These Precious Things: Part Two

THESE PRECIOUS THINGS

A Feminist Critique of the Magical Girl Archetype as Seen in 

Puella Magi Madoka Magica 

 This is an analysis of the first season of the anime series, based on subtitles. I understand that this means it is being translated and some word meanings may change, so it is best to view this as a critique from my understanding of the story. That should go without saying, but sometimes people need to be reminded. Also, spoilers. If you don't like spoilers, do not continue reading.

PART ONE: Stock Girls with Vast Potential

"Now I wish to introduce the following idea. Between the age limits of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older than they, reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demoniac); and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as "nymphets." ~ Nobokov, Lolita

The story begins with Madoka Kaname, a 14 yr old girl who looks quite a bit younger than this. She has pink hair and pink eyes, but this seems to be normal for this world. She is having a deeply distorted nightmare where another girl is being attacked. A cute little white creature with big ears and pink eyes tells her she can save the girl and alter all reality if she just makes a contract with it (the creature) and becomes a magical girl. Madoka wakes up and assumes this is just a dream.

We meet her family, a toddler brother, a stay-at-home dad, and a mother who is a beautiful and successful career woman with a drinking problem. Drunk mamas are   a common motif in anime, but in this case, while Madoka's mother has issues with alcohol and occasionally gives crap advice, more often than not, she gives decent advice and seems truly concerned about her children.

Madoka goes to school and we begin to get what we believe will be the core of the color-coded Magical girl gang. Hitomi Shizuki is a shy girl with green hair and green eyes. Sayaka Miki is loud and has blue hair and eyes. This is all very typical of Magical Girl stories. Most of the time, the girls will have rather stock personalities (Shy Girl, Sweet Girl, Loud Girl, Brooding/Mysterious Girl, Nurturing Girl, and Aggressive Girl. Sometimes, we also get Hungry Girl or Horny Girl. Occasionally, these last two are combined with other traits, as they happen to be in this case).

Once they are at school, they meet Homura Akemi, a transfer student who looks just like the girl from Madoka's dreams. Homura has long black hair and dark purplish/blueish eyes. She is mysterious and brooding.  She seems angry when she sees Madoka, who seems to remember her from more than just the dream.  Later, aspects of the dream become more clear when Madoka and Sayaka find the cute little creature that spoke to her in the dream and meet another girl named Mami. Mami defeats a witch and confirms to them that yes, Magical Girls are real. The little creature, Kyubey, tells the two girls that they should join the ranks of the Magical Girls. They have vast potential for it.

It is in this concept of "vast potential" that we see our first metaphor for the lives of many young girls.  When a girl is born, she has potential, but for many years, this related only to herself. As girls age, however, their selves and their potential becomes less about them and more about how it can become a social asset. As girls begin to mature, their sense of objectification grows. People look at them in terms of what can be gained from them.

One of the side themes of Madoka is the fashion of the Lolita subculture.  All of our magical girls transform into Loli warriors, Madoka herself being the most definitive of this. And yes, Loli very much is in fashion right now and that shapes how the anime will look. But on the other hand, the style of dress and other elements of how the girls look (pigtails and ribbons, knee socks, and various very little girl elements combined with the clear signs of secondary sexual characteristics) blurs the girls out of reality and more into what Nobokov says in the above quote.  Not human.

What Nobokov is actually saying, when you strip out all the pseudo defiance and poetic license, is that between the ages of nine and fourteen, some girls begin to sexually mature, but retain the innocence of being children. I don't mean virginity here . . .though that is certainly part of it.  I refer more to their belief that life can be good, that romance can be pure and perfect.  They're not jaded. They're not demanding.

In short, they're beautiful, ignorant, and pliable . . . with vast potential to be used.  Kyubey wishes for the girls to make a contract with it. The contract will be devastating to them, but that isn't as important Kyubey, who sees the girls only as a means to an end. They are tools, supplies. It knows they will suffer, but their suffering is an important aspect in what it needs.

In the lives of many teenaged girls, this same kind of message is driven home. "You have vast potential . . . to be the status symbol for someone." "You have vast potential . .  . to tend to someone else's sexual needs." "You have vast potential . .. . to be a wife/mother/caretaker."  The message that girls often receive is about how they can use their talents, gifts, intelligence, and beauty to tend to others. Quite often when they seem determined to use their potential for themselves, they are sent the message that this is selfish and wrong. Vast potential . . . for the sake of everyone else.