It feels unkind to berate something for not being progressive enough but that is where I am at with Adventure Time. Mostly as a reaction to the way in online circles it is lauded as an ideal representation of gender and equality. Because when I initially watched the first series my reaction was, and still is, ‘But why are they all princesses?‘ And it is a question that has yet to be answered in the show. Largely because I do not think it could be. Adventure Time is a show of contradictions, with the A-Cast ladies the writers make some interesting choices and present some challenging points of view, however with the B-Cast ladies things become much more traditional, and princess-y. (Not to mention the C-Cast with nameless women such as the Bikini Babes – s5e20). And it is this contradiction, and it is the presence of the female characters inhabiting the traditional ‘damsel-in-distress’ roles that undermines what the writers are doing with the primary characters. For every challenge they make to our expectations using major characters, they are reinforced two-fold with minor characters.
I have seen remarkably few explorations of this princess paradox, it seems to be a trope that we are willing to accept either at face-value or because; “Almost every female character is a princess but the typical cliché Damsel in Distress and/or romance obsessed girly-girl are parodied and subverted for all they’re worth.” But the question is; does that make it okay? Because I do not think it does. I do not think it is enough to subvert a trope without also offering viable alternatives. Because by subverting a trope you are also expecting a level of literacy from your audience which may not always be there. This is especially true of Adventure Time, it is ostensibly targeted at children despite having a popular following of viewers in their twenties and thirties.
So, to be female in Adventure Time is to be a princess. Or in the case of Marceline the Vampire Queen or Lady Rainicorn, nobility of some variety (and there is a distinction to be made there, which I will touch on later). What this leaves us with is a female cast named largely for their function. They are ‘X-Y-Z Princess’ and are called by their honorific which acts to strip them of their individuality. (What do we know of Hotdog Princess aside from the fact that she’s a hotdog? Wildberry Princess? Turtle Princess? Ghost Princess? They exist for their function, for their role, not as individuals, and quite honestly it feels like a lot of their names are place-holder jokes. Which does not even begin to touch the distastefulness of Embryo Princess (and the subtle pro-life message therein)).
Organised Freedom 