39,327
edits
Third Law of Gender Bending: Difference between revisions
update links
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (→Literature: copyedit) |
(update links) |
||
Line 4:
''Any [[Gender Bender|gender bent]] character will either embrace or be subject to all of the stereotypes associated with their new gender.''
Characters who change gender will adopt "gender appropriate" dress and behavior. The fact that this typically means dresses and makeup for a man turned woman and aggressive, macho behavior for a woman turned man makes this trope rife with [[Unfortunate Implications]]. Frequently rationalized as being due to the ''characters'' having stereotypical views of gender roles, particularly when the character in question is depicted as being in need of a gender equality [[Aesop|lesson]].
Like the [[Second Law of Gender Bending|second law]], this trope typically manifests in one of two forms:
* A masquerade wherein the character is forced by circumstances to adopt stereotypically masculine or feminine attire or behavior, sometimes under duress.
* [[The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body]], wherein the character simply cannot resist adopting stereotypical attire or behavior due to irresistible compulsion, latent desires, [[Mind Control]], biological imperatives, or all of the above.
More sophisticated applications of this trope will often try to find common ground somewhere between these two extremes. It may be as simple as characters wanting or needing to be treated "like a normal person" and thus adopting stereotypically "gender appropriate" attire and/or behavior to conform with their perception of the new roles they've been forced to adopt.
Since most [[Gender Bender|gender benders]] are male-to-female this frequently results in scenes where the newly minted "girl" is confronted with all of the "requirements" of his new gender, which can include [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics|skirts, hose, makeup, high heels and other trappings of femininity]] which, while common, are by no means mandatory in real life.
This frequently results in a [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] reinforcing stereotypical behavior, and some people may find the notion of underlying biological imperatives enforcing such behavior deeply offensive. May result in [[Becoming the Mask]] or [[Going Native]] depending upon surrounding circumstances. Often precedes the [[Second Law of Gender Bending]] which may stem from this trope, and may result in a [[Shopping Montage]] and/or [[Makeover Montage]] as the new boy or girl (willingly or not) gets "geared up" for life in their new gender.
Line 22:
* Played with in ''[[Ranma ½]]'': Ranma's ''actions'' are typically the same regardless of his form, but his ''reactions'' are often stereotypical, especially in responses to "perverted" behavior from the likes of Kuno or Happousai. In those cases his reactions usually differ very little from any of the real girls in the series. Also, whenever Ranma is in "disguise" as a female he typically overdoes it, implying that he's consciously trying to act out stereotypes. When he hits his head in one episode and thinks he was always a girl, he becomes the ''epitome'' of this trope.
* ''[[Tenshi na Konamaiki]]'': For all of her insistence that she's truly a boy Megumi shows little male behaviour besides aggressiveness.
* ''[[Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl]]'': Hazumu was a walking feminine stereotype even before his [[Gender Bender]]. However, she mentions that she prefers male clothing, and occasionally wears them.
* A mild version can be found in ''[[The Day of Revolution]]'': Megumi is not shown wearing any exclusively female clothing outside of her girls' school uniform, but since it is Japan her uniform has to be a stereotypical [[Sailor Fuku]] complete with a ridiculously short skirt. She also has her coach/therapist/BFF Motoko constantly reminding her to act more like a girl. Presumably she only puts up with this because she actually wants to be a girl, she's just riddled with second thoughts and self-doubts whenever she confronts one of the disconcerting aspects of girlhood.
{{quote|'''Motoko''' (looming over a prostrate Megumi): ...sooner or later, you're going to be looking up at someone '''like this'''.}}
Line 29:
== [[Film]] ==
* In ''[[All of Me]]'', while the heroine is technically sharing a body with the male protagonist, when he falls "asleep" during a court scene, she has to pretend to be him during a cross examination. Her attempts to act male include, but are not limited to, widening her shoulders as much as possible, deepening her voice to ridiculous extents, and even pausing to spit into a non-existent spittoon.
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Jack Chalker]]'s ''[[River of Dancing Gods]]'' series literally has variation 2 written right into the physical laws of its universe. The one character who resists is desperately unhappy.
* Meanwhile, Chalker's ''[[Well World]]'' series invokes, justifies and otherwise [[Playing with a Trope|plays with]] this trope. A few examples:
** Ruthless businessman/drug dealer Datham Hain is transformed into a female of a species of sentient insects, and is promptly [[Mind Control]]led into being a proper female as defined by that society.
** Wu Julee is a woman who gets inserted into a man's body at the end of the first book, but doesn't seem to change all that much personality-wise.
** Dr. Gilgram Zinder, once he masters and internalizes the Markovian equations that define and control the universe, spends several centuries being every type and gender of creature that strikes him, including a turn as a high-priced female courtesan. When we meet him (again) at the end of that experience, the only change to his personality is that he seems quite a bit more relaxed.
Line 62:
** Susan starts acting macho and aggressive immediately after becoming male. It's transient, however: losing an arm-wrestling contest with the still-female Nanase is enough to snap her out of it. Sarah [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-10-17 points out] that Susan's reaction was more her being ''herself'', just over a different subject.
*** Tedd does note that the first time gender bending their new genders thoughts are exaggerated, which played a part in everyone's storyline during the event, but the only one whose gender bending mental state was a major plot point was Susan, as it helped her recognize her hangups with men.
** Later, when Eliot develops the power to morph his clothes and appearance along with his gender his female forms tend to end up wearing girly outfits because he apparently just can't help visualizing them that way.
** A better example is Tedd; in fact, Grace has less dresses and skirts in her wardrobe than he does despite most of her first clothes being selected by [[Ordinary High School Student]] Sarah. He even [[The Tease|prides himself on how sexy he looks]] transformed. And [[Feminine Women Can Cook|cooks better while female]], just out of habit.
* ''[[The Wotch]]'': Frequent enough that some bloggers have remarked on the [[Unfortunate Implications]].
Line 83:
** But that magic gizmo is just a way of disguising their conversations. They're not deliberately trying to appear girly, they just don't want anyone to hear what they're really talking about.
** The hiding thing actually [[Fridge Logic|makes a bit of sense]] in hindsight—if you had a group of hormonal teenagers, all of which had deadly superpowers of some kind, you'd probably ask the LGBI ones to keep it quiet, too. (In the backstory, a transgendered student was killed by her boyfriend when he found out, which is what prompted the forming of Poe Cottage and the masquerade.)
** Sort of subverted with Phase, who changes from a boy to a girl's form and proceeds to fight tooth and nail against it (despite his guardians' insistence that he embrace the change). On the other hand, Phase ''does'' still have male genitalia, something he doesn't even try to hide it, and goes out of his way to announce his still-a-male-ness to everyone he meets. It isn't just out of insecurity of acceptance. He really is still male. Not only is Phase more comfortable with masculine genders, the omniscient narrator, when it switches, uses 'he' to refer to Phase, and it is written by Phase's author.
*** It doesn't help that events tend to conspire to force Phase to pretend to be a girl. In ''Ayla and the Grinch'', Phase is ''very'' unhappy with Grace forcing him to hide in a girl's beauty pageant. He doesn't go along with it until he sees that it's a serious attempt to hide him from the police and not another attempt of Grace's to get him to embrace his physical changes.
** Largely subverted with Bladedancer too. She's fully female, and still wants to go back to being a boy. She dresses as close to boyish as she can get away with in what amounts to a [[Super-Hero School]] with prep school clothing rules. On the other hand, she now listens to some of the music her girlfriend Molly likes (in addition to still liking what she listened to as a boy).
Line 92:
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[The Fairly
** Although he already did that first one ''before'' the gender bend, and after said gender bend he still has the urge to read comic books like "Skull Squisher". ...because of the [[Fan Service]]. "Muscular guys in spandex fighting crime, cool!"
* Not actual gender bending, but in ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'', a faulty DNA test has Skipper convinced he's a female. At first he thinks it won't interfere with his job, but then he does things like wait for the others to open the door for him and - horror of horrors! - ask for directions. So he quits the team, [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics|puts on a pink bow]] and moves in with Marlene, who is not amused with his outdated ideas of femininity.
* Sort of a [[Zig-Zagging Trope]] in ''[[Futurama]],'' where fembot!Bender embraces ''his'' idea of what a woman should be---basically, [[My Girl Is a Slut|slutty]]---but Calculon recognizes this as making her "one of the boys." Interestingly, he finds this attractive and falls in love with "her," while Bender becomes more "feminine" and worries that his scam will hurt Calculon.
** In the episode "Neutopia", the guys eagerly act girly and giggly when their genders get flipped by a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]]. When the girls-turned-guys force them to make a swimsuit calendar, they enjoy it a lot more than the real girls did when the real guys forced ''them'' to take cheesecake pictures.
* In the Jimmy Neutron Episode Trading Faces, Jimmy and Cindy trade bodies through a freak accident and Jimmy has this start to happen him.
Line 103:
[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]
[[Category:Shapeshifting]]
[[Category:
| |||