When the Chosen One isn’t the Protagonist
**I wrote this in 2015 as a college freshman, then published it here a few years later. It is not by best work, and I’ve considered taking it down…but I remain sentimental toward my early attempts at art/media critique.
In 2003, Cartoon Network brought the half-demon heroine, Raven, off the comic book pages and onto the small screen with Teen Titans. The daughter of Trigon — the “embodiment of all evil” — the young hero defies her lineage and serves as a force for good in the titular crime-fighting team.
The 3-part season 4 finale, as well as episodes such as “Birthmark” and “The Prophecy”, explore Raven’s destiny to be the “key to end all things mortal.” Despite being the leader of the Titans, Robin could only ever aid her in restoring balance, a mere witness to her cosmic power. As he admits, “this is your story, Raven.”
Raven without question fulfills the role of the chosen one, yet is not the leader of the team, nor is she the designated main character of the series. In episodes not pertaining to her story line, Raven is no more salient to the plot than any other Titan. The Teen Titans, thus present a complex hero-sidekick format, posing the question of why the writers would choose to not have the ‘chosen one act as the main character, and what those decisions ultimately say about attitudes toward the female narrative.
The answer to why the story of the Teen Titans wasn’t told through Raven’s eyes lies somewhere with the Team’s original creator: comic book legend Marv Wolfman. The writer has made it public that Raven is his favorite and most complex Titan, stating in an interview with Comic First News that “more than any of the other Titans, her rich and detailed origin allows me to get into a very complex character. There are lots of levels to her that make her fascinating to explore. I wish, I could replicate that with new characters…”
Wolfman’s sincere dedication the character (even writing her a miniseries) leaves the limitations of the time (early 80s) to blame. By the time the concept was picked up by Cartoon Network for a television series, the story and character formatting was already well established- and the possibility of Raven of stepping out into the limelight was all but gone. This bizarre loop of cause and effect begins with the assumption that audiences inherently have difficulty relating to the female voice. Blogger and sci-fi enthusiast Nick Doyle points out that “being able to relate to a character is totally subjective, as is its importance…publishers are selling men out short to assume that [they] are incapable of relating with someone simply because they have breasts.”(Women Aren’t From Venus). The effect of this flawed thinking is a genuine discomfort in assimilating one’s self with the female hero. Doyle sites the startling statistic that only 18% of players who beat Mass Effect 3 played as the female avatar. Though the tides have turned significantly for female leads in sci-fi with the Hunger Games, Divergent etc., the world of superheroes seems to be trailing far behind.
One of the most problematic areas of Raven’s role in the Teens Titans, is the character’s ability to regress into the background when not summoned by her particular story-line. In the episode “The End- part 1”, the team faces off against an old foe; Plasmus. Being the only one aware that this is the last day on earth and determined not to waste it, Raven declares “let’s just end this” and defeats the villain within seconds. By the next season however, after Raven’s story arc concluded, she displays powers of far less capability, and the whole team was needed to defeat him. When the show does call upon her superior powers in
other episodes, it is for purposes of convenience; to defeat a villain more quickly and thus move the story along. The on-off switch the show seems to have on her powers is almost comically displayed in the episode “Titans, Go!” which gave viewers the origin of how the titans amassed. With only moments left in the episode, the newly assembled team find themselves completely outnumbered by aliens. Raven exclaims “get away from my friends!” and swiftly unleashes her full power, killing all but one. When the last mutant comes toward her, she looks at it hopelessly, suddenly rendered unable to use her power (for no known reason). This opens a window for another character, Cyborg, to step in and kill the mutant. Cyborg’s victory is followed by a “Booyah!”, giving fans the origin of his catchphrase and wrapping up his story line in the episode. Raven’s powers being halted to tie in an inane subplot is deeply troubling. Such a trend can be seen on much larger scale however, spanning the entire series.
Raven’s story arc in the 4th season concludes with her transformation into an all-powerful self-state, defeating her demon father and cementing her as the most powerful Titan. The story then follows the way of many of its kind, as “the female hero does not go onto replace the male hero, but instead fades in power and retreats to a more typical position of passivity and secondary status”(Westfahl). The show in this way, exemplifies how many stories call upon the female narrative when it is convenient, just to cast them aside shortly after; thus silencing their voice. When entering her all-powerful state, Raven’s cloak turns to white and her hair becomes long. In the finale’s conclusion, after defeating Trigon, Raven’s white cloak returns back to its original indigo and her hair has been cut to her usual bob. This regression in physical appearance can serve as a microcosm of what happens to many female chosen-ones after they reach their fullest potential; “they come to the point where they are ready to replace the male heroes, and they might even supplant them for a while, but they are ultimately not allowed to achieve or maintain that position and are instead obliged to return to their old secondary role”(Westfahl).
All the limitations of Raven’s character, prohibiting her from maintaining the focus of the narrative, may alternately be seen as key elements in making her an effective character. By adopting Long’s perspective in his article The Narcissism of The Chosen One, one can view Raven’s regression to a secondary role as an advantage to her status as the chosen one. Long argues that “being the center of the universe isn’t something worth aspiring to”. Under this logic, the brief duration in which Raven is the key to saving the universe does not undermine her importance, as such a character is unapproachable and un-relatable to audiences. Raven’s narrative is her own, but it doesn’t dictate the agency of the other Titans.
Raven’s return to her normal appearance and position on the team emphasizes the idea of choice that Long feels is so often undermined. Robin is an effective leader of the team, and one that Raven greatly respects. Between them is a deep trust and friendship, and though attributing her ability to defeat Trigon to Robin may be problematic, it is evident that Raven’s preferred position is following his lead. Raven is time and again portrayed as a creature of routine; finding comfort in stability. After the first time Raven’s hair grew, she was shown cutting it in her room before rejoining her teammates, again — the concept of choice to return to normalcy. While Westfahl argues such a regression is detrimental to a strong female narrative, one must consider that Raven’s story was never claimed to be tidily resolved by the end of season 4. Though she has supposedly banished her demon half, she struggles to empathize and relate in episodes such as “Hide and Seek”, when she is made to look after three young children. The shift from world-saving duties to finding her maternal side could be viewed as a sexist demotion, or a sloppy attempt to make her a more likeable character as “female characters that lack the caretaker trait are often labeled as ice queens” (Doyle). However, her ongoing, personal battle satisfies Long’s desire for a hero that is “troubled and confused and [has] limits… [is] flawed and struggling.”
As a child, before feminism was ever even defined for me, I was drawn to strong female characters. From Kim Possible to Toph BeiFong, I was infatuated with the kick-a** cartoon heroines that graced the living room TV set every weekend. But perhaps none of these fearsome females were as salient to their respective worlds as Raven.
The confines of Raven’s narrative are no doubt bizarre, as hers is the only one continued on by Teen Titans creator Marv Wolfman. Even more ambiguous than the motives of the character’s limitations, are what they suggest about the genre as a whole. Raven’s regression to a secondary character may mirror the tendency to call upon the female narrative and silence it all too easily. Contrarily, the brevity of her chosen-one status could be just what enabled the character to last for so long.
Sources
Doyle, Nick. (2014, July 15) “Women Aren’t From Venus — The Strange Fear Surrounding Writing Women Characters” [Web log post]. Retrieved from: gamemoir.com/opinions/women-arent-from-venus-strange-fear- writing-female-characters
Long, Steven. (2014, Mar 10). “Narcissism of the Chosen One” [Web log post]. Retrieved from: http://stevenmlong.com/narcissism-chosen-one/
Offenberger, Rik. (2006 Mar 22)”Talking To Marv Wolfman about Raven, Teen Titans and More.” Interview. [ Web log post]. First Comic News. Retreived from: http://www.firstcomicsnews.com
Teen Titans. “Birthmark”, “The end-part one” “Titans,Go!”. Glen Murakami. Cartoon Network. 2003–2006. [Television series.
Westfahl, Gary. “Superladies in Waiting: How the Female Hero Almost Emerges in Science Fiction.” Foundation (1993): 42. Periodicals Archive Online; Periodicals Index Online.
