have the exact appearance as Ms. Bellum, including the incorrect fact that what matters is what’s going on from the neck down. This applies to the society today as millions women who were never able to climb up to the standard of ‘Ms. Bellum’, end up feeling incomplete, unconfident, not good enough, or just the plain old unattractive loser who was never able to have the highlight of correcting a teacher while she glows emitting her beauty. She also indirectly teaches a type of seduction to kids in one episode through teaching ‘The Power Puff Girls’ to be nice the ‘Rowdyruff Boys (villains)’ (in other words, kiss them) instead of fighting to destroy them which ended up working. Furthermore, Ms. Bellum is also the reason why men only focus on women’s bodies because that’s exactly what she did. She taught the once young boys to only focus on what underneath the head because that is what is important.
At first Ms. Bellum is seen as a sex object, ironically until she speaks, even though her voice sounds insouciant. Matching her appearance Ms. Bellum’s tone is kept constant while her throaty, alluring, and quite unruffled voice displays her intellectual side. While it’s hard to believe that as she says stuff like ‘It’d be my pleasure…’ her “Do tell…’s” show the stereotype of a very successful woman were her only super power is her high intelligence. Unfortunately, this does criticize the patriarchal structure or the society because distinctly she is the brains of the Mayor operations, deserving his position. Yet she’s just an assistant to the dumb unproductive male just because being Mayor is defined as ‘a male job’ like being the president. In one episode she expresses an obsessive attachment to the Mayor after he died, proving that she is in love with him which easily connects to the society now as usually the assistant ends up falling for her Boss or vis versa.

The gaze of Ms. Bellum strongly objectifies women as it teaches youngsters to judge from the head down and that it is only possible to be ‘something’ high in life if you have ‘The Look’. Although, no-matter what your IQ is men remain inferior to women, and women have to stay trapped under their planned authority. Who knew a headless woman in a cartoon for kids could explain today’s society moreover; engrave such a huge impact in the world today, huh?

No comments:

Post a Comment