Thursday 18 January 2018

Heroines of Legend: Fictional Universes - 18: Utena Tenjou (Revolutionary Girl Utena)



Strengths: Friendly, kind, honest, optimistic, noble, practical, energetic, brave, does what she likes, doesn't care what others think of her, takes no nonsense, headstrong, altruistic, protective, stands up for people, aspires to heroism.


Weaknesses: Naive, easily manipulated, quite shallow, clings to a childlike view of things, rejects some gender roles whilst unwittingly granting others unquestionably, too open and trusting, impulsive, the subtexts of the adult world elude her until it is too late.


Powers/Abilities: Fencing, gifted in swordsmanship and dueling. Regularly exercises and plays sports such as basketball, tennis and baseball.



Will: Moderate.


Home/Place of Origin: Japan.


Occupation: Ohtori Academy student, Rose Crest Duelist, Champion Duelist.



Social Standing: Extrovert.


Ethnicity: Japanese.


Sexuality: Bisexual.


Other Trivia: A revolutionary heroine for her time: as a girl who starts off her fairy tale as a traumatized orphaned "princess" supposedly saved by a mysterious prince, then going on to reject traditional fairy tale gender roles and aspiring to be a prince herself (but only in the idealistic sense, since she does like being a girl); and as an unconventional "magical girl" in anime. She is a "prince" unfixed from gender, helping those unable to help themselves, saving the weak and oppressed. However, over the course of the series she learns the downsides of the prince role, masculinity, and how these patriarchal ideas manifest into adulthood as toxic, male entitlement and corruption. It is often exhausting, taxing, and horrific. A sexist and sexual abuse of power ensues. People will try to force her into the princess role of accepting feminine clothing, jewelry, and manners, making her a damsel in distress submitting to the will of men. This infringement of the revolutionary girl, in a game of masculine power dynamics as befitting childish stories, will go so far as her becoming a victim of statutory rape. She learns what growing up means and doesn't mean - what is illusion and what is not - as the mystery of the Ohtori Academy Student Council and World's End is revealed to her. And one thing she learns about herself, developed overtime at the school, uninhibited by society's fixed, archaic gender roles, is of the nature of a sexual awakening. Her relationship with her outwardly more feminine opposite, the abused and enslaved Rose Bride Anthy Himemiya, whom she is also engaged to, is the key to everything. Revolutionary Girl Utena both subverts and conforms to certain gender stereotypes, demonstrating the positives and negatives of both masculinity and femininity. Put simply, she is a well-rounded, real girl not easily fitted into a limiting social box.




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