Why the Pirate Princess and the Governor's Daughter?

Until relatively recently, Lego was rather restricted in how they told the stories of their mini-figs. There were limitations in how the fantasy that developed around each set at the workshop made it into homes across the world and the imagination of children and adults. To portray the mini-figs, Lego would have to include each description through the instructions, only available through purchasing the set. However, that has all changed with the explosion of the internet and information accessibility. Lego has willingly jumped on board with their website, not only advertising and selling their sets around the world but also selling the stories of their mini-figs and bricks. It has given Lego yet another avenue to provide the stories associated with the humble brick to people all over the world, regardless of whether that set had been purchased or not.

The Lego website has dedicated pages for all their active themes. The pirate page (see Lego website) includes a number of videos that look at a number of different sets and demonstrate one of the infinite possible stories that can be played out. There is also the inclusion of descriptions for the most recent characters (see Lego website). This is more than likely because the internet was still relatively new and unimaginable when the Pirate hiatus started in late 1990s.

There are 20 Pirate themed mini-figs listed on Lego’s website. As you can see from the picture, the 2015 Pirate sets included a fourth type of soldier, the Bluecoats which replaced the Imperial soldiers, guards and armada. However, the pirates were relatively similar to the 1990s pirate mini-figs.

As can also be seen from the picture, there are only two female mini-figs in the recent Pirate sets – the Governors’ Daughter and the Pirate Princess.

The Governor’s daughter is described as someone who ‘secretly dreams of being a pirate. Being skilled with a sword and a daredevil by nature, she would love to sail the Seven Seas and lead a life of exciting adventure.’ (see Lego website) The Governor’s daughter has appeared in two sets; the Imperial Flagship in 2010 and the Soldiers’ Fort in 2015. Although described as a skilled swordswomen, she is only given a sword in Soldiers’ Fort. Further, unlike most mini-figs, the Governor’s Daughter is clothed in a dress. As most could assume, wearing a dress, can constrain ones ability to actively fight and defend oneself. Within a lego story  not having individual legs that can move can limit the way child and adults can play out stories with the Governor’s Daughter. What’s more, in the Imperial Flagship, the Governor’s Daughter is given the choice of not one but two dresses. I’m almost certain that almost no other mini-fig in the Pirate sets have wardrobe changes, a spare set of legs just in case the black or white pants are going to clash!

Moving on to the Pirate Princess, she ‘loves adventure. She is an expert swordfighter who never steps away from a duel….which explains the eye patch.’ (see Lego website) The Pirate Princess appears in only one set, Treasure Island released in 2015. In this set, the Princess Pirate is shown sitting on top of the Treasure Island, taking charge and leading the fight to ensure found treasure is protected from the hands of the Bluecoat Soldier.

There are clear gender equality issues with the description as well as the portrayal of the Governor’s Daughter. She is the only mini-fig who wears a dress and is the only mini-fig whose identity and name are reliant on a someone else, her father. She is not even given a separate name like ‘Charlotte’ that can be linked to her relationship to the Governor. But rather instead her, and her role through Lego’s description is dependent on her belonging to someone else. The Governor’s Daughter is tied to, determined and dependent on her father, the Governor. No other character, Bluecoat soldier or pirate has their own identity connection to someone else. I do wonder why Lego felt so compelled to describe one of two female mini-figs in this very gender stereotypical way. Particularly, when the Governor’s description makes no note of his daughter. ‘The Governor is in command of all the Bluecoat soldiers. He finds great pleasure in collecting taxes and gathering gold and diamonds. Whenever the pirates steal his treasure, he gets red as a parrot and screams and shouts and flaps his arms like… well, a parrot.’ (see Lego website)

Although there are no clear gender equality issues with the Pirate Princess, other than perhaps the inclusion of ‘princess’, I think there are more subtle gender equality issues for the Pirate Princess. To me this is around the issue of separately identifying the only female pirate and connecting her with the very typical gendered belief around girls and princesses and fairytales.

What I want to explore in the last part of this blog post on Lego’s description of their Pirate themed mini-figs is the impact of separately identifying female mini-figs. I believe that this can send the message that being female, in a particularly male dominated arena, is something special. That it is important enough to draw attention, that it needs to be seen as unique as well as the potential that being a female in this type of role is extraordinary not ordinary and simply part of life.

Why does there need to be a distinction made between male and females that are essentially undertaking the same role, or position in society. This leads to examples in society where if a female returns to work shortly after having a baby it is extraordinary whereas when men return it is often simply life. Another example is when a parent leaves their family, when a man leaves it is simply bad luck or in some cases to be expected, but if a female leaves it is a devastation and disgrace something that is unthinkable.

Coming back to Lego and Pirates, why couldn’t there be a female pirate mini-fig that was equal and without distinction to the male pirate mini-figs. Why can’t there be the same goal for pirates, regardless of whether they are depicted as female or male.

The desire for Lego to separately list out and identify the only two female mini-fig further sends the message that female mini-figs, and female in society by extension, are not simply part of the story or part of the crowd and corresponding society. But rather it sends the message that women are special, they stand out and have a different more visible story to male mini-figs and by extension men.