The Smurfette principle is the practice in media, such as film and television, to include only one woman in an otherwise entirely male ensemble. It establishes a male-dominated narrative, where the woman is the exception and exists only in reference to the men.
The term was coined by Katha Pollitt in 1991 in The New York Times: Pollitt observed this as what she thought of in terms of a common media practice while shopping for her daughter's Christmas toys. The initial use of the term was in relation to “preschool culture,” that to Pollitt, would hinder a child's understanding of gender. She wrote: "The sexism in preschool culture deforms both boys and girls. Little girls learn to split their consciousness, filtering their dreams and ambitions through boy characters while admiring the clothes of the princess." The woman character essentially represents "femininity" in these cases. She may or may not play a major role in the story, but typically is "everything female." Some examples that Pollitt cites include the mother figure, a “glamour queen,” or a female sidekick of sorts. As a consequence, works employing this trope often fail the Bechdel test, an indicator of gender bias in fiction.
Observations
In 2011 Pollitt discussed her term again in The Atlantic. She said that the issue is still highly prevalent in the current media. She specifically cited the then major blockbuster, Super 8, which had only one female main character. Also at this time, she extended the principle to include television networks. The only major female anchor in the MSNBC lineup in 2011, according to Pollitt was Rachel Maddow. She said, "there's one Rachel Maddow, and then there's that whole male lineup. There's Ed , there used to be Keith , and Lawrence O'Donnell, and now there's going to be Al Sharpton. It's quite remarkable that there's only this one woman, and it's never equal." This term has not disappeared by any means, making many appearances in popular literature and discourse. Journalists complain that major blockbusters that will turn out millions of dollars include only one female, and this trend is not fading anytime soon. This is visible in ensemble movie posters, like with Ocean's Eleven, The Matrix and Star Wars, among many others. Steve Rose looks at Eleven's situation in the TV show Stranger Things, where she is essentially replaced by Max, another young girl, who is also teased, then “lusted after,” another common reaction to a lone female character. The “Smurfette,” or sole female cast member, has been understood to typically have a stereotypical role of a romantic partner, a “brooding badass,” or exists to deflate the tension of an all-male cast. As a result of the discontent about the lack of women, a new pattern has emerged, of “gender-inversion,” resulting in casts of exclusively female actresses, like Ocean’s 8 and Ghostbusters. The Geena Davis Institute found that only “10% of all films have a gender balanced cast,” thus reinforcing the existence of the lack of fair female representation, i.e. the Smurfette Principle. In an article and video for Bitch Magazine, Anita Sarkeesian asserts that the tendency of media from the 1980s and 1990s—which typically adhere to this principle—continuously being remade results in the recurrence of this issue, creating an ongoing cycle. She also called on the film industry to include more female characters, or even a female dominated cast, and pass the Bechdel test, stating that after these are kept in mind and actually accomplished, meaningful diversity will be possible.
Uses in scholarship
Rickie Solinger, in a review of some of Pollitt's major works up to 1993, stated that the “Smurfette Principle” is applicable to preschoolers and adults alike. Jan Susina, a scholar and researcher of child and adolescent literature, used the term in a 1995 edition of the journal, The Lion and the Unicorn, to back up his assertion that children's literature is being “dumbed down” as a larger symptom of cultural problems, particularly that entertainment is like “junk food,” or unrewarding to the audience. He uses Pollitt's term as evidence that a lack of women contributes to low quality media for children and also that the popular media has picked up on this issue in major publications.
Examples
Named after Smurfette, the only female among the Smurfs, the principle has been observed in the following works among others:
Miss Piggy in The Muppets and her equivalent in Muppet Babies
