I just wonder whether this pattern is really a new development, the "damsel in transition" as a replacement for the damsel in distress. I still remember the Prydain Chronicles that I read as a child, where Eilonway starts out stronger and more clever than Taran, and in the end she's left home (going on adventures is not suitable for a princess), decides to follow the warriors, and ends up having to be rescued. The same goes for Li Si in "Jim Button" by Michael Ende: She wants to go on adventures too, but ends up having to be rescued. (I don't think you know that one, but it's a very popular children's book in Germany, and very good, but the blatant sexism is annoying.) I also remember that even as a child I found this annoying.
With Sakura from Naruto I recognize a pattern that I also know from Jim Button: The girl is more intelligent, or at least better educated than the boys, but it turns out that all she has learnt is useless when it comes to real adventures. Boys like the message, as they are normally worse at the kind of education and learning you need to succeed at school, but in the end, the message is detrimental to boys. So, boys may succeed better in manga, girls in RL...
Ah, and we have Karin in Naruto. She does the thinking while Sasuke does the fighting. And Konan is the only character who invested some time into planning before she set out to fight Madara...
You bring up an interesting point when you mention that Kishimoto manages to give the male supporting characters (Lee, Gaara, Shikamaru... ) interesting arcs that don't take away anything from the hero, but he is not able to do this with Sakura. I think that with Sakura there are two problems: She should be more important than Gaara and Lee and Shikamaru - she should be on par with Sasuke, when it comes to importance, or even Naruto himself - and then she would be a real threat to Naruto, just as Sasuke is (a lot of people complain that he has become stronger than Naruto and takes too much "panel time" from him.) But the real problem is probably that Kishimoto is not able to imagine any interesting emotional conflict for a girl that is not linked to a boy. It's only older women who have lost all their loved ones who are ready to sacrifice themselves for their village or the world, as Tsunade or Chiyo do, or now Konan. In Naruto only women who are too old to count as love interests have a chance to be strong fighters.
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Date: 25 Sep 2010 09:23 pm (UTC)With Sakura from Naruto I recognize a pattern that I also know from Jim Button: The girl is more intelligent, or at least better educated than the boys, but it turns out that all she has learnt is useless when it comes to real adventures. Boys like the message, as they are normally worse at the kind of education and learning you need to succeed at school, but in the end, the message is detrimental to boys. So, boys may succeed better in manga, girls in RL...
Ah, and we have Karin in Naruto. She does the thinking while Sasuke does the fighting. And Konan is the only character who invested some time into planning before she set out to fight Madara...
You bring up an interesting point when you mention that Kishimoto manages to give the male supporting characters (Lee, Gaara, Shikamaru... ) interesting arcs that don't take away anything from the hero, but he is not able to do this with Sakura. I think that with Sakura there are two problems: She should be more important than Gaara and Lee and Shikamaru - she should be on par with Sasuke, when it comes to importance, or even Naruto himself - and then she would be a real threat to Naruto, just as Sasuke is (a lot of people complain that he has become stronger than Naruto and takes too much "panel time" from him.) But the real problem is probably that Kishimoto is not able to imagine any interesting emotional conflict for a girl that is not linked to a boy. It's only older women who have lost all their loved ones who are ready to sacrifice themselves for their village or the world, as Tsunade or Chiyo do, or now Konan. In Naruto only women who are too old to count as love interests have a chance to be strong fighters.