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Questionable Award Choices
Jul. 9th, 2012 12:28 amPuella Magi Madoka Magica was given a Sisterhood Prize in the Sense of Gender awards, which are chosen by the Japanese Association for Gender, Fantasy, & Science Fiction. These awards honor "science fiction or fantasy that expanded or explored our understanding of gender," and the Sisterhood prize was added this year to honor works that "develop a new kind of relationship between women which may not have been noticed or told before."
I have to admit, my reaction to this news was one big "Huh?" I'm having difficulty figuring out how PMMM of all things "develops a new kind of relationship between women." The female/female relationships in this show seemed like your bog-standard close friendships flavored with lesbian subtext like you'd find in any anime with a female-dominated cast. The only unusual thing about the female friendships in PMMM is that they frequently resulted in the death and/or traumatization of one or both girls involved. Madoka befriending Mami was directly responsible for getting Mami killed, Hitomi's friendship with Sayaka ended in them fighting over a man which resulted in Sayaka's breakdown, Madoka's bond with Sayaka completely failed to bring Sayaka back from monster-ification, Kyoko warmed up to Sayaka just in time for her to mercy-kill Sayaka and sacrifice herself in the process, and Homura's love for Madoka led to the repeated deaths and psychological scarring of the entire cast while continually increasing Madoka's destructive witch power (although that turned out to be a blessing in disguise). Pretty much the only time a female friendship in this series didn't have horrible results was in the very last episode.
But while this theme is unusual for shows of PMMM's type, I wouldn't really say that "women being friends with each other always ends in terrible tragedy" is a "new kind of relationship that hadn't been noticed/told before." So yeah, still puzzling over that one.
I have to admit, my reaction to this news was one big "Huh?" I'm having difficulty figuring out how PMMM of all things "develops a new kind of relationship between women." The female/female relationships in this show seemed like your bog-standard close friendships flavored with lesbian subtext like you'd find in any anime with a female-dominated cast. The only unusual thing about the female friendships in PMMM is that they frequently resulted in the death and/or traumatization of one or both girls involved. Madoka befriending Mami was directly responsible for getting Mami killed, Hitomi's friendship with Sayaka ended in them fighting over a man which resulted in Sayaka's breakdown, Madoka's bond with Sayaka completely failed to bring Sayaka back from monster-ification, Kyoko warmed up to Sayaka just in time for her to mercy-kill Sayaka and sacrifice herself in the process, and Homura's love for Madoka led to the repeated deaths and psychological scarring of the entire cast while continually increasing Madoka's destructive witch power (although that turned out to be a blessing in disguise). Pretty much the only time a female friendship in this series didn't have horrible results was in the very last episode.
But while this theme is unusual for shows of PMMM's type, I wouldn't really say that "women being friends with each other always ends in terrible tragedy" is a "new kind of relationship that hadn't been noticed/told before." So yeah, still puzzling over that one.
