Women as Plot Devices: The Sexy Lamp

This is the forth and final plot device, click to read the introduction, and parts one, two, and three ♡

In 2012, another rad comics author Kelly Sue DeConnick described her Sexy Lamp test for fictional ladies, saying:

“As an industry, we have to make more female-led books that are actually worth buying. Never mind the Bechdel test, try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft. They have to be protagonists, not devices.”1

Yeah! (For those who are uncertain of what the Bechdel test is, take a gander at the the Bechdel Test Movie List for a definition. It’s worth Googling, too, for a delightful array of links.)

So, Sexy Lamp. Basically what we’re working with here is an attractive female character who… exists, and that’s about it. She shines a little light on our heroic males, and she may provide a little warmth in times of trouble. She provides warm encouragement, is a beautiful symbol of what’s good (and sexy!) in the world, and stands around waiting to reward our male protagonist once he has slayed the dragon or saved the city. However, she doesn’t express autonomy or affect the plot in any active, meaningful way. 

Nostalgia Chick gives a great rundown of the Sexy Lamp in her review of the natural disaster film “The Day After Tomorrow,” where Emmy Rossum’s character Laura takes this trope hilariously literally, using her body warmth to thaw out our protagonist, Jake Gyllenhaal's Sam, so that he may continue to protect a sub-zero New York City. 

let me explain you a thing

Image from Friendly Mic Productions ♡

The Sexy Lamp may overlap with the Damsel in Distress or Woman in Refrigerator at times. Double Female Plot Device Achievement Unlocked!

Some great examples from literary history include Desdemona in Othello (a Sexy Lamp who ultimately becomes a quasi-Woman in Refrigerator, her death at the hands of our male protagonist teaching him An Important Lesson), Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, even Bella Swan from Twilight until she began throwing herself off cliffs, the first action she took to substantially impact the plot of her own franchise.

Sexy Lamps are generally not main characters, but exist somewhere in the second tier of cast members, popping in to offer some of her sexy, sexy light to our male hero, before disappearing to move out of the way of the plot. 

I also stalked down this conversation on Tumblr positing a sub style of this woman-as-plot-device, the “Sexy Lamp with a Post-It Stuck On,” wherein the Sexy Lamp also holds and helpfully relays useful information to our male protagonist; “shedding light” on a situation for our hero to then act upon (I hold no responsibility for that shedding light line, that’s from the fiendishly clever folks at Tumblr).2

So a piece of fiction may spectacularly flunk the Bechdel test, but pass the Sexy Lamp test – the women in The Avengers never talk to each other, but they do actively impact the plot of the film – or vice versa. Whilst the Bechdel test’s focus is on having more than one female character, and fostering relationships between those women that aren’t hinged upon men, the Sexy Lamp looks at the actions and roles of each individual female character. These tests are simply a guideline that aim to draw attention to the representation and use of female characters. 

Go read Forrest Helvie’s Sequart article on the Bechdel and Sexy Lamp Tests. It includes more discussion with DeConnick and some helpful examples 

This article also posits the Mako Mori test, which is rad. 

If you need a visual, this lovely cosplayer’s got your back. She’ll pat it whilst encouraging you. Then she’ll cheer for you from a safe distance whilst you save the world.

This is the last installment of the Field Guide to Women as Plot Devices, for now~!

The trend of relegating both primary and secondary female characters to plot devices is firstly a terrible wasted opportunity. It is incredibly important that pop culture narratives include strong, layered, and autonomous characters of all genders. However, these stock tropes also provide intriguing insight into popular perceptions of gender roles, expectations and requirements, and the ways that women are perceived to affect or be affected by male stories. If women in our mainstream narratives are continually othered and made into objects of convenience and symbolism, it will surely continue to be an acceptable way to treat women in contemporary life.

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1 Laura Hudson, “Kelly Sue Deconnick on the Evolution of Carol Danvers to Captain Marvel [Interview],” Comics Alliance, Mar 19 2012, http://comicsalliance.com/kelly-sue-deconnick-captain-marvel.

She also spoke about it in this interview: Joshua Yehl, “Kelly Sue DeConnick Talks Captain Marvel, Pretty Deadly, and the Sexy Lamp Test,” IGN, June 20 2013, http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/06/20/kelly-sue-deconnick-talks-captain-marvel-pretty-deadly-and-the-sexy-lamp-test.

2 sweaterkittensahoy, trailofdesire, shitifindon, inky-petrel, “Bechdel vs. the sexy lamp,” Tumblr thread, 2013, http://inky-petrel.tumblr.com/post/58417840839/bechdel-vs-the-sexy-lamp.