This is one of the genre that I get interested in and it seems to be hitting the major media of the US and other countries outside of Japan now. Normally it is the girl who is the lead in the show something like Wonder Woman. It could also be a group of magical girls like The Craft. They may start as human, but they normally have some sort of super powers. So Alice from resident evil would be one and even Laura croft because she ends up being involved in magical things. Basically a female with power and strength in the movies. When focused on a woman there is a different dynamic to the movie. Even in the case of Kill Bill there is a different perspective angle to the genre. I am just putting this here for my thoughts and some of yours.
I saw the "new" Tom Raider about a year ago. Her tits match her frame better than the Angelina version, so we will have to agree to disagree.
Nothing against Alicia Vikander, but when it comes to tits, she's got nothing on early-2000s Angelina Jolie... Exhibit A: Exhibit C (?):
looking up the definition, I'm not sure the examples you cite are necessarily "magical girls" so much as just other forms of the "(super)heroine". The crew from the craft perhaps, by virtue of the magic wielding-but the others strikes me as appropriating other genres based on the ex machina of supernatural influences... I mena, you could just as easily categorize these characters as aspects of the thousand faced hero Joseph Campbell talks about if you boil the definition of a "magical girl" to "A female with power and strength". I don't necessarily disagree that there are shared qualities, but there doesn't seem to be a case for this particular trope to be applicable outside of anime/manga. Indeed it seems that it's quite specific to those genres (and their imitators).
The definition based on the Japanese genre is more attune to the anime realm. However, when you leave that particular culture you see what you would call a super heroin fits the mold. In the anime world magic can come from items or be alien power in nature. For instance one of the most famous anime magical girl series is sailor moon. In this the girls are transformed through a wand they are given. This could be quite similar to something like green lantern's ring in the realm of super heroes. There are a ton of extradimensional or other worldly magical girls, so super girl and wonder woman would fall into the category. There is the magical girl who signs a contract for her powers, so you enter the Sabrina category and witchcraft in there. You have your typical human or Demi human mage like a lina inverse. As in most tropes or categories it is not as limiting as a wiki definition or other attempts to define it in the realm of fantasy are. Certainly in the US the genre would be more culturally super powered. I prefer more to look at it being something a bit more broad where the heroine tends to overcome with the powers within herself which are more often portrayed in a different way than it would be with a male oriented show or hero. The US or Disney to be more precise tends to refer to these characters more as princesses, but that can get a bit strange when you consider princess is more of a royal bloodline rather than magical. Not every magical girl has a royal bloodline.
that might be the key there... fitting the mold. Methinks you're reverse engineering the concept to promote a genre into an archetype. Somewhat akin to mormons converting the dead.
A friend who at 4'11" is quite proud of her Marilyn measurements. (if FB didn't kill this shot, I figured it was SFW)
It is actually somewhat appropriate. A lot of the magical girl or super heroine crowd tend to be dressed scantily. It is not odd to find a wonder woman fighting evil in a bathing suit and hooker boots. If you take a look at japan and you see some interesting breast sizes and girls fighting evil in short skirted battle outfits or tight spandex. There are many comedy series in Japan that treat the magical girl costume changes and overly frilly dresses and short skirts as a joke. Even way back as far as cardcaptor sakura humor was placed in the beginning because sakura does not have a transformation scene. Instead she has a rich BFF who is really into magican girls and follows her around with a van full of dresses she happened to have made, and a video camera. CCS was more of a serious and big series in Japan and America. One has to relate these costumes back to the more predominant nature of attractiveness and sexualization that comes along with women through history. Even when you go back to older stories of gods and magic beings in the past often looks are a part of how a woman is seen as good. Ugly women are often seen as evil unless they are elderly or motherly. Things like fertility and love are often the realm of female heroes and given their relationship to the creation of humans in society they are often relegated to a sexual nature rather than armored. This is not to say there were not instances like a joan of arc. In a way these stories tend to become how women see their own power within society. So it would not be odd for a woman to feel powerful where she would be most positively viewed in society. That is not to say this is right, but it is an effect of how we all see ourselves. Magical girls are going to reflect those views. There is also the reality that in order to get a male audience there and excited you need some spank material. However, that is a cheap ploy IMO. We have many instances of strong heroines in movies that are not sexed up. Certainly Sarah Connor from terminator or Ripley from Aliens were not sexualized heroines. Why does alice from resident evil wear short dresses or Laura croft for that matter? Because it is easier to sell a scantily clad heroine to a male audience than to make a well written one.
For those who want a good primer of what I am talking about here is one. I will comment more later as I have to get to school soon.
you just reposted yourself. I guess I will too-you're putting the cart in front of the horse claiming the genre is the archetype. i.e.: Luke Skywalker fits Campbell's "hero", however not all heroes are Luke Skywalker.
