#i'm also surprised i haven't seen anyone bring up hohenheim and trisha because that's what i see it as

[marshmallowgoop]

It’s not “Born Sexy Yesterday,” y’all.

I had the great fortune of catching up with the fifth season of Samurai Jack just in time for that episode, and, well, there’s a lot I could say.

But I want to just focus on one thing: what bothers me about so much media criticism---and this is coming from someone who engages in quite a bit of it---is that, in attempting to call out issues of objectification of women and sexism against women, critics often do just what they’re criticizing themselves, stripping away female characters’ agency and personalities in their commentary, painting them as little more than helpless, pitiful things.

And that’s exactly my issue with the “Born Sexy Yesterday” video---and exactly my issue with the “Born Sexy Yesterday” trope being applied to Ashi.

(Well, aside from the fact that the whole video in question is a Jonathan McIntosh video, who was a co-writer and producer for the first season of Feminist Frequency’s “Tropes vs Women in Video Games” series, which has this issue on top of a whole host of others, but that’s a discussion for another day.)

The Trope

For a sort of “textbook” definition of the trope in question, McIntosh defines the “Born Sexy Yesterday” character as so:

McIntosh: She has the mind of a naïve, yet highly-skilled child, but in the body of a mature, sexualized woman. She also serves as our hero’s love interest. “Profoundly naïve, yet unimaginably wise” captures the essence of this trope.

“Born Yesterday” is an idiom meaning “extremely naïve, inexperienced, or ignorant.” As a media trope, “Born Sexy Yesterday” has both a figurative and, in many cases, a literal meaning.

From here, McIntosh adds that the “Born Sexy Yesterday” character has “the mind of a child manifest in a mature, female body” and is “brought into the human world already fully formed.” The character is “deliberately framed in a sexualized way” and is “defined by their innocence and inexperience of worldly things---especially when it comes to sex, romance, or basic social interaction.” Notably, they are “deliberately written to be completely unaware of their own sex appeal.” 

However, a “Born Sexy Yesterday” gal---despite her newness---is still “often highly skilled in something that men will respect” (often combat), which emphasizes what McIntosh stresses is the most important part of the trope: “Born Sexy Yesterday” is more of a relationship trope than anything---and it’s a male-fantasy relationship trope at that. The guy who ultimately hooks up with the “Born Sexy Yesterday” gal is just as crucial to the trope as the “Born Sexy Yesterday” gal is herself.

And the “guy” part of “Born Sexy Yesterday” is, as McIntosh describes:

McIntosh: Typically, he’s a straight, red-blooded man who has---for a variety of reasons---found himself alone or unsatisfied in love. He finds himself disenfranchised, or otherwise directionless. He either can’t find---or doesn’t want---a woman from his own world---a woman who might be his equal in matters of love and sexuality. 

He does have one thing going for him, though. He knows all about living life as a normal human being.

Of course, so does every other guy on Earth, which should make him... unremarkable. Except, to a woman born yesterday. Because she’s presumably never known another man, he would seem like the smartest, most amazing guy in the entire universe.

And here’s where we start to see how the trope is constructed as a male fantasy. It’s precisely her naïvety and her innocence that allows her to see something special in him---something that other, less innocent---or more experienced---women cannot.

In other words, a “Born Sexy Yesterday” gal, as described by McIntosh, is nothing more than a wish-fulfillment sex object for loser guys who can’t get with anyone else.

In other other words, to say that a female character fits the “Born Sexy Yesterday” trope is to say that any hopes, dreams, ambitions that she might have outside of a man---and, you know, that whole personality thing---mean nothing. To say a female character fits the “Born Sexy Yesterday” trope is to say that she is nothing more than a silly, doesn’t-know-anything sex object, because that is literally what the trope describes.

And that’s why the trope doesn’t sit well with me in the first place. It seems far more interested in bringing down women and reducing them to items of male pleasure than criticizing the writing for depicting them in that way.

Ashi

But bringing this back to Ashi and Samurai Jack, the nasty nature of this trope is also why I dislike it being used to criticize Ashi. Just like every other character that might be described as a “Born Sexy Yesterday” gal, the trope reduces Ashi to nothing more than Jack’s sexy arm candy and completely glosses over and ignores her own growth, her own journey, and her own agency.

Ashi has arguably been as much of the main character of Season Five as Jack has been. The narrative has detailed her horrific childhood, her constant love for nature, her compassion even when she was trained and ordered to have none, her wonder as she sees everything that was hidden from her, her stubbornness in her ways, her turmoil as the truth becomes impossible to deny... and that’s just in the first few episodes! 

From there, Ashi gets to wander the world and learn about the world on her own, gets to discover herself and who she wants to be on her own, gets to face her mother and defeat her mother on her own---and that’s just scratching the surface. Ashi has so much growth and development separate from Jack that emphasizes that she is so much more than just some pretty “prize” for him because he can’t get any other girl (which, c’mon, seriously? Jack is hugely adored in-canon, is damn good looking, loses his clothes all the time, and is sexualized up the wazoo just like Ashi is. Ain’t no way this dude would have trouble getting some if he were really looking.).

In any case, the idea of Ashi fitting the “Born Sexy Yesterday” trope so insulting because it conveniently forgets everything about her that doesn’t have to do with Jack and her “childishness” that stems from her sheltered upbringing. Despite all of Ashi’s experiences, she’s reduced to a naïve baby who can’t handle herself and doesn’t know anything. While it’s true that Ashi’s childhood leaves her highly inexperienced in the world, her story---which the narrative has so focused on and placed so much significance on---is all about gaining experience. It honestly grosses me out that everything Ashi went through and her journey to understand what was stolen from her is just completely pushed under a rug to pigeonhole her into a demeaning trope. 

Think of it this way: would you consider Rapunzel from Disney’s Tangled an example of “Born Sexy Yesterday” due to her sheltered upbringing? I certainly wouldn’t! Rapunzel is so, so, so much more than Eugene’s clueless girlfriend, and her story is all about gaining experience and independence. To say that Rapunzel fits the trope would be to erase basically the entire movie---and I feel just the same about Ashi in Samurai Jack.

And in fact, the video itself actually debunks the idea of Ashi fitting the trope at all!

McIntosh: ...the problem with this trope [“Born Sexy Yesterday”] is not necessarily with the female characters themselves. If these were simply stories involving naïve, extra-terrestrial women who learned about love and humanity, then that wouldn’t be an issue. Likewise, if the male hero was also inexperienced and our two protagonists could discover love and sex together, then that would avoid most of the troubling power dynamic issues.  

So, for example, Cameron from the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show fits the trope, but her relationship with the young John Connor is framed as much more of a mutual exploration.

This season of Samurai Jack has been a story nearly just as much about Ashi---if not as much---as it is about the titular Jack. Season Five hasn’t just been some lame male-fantasy romance, because any and all "romance” has just been left to this one episode---one, out of eight, in which Ashi has always been prominently featured and her story of self-discovery has always been of utmost significance.

Equality

The idea of Ashi fitting the “Born Sexy Yesterday” trope is also insulting because of another aspect noted in the quote above: equality. While “Born Sexy Yesterday” is a trope that “fetishes the stark power imbalance between a wiser, more experienced man and a naïve, inexperienced woman” and is “the ultimate teacher/student dynamic,” Jack and Ashi’s relationship is defined by learning from each other. Jack “shows Ashi the world,” if you will, and Ashi does the same for him later, saving Jack from himself by “showing” him all the good he’s done in the world with her words. Jack fights his own personal demons, and Ashi fights hers---and they support each other through it, as equals and friends, not master/object or teacher/student.

Especially in this contested episode, Jack is never depicted as “a wiser, more experienced man” than Ashi---right from the very beginning! Jack tries to seem like he knows what he’s doing when he orders food, but he clearly doesn’t have a clue (as eating the stuff turns his head into a fish). Ashi, meanwhile---the one who is so argued to be naïve and inexperienced---is wise enough to know not to eat the seafood. She may have been sheltered and hidden away from the world, but she’s not a clueless child who doesn’t know anything.

All the sexual metaphors in the episode also point to Jack and Ashi’s equality---or at least, to the fact that Jack is not someone significantly above Ashi in terms of romantic/sexual experience. They are both high school-level awkward around each other. They both don’t know how to figure out the “device,” and they both have to fiddle and fiddle and fiddle with it until they get it right. Neither knows what they’re doing, and they have to figure that out together, just like the Cameron and John example from the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

And, to address the naked elephant in the room, Ashi has, again, wandered around the world without Jack. She knew to cover her nakedness because of social norms---why else would she have made her dress? Ashi’s confusion at Jack’s flustered reaction to her nakedness in episode 8 seems more to me as her being confused that someone like Jack would be flustered about nudity in a literal life-or-death situation. Jack is the one acting like an immature child here, not Ashi.

Finally, from a narrative standpoint, Jack and Ashi are also presented as people put in similar, equal situations. Jack was raised to fight and kill Aku. His childhood was dedicated to the task, and in the series proper, it is still his goal. While Jack wasn’t exactly sheltered per se, he didn’t get to experience the world much as an ordinary person because he was always laser-focused on this weighty, fate-of-the-world task.

In the same way, Ashi was raised to fight and kill Jack. Her entire life was dedicated to the goal. She had no chance to experience the world as an ordinary person---and much like Jack was flung into the future and had to learn how to live in a new world, Ashi has to learn to live in a new world, too.  And as shown in episode 8, they’re both still getting the hang of it!

These are people who “get” each other. They were born to fight. They were tossed into a strange new world. They’ve never had the chance to be “normal” citizens. They are both naïve and trying to figure things out together. 

Jack is never presented as a grand power over Ashi. She holds her own and stands up for herself. She is not Jack’s mindless, clueless arm candy. She is not “Born Sexy Yesterday.” 

Of course, I am not saying that there aren’t legitimate criticisms towards the romance. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t be upset. I’m not saying that anyone has to like the direction the series took. I’m not saying that the backlash is unwarranted or undeserved. 

But to criticize Season Five because of “Born Sexy Yesterday” is demeaning, insulting, and just plain wrong. 

And, personally, I find it incredibly disappointing that a video essay that should, by definition, inspire critical thinking has only seemed to do the exact opposite.

#samurai jack #born sexy yesterday #ashi #the discourse #meta #ramblings #serious talk #spoilers #sj spoilers #ooh boy i'm sorry for this godawful post but #this is why i dislike so much media criticism despite doing so damn much of it myself #anyway i really do get the discontent over the romance #but to address other points that have been brought up: #i'm a little... eh? about the age thing #i mean has jack -mentally- aged in the last 50 years? #people like to disconnect the body from the mind but i think they're actually rather connected #if the body doesn't age who says the mind does? #i'm also surprised i haven't seen anyone bring up hohenheim and trisha because that's what i see it as #don't really know how i feel about it so *shrug* #but they're two consenting adults in any case #as for the murdering sisters thing #that bugs me too but ashi literally said last ep that her mother killed her sisters so #she doesn't see it that jack killed them in any case #anyway #here's some hot fresh discourse #long post #really long post... #shut up goop #seriously wtf