the roles of men in Sailor Moon

Roles of Men in Sailor Moon

Here is what people had to say about the roles of men in Sailor Moon:

"I think men are shown in the same light as the women, but they're not as

prominent. Tuxedo Kamen/Mask/Darien supports Sailor Moon and encourages her

to fight and to succeed. He is a very good supporting character. When he

or any of the boyfriends are shown, they are very kind and loving and show a

good side to the male side. The only thing that bothered me is how

Submissive the male generals were to Queen Beryl in the first season. They

were big whimps, but it did show that women can have power..."

"Well, other than Mamoru, I think the male figures in Sailor Moon take the
back burner. But I don't consider this bad judgement on the part of the show
writers. It's a girls' show!"

"I think there's only one strong male, and that's Darien. "

"They're pretty
strong too, but in a way they're submissive. They don't play too much of a big
part.."

Basically, (except possibly for Darien) the male characters seem to be there to make the gals look good :-) This is exemplified by the fact that in ALL of the pictures I found on the internet where there were men and women, the women were always in the forground of the picture and the men are in the background.

Many of the men in Sailor Moon are portrayed as weak and submissive to women. In one way, I believe that this is a positive thing but in another way I think it is negative.

I think that it is positive in the sense that young girls who watch the show realise that they are not dependent on men and they can solve their own problems. But, any young men seeing this show might start to feel that they do not count in a girl's world. They might also feel objectified because one of the main functions of the male characters are to serve as a girl's crush; basically, it can taken that men are only there to serve as objects of romance for young women. Young women may start to feel that men take a back seat to them. Men and women are not really portrayed as equals in this show -- women are superior! I really don't think that the male image that is projected is really harmful however because the main male character (Darien) is, pretty much, the "ideal" guy. Serina and the Scouts fight the battles and Darien supports them when they need him. He does not always save the day and he never jumps in right away. He always lets the girls fight their own battles and only fights with them when he is sorely needed.

I have one more thought however. Without getting into a huge analysis of the symbolism in Sailor Moon, as this is not a project in film or literature, the fact that Darien only helps the Sailor Scouts after he covers his face with a mask caught my attention. This implies, to me, that a man can only show his true feelings for a girl and can only support the girl he loves if he hides or loses his identity (as later in the series he actually forgets who he is, loses the Tuxedo Mask identity, becomes Moonlight Knight, and continues to rescue the Sailor Scouts in disguise). In other words, the man who supports Serina is not able to show his true identity to her. Have a look at Darien when he supports the woman he loves:

Tuxedo Mask saves Serina but loses his identity

Moonlight Knight is afraid to show his true self to Serina

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