Sado-Masochism in Girls' Comics

[philcom55]

Marionette's memory of a series which featured the unlikely trials and tribulations of a blind ballet dancer set me thinking about the enduring popularity of heroines who suffered in British girls' comics. Perhaps the ultimate selfless sufferer was DC Thomson's 'Angel' who was willing to endure any privation for the sake of others - and apparently the more she suffered the more popular she became with readers! In many ways she could be seen as a modern heir to some of the greatest heroines of nineteenth century literature, from Dickens' Little Nell to George Eliot's Dorothea Brooke - and there is an even deeper connection with the timeless romance of saints and martyrs who've been held up as role models for impressionable young girls since the year dot. The religious link is made explicit in Eliot's famous introduction to Middlemarch through the figure of St Theresa:

• "Theresa's passionate, ideal nature demanded an epic life: what were many-volumed romances of chivalry and the social conquests of a brilliant girl to her? Her flame quickly burned up that light fuel; and, fed from within, soared after some illimitable satisfaction, some object which would never justify weariness, which would reconcile self-despair with the rapturous consciousness of life beyond self."

So powerful is this ideal of female martyrdom in Western culture that I'm inclined to wonder if its influence can even be detected in sado-masochistic entertainments like Fifty Shades of Grey?


Whatever!


...I guess I'm really just asking whether people have any particular favourites from this rather weird genre of impossibly plucky comic strip heroines who were subjected to the most exquisite torments their scripters could devise and still emerged with their halos intact...?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I used to read my [female] cousin's MANDY and also JUDY in the late 60s/very early 70s, and I was always struck by the relentless onslaught of Cinderella-like continued tales, in which a clearly gifted young girl is deliberately kept locked up and in poverty by a wicked-stepmother-like older 'guardian'..........Blind Ballerina was probably the apex [or nadir, depending on your viewpoint] of such stories.

These stories were almost always intruiging but never disturbing [like some comics imagery from the same period undoubtedly was] but even back then I got the impression that some of the DCT writers seemed fairly obsessed with this type of theme, was it some sort of catharsis, or just 'by-the-numbers' scripting, in the style of formulaic plotting?

[Phoenix]

In many ways she could be seen as a modern heir to some of the greatest heroines of nineteenth century literature, from Dickens' Little Nell to George Eliot's Dorothea Brooke - and there is an even deeper connection with the timeless romance of saints and martyrs who've been held up as role models for impressionable young girls since the year dot. The religious link is made explicit in Eliot's famous introduction to Middlemarch through the figure of St Theresa:

"Theresa's passionate, ideal nature demanded an epic life: what were many-volumed romances of chivalry and the social conquests of a brilliant girl to her? Her flame quickly burned up that light fuel; and, fed from within, soared after some illimitable satisfaction, some object which would never justify weariness, which would reconcile self-despair with the rapturous consciousness of life beyond self."

I think that the quotation above by George Eliot can only be interpreted as ironic, in view of her subsequent portrayal of Dorothea, who rarely thinks things through fully, a failing that even leads to her making two inappropriate marriages. Also, if it weren't ironic, Eliot would be dismissing Don Quijote, who had also read and enjoyed novels of chivalry, a pastime that made him determined to be a knight and go out onto the highways and byways of early seventeenth century Spain righting wrongs wherever he came upon them, very much a selfless activity. He did not disregard the novels or consider their chivalric themes irrelevant, as Santa Teresa did, according to Eliot anyway. It is possible to see a link between Angel and Santa Teresa, but not one between Angel and Dorothea.

Incidentally, Santa Teresa couldn't have been an heir, or even an heiress, to some of the heroines of nineteenth century literature, because heirs inherit from people who precede them.

[felneymike]

but even back then I got the impression that some of the DCT writers seemed fairly obsessed with this type of theme, was it some sort of catharsis, or just 'by-the-numbers' scripting, in the style of formulaic plotting?

To judge by a story I remember being read at school about a girl who wanted to adopt at cat, and also by a 1920's Girls' Friend Library I read (with the fed-up writer even adding "If only she'd told him then, it would have saved much suffering", also despite the fact it's from the 1920's it's written like it's set in the 1720's, somebody who is 10 miles away is unreachable and uncontactable!) it's definitely "by the numbers" plotting. And it makes you wonder if Misty and Jinty were really all that different after all! If only DCT had gone ahead with that "Girl's version of Victor"...

[Tammyfan]

One story I remember where the heroine nearly loses her life because she would rather endure what she is going through rather than tell her parents about it. The story is Witch! from Bunty #1744-1755. When Ellie Ross moves to the village of Littledene she finds the villagers still believe in witches and they think she is descended from the village witch, Elizabeth 'Black Bess' Ross. And it does look like there is a connection, worst luck. Anyway, the campaign to drive Ellie out of Littledene starts immediately. It gets worse and worse and Ellie has several narrow escapes from being hurt or killed. But Ellie won't tell her parents what is going on because they are enjoying their new life in Littledene. She doesn't even tell them when the villagers smash her mother's pottery workshop. It is only after Ellie's mother sees her being chased by a lynch mob and calls the police that she finally tells them. They take her away amid more abuse and hatred from the villagers.

Presumably Ellie tells her parents immediately if she has a problem after that experience.

But not all girls were willing to go to such lengths to put up with things. In a similiar story, Bad Luck Barbara from Mandy #971-986, Barbara Petty is likewise persecuted by the villagers of Wavertree. Unlike Ellie, Barbara keeps trying to tell her parents what is going on, but they just don't get it. Also, Dad is not willing to give up the good job he has in Wavertree. Barbara's misery ends only when Dad receives a transfer to Wales. They move out, with Mum and Dad still oblivious to the villagers' hatred of Barbara.