Support Boys In Magical Girl

Apr 06, 2014 11:42

At Battle Fantasia MUSH, we made the executive decision to be (at risk of sounding a little silly) a little more egalitarian than the Patriarchy, and allow the Support Boys of the mahou shoujo genre to start at Master Rank C if they wanted to. Tuxedo Mask. Yuuno Scrya. Fakir. Leafe Knight Hayate.

But in doing so, we definitely risk losing something.

What all of these concepts have in common is an inability to get the superpowered job done without the magical girls. They aren't Supergirl; they're Lois Lane. They're Aunt May. There's really no question of this, narratively. Even if they have some combat ability, you will NEVER see them finish off a youma, much less be the one who permanently defeats a lieutenant or dark queen. Occasionally they're at the magical girl's side for those final fights, supporting her with the strength of their shared love, but you could NEVER just erase Sailor Moon, substitute in Tuxedo Mask, and expect an equivalent result. And regardless, much more often, the picture looks more like this, which is perhaps the most iconic finale picture in the whole genre:



And if you drew the Support Boy into that picture, had him looming in the back, cape flaring, or reaching in from the side, his hand tenderly wrapping around that of the Moon Princess, it would be inferior for the change, because she doesn't need him in that way to get the job done. That matters. In Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask dies or turns almost every season, which is generally what drives Sailor Moon herself to the extremes that give her finales tension. In Nanoha, Yuuno occasionally casts some chains to help hold the bad guy down, but it's Nanoha who punches. In Princess Tutu, Fakir first wields a sword, and then, a mightier pen, but it's Duck who makes the sacrifices. In Pretear, Hayate tries to prevent Himeno from fighting in the finale because he doesn't want to let her get hurt, and things get so totally direly out of hand that she finds her true inner strength and miraculously Prets alone, saving everyone.

Why?

Because magical girl isn't just about role equality -- it's about role reversal. The magical girls save each other, and they save the faceless masses, but inevitably, they also save their damsels in distress, who are often male. And that's okay! Magical girl is a female power fantasy very much the equal of the male power fantasies (eg, 'essentially every other genre out there'), and that isn't just 'okay', it's healthy, it's important. It fills a cultural need that is denied in almost every other venue.

The Support Boy may get something accomplished in the clutch, but, in comics terms, their narrative strengths just aren't the same as Superman's. They shine brightest in other arenas. Usually that arena includes 'emotional maturity' (just like Lois, ha ha). They are almost always the dominant emotional partner in their relationship, the one who dictates the terms, the one who initiates the break-up-and-get-back-together beats (which is already generous of the magical girl genre, because in most venues, the hero rescuing the princess is usually emotionally dominant as well, she just falls into his arms, and if she even accidentally betrays him, he'll leave her on the spot). He's the one who provides exposition, who keeps secrets about the supernatural world because they don't want to worry their magical girl, or because they feel she can't handle the truth. He usually has more financial independence, and more independence from authority figures like parents, in general. He's usually older, which, in a story about kids, provides tons of leverage and narrative respect all on its own! If the Support Boys didn't need the magical girls' power in the supernatural arena, the magical girls wouldn't have much left to offer, because their supporters almost always have them beat in every other way. They are great students, wise and knowledgeable, committing far fewer social blunders, or at least the blunders of the aloof and superior kind.

And when the Support Boys take the field as the magical girls' combat equals, it definitely shifts the dynamic in an important, and potentially deeply problematic way, given their other narrative advantages. It's possible to do it well -- to be Master Rank C in the name of the fairness and fun of rolling dice with similar modifiers, but to also make sure that it's clear, in the greater narrative, at the critical moment, that they need rescue. That they just don't really fight for love and justice on the same level, or at least not in the same way, as the girls, especially when it matters most. The magical girls need their support, but they need the girls' strength.

That doesn't mean they aren't impossibly handsome, helpful badasses. They have epic duels with Zoisite, with Mytho, with Sasame (which is, let's face it, an inversion of the Cat Fight that pairs the Chick in the movie up against their opposite number on the other side). Agency doesn't have to be a zero-sum game: Support Boys should be incredible in their own arenas. They have their own strengths, the dramatic expression of which does not threaten magical girl agency in any way, such as emotional support, supernatural exposition, and logistical expertise. They should provide the resources that they have and others don't, that are uniquely theirs to give, be it money, knowledge, insight, inspiration or a really nice drive in their car.

But they shouldn't try to beat the magical girls at their own game. The Support Boy can and should have a lot of days in the sun, wielding their roses, staves, and swords at the side of their heroine. But the theme-defining moments of the Support Boy should be celebrated, not kicked under the rug as some kind of embarrassment. Tuxedo Mask's main narrative role, whether he's present as himself, as a bad guy, or as a corpse, is to help Sailor Moon reach and exercise her full potential. Yuuno begs Nanoha to do what he can't and seal the Jewel Seeds, and gives her his powerful magical staff in service of that shared goal, because she has infinitely more potential with it than he does. Fakir can neither return the Heart Shards nor reach the hearts of the people; only Duck can do that, while he's forced to write from the sidelines, vitally assisting her in the story, but tortured that he can't do so more directly. Hayate shoots his mouth off, but NEEDS THE PRETEAR. That's the point of the story!

And while the character Rescue is a triumph, helping Pepper Potts stand beside Tony Stark; while superpowering Lois or Aunt May (or Princess Hilda, or Princess Sara, or Princess Peach, or Princess Zelda, or Relena Peacecraft, or...) can be done really well, as something of a cultural victory, that's because the stories that pop culture promotes have been written and told by men about men for men almost exclusively for hundreds of years. This doesn't actually work in both directions, as tempting as it is to pretend otherwise. A Support Boy who doesn't need help from his Magical Girl, dramatically so, at least every once in a while, is denying that girl agency as a heroine. There are an essentially infinite number of bildungsroman stories in which the boys save the day (and the girl!). There are a tiny handful of the inverse. They need our love and support.

Men are welcome to enjoy magical girl, but they shouldn't try to take it over. Especially not as one of the Support Boys -- anyone who can't handle the great responsibility that comes with the great powers of being this glamorous ideal boyfriend should really consider apping a Rival Boy instead, like Chrono Harlaown or Syaoran Li, or one of the legion of male villains (and in either case, be ready to still get blown away or otherwise thwarted, by the Magical Girls' power of love instead of the power of combat expertise). If it's a pure expression of lovebeam agency that they're looking for, they could app a totally original Magical Boy, and invest in the same genre drawbacks as the Magical Girls, like being grounded by your parents, and never having enough allowance, and bad grades, and lack of knowledge about the supernatural, and being insecure about your relationship.

But please don't deny the Magical Girls their damsels in distress. Saving your love interest (or other supporting character) is a hell of a feeling -- that's why it shows up everywhere. Girls deserve to feel it too.

Additional Reading
On The Importance Of Magical Girl:
http://unsurpassedtravesty.tumblr.com/post/43634606092/missturdle-on-the-importance-of-magical-girl

At The Movies, The Women Are Gone:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/14/191568762/at-the-movies-the-women-are-gone

Moderately relevant, though not one-to-one, racial example:
http://timemachineyeah.tumblr.com/post/58648290519/this-is-a-jar-full-of-major-characters

battle fantasia, damsels in distress, feminism

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