Romancing The Stone?

Amulet Book One
By Kazu Kibuishi
Published by Scholastic 

When I was 10 years old, I would have been in heaven if I’d found something something like Amulet to read. I’m sure ten year olds are currently eating this up. I mean, first the comic starts with an upsetting emotional loss, just like in The Lion King. (Okay, not “just like” the Lion King.) It's just a similar format to that really sad loss that happens right at the beginning. And, well, maybe more than a little similar - it was Simba's father who died at the beginning of the Lion King, and in Amulet it’s Emily's Father. So. Well. There you have it. (You can read that whole part on the author's website if you're interested.)

And while we're on the subject of things I would've eaten up when I was ten years old--man, I used to daydream all the time that I would suddenly find secret passageways in my house, tunnels and secrets that would lead to some kind of mystical something-or-other. (That’s just plain weird too, because the house I grew up in was built in 1973. My parents helped create the blueprint, and God bless them, they’re not that creative. And creative or not, who would have a secret passageway in their house and never tell their family about it?)

Okay, sorry. I went off on a tangent. As I was saying - this would have appealed to me because Emily goes on a journey just like the one I spent a time wishing for myself. One that includes crazy looking creatures, a walking Transformer-like house, and mechanical animals. It’s got action and adventure, and is drawn so that it’s not too cartoony, but not too scary either. (Okay, I didn't with for my dreams to be drawings, but you get the point. I hope.)

Buuuuuut.....yeah, you felt that coming on, didn’t you? But - what do I think of this story from a more removed, grown-up perspective? I can’t really fully review it as an “adult”. I mean, it’s just not meant for adults. That wouldn’t be fair. But I had some feelings about if from the female perspective. More specifically, I had feelings about the impact stories like this can have on young girls.

You might be wondering what could I possibly see wrong with a story that empowers a girl to save her family? Well, I had some problems with the use of the word “power.” Especially when I read the Amulet communicating these words to Emily, the book's protagonist: “Just take the Amulet into your hands and accept it’s power. Without power you cannot attain what you desire.”

It may seem fine at the outset. We’ve stumbled into a typical form of the Hero’s Journey. Nothing wrong with that, it Star Wars can use it, everybody can. It’s usually a pretty reliable form of great entertainment, complete with the dash of character-building-skills that comes from reading about a young person triumphing over their fears, or their bullies, or their odds.

Thing is, we live in a patriarchal society. We do. It’s just a fact. No one is in charge of making it a patriarchy, it's not some dude's job to maintain it. We’ve just inherited his system over the course of thousands of years, it’s the water we swim in. And in this water, generally speaking, the gender neutral terms are him and his, and the Judeo-Christain God religions most often than refer to their spiritual forces with terms like Him, He or King.  Without even realizing what we’re doing with our speech, we’ve come to make women secondary. And those are just the words we use!

Look, I’m not angry, this isn't me trying to soapbox right now. (Not right this second anyway.) I don’t believe there's a cabal of sexism that's consciously pushing this “agenda”. It’s just how it’s been, and it's had a big impact on women--not just in our work places, not just in the home. But even in our beliefs in ourselves and our understanding of what our value is.

I'm bringing all this up because Amulet made me think about it, because the Hero’s Journey is one of those classic symbols of a very masculine story prototype. It uses most of the generally-accepted-as-masculine qualities of physical strength, aggression or logic to overcome obstacles. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Hero’s Journey. It’s a phenomenal storytelling device. But what would a woman’s journey be like? What would a literary journey story be like if the generally-accepted-as-feminine qualities were the vehicle to her overcoming her obstacles be like? Simply switching the name to The Heroine’s Journey doesn’t work.

Well, If I may answer my own question, it’s hard to know what The Heroine’s Journey would be like because most generally-accepted-as-feminine qualities are not generally accepted as “good” by our society. Traits of the feminine are usually things such as receptivity, creativity, feelings, openness. Not the kind of thing that’s generally encouraged in the board room, right? Or when you face the Monster who lives under the bridge?

And see, since we live in a patriarchy, logic and problem solving are valued a little more than feelings. Really take that in. Because if you’re reading that and thinking, “Yeah, logic and problem solving are more valued because they’re better than discussing feelings” just check that thought. Think about what it might be like if we grew up with logic and emotions being evenly valued. If we grew up without the word “pussy” being an insult, or people saying things like “don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Because it's sayings like that that translate to the instillation of negative values, outlooks where the mere mention of anything remotely feminine turns out to be the worst possible thing you can be. You might call someone a dick or asshole for being insensitive, but calling a guy a pussy is supposed to wound them.  Think about being a girl and knowing that calling someone a girl is an insult. No one’s throwing insults at girls saying “oh, you’re such a boy.” Nah. Doesn’t happen.

I’m saying all of this because in Amulet, our girl Emily finds a power outside of herself and is told that only by embracing that power can she attain her desires. And that very message is the one girls have heard for a very long time. And in my opinion, it’s not working that well. I think a new message is needed in stories written for girls. A new message to combat the messages that our mothers and our mother's mothers have been hearing for generations. And that would be: that the power they need is already inside them. We don’t need the power or approval or guidance of anything outside ourselves. We need to listen to our inner wisdom and develop who we are. Because women today (and yesterday) are spending our whole lives trying to gain power by reaching outside of ourselves. “Do you think I’m pretty? If you do, then I’m okay.” “Am I sexy and do you want me? If you want me, then I’m okay.” “Do you think I”m smart, but not too smart as to challenge the status quo? Phew.” And it’s all there, not necessarily because we just happen to have low self-esteem, but because being a girl is not as valued as being a guy. Or maybe a better way to say that is that being a girl is silently accepted as secondary to being a guy. And so, we end up seeking (without realizing) the approval and acceptance of everyone to affirm that we have value. That we have worth.

Yeah, I’ve kinda turned this into a thing. But damn it, I was so excited to see a young girl as a protagonist. And I still think it’s great. There’s still certainly a lot to be gleaned by children reading this. And honestly, it might not have been as interesting if young Emily was reminded over and over again my her Fairy Godmother-Therapist that all the power she needs “is already inside” her, rather than by gaining power from an Amulet she found in a secret laboratory in a a creepy old house. I don’t honestly know how it could, or that it should, be written in another way. But reading this got me wondering, “Just what exactly would The Heroine’s Journey be like? And would that, could that, shape a whole generation of girls in a new way?” And since I was pondering it, I figured I’d write it down.

I am though, interested to know what happens in Volume 2. So....more to come!

-Nina Stone, 2010

Comments

[loosenut]

Are you familiar with Inanna's descent into the underworld? My Jungian professor said her story is the original heroine's journey. It emphasizes compassion and wholeness.

[ross]

awesome post.

[Chris]

I know this is from a while ago, but still:

While Amulet's message of embracing the external power seems initially degrading, the narrative continues to push towards Emily using her own power and NOT the amulet's. The amulet (particularly in the second volume) becomes a sort of antithesis to Emily's true power. There's a point where Emily has to choose between using her own powers or that of the amulet, and the amulet is clearly painted negatively.

Just sayin'.