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snarp
Hinamori suffers an episode of Crazy-Eyed Antics.
- Bleach Chapter 101, by Kubo Tite
The power in question might be psychic or magical powers, martial arts skill, political power, wealth, business acumen, skill at sports, cooking skill, board game skill - or any other sphere which a sufficiently motivated manga artist might attempt to transform into a competition. "Power" can also apply to simple self-confidence, particularly in conjunction with a lack of romantic interest in or rudeness to a male character intended to be sympathetic.
The toxicity of power commonly manifests itself as a lack of self-control or self-knowledge on the part of the female character. In its classical form, lack of self-control leads to Crazy-Eyed Antics. This is when a woman who had appeared emotionally stable earlier in the narrative - at a time when she either did not possess her power, was not exercising it, or was not exercising it to its fullest extent - opens her eyes wide and develops dark circles under them as an accompaniment to destructive behavior. When engaged in Crazy-Eyed Antics, a character is as much as or more of a danger to herself and her loved ones than she is to her enemies. Beloved childhood stuffed animals should be stored in a safe place during episodes of Crazy-Eyes.
Common triggers for Crazy-Eyed Antics include:
* defeat in battle
* the betrayal of a loved one (usually male)
* the death of a loved one (usually male, though all close relatives are acceptable)
* declarations of loyalty (nearly always for a male love interest) (Self-inflicted - Crazy Eyes are a well-known side effect of statements similar to "Any enemy of [x]'s... IS AN ENEMY OF MINE!!" Physicians recommend that individuals vulnerable to Crazy Eyes avoid forming sentences containing more than one exclamation point.)
While Crazy-Eyed Antics are by far most common to villainesses, they happen to male villains as well, though the timing is different. A male villain will tend to hold off his bout of Crazy Eyes for the moment at which he comes to understand that he's lost a fight, or that his cunning plan has been thwarted. This dehumanizes a character who might previously have had his sympathetic moments, rendering it more acceptable to the readers that the heroes to kill him. Alternately, in the grip of Crazy Eyes he may accidentally or deliberately destroy himself, thus freeing the heroes of all responsibility for his death.
Villainesses, on the other hand, may go Crazy-Eyed long before their defeat - from the moment at which they decide to begin fighting, or come up with a cunning plan. This has the dual narrative benefit of overcoming the higher acceptability bar for violence towards women, and demonstrating that the villainess would have been happier if she'd channelled her energies into baking or motherhood. (Unless the manga happens to be about competitive baking or motherhood. (Someone should make a competitive motherhood manga. It can be like this.))
Male-to-female transexual villainesses tend to follow the female pattern for Crazy-Eyed Antics, though if the hero discovers their biological gender mid-battle, Crazy Eyes may follow the revelation. (Crazy Eyes are less likely if the character reveals her biological gender herself.)
If a villainess goes through Crazy-Eyed Antics in the sort of manga in which the heroes' fists are coated with a chemical agent that reforms bad guys, she may come out of the fit Realizing The Error Of Her Ways, particularly if she is a small child. Otherwise, the breakdown is more likely to signal some self-destructive action that will destroy her.
A heroine is permitted one (1) incident of Crazy-Eyed Antics at times of extreme emotional stress. In general she will be punished less harshly for it than the villainess because, upon coming to her senses, she will have learned that she needs to "stop trying so hard" and let the men in her life "protect" her, because otherwise she will only make them worry - any efforts she might make on her own behalf being doomed to failure. However, most heroines comprehend this from the outset, thus avoiding their Crazy-Eyed Antics.
Instead, they may be forced to undergo the I Can't Protect Anyone Scene, in which they weep for the reason stated in the name, before being reassured that they're not actually supposed to be trying to do that. They may be instructed, as an alternative, to smile.
Female characters of the type to reject power because they know that they shouldn't be using it may be coerced or manipulated into doing so by bad guys. Often they escape this situation unscathed, but in "darker" manga even these characters may be punished by death. (It should be noted that the I Can't Protect Anyone Scene advice is singularly destructive to a female character in this situation, because she may have no allies to protect her.)
Rin mansplains Arisu's past life.
- Please Save My Earth Volume 2, by Hiwatari Saki
Without him, it is implied or stated outright, she will not be able to use her magic, or will be a danger to herself if she does. The need to have a stranger explain her power to her drives home the point that the power she possesses is not really her own, and that it is not natural that she has it. The Mansplainer often serves as a love interest, particularly when he is arrogant and the heroine is a Tsundere. In addition to his successful shoujo manga career, the Mansplainer had appeared in 682 English-language paranormal romance novels as of the closing of the 2008 fiscal year.
A way in which to have a female character exercise power, in specific combat or magical power, without necessarily giving her power, is to make her an Ultimate Weapon In Search (Or Not) Of A Heart. While the Ultimate Weapon may have moments at which she is self-aware, she is capable of exercising her power only when in a mindless, dehumanized state.
One of the special benefits of the female Ultimate Weapon is that, because her body is not under her control, it is appropriate to draw her in passive or infantilized poses even when she is engaged in battle, and to permit her clothes to rip off. Also useful is the fact that the Ultimate Weapon generally has a male handler. This character type may be usefully combined with the The Wispy Clairvoyant Albino Agoraphobe.
Female characters whose power is either sexual in nature (they're hot and/or assertive and apparently unattainable) or simply conflated with their sexuality will often be afflicted with a Shameful Secret Love. The most common objects of the Shameful Love are a male hero whom she's previously mocked or abused in some way, or a male villain who loves another. If the female character suffering from the Shameful Love is a villain, it will be revealed publically in a humiliating way, possibly accompanied by rejection.
Assertive female heroes who humble themselves properly in the revelation of their Shameful Secret Love, however, may become the heroine if they give the Tsundere Oath before two witnesses, one of them a cleric, and agree to attempt to make the hero a bentou, fail in an amusing manner, and afflict him with cartoon violence when he doesn't like it. Because women do things like learn magic and join the military only to while away the time until they get a man, a woman who has confessed her Shameful Secret Love may be safely banished from further plot development, her storyline having been concluded.
Examples (not all from manga!)
- Corrupted Women:
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Character: Azula - Unusual Power: martial arts/magic, political power - Corruption: Crazy-Eyed Antics upon finally achieving her dream of ruling the Fire Nation (Edit: This turned into a huge all-spoiling post of its own.)
Black Butler: Lady Red - is a self-confident unmarried woman who supports herself - Crazy-Eyed Antics due to death of family, infertility, the existence of women who get abortions
Bleach: Hinamori - martial arts/magic - Crazy-Eyed Antics following Aizen's betrayal
Bleach: Uzuru - martial arts/magic - has an Ultimate Weapon mode
El Hazard: Ifurita - martial arts/magic - Ultimate Weapon
Flame of Recca: Fuuko - martial arts/magic - Crazy-Eyed Antics due to unwise use of magical artifact
Flame of Recca: Ganko - magic - rejects power but is forced to fight by bad guys
Flame of Recca: Neon - martial arts/magic - loses her magic in fight with hero
Fruits Basket: Akito - head of the family - Crazy-Eyed Antics due to perception of betrayal/abandonment
Fruits Basket: Ren - matriarch - Crazy-Eyed Antics due to jealousy of her daughter
Mythical Detective Loki: Freya - goddess - spends most of her time trapped in the body of an innocent little girl; ends up in trouble whenever she tries to exercise her power; Shameful Secret Love for arch-nemesis Loki
Phoenix Wright: Mia Fey - lawyer, spirit medium - is murdered when she confronts a criminal alone
Phoenix Wright: Maya and Pearl Fey - spirit mediums - both go through incidents wherein they think an angry spirit took over their bodies and killed someone; Maya is repeatedly threatened by female relatives jealous of her power
Phoenix Wright: Misty Fey - matriarch, spirit medium - is murdered by a female relative jealous of her power, because that is what women do to each other
Phoenix Wright: Morgan Fey - matriarch, spirit medium - conspires to frame family member for murder to preserve her power
Phoenix Wright: Franziska von Karma - lawyer, person who has a whip - becomes distraught after losing a case;
Phoenix Wright: Dee Vasquez - television producer - following accidental death of her boyfriend, turns evil, blackmails people, accidentally kills someone, and gets caught
Phoenix Wright: Celeste Inpax - actor's manager - commits suicide following betrayal by managee fiance
Phoenix Wright: Adrian Andrews - actor's manager - Shameful Secret Love for Celeste Inpax; secretly co-dependent and seriously depressed; is much happier when she takes a job that intimidates other people less
(This list contains no Tsundere heroines because my hands will fall off if I try to document that.)
- Mansplainers:
Battle Angel Alita: Dr. Ido, Desty Nova - Mansplains To: Alita
Bleach: Hacchi, Aizen - Orihime
CardCaptor Sakura: Kero, Syaoran - Sakura
Divine Melody: zi Qiu - Cai Sheng
Please Save My Earth: Jinpachi, Rin - Arisu
Vampire Knight: pretty much every guy in the series - Yuuki
- Honorary Mansplainers:
Kyou Kara Maoh: Konrad - Yuuri
Loveless: Soubi - Ritsuka
Mushishi: Ginko - the whole world
More examples requested! (Also, is there a TV Tropes entry with a similar premise to this?)
Edit: Please note that there are major spoilers for the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender at the bottom of the Dreamwidth comments!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 02:53 am (UTC)A male villain will tend to hold off his bout of Crazy Eyes for the moment at which he comes to understand that he's lost a fight, or that his cunning plan has been thwarted. ... Alternately, in the grip of Crazy Eyes he may accidentally or deliberately destroy himself, thus freeing the heroes of all responsibility for his death.
I'd say that's what makes Azula's Crazy Eyes a distinctively masculine pattern, rather than the usual crazy-girl version. There's no hint at all that prior to the final battle that she's been holding back on her powers or in any way uncertain of her ability; she's pretty damn smooth and capable and extremely skilled all the way through the series. The writers didn't go the crazy path, which meant that (for a kid's show), they then had to figure out a way to take her down without also forcing a boy to kill his sister (that would be pushing the limit for what a kids' series could really handle, I think, especially when rated TV-7), and without the (mostly pacifist if very skilled) female heroine killing Azula, either -- so her defeat had to come from within, really.
I rewatched the series a week ago, actually, especially the last season. First time around I was all, "oh, not the crazy woman thing again," but the second time around I realized: if they'd done the Crazy eyes, as you call it, this would've started long before those last few episodes. Like, from the very beginning.
Instead, it was a combination of betrayal by her closest (only) friends signaling that if they could betray her, anyone could. That sets her on the path to distrusting everyone, and it's only once she renders herself alone (effectively destroying her backup) that she's vulnerable, and even then a good share of her defeat she delivers herself -- which underlines a major moral of the entire story, that one's victory is within, but also one's defeat (mirrored by the way Aang removes Ozai's power -- lack of internal power creates defeat).
So I'd say that really, Azula might be closer to a good template for what it'd look like if an author chose to do the Crazy Eyes but along male lines, instead of the cliched female-goes-crazy lines. Still not entirely perfect (and a bit of a cop-out if we're talking adult-aged entertainment), but for kids -- who aren't always willing/able to handle the hero/ine making hard choices like killing the bad guy -- the choice to have the villain do the crazy is a nicely-packaged (and moralistic) way to defeat the bad guy mostly by letting the bad guys defeat themselves.
(I'm not sure Mushishi really counts as mansplaining, though, since as a shamanistic figure Ginko's kind of in a different category -- not entirely Magical ____, but pretty close. Okay, actually, maybe really close, except he doesn't die at the end. But shamanistic/magical figures are expected to do some explaining, though just as frequently they're awfully mysterious about it, and Ginko does have his moments, but he's nowhere near as cryptic as Kusuri-uri in Mo No No Ke, another shamanistic travelling peddler guy.)
Not sure if you've watched this, but if you ever need a break from the Crazy Eyes, sit down with Seirei no Moribito. My favorite non-crazy-moment (that would've been crazy in anyone else's hands, really) is when Balsa yells in the heat of battle, "I am a tiger! Stay away from me or I will kill you and eat you!" Ehehehe. The world needs more Balsas, I say.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 03:46 am (UTC)(Ginko's inclusion on the list may be due more to my distaste for his VA than to any rational reasons.)
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 03:52 am (UTC)In some ways, I think part of the difficulty with Azula is that the writers were so excited about having a female villain who is actually pretty freaking scary that they didn't really think through either the progression of bringing her down ("and then, uhm, Zuko will, uhm, DO something! right!") or realize just how compressed that come-down would end up being -- such that instead of seeming to be eaten up by paranoia, instead there's only like two episodes to go from capable and scary to complete nutcase.
But then, Avatar is one of those in which for all my other complaints, I'll still take it over just about anything else out there, because even with its flaws, it's one of the few that gets so much more right than say, oh, Bleach. *whistles nonchalantly*
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 04:38 pm (UTC)Ehehe. Just wanted to let you know, not ignoring you, just formulating a response and trying to find the time to write it out.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 09:20 pm (UTC)It seems to be that Azula's going-crazy doesn't quite happen because she 'gets what she wants'. Not exactly. It felt more like, on top of the fact that Ty Lee and Mai betrayed her, her father betrayed her too: by crowning himself ~Phoenix King~ turns the position of Fire Lord into something like Prime Minister at best and a puppet ruler at worst. Someone who's just spent the past year running her own missions all over the world and taking down governments without breaking a sweat is going to know that. It was a set-up from the start.
ANYWAY SORRY I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT AZULA. /o\ This is a fascinating post, though (er... directed to both Snarp and Kaigou) and I'll definitely check out the further one on A:TLA once I have the time :)