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Table of contents
1. A Psychoanalytic Reading of a Female Comic Book Hero: Elektra; Assassin............................................. 1

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Document 1 of 1

A Psychoanalytic Reading of a Female Comic Book Hero: Elektra; Assassin

Author: Baughman, Linda Publication info: Women and Language 13.1 (Sep 30, 1990): 27. ProQuest document link Abstract (Abstract): and asks the question "where is she?" In the end, these pairs come back to basic male/female binary, inevitably couched in positive and negative evaluations (Moi 1985: 104-105). Within each opposition the feminine side is always the negative, powerless side. It is rendered powerless through a "struggle for signifying supremacy" (Moi 1985: 104-105). That is, in order for one term of the binary to acquire meaning it must destroy the other. "In the end, victory is equated with activity and defeat with passivity; under patriarchy, the male is always the victor" (Moi 1985:105). At first glance Sandy seems to embody the feminine side of this binary system. She lies in a hospital bed, helpless, passive. It would seem she is on the verge of the ultimate defeat: death. Elektra's word choice fits neatly into the binary system: full/empty. But Elektra's statement attempts to negate that passive subject position: "No. She's not empty," and denies that the struggle for the signification of Sandy's body has been "won." Instead, she exposes the struggle for signification: "She's trapped between life and death." For Cixous the struggle for signification ends with "death." For Cixous the struggle for signification ends with the "death" of one half of the binary; Sandy's usefulness to Elektra is precisely her continuing struggle between life and death. She gives Elektra a space inside the Law of the Father of temporarily attach herself. Elektra's plan is to successfully join to Sandy's mind (thereby hiding from the beast in Sandy's body), enabling Sandy, through Elektra, temporarily to win the battle for signification and become the active side of the binary pair, and pull out of the struggle between life and death. Because Elektra is outside the Symbolic Order she does not automatically embody either one of the other side of this binary system. In the end, Elektra temporarily revives Sandy's physical life, believing that she can maintain her own strength while hiding in Sandy's body and placing Sandy on the active side of the binary. Later, after Sandy's need for protection and love almost destroy Elektra, she will learn just how difficult it is to reclaim a woman from the passive side of the binary. ELEKTRA, SANDY, AND THE BEAST "She's trapped between life and death. I need her....He knows me but he Links: Linking Service Full text: A Psychoanalytic Reading of a Female Comic Book Hero: Elektra; Assassin "No. She's not empty. She's trapped between life and death. I need her." (Miller and Sienkiewicz 1986, Chap. 4) In the shadow of a hospital room a nurse utters these words. She is speaking of a blonde, pale female. The blonde, Sandy, is laying on a hospital bed, IVs running into her arm; she is the picture of inertia and helplessness. The nurse is Elektra. She is searching for a disguise that will effectively hide her from the Beast, her powerful enemy. She has found it; she will share this woman's body. As Elektra makes contact with Sandy, her statements reflect both the feminism and the psychoanalytic theory inherent in the eight-part comic gook Elektra: Assassin ELEKTRA To accurately comprehend the statements Elektra makes about Sandy, we require a quick psychoanalytic reading of Elektra's relationship to the Law of the Father. Elektra exists outside the Law of the Father. One of the foundations of Lacanian psychoanalysis is that in order to enter into the Symbolic Order and the Law of the Father one must first resolve the Oedipal complex. The Oedipal complex is the infant son's desire for the mother. The son overcomes this desire when he is threatened with castration by the father. At that moment the son becomes a split subject; the repressed desire for the mother creates the unconscious. He then enters into the Symbolic Order and the Law of the Father to obtain a woman of his own, the new object of desire (Moi

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1985:99-100). Elektra "suffers from" the female side of the Oedipal complex, the Elektra complex (pure coincidence is unlikely). Rather than being in love with the mother, she is a daughter in love with the father. Elektra's Elektra complex has never been resolved. Elektra was born of a dead mother (miller and Sienkiewicz 1986, Chap. 1), therefore she did not have an adult woman present to forbid her desire for the father. Because she was never forced to repress this desire, she did not replace it with the Symbolic Order. Hence she never fully entered into either the Symbolic Order of the Law of the Father. Her Elektra complex is further strengthened early in life when her father rapes her. After the fact she is told it did not really happen, that it was only a fantasy, and she wanted it to happen. Her belief in her desire for the father grow, but her father dies before she can resolve the Elektra complex (Miller and Sienkiewicz 1986, Chap. 1), positioning her permanently outside the Law of the Father. Her existence outside the Law has several consequences. First, as a comb book hero she is extremely problematic. Unlike most comic book heroes, Elektra does not work for "truth, justice, and the American way" (read the Law of the Father). Instead she is a mercenary ninja assassin whose primary motive is money, not justice. In fact, her behavior is prompted by her "arch enemy," the Beast. In Elektra: Assassin, the Beast can be read as being both evil incarnate and the personification of the Law of he Father. In the series, Elektra's mission is to assassinate the newly elected president of the United States - a man controlled by the Beast. The second consequence is that she is very different from other women. In the same moment she excels in areas where other women are weak and she lacks the critical skills and emotions which would define her as a "normal woman," or even a normal human. On the one hand, Elektra has extraordinary physical and mental strength. (This is very useful because she spends a lot of time trying to regain/maintain control of her mind and body: a myriad of institutions, cults, and social forces attempt to take them for their own.) Ultimately she is self-serving; her own survival is what truly counts. On the other hand, she completely lacks what other women are purported to have. She has no compassion. One of her mottos is "Leave nothing alive." Another dictum is "No one is innocent" (Miller and Sienkiewicz 1986, Chap. 1, Chap. 5). This leaves very little room for a range of "feminine" emotions. Her relationship to men is different as well. While other women in Elektra: Assassin seem to be controlled by men and the Law of the Father, Elektra has the ability to control men. Because she is outside the Law of the Father, she has had to develop other ways of existing in relationship to humanity. She has become a super-ninja with the power of mind control; this allows her to direct the minds of the men around her. Garrett, for example, the primary male character, is under Elektra's power, unable to do anything that fundamentally contradicts her wishes. Ultimately she is the only woman with real power over the men in her world. A final consequence of Elektra's existence outside the Law is her method of communication. Because of her incomplete entry into the Symbolic Order, Elektra doesn't really speak, she communicates by pressing her thoughts into other peoples' minds through psychic links. Elektra's position outside the Law of the Father creates a unique opportunity to examine that law. Her confrontation with Sandy, a woman placed firmly within the Law of the Father, creates the ideal space for this critique. In relationship to Sandy it becomes clear that Elektra constantly exposes and transgresses the boundaries defining/confining "woman." Because her very existence defies and calls into question the Law of the Father, Elektra can be read as a feminist hero. This particular reading of Elektra: Assassin will be informed by French feminist psychoanalytic theory (specifically, Hlne Cixou nd Luce Irigaray). ELEKTRA AND SANDY "No. She's not empty. She's trapped between life and death. I need her." Many of the French feminist theories dealing with psychoanalysis seem to be written directly into Sandy's body. Elektra's first comment referring to Sandy can be read through Cixous' analysis of patriarchal binary thought. Cixous creates a list of binary oppositions: Activity/Passivity Sun/Moon Culture/Nature Day/Night Father/Mother Head/Emotions Intelligible/Sensitive Logos/Pathos and asks the question "where is she?" In the end, these pairs come back to basic male/female binary, inevitably 01 August 2013 Page 2 of 6 ProQuest

couched in positive and negative evaluations (Moi 1985: 104-105). Within each opposition the feminine side is always the negative, powerless side. It is rendered powerless through a "struggle for signifying supremacy" (Moi 1985: 104-105). That is, in order for one term of the binary to acquire meaning it must destroy the other. "In the end, victory is equated with activity and defeat with passivity; under patriarchy, the male is always the victor" (Moi 1985:105). At first glance Sandy seems to embody the feminine side of this binary system. She lies in a hospital bed, helpless, passive. It would seem she is on the verge of the ultimate defeat: death. Elektra's word choice fits neatly into the binary system: full/empty. But Elektra's statement attempts to negate that passive subject position: "No. She's not empty," and denies that the struggle for the signification of Sandy's body has been "won." Instead, she exposes the struggle for signification: "She's trapped between life and death." For Cixous the struggle for signification ends with "death." For Cixous the struggle for signification ends with the "death" of one half of the binary; Sandy's usefulness to Elektra is precisely her continuing struggle between life and death. She gives Elektra a space inside the Law of the Father of temporarily attach herself. Elektra's plan is to successfully join to Sandy's mind (thereby hiding from the beast in Sandy's body), enabling Sandy, through Elektra, temporarily to win the battle for signification and become the active side of the binary pair, and pull out of the struggle between life and death. Because Elektra is outside the Symbolic Order she does not automatically embody either one of the other side of this binary system. In the end, Elektra temporarily revives Sandy's physical life, believing that she can maintain her own strength while hiding in Sandy's body and placing Sandy on the active side of the binary. Later, after Sandy's need for protection and love almost destroy Elektra, she will learn just how difficult it is to reclaim a woman from the passive side of the binary. ELEKTRA, SANDY, AND THE BEAST "She's trapped between life and death. I need her....He knows me but he does not know her." While Cixous is helpful in understanding why Elektra thinks she can use Sandy, Irigaray can explain why Elektra needs Sandy as a disguise. Sandy exists inside the Law of the Father. Irigaray theorizes that when women enter the Law of the Father and the Symbolic Order they are placed outside representation.. Women are not defined or constituted in and or themselves. Rather, they become the reflection upon which man (the Law of the Father) is constructed. Women become Other for man. Upon entering the Symbolic Order women become man's "negative or mirror image" (Moi 1985: 132-133). This leads Jacques Lacan to declare that "Women do not exist" (Jones 1985: 83). From within the Symbolic Order, women don't exist, they merely reflect those who are understood to exist. From Irigaray's perspective, Sandy's location between life and death can be seen on yet another level; she is trapped by her Lacanian non-existence within the Symbolic Order. She is literally trapped between life and death. She is not truly "alive" because she does not exist within the system of meaning; but she is not dead either. Instead, she is constructed as a reflection of that which is meaningful: the Law of the Father. In this sense Sandy is the perfect disguise for Elektra. If Elektra hides from the Beast (Law of the Father) within his Other, he will not see her; he will only see himself. She will become his negative, his reflection. In short, she will cease to exist. In Elektra: Assassin, chapter 4, Elektra states that "He knows me but he does not know her." This describes Elektra's position outside the Law of the Father and Sandy's existence within it in two ways. First, Elektra is known. Taking Irigaray literally, if the Beast knows Elektra then she can be represented to him; she does not simply reflect his own representation. Because she is outside the Symbolic Order, Elektra can be recognized and cannot be constituted as Other. Second, because "he does not know her," Sandy can be understood as the Beast's Other. He does not know her, just as women cannot be known inside the Symbolic Order of the Law of the Father. Sandy is Other; Elektra is not. Therefore Elektra's perfect hiding place is inside the one place the Beast cannot look: his Other. This may seem to cast the reading of Elektra: Assassin, that through Cixous and Irigaray, in a very simplistic and literal minded light, that Elektra: Assassin is steeped in a sometimes literal translation of the theories of Freud, Cixous, Irigaray, and Lacan. Green eyes, blonde hair, a pretty face and a myriad of wires connect this immobile women, Sandy, to a force of unseen machines sustaining her life. Physically she is a stereotypically beautiful woman, with mountains of hair, 01 August 2013 Page 3 of 6 ProQuest

and an exaggerated cupid's bow on her upper lip. Sandy is everything Elektra is not. Elektra is dark: dark hair, dark eyes. While Sandy's body is controlled by machines, Elektra's body is her own and in perfect fighting condition. Physical difference is one more point that indicates the infinite distance between Elektra and Sandy. SANDY AND ELEKTRA "I touch her from far away. She wails like a baby. Her name is Sandy. She cannot see or her or speak or move. She doesn't know where she is...She sense me and screams it - she has never been in love. Love. Not empty. She's filled with this wish. The risk is tripled." In this short description Elektra has re-counted the two moments which created the original split of Sandy's subjectivity, the split necessary for entry into the Symbolic Order and the Law of the Father (Moi 1985: 100101). Elektra's comment "She wails like a baby" places Sandy back at the beginning. As well, Sandy has been rendered physically and mentally silent: "She cannot see or hear or speak or move." In the hospital bed Sandy lacks a full awareness of her self. "She doesn't know where she is." In short, she is located in those moments before full awareness of self and other, placed (at least metaphorically) prior to Lacan's Mirror Stage. As Sandy senses Elektra the first split occurs and the enters the Mirror Stage. This is exemplified is Elektra's comment, "She senses me and she screams it..." Sandy becomes aware of herself. She becomes aware of Elektra's position beyond her, of Elektra that other. The second splitting of the subject position occurs with the formation of the unconscious. "She has never been in love. Love. Not empty. No. She is filled with this wish." The subject is split and an unconscious is formed after desire for the mother (father) has an refused/repressed. "For Lacan desire behaves in precisely the same way as language: it moves ceaselessly on from object to object...[it] will never find full and present satisfaction" (Moi 1985:101). Sandy is filled with her desire for love. She screams this desire to Elektra, the desire that drives Sandy's existence. It is through the second split, the split of the conscious and the unconscious that individuals become firmly placed within the Law of the Father through the Symbolic Order. Placed in the Symbolic Order, it is Sandy's ever persisting, never fulfilled desire for love that effects Elektra's potential destruction. Even though Elektra is aware of the strength of Sandy's desire ("Not empty, no, she's filled with this wish."), she underestimates its ultimate importance. She believes this desire triples her risk of failure; she does not realize it almost guarantees her destruction. By glancing back to Cixous, we can understand Elektra's lack of understanding. She fails to realize the degree to which Sandy is firmly held within the patriarchal binary system. When Elektra tries to remove Sandy from it, she ignores (or misunderstands) the power of the Law of the Father. She does not see that Sandy is held to the Law through the creation of the unconscious and the ever unrelizable desire Lacan described. Further, Elektra fails to see that it is only through the Law of the Father that Sandy can attempt to fulfill her desire. Elektra expects to be in control once she enters Sandy's body; she has misunderstood the extent to which the Law of the Father has been written onto Sandy's body and mind, and does not realize that Sandy's need for love will hold her permanently within the Law of the Father. Where Elektra enters Sandy's body (thereby giving Sandy power), Sandy immediately uses this new found power to pursue the desire for love. Sandy's wishes overpower Elektra's. During her blind pursuit of love Sandy manages to trap Elektra in her body. Sandy now controls Elektra. But through a third party the Beast discovers Elektra's hiding place. The Beast takes control of Sandy and almost manages to destroy Elektra. In the end Elektra must destroy Sandy to save herself. ELEKTRA'S POSSIBILITIES AS A FEMINIST HERO In the world of Elektra: Assassin the female reader can identity with either Sandy or Elektra. On the surface the choice seems to be a dismal one. We can either be antisocial, mercenary, heartless ninja assassins or we can be weak women, living only for the desire of love. Elektra believes in no one and depends only on herself. Sandy attempts (however unwittingly) to sacrifice Elektra in the pursuit of love. Neither of these women would normally be established as feminist role models, nor do they represent typically feminist actions. Elektra can be saved as a feminist hero, but to do so we have to ask: why is Elektra a nihilist? Because to 01 August 2013 Page 4 of 6 ProQuest

believe in anything or anyone is to believe in that which is contained within the Law of the Father. It is to trust someone deeply affected by her own worst enemy: the Beast. Elektra's position outside the Law of the Father enables her to see its power and danger. Consequently, though she is forced to interact with individuals located within the Symbolic Order and the Law of the Father she can trust no one - and she is wise enough to know it. Ultimately, it is Elektra's single handed fight against the Beast and the Law of the Father that creates her as a feminist hero. NOTES 1. The Law of the Father: "the patronym, patriarchal law, patrilineal identity, language as our inscription into patriarchy. The Name [Law]-of-the-Father is the fact of the attribution of the paternity by law, by language." (qtd. in Furman 1985:71). 2. The Symbolic Order - that is, the order of the Name [Law]-of-the-Father, the order of language which allows intersubjective communication - conveys the very values of the social system which it reflects, supports and encompasses. When we become intelligible, we do so by adopting the values upon which communication is predicated." (Furman 1985:72). 3. The character of Elektra first appeared in Miller and Janson (1980-84) and was reprinted in 1989 as The Elektra Saga. REFERENCES Furman, Nelly. "The Politics of Language: Beyond the Gender Principle?" Making a Difference: Feminist Literary Criticism. Ed. Gayle Greene and Coppelia Kahn. London: Methuen, 1985. 59-79. Jones, Ann Rosalind. "Inscribing Femininity: French Theories of the Feminine." Making a Difference: Feminist Literary Criticism. Ed. Gayle Green and Coppelia Kahn. London: Methuen, 1985. 80-112. Miller, Frank and Klaus Janson, Elektra. Marvel Comics series 1980-84. Reprinted as The Elektra Saga. New York: Marvel Entertainment Group, 1989. Miller, Frank and Bill Sienkiewicz. Elektra: Assassin. Eight: part series, Aug. 1986 to March 1987. Moi, Toril. Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory. London: Methuen, 1985. Photo (Cover of and issue of Elektra) Subject: Entertainment; Literature Publication title: Women and Language Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 27 Number of pages: 0 Publication year: 1990 Publication date: Sep 30, 1990 Year: 1990 Publisher: George Mason University, Communication Department Place of publication: Urbana Country of publication: United States Publication subject: Linguistics, Women's Interests ISSN: 87554550 Source type: Scholarly Journals Language of publication: English

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Document type: Feature Document feature: Photo Accession number: SFLNSIWNL1096WLDZ537000005 ProQuest document ID: 198818961 Document URL: http://search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/docview/198818961?accountid=11311 Copyright: Copyright George Mason University, Communication Department Sep 30, 1990 Last updated: 2010-06-06

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