In my Leadership 101 class: Leadership and Gender in the YA Fantasy Novel and Film, we covered a range of topics, from the gender order to the heterosexual market. We studied how gender and leadership come into play with how characters are perceived in novels, films, and in reality. Looking into pivotal examples like The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Golden Compass, and Narnia, we are able to see multiple points of view for this. In The Hunger Games, we focus on the main female protagonist, Katniss, with a male sidekick. Harry Potter focuses on the male protagonist and female sidekick, the opposite of The Hunger Games. The Golden Compass is all about how the female protagonist must fight her way to destiny against societal norms. Narnia, however, seems to take perspectives from all three and incorporate them into a singular book series that fights all three and makes it out alive still.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss is the eldest daughter and when confronted with the reality that her younger sister, Prim, must play in the hunger games, she volunteers herself instead. She must enter the games with an unlikely ally, Peeta Mellark. These two do not know each other well but must soon learn to not only fight together, but to survive together. Katniss has all the markers of a heroic male protagonist-she hunts, provides, and earns for her family. She picked up the pieces left behind by her father and built the family again. Peeta on the other hand, is not as independent. He works for his father in the bakery, hauling flour all day. He is referenced as giving Katniss bread that he presumably had burned on purpose after seeing her digging through the trash. He has more delicate hands that are good at camouflaging and painting cakes, he has no survival skills and cannot fend for himself in a setting like the games. Because of this lack of independent survival skills, he is forced to become a sidekick to Katniss and other contestants. With this power dynamic shown as a powerful female who must protect the weaker man, it can show little girls across the globe that they can be stronger than boys. And it shows boys that it is okay to not always be seen as stronger and that it is okay to be seen as “soft”.

For Harry Potter, we see Harry Potter step into Hogwarts with two friends almost immediately-Ron and Hermione. Harry is the “chosen one” to defeat Voldemort, the evil wizard. Along the way, Ron and Hermione are seen as support in this mission and often serve as only stepping stones for Harry to use. All three have skills pertinent to defeating Voldemort in their first year: Ron is the only one who can beat McGonagall’s wizard chess board, Hermione is the one to think of how to beat the devil’s snare plant, and Harry is the only one to be able to catch the key to unlock the door. In all of this, it is only seen in passing how much Ron and Hermione provide to make sure of Harry’s success. It is also possible to think that while the golden trio aren’t so golden, it can be seen as the trio is expected to help each other in the advancement of the group as a whole and individually. This shows readers that they can be reliable to others and accept help from them, too.

The Golden Compass follows a little girl, Lyra, in her quest to fulfill her destiny in a universe parallel to our own. She is given an alethiometer, a truth-telling device. She sets off to the Arctic in search of Lord Asriel, who is exiled and researches Dust, an unknown particle. Lyra must use her cunning mind and relies on adults to help her along her journey. Because Lyra is only a child, she does what she can to be independent of the woman placed to guard her and is forced from this young age to learn how to manipulate and dictate others to do her bidding. With these rapidly developing skills, Lyra is able to amass a following in order to expose and overthrow the operation separating children from their daemons, physical manifestations of their souls. Lyra is a young girl who shows that in a world full of people trying to force you to change, it’s okay to take charge of your life and fight your way to the destiny you want. It shows us that no matter how small you may be, anyone can be a leader.

Narnia, the fantastic book series we all enjoyed growing up. It follows the story of four siblings escaping into a hidden world in a wardrobe. They must overthrow the evil queen in a war and establish themselves as the prophesied leaders of this fantasy world. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, the four prophesied kings and queens, all have unique traits that are pivotal to their leading Narnia. Peter is a stereotypical male leader, strong and courageous. Described in the book as Peter the Magnificent, he proves his bravery soon after entering Narnia by saving Susan from a wolf. He has very typical and male centric personality traits. Susan is the maternal figure of the group, seemingly taking on the mother role when they move away from home. She is intelligent and kind, often being the practical one of the group. She is described as Susan the Gentle, giving mercy to those who deserve it but doling out just punishment to those who need it. Susan is seen as having very female centric personality traits. Edmund is the sibling who betrays his siblings for turkish delight and a brainwashing evil queen. He has a wonderful character arc, in which he develops understanding of the word family and what it truly means to him. He is described as Edmund the Just, a clear headed king who is wise. Edmund also has more male centric traits but can be seen as having female centric traits as well. Lucy is the one who found Narnia and always believed in everything with her whole heart. She is seen befriending every character she meets, it seems. She is described as Lucy the Valiant, having great courage and determination in what she believes is right. Lucy has very mixed personality traits, not quite female or male centric. By giving us four characters who all have varying personality traits, The Chronicles of Narnia is able to give every child a leader to relate to. Showing that it’s okay to be centered around one, both, or neither of the binary personality traits is helpful in further advancing the future leaders of the world with open minds and hearts.

After reading these books and watching the film adaptations, I walk away with a deeper understanding of how leadership reflects who we are and being able to know that makes us better. When you know the basics of how gender and leadership are intertwined, you can use this knowledge to help push you into a better understanding of yourself. Seeing all these different types of leadership styles, you can incorporate the good traits into your daily life. After this class, I know what kind of leader I want and can be. I can take this into my future and cultivate it into something I can grow from and with.