In order to understand the point of view in this article, it’s important that you be familiar with the Feminist Frequency videos made by Anita Sarkeesian. They discuss the overuse of female tropes, “tropes” being defined as a common and overused theme or device in a story line. The tropes discussed in particular will be Damsels in Distress, Women in Refrigerators, and the general sexualization of women in the media. Anita Sarkeesian’s theory states that the overuse of these story devices shed a negative light on women and reinforce anti-female stereotypes. Aggressive Comix in no way endorses the views of Anita and Feminist Frequency, nor are we discrediting her research, but rather makes an observation based off of her research and analysis of pop culture – mainly, the role men and women play as physically– and mentally–capable heroes, and/or their ability to act as sexual symbols in the media. This analysis isn’t intended to prove wrong the tropes presented against women, nor is it to promote a feminist agenda or sexism. This analysis is to present readers with a conversation about modern pop culture, and the directions it is taking, despite highly sensitive opinions on each end of the spectrum. That being said, before you continue on reading, there are SPOILERS within this article. We suggest you see Man of Steel first before proceeding, as major plot points are revealed.

It may come as a surprise to many readers that Anita Sarkeesian and Zach Snyder have a bit more in common than their respected bodies of work would suggest. In the past, a Feminist Frequency video explicitly called out Snyder for his direction in Sucker Punch, where Sarkeesian called him, “[N]othing but a parasite trying to leach off the gains of feminism to satisfy his own personal pornographic […] fantasy”. She went on to explain how that particular film served as proof of Hollywood’s backlash against females. However, judging by the content in Man of Steel, one may be led to believe Snyder took the words in her now–famous videos to heart. Yet, it is possible that our culture is changing as a whole in the types of roles men and women assume in cinema. Whatever the case, Man of Steel offered much of what vocal feminists have asked of the industry, without sacrificing the heart of Superman’s legend.

Since this topic is being approached from the view of feminism and sexisim respectively, it makes sense to start off with the film’s leading lady, Lois Lane (Amy Adams). Lois Lane is not only portrayed as the damsel/love interest of Clark Kent (Henry Cavil), but also plays a massive role in the plot’s fruition. If we’re playing by the rules of Sarkeesian, Lane acted as a very complicated damsel, as, “The damsel in distress trope dis-empowers female characters and robs them of the chance to be heroes in their own right,”. According to Feminist Frequency, when used as a plot device the damsel in distress trope is often accompanied by other separate tropes such as the victory kiss and a heroic rescue – all of which did occur in Man of Steel. What makes Lois so complicated in this role was her significance in saving the whole world from Zod (Michael Shannon), coining her a heroine in her own right.

Lane was introduced as a take–charge woman equipped with a brash attitude. The reporter spoke to a Colonel Nathan Hardy (Christopher Meloni) as if he were her subordinate. Lane made it out of imprisonment with her own strength and daring. After Jor-El (Russel Crowe) presented her with a dangerous escape route, Lois took the chance and risked her own life to preserve the billions of lives left on earth. During the getaway, she fought military aliens like a trained space Marine, working a laser-gun like it was second nature. Most importantly, Lane escaped from the spaceship, holding in her mind the only knowledge to defeat the Kryptonian technology devastating Earth. Jor-El entrusted that information to Lois alone, not to mention that without her even accepting the invitation onto the craft in the first place, Superman wouldn’t have stood a chance. Lois Lane in all of comic book lore is a knowledgeable, brave, and intelligent woman. Man of Steel is no exception to that rule. It certainly wasn’t beyond her to understand by accepting the invitation onto Zod’s turf, even while in the presence of high ranking military figures, she’d be more leverage than bureaucrat. This alone contradicts a plethora of damsels in distress examples which Sarkeesian has called to observation. However, Lois was still a damsel by the Fem Freq definition of the trope which is, “Damsel in distress is a plot device… and not necessarily always just a one dimensional character type entirely defined by victimhood”. In other words, the fact that Lois needed to be saved marked her as a damsel by techinicality. Luckily, this is not the case with another woman in the cast who truly took leadership to a new level.

Enter Faora-UI (Antje Traue), who had been presented in many sequences as stronger and colder than Zod. She executed the role of Zod’s main muscle, border-lining the role of thug. Interestingly, Faora handled and dominated the majority of the fight scenes Man of Steel showcased. In the end she proved even harder to kill off than her commanding officer. This called into question why she wasn’t Zod’s superior, because it almost didn’t make sense that Faora didn’t run the entire operation as audiences witnessed her ability as a warrior. When compared to each other, Zod was erratic, emotional, and allowed his pride to cloud his mind. According to the movie’s story line, both had been bred as warrior and trained their entire lives as such. Zod was also written without his typical decorum and composure, ultimately leading to his demise. Faora was more calculated and in every way deadlier, while maintaining her beauty and unsexualized femininity. Sarkeesian has presented her audience with examples of this sort of woman in the past, yet none of them were quite as convincing as Faora-UI.

Getting back to Lois Lane, we see another significant part she played in countering some pernicious tropes. In Man of Steel, the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer dressed as most powerful American women dress to work. Sarkeesian on many occasions brings up how when women in media are relegated to love interests or damsels, they’re also typically stripped of some clothing and dolled up. Snyder refrained from doing such to Lois. As a result Lane looked serious, smart, and feminine. Although, it was a bit impractical to investigate Kansas farm lands in spikey high heels. With critiques claiming Adam’s Lane looked frumpy or off her game, it seems a bit unfair to most portrayals of the character. Lois Lane isn’t always portrayed as a buxom bombshell where her cleavage does the talking! Ultimately, in Man of Steel Lane became an object of Clark’s desires because of the content of her character and her ability to earn his trust by not revealing his secret identity. Despite the fact that her integrity as a journalist, and all around sane human being, was on the line.

While Lois didn’t possess a lot of sex appeal, Clark went in the complete opposite direction. With a meaningless but female appreciated shirtless scene we saw the male lead be somewhat objectified in a way Fem Freq points out often happens to female protagonists in media. Terms such as homoerotic were thrown around in response to the way Clark, and then Superman, were portrayed. Audiences were exposed to Cavil’s bare chest and then to his hero outfit which left little to their imaginations. Although it isn’t uncommon for a female character to be in a skintight catsuit, it isn’t quite as typical to have a jumpsuit for a male lead that didn’t try to hide his junk. Nothing in Man of Steel was even remotely homoerotic, at least not overtly; the movie merely didn’t include the presence of an equally revealed female to offset the objectified leading man. And that made a lot of viewers disappointed, and perhaps uncomfortable.

Debatably, the most contentious trope Sakeesian has presented her audiences with is that of Women in Refrigerators. In the video Feminist Frequency provides the audience with a long list and a few examples of how important female characters are killed off in order to make the male protagonist more interesting. A powerful example of this found in her video refers the killing of Gwen Stacy in Spiderman’s 1973 comic book. “The writers chose to kill off an important character for the sake of giving Peter a more complex and interesting story-arch”, Sarkeesian explains. As a Man of Steel twist, Clark Kent lost Johnathan Kent (Kevin Costner) to a violent storm. In Man of Steel Clark watches his father figure die, in order to honor his father’s own wishes to keep his powers a secret until the world is ready to accept them. This contradicted quite a few instances within the movie itself; however, it proved to be a pivotal point in the formation of Clark into a thoughtful hero. From the exampled tropes Fem Freq has provided audiences with, viewers would have expected Martha Kent (Diane Lane) to have been put to the chopping block. Although, with the wide range of canons and characters in the comic book universe at our disposal, this isn’t exactly a common trope used in comic book history, and therefore is the weakest instance modeled here.

Still despite all the examples, Man of Steel definitely cannot pass a basic Bechdel Test. This alone proves that Man of Steel is indeed not a feminist film, but it’s a start and should be looked at as a significant gain particularly for its genre. Some scenarios which were neglected in this article include the waitress at the bar refusing the help of Clark to calm down a group of rude truckers, opting to handle the situation on her own, and how Martha Kent stood her ground against Faora and Zod’s men. While these are all examples of female empowerment, they returned a lot of already–stated points. The reason Anita Sarkeesian was used as a basis for comparison, over other Superman films, is simple: Fem Freq videos are spoken in the language of pop culture, and the timing was quite perfect. Sarkeesian’s videos, like them or not, present a simple format for regular audiences to understand feminism, without searching for straws. Additionally the videos evoke deep and enthusiastic responses from those who watch them. But, most importantly, they challenge many tropes which are so embedded in our culture that they are often over looked. Presenting both the Feminist Frequency videos alongside Man of Steel allows for conversations which perhaps have yet to take place. And speaking of conversations, we’re always interested in hearing what our audience has to say, so speak up in the comments below!

Paige Six is a video game/film/comics/tech journalist who also writes for Examiner, and is Founder of CoiledRose. You may follow her on Twitter or Coiledrose’s Facebook.