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jmatonakI have seen in a couple places the contention that Claire, on Heroes has been given a passive, weak, stereotypically girly power- the ability to take unlimited amounts of abuse with good humor and aplomb. With due respect to those who have espoused this view, I would like to dissent from it.
Claire is the second most powerful main character on the show, and the third most powerful overall. I would love to say Claire is the most powerful, but I can't- Hiro is an atrocity of power, and Sylar seems pretty excessive also. But, next to Hiro, Claire is the most powerful among the heroes of the show.
I agree that Claire's power could make her the ultimate abuse victim. I don't agree that it does. The tile of this post is a sentiment I have seen attributed to Warren Zevon, Ray Mancini, and Cassius Clay. It's about boxing, and it says that you can have all the footwork you want, and you can know the "sweet science" backwards and forwards, but sooner or later, an opponent is going to hit you, and you have to be able to stay standing through that.
Boxing is a macho thing. The ability to take a punch is perceived as the opposite of passive and weak. I submit Claire's power can be read in this way.
We have seen Claire's power used passively- we've seen her get up off an autopsy table after the medical examiner pulls a tree branch out of her brain. But we've also seen Claire go into dangerous situations because she knows her power will keep her alive. Claire's power is exactly like Parkman's, or Hiro's, in that it is what she makes of it.
The best example of this, to my mind, is when Claire interrogates her (would-be) rapist. She sets up the situation so she is driving a car in which he is a passenger. She determines that he feels no guilt, has done this evil thing in the past, and plans to do it again. And she deliberately accelerates the car into a wall. She is in control of the situation at every step.
As the show has gone on, we've seen Claire become more confident and aggressive in the use of her power. I expect this trend to continue. I don't want Claire to strap knives to her wrist, in imitation of a famous "manly" comics character with this "passive" superpower. I do expect her to perform more and more daring, more and more heroic, stunts, as she comes to terms with how terrifyingly tough she really is.
Claire is the second most powerful main character on the show, and the third most powerful overall. I would love to say Claire is the most powerful, but I can't- Hiro is an atrocity of power, and Sylar seems pretty excessive also. But, next to Hiro, Claire is the most powerful among the heroes of the show.
I agree that Claire's power could make her the ultimate abuse victim. I don't agree that it does. The tile of this post is a sentiment I have seen attributed to Warren Zevon, Ray Mancini, and Cassius Clay. It's about boxing, and it says that you can have all the footwork you want, and you can know the "sweet science" backwards and forwards, but sooner or later, an opponent is going to hit you, and you have to be able to stay standing through that.
Boxing is a macho thing. The ability to take a punch is perceived as the opposite of passive and weak. I submit Claire's power can be read in this way.
We have seen Claire's power used passively- we've seen her get up off an autopsy table after the medical examiner pulls a tree branch out of her brain. But we've also seen Claire go into dangerous situations because she knows her power will keep her alive. Claire's power is exactly like Parkman's, or Hiro's, in that it is what she makes of it.
The best example of this, to my mind, is when Claire interrogates her (would-be) rapist. She sets up the situation so she is driving a car in which he is a passenger. She determines that he feels no guilt, has done this evil thing in the past, and plans to do it again. And she deliberately accelerates the car into a wall. She is in control of the situation at every step.
As the show has gone on, we've seen Claire become more confident and aggressive in the use of her power. I expect this trend to continue. I don't want Claire to strap knives to her wrist, in imitation of a famous "manly" comics character with this "passive" superpower. I do expect her to perform more and more daring, more and more heroic, stunts, as she comes to terms with how terrifyingly tough she really is.
