Feminist critique of TV show "Heroes"

I recently wrote a feminist critique of the television show "Heroes" for my Methods of Criticism class. I used post-structuralist feminism as a basis for critique, and discussed the various gender stereotypes employed by the show in constructing its female characters. Specifically, the three main female characters Niki (Ali Larter), Claire (Hayden Panettiere) and Eden (Nora Zehetner).

While I'm not posting my actual paper here in my blog, here are some interesting things I noticed:

For those unfamiliar with the show, it is about a group of everyday people who wake up to realize that they have special powers. In terms of mere content analysis, the men with special powers far outweigh the women with powers on the show. There are currently two women alive with superpowers (two have been killed) and there are eight men with powers. Only two main character “heroes” have been killed and both were women. The first, Charlie (Jayma Mays) had the ability to memorize and learn facts at astonishing rates, and though the male character Hiro tried to save her from being murdered, she ends up being the stereotypical female victim. The other dead hero is Eden, who was killed off in the latest episode (to be discussed more later).
The show’s tagline, “Save the cheerleader, save the world,” refers to the character Claire, a high school cheerleader with the ultimate power of indestructibility. The show’s tagline alone posits Claire, even though she is arguably one of the show’s most powerful characters, as someone who needs to be saved. Women are often represented as either vulnerable or as victims and the show’s tagline heightens this notion. The “heroes” that band together to “save the cheerleader” are all male characters on the show. Yes, Claire may be the key to saving the world, but the fact that she holds one of the highest powers on the show begs the question of why she needs to be saved instead of doing the saving herself.
Claire’s character is fraught with gender stereotypes. We first see Claire in the pilot through the screen of a handheld camera which “controls” her by making her captive to the small screen and also heightens the notion of her as an object for the male gaze (the camera is being operated by a male character, Zach). As a cheerleader she is almost always seen in her cheerleading uniform (short skirt with v-split and tight top) which puts her natural beauty at conflict with her unnatural power. Her objectification is most obvious in the opening sequence of the episode “Collision” where the show’s title is literally printed on her abdomen.
While the male “heroes” are delighted with their new powers or generally feel blessed by them, Claire sees her new power as a curse; she is concerned with still appearing feminine and dainty and her power threatens that. When asked by Zach if she is being overdramatic, Claire responds emphatically, “No, I don’t think.” This sort of dialogue continues for Claire as she is portrayed as a mere object, incapable of real thought – her sole purpose, it seems, is to be “saved” by the other characters. When asked by one of the heroes, Peter, who comes to her rescue, “By saving you, did I save the world?” Claire frankly replies, “I don’t know. I’m just a cheerleader.”
In a sense, Claire’s power is actually a disadvantage rather than a benefit. When the football captain Brody tries to rape her, and eventually pushes her down, he kills her, but Claire’s regenerative powers actually redeem Brody for his crime. Since she heals, he is not a murderer. Her power is of great benefit to everyone around her, but not to herself.
The show’s use of female gender constructs is most obvious in the character Niki Sanders. Just like Claire, Niki is first introduced to the audience through the screen of a camera, but her “confined” appearance continues throughout the show. Niki is an internet stripper – she sells her image for money – who realizes that she has a split-personality that is unnaturally strong and murderous. Niki’s character represents woman’s double bind; she is punished both for being good and when she strays from cultural norms. Here, as a superhero she has the double identity, but her power is completely out of her hands (she blacks out and doesn’t remember what happens).
Her violent personality is named Jessica, after her sister who died when Niki was young. Niki blacks out anytime she feels threatened or vulnerable and Jessica takes over, resulting in men with torn limbs and random sexual encounters. A later episode reveals that Niki has developed this split personality as a result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father; Jessica was created to protect her from the evils around her – this is a common comic book superheroine trait where women get their powers as a result of abuse or rape. One could argue that Niki is not even a superhero, just a woman with mental illness. Even her super-human strength is used only to protect or save her son, Micah, which could be argued as the phenomenon that sometimes occurs when women’s children are endangered.
In order to portray Niki’s split-personality, she is often seen in mirrors (or otherwise reflected in water, glass and other means) showing that she is visually split and therefore not to be trusted. The mirror shots both represent her feminine self-absorbed narcissism and her duplicitous nature. The idea of her being visually split is constantly thrown in the audience’s face; we see her reflection in an elevator door with the line down the middle, in three-piece mirrors where her image is extended over the panels and in broken mirrors where she is fragmented into pieces. The mirrors also work to contain her threat and danger; it is when Jessica breaks free from containment of the mirror that she is real trouble to those around her.
The character Eden, who kills herself in the most recent episode, “Fallout,” as a sacrificial act (she did not want the villain, Sylar, to steal her powers) is a more complex, yet equally gendered character. Her name alone evokes The Garden of Eden, the place of woman’s sin and of the convincing, yet evil, snake. Eden as a modern-day siren, endowed with the power of persuasion and evil tendencies represents both Eve and the snake.
While her power is also more potent and likely more desirable than any of the male’s power, she is controlled by the men in the show. Claire’s father, Mr. Bennett, commands Eden and uses her as a tool for his means. Her power is muted by Mr. Bennett’s other “acquisition,” an unnamed Haitian character who has the ability to block other’s powers.
The women in “Heroes” are always either wearing the color red or are otherwise surrounded by it (red cheerleading uniform, red umbrellas, red blankets, etc.) The color red is used to signify Niki’s duplicity (as both a color of anger or rage and of passion), Claire’s burgeoning sexuality (her cheerleading uniform, the red blanket covering her naked body at the morgue) and Eden’s tendencies toward evil. Subsidiary female characters are also often seen in the color red, whereas the male characters only wear or are surrounded by this color in times of weakness (Hiro, when he loses his power is mysteriously changed into a red shirt). Therefore, in “Heroes” the color red represents lack – lack of phallus (and therefore power and control) for the women or sudden lack of power for the men.
It is obvious that the men are the real “heroes” in this show. Even the narration of the show is done by a male, therefore giving the authority of interpretation here to the men. While the show does create complex and strong female characters, it employs stereotypes to do so and finds ways to contain their power throughout the show (typically by men). Instead of working as a postfeminist text, where feminist critique would no longer be relevant, this show is laden with stereotypes that perpetuate female gender constructs.
This may sound like just another "angry feminist rant," but in actuality I find the show is still an enjoyable, if guilty, pleasure. I am not suggesting that creator Tim Kring wrote his characters this way intentionally, this critique is more about pointing out the gender constructs/stereotypes that are still at work in society that we may not even notice.