How ARCANE Writes Women

#LeagueOfLegends #Vi #Jinx

Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn, Mel, Sevika, Grayson, Ambessa, Sky -- every one of Arcane’s masterfully written women can teach so many fundamentals about how gender can express itself in storytelling. Arcane’s women carefully sidestepped and/or neutralized gendered stereotypes and problematic tropes that so often cripple strong women in fiction. From Action Girls to the infamous Manic Pixie Dream Girl to lack of agency, body types, the male gaze and beyond, Arcane navigates around it all efficiently and deftly. The near universal praise for the female representation in Netflix’s animated masterpiece are proof enough that these characters are worthy of careful analysis.

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LINKS

Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:28 - Mel, Agency, & Beauty
6:06 - Vi & Strength
9:28 - Sevika, Grayson, Ambessa
13:10 - Jinx & Male Dependency
16:59 - Jinx & Manic Pixie
20:10 - Caitlyn & Neutralization
24:44 - Sky & Neutralization
26:39 - Amanda Overton comment
27:24 - Big picture decisions
29:59 - 10 Rules
31:44 - Annies!

[AjaxThGat]

Something kinda specific-but I love, LOVE that women in the show *scream*, They *cry* they sob & panic in such a human way & it’s never played in a ‘pretty’, fetishized way. They also get the snot beat out of them, they fucking fight like humans fight, not in a ‘sexy’, voyeuristic way

[Meraxes]

As a woman I loved seeing Vi get beat up so much, usually even "fighter" women don't get decked in the face like that. It was weirdly refreshing. And Vi constantly getting the shit kicked out of her is a strong contrast to Jinx almost never getting touched in fights. The one or two times Jinx gets physically hurt, it's a big deal.

[hawkins]

One thing I'd like to add to you point about Mel's agency is that furthermore she never once actually takes away Jayce's agency either. He's still free to and makes his own decisions along the way, for better or worse, which is another neat subversion of the archetype she's introduced as - women of her position and persuasion tend to be controlling, but she is not. He's her partner and not her puppet. And I just love that so much.

[AloonaGames]

The thing is one: Arcane is TRUE. It doesn't talk about "men", "women", "children", "adults", it talks about PEOPLE. They made a great, great job in these. I hope every future serie script (not only videogames inspired) will take notes from now on.

[cordo]

Arcane just makes you forget that there is a gender issue in the first place. It comes so natural that you forget to think about the whole thing. It’s phenomenal.

[prikas]

This may seem strange but I also really appreciated that the women looked very different! They had different body types owing to their different experiences/jobs (you know, like everyone does). They also had different faces!!! Which is extremely basic but shockingly hard to come across in animation for women regardless of style. While male characters often can have different nose shapes and body types, in designing female characters, most studios will just change hair and eye color (and maybe breast size) on the same attractive but bland frame. I think Arcane's approach really helped visualize the diversity within the female cast and made them actually feel like their own characters and not variations on each other.

[jacksquatt]

Something you missed: Caitlyn is of upper class who have the luxury of being soft on people. She has the option of showing mercy on an enemy who would possibly come back and try to kill her. Vi does not. Caitlyn has the luxury of long range weapon tech, while Vi must slug it out with bits of metal strapped to her fist. Caitlyn has the luxury of honing accuracy, while Vi has to beat through by sheer brute force.

It is not a matter of feminine VS masculine, but rather haves VS have nots. They highlighted this in the show.

[miab.]

I love the fact that they decided to put Mel, a black woman, in the intelligent fem role. Usually the black female character in shows is always the stereotypical loud mouth or is always put into a more masculine role, so it’s so refreshing to see a black female character who’s absolutely stunning(and not over-sexualized), but is also one of the most intelligent and well spoken characters in the show, while also getting to use her skills in a high status role. Mel is QUEEN

[CitraStitches]

Arcane does a thing that I wish more media would. It doesn't write women. It writes characters who are women. It's a facet of who they are, but it isn't their identity. And they don't focus on that part more than they focus on the core traits. And I love it.

[Zephirite.]

Holding women accountable for actions you’d condemn or dismiss in a man is important thematically, character wise, and avoiding favoritism.
Obviously bias is an unavoidable factor, but pausing to ask yourself “How would I feel about this if a character of another gender was doing it?” is a great way to avoid pitfalls, and examine personal bias.

[zhioba]

The genius thing about Caitlyn's shower scene was that it's different from most shower scenes in that it just wasn't... sexy? There are no objectifying angles, every time we see her in the scene she's weirdly (yet believably) hunched over, we're basically shown only three parts of her body: extremely tense shoulders, her bleeding wound, her exasperated face. The point of the scene isn't to show us she's attractive of objectify her, it's to a) show that she's extremely tense and frustrated and b) create a parallel between her, in water, and Vi, under the rain. As you said, the center isn't her body, it's her as a character. The viewer is forced to feel what she feels to the point where you don't even think about her naked boobs or whatever

[arzeey]

Mel; a strong, black, complex, nuanced female ORIGINAL character.

Can't be Disney.

[rottenappple]

Also, I like how Mel is a very skilled and somewhat antagonistic manipulator, who, if you think about it, never RELIES on her physical beauty to manipulate others. It’s definitely there, but in the background. It’s an auxiliary skill that she uses as an extra layer of insurance while relying on her conversational skills and political pull to get what she wants. And even then, she isn’t promiscuous, she didn’t “sleep her way to the top” she uses her beauty in the way most traditionally attractive MEN use their looks. People just sort of, trust her, assume she knows best without any real reason.

[Vesdus]

What I found really interesting about Mel's relationship with Jace was that she also doesn't totally take away his agency - which is another trope of female characters. She manipulates many of the other characters in the story, but she only asks Jace to help her, and ultimately the decision is totally up to him.

[kabi_net]

I also love that you can clearly see the fighters having muscles. I hated seeing women fighters who looked fragile and thin like a stick. It was always hard to believe they are actually strong. That´s one aspect I really love about Vi, aswell as her nose looking like it has been broken at some point. THAT´S how a fighter like her looks like!

[SpaceMonke]

A video game adaptation has no right being as nuanced and well written as Arcane was.

[eucerei]

Idk if someone's mentioned this, but I also really like Cait's shower scene because of the way it frames her. She is not shown scrubbing at her shoulders sensually, and there's no long shots of her legs in motion- she is braced against the wall, thinking about her fight with Vi and the camera focuses on the blood from her leg mixing with the water. The focus in this scene is not on her (evident) sex appeal, but on her contemplation and consternation over her relationship with her friend (cough future lover cough). I just really enjoyed that, and also how the only time someone is really framed all that sexually is Jace's money shots. Ambessa's nudity is a show of power, Cait's a show of vulnerability, and Jayce's is to frame how Mel sees him- sssmokin'

[squiggle]

As a wise man once said
“Don’t write FEMALE characters,
Write female CHARACTERS.”

[LadyAtreides_]

As a woman who isn’t feminine it was super refreshing to see multiple, well-written masculine women on screen. And masculine in a way that doesn’t feel like they’re just a re-skinned male character. So good.

[suncricket]

"She's a character with an amazing story, so who cares about the trope." Nailed it right there.