Return to Video

Tropes vs. Women: #4 The Evil Demon Seductress

  • 0:09 - 0:16
    A trope is a common pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in a character that conveys information to the audience.
  • 0:16 - 0:19
    A trope becomes a cliche when it’s overused.
  • 0:19 - 0:23
    Sadly, some of these tropes often perpetuate offensive stereotypes.
  • 0:26 - 0:33
    Does this remind you of a woman? How about this one? Or that one?
  • 0:33 - 0:41
    Ya me neither.... but somehow these insects have become the inspiration for a whole trope of sexy female characters.
  • 0:41 - 0:50
    The Evil Demon Seductress is a supernatural creature usually a demon, robot, alien, vampire most often disguised as a sexy human female.
  • 0:50 - 1:00
    She uses her sexuality and sexual wiles to manipulate, seduce, and kill and often eat poor, hapless men by luring them into her evil web.
  • 1:00 - 1:06
    One example of this trope shows up in the form of a Deceptacon in Transformers 2, where Isabel Lucas
  • 1:06 - 1:12
    plays an alien robot disguised as a sexy college co-ed sent to kill poor Sam.
  • 1:12 - 1:13

    "I can explain everythin--"
  • 1:16 - 1:22
    Then who can forget back in 1995 when Natasha Henstridge starred in the horror film Species playing
  • 1:22 - 1:26
    the sexy half human/half alien hybrid created by the U.S. government.
  • 1:26 - 1:33
    When the alien hybrid escapes into the real world she see that human women have babies and therefore she wants one too.
  • 1:33 - 1:34
    "Listen, I want a baby"
  • 1:34 - 1:36
    "WHAT!? Excuse me?"
  • 1:36 - 1:42
    So she uses her sexual wiles to lure men in and uses her alien strength to kill them.
  • 1:45 - 1:49
    And in the Batman universe Poison Ivy is another example of the Evil Demon Seductress.
  • 1:52 - 1:55
    "That feels so much better."
  • 2:01 - 2:04
    "And now we'll grow together"
  • 2:04 - 2:08
    And this trope even makes a couple of appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer first when Xander is
  • 2:08 - 2:13
    seduced by his sexy teacher who is really happens to be a giant preying mantis.
  • 2:13 - 2:22
    "I think it's eenie, meenie, miney..."
  • 2:22 - 2:26
    And then again in the last season when performer Ashanti seduces Xander.
  • 2:26 - 2:32
    "It can't just keep happening that demon women find me attractive, there's gotta be a reason"
  • 2:32 - 2:35
    "You just seem like a nice guy, that's all, and I wanted to get to know you."
  • 2:35 - 2:37
    "And kill me?"
  • 2:37 - 2:38
    "Sure"
  • 2:38 - 2:42
    It might also be worth mentioning at this point that one of the roots of this trope is based on a
  • 2:42 - 2:48
    misconception that dates back to 1886 with a scientist name Leland Ossian Howard.
  • 2:48 - 2:53
    Howard made the claim that the female praying mantis cannibalizes the heads of her sexual partners after mating,
  • 2:53 - 2:56
    well... turns out, this isn't exactly true.
  • 2:56 - 3:03
    New scientific research found that the vast majority of female Praying Mantis species do not in fact kill their mates.
  • 3:03 - 3:05
    So back to this trope,
  • 3:05 - 3:12
    the amount of times that this character appears in speculative fiction is kind of astounding, the list goes on and on and on.
  • 3:12 - 3:17
    In Star Trek's First Contact we have the Borg Queen trying to seduce Data.
  • 3:18 - 3:23
    Keanu Reeves is taken advantage of by the Brides of Dracula.
  • 3:24 - 3:28
    And then some years later in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Giles meets these three sisters.
  • 3:28 - 3:34
    In the science fiction show Farscape there's the villain Grayza with her enchanting body sweat.
  • 3:34 - 3:38
    There are the evil mermaids in Pirates of the Caribbean 4.
  • 3:38 - 3:42
    And Mystique in X-Men often fulfills this trope.
  • 3:44 - 3:50
    In the opening scene of Battlestar Galactica we meet a human looking cylon woman who seduces and kills a man.
  • 3:54 - 4:00
    Men in Black 2 stars a shapeshifting alien who disguises herself as a Victoria Secret model
  • 4:00 - 4:04
    And Megan Fox as a man eating demon in Jennifer's Body.
  • 4:04 - 4:12
    Alright, we get the idea, it's everywhere and you'll notice that there's variations of this trope between mermaids, and sirens and vampires
  • 4:12 - 4:20
    and their expressions of supernatural evil seductress varies but the basic characteristics remain the same, they're using their sexuality as a weapon.
  • 4:20 - 4:25
    This trope is closely connected to its counterparts The Vamp, The Black Widow, The Femme Fatale
  • 4:25 - 4:29
    which are human women using their sexuality to manipulate men.
  • 4:29 - 4:35
    Here I'm only focusing on supernatural creatures but you can see how insidious this trope has become in popular culture.
  • 4:35 - 4:40
    Let's dig a little deeper into what this means, we have a whole collection of supernatural creatures using
  • 4:40 - 4:46
    their sexuality to manipulate and control men in order to fulfill some nefarious plan of doom.
  • 4:46 - 4:52
    You'll notice that these supernatural creatures are not necessarily enjoying or exploring their sexuality,
  • 4:52 - 4:57
    they're not even really being genuinely sexual, they are just using it to manipulate and trick men.
  • 4:57 - 5:02
    So we see over and over again female characters written as The Evil Demon Seductress
  • 5:02 - 5:05
    who are portraying women as manipulative, conniving and controlling,
  • 5:05 - 5:11
    that these demon women always have ulterior motives, and that there sexuality is dangerous,
  • 5:11 - 5:13
    and they'll probably bite your head off.
  • 5:13 - 5:18
    The harmful misogynist myth that this tropes reinforces is that women primarily use their
  • 5:18 - 5:23
    so-called sexual power as a way to manipulate, trick and control men.
  • 5:23 - 5:30
    This fallacy is widespread and pervasive and some men even claim that women hold more power in society based on this absurd myth.
  • 5:30 - 5:34
    Thank you Hollywood for encouraging and promoting sexist thinking.
  • 5:34 - 5:41
    So what do Hollywood, male viewers and even female viewers to a lesser extent get out of the Evil Demon Seductress trope?
  • 5:41 - 5:47
    Well, Hollywood is in the business of selling the status quo they use these characters to appeal to a male demographic.
  • 5:47 - 5:52
    When an Evil Demon Seductress is on screen men get to objectify her while having these sexist
  • 5:52 - 5:57
    preconceived notions reconfirmed that women are in fact manipulative and deceitful.
  • 5:57 - 6:00
    And there is a danger of real world women internalizing this sexist myth.
  • 6:00 - 6:08
    Instead of believing that our sexuality is something to be explored and celebrated we are repeatedly told that it is our only form of social power.
  • 6:08 - 6:13
    Hollywood writers, I don't have a problem with you occasionally making some of your villains female,
  • 6:13 - 6:17
    but you've gotta stop writing women who's primary weapon is her sexuality.
  • 6:17 - 6:22
    I'll leave you with a clip of Alicia Silverstone in one of the worst movies ever made,
  • 6:22 - 6:24
    saying something kinda cool.
  • 6:24 - 6:29
    "Using feminine wiles to get what you want, trading on your looks? Read a book sister,
  • 6:29 - 6:35
    that passive aggressive number went out long ago, chicks like you give women a bad name."
  • 6:35 - 6:40
    Ooooh here she comes, watch out boy she'll chew you up,
  • 6:40 -
    Oooh here she comes she's a maneater.
Title:
Tropes vs. Women: #4 The Evil Demon Seductress
Description:

The Evil Demon Seductress is a supernatural creature usually a demon, alien, robot, vampire etc. who is most often disguised as a sexy human female. She uses her sexuality and sexual wiles to manipulate, seduce, kill and often eat poor, hapless men by luring them into her evil web.
more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
Feminist Frequency
Duration:
06:45

English subtitles

Revisions Compare revisions

Our website uses cookies for analysis purposes.