Elektra: How Tough Are Ya?

Sherrie A. Inness’ Tough Girls explores female characters in the comic book genre and analyzes a few of them on whether or not they are as tough as their male counterparts. One such character is Elektra. In Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, issue #168, Inness claims that Elektra is “tough but not tough enough,” and I agree with her assessment. This particular story is focused on introducing Elektra, and while she is supposed to be a badass bounty hunter, she is only defined through her relationship with Matt Murdock. 
             When Daredevil has his first run-in with Elektra as a bounty hunter and falls unconscious, he has a flashback to their initial meeting where he becomes smitten with her in college and they start a romance together. From this point on, the rest of the comic is dedicated to their relationship. When Daredevil stirs from unconsciousness, he thinks that while Elektra may be on the wrong side of the law, “she’s still a woman—the first woman I loved” (Miller and Klaus 195). Here, Daredevil clearly labels her as a woman and shows that her relevance to the plot is only based on the past romantic feelings they shared for each other. His mission becomes to save her, and Elektra’s badass bounty hunter image is transformed back into the weak female in need of help and a moral guide. Despite some of the scenes where Elektra shows her combative skills, as the reader, I never fear her harming Daredevil or committing some great wrong. Since she is never treated as a dangerous and powerful individual, I don’t get the feeling she is a threat.

           I believe that our media today still perpetuates the idea that females need male protection. For example, looking at any Bond film, all of the female characters, especially the ‘Bond girls,’ are portrayed as hypersexualized women who are just as helpless to Bond’s charms as they are in defending themselves. In fact, half the time the Bond girls die in the movies. I’d say the only exception to this rule was when Judi Dench played M. However, even then, Judi Dench’s character is lumped into a female stereotype when in Skyfall she becomes some sort of pseudo-mother for Bond. 

            Another famous example is Bella Swan from the Twilight series. She enters a co-dependent relationship with a vampire named Edward. While Edward may be right that Bella is weaker than any vampire, his treatment of her still portrays her as a very weak female as well, and this is further emphasized when he leaves her and Bella Swan is reduced to a shell of a person, considering suicide. Her unstable mental state is prompted by her anguish of missing him, which is not the best example to set for other teenagers. That is not to say people shouldn't be sad or depressed when their loved ones leave them, but their reason of existence should not hinge on the other's person's presence in their lives. Lastly, Bella is almost always in need of a male to save her every time she attracts trouble.

However, while this female stereotype is still prevalent in our media, it is changing. Many females are beginning to take on more ‘tougher’ personalities and attitudes. For example, in Game of Thrones, Arya Stark, from the beginning, is a young spitfire, bold and rebellious and doing everything in her power to shuck off the female stereotypes that are expected of her in that time. She becomes a trained assassin, a person who can fend for herself, and doesn’t need any man to protect her. Another example is Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter movies and books. Hermione is highly resourceful and intelligent and is usually helping Ron and Harry get out of trouble and not the other way around. I don’t think anyone would claim that she needs male protection or that the portrayal of her character needs it.