Where the Women Are: On TV

 

Hello. I am a man. Made of steel. I am the manliest man possible. I am so manly I take up the whole movie and there is no room for ladies. Sorry ladies.

The summer film line-up of 2013 was chock full of the usual blockbuster action fare with nary a speaking female role of true agency in sight. Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 even have "MAN" in the title, to reinforce the manly nature of their manly man-themes. World War Z starts up seeming like it might actually be about a family working together to evade the crazy zombie tsunami but nope, it quickly devolves into Brad Pitt doing manly brave manactions while his wife annoyingly calls him every hour to check up on him. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WIMMINS DO. Wait at home and call dudes who are off saving the world.

The one exception to this was The Heat which I thought was really fun and charming and I especially loved that the romance was not used as a reward or plot point, but rather as a symbolic representation of the growth of a female character. The main point of that film, as it was in Feig's other awesome comedy, Bridesmaids, was friendship between women.

Sidenote: Yes, there is a cool female character (or at least a female character who is something other than Nag or Prize) in Pacific Rim, but the rest of the world is apparently almost entirely male. There is another female pilot we see for four seconds and I think she might mumble something semi-coherent but wow. (Other writers have pointed out that PR is not as trite an action film, in its treatment of gender roles, as other blockbusters; I am not as optimistic but I concede that The Mary Sue makes good points, as does No More Dead Parents in writing about the female gaze.)

SO. I'm testing out a theory that interesting female roles have fled the testoterone-dominated big screen to populate TV shows. I'm delighted at how many strong female-driven shows we have on TV now. I think TV has always been more women-inclusive than mainstream films (even though it still fails massively on including people of color in significant roles) but the only place I see consistently interesting female roles in mainstream media is on TV.

We miss you, Sheriff McTightPants.  Talk about Female Gaze. Rowr!

There's Once Upon a Time, with its triple female protagonists (yes, Emma, Snow, and Regina are all, I'd argue, protragonists). In fact nearly all the women on the show are complex and interesting in sometimes unpredictable ways (omg Red's back story!). Many of the male leads show evidence of great emotional intelligence, even when they do stupid things. Mr. Gold in particular is a fascinating study of how to play with the audience's sympathies. But the women clearly own the show. They could do way better with people of color -- Mulan needs more motivation!! I hate that her primary characteristic is that she's mooning over someone she can't have. And the only African American woman on the show is, well, she's not awesome.

Of course I really miss Sherrif McTightPants A LOT and I keep hoping for his miraculous return. That would make this show really amazing.

Then there's Revenge, the deliciously decadent over-the-top melodrama pitting the immaculately sheathed Victoria against the lean mean machine Emily. I could watch those two face off for hours (and yeah, I have.) The dudes on the show are all supporting characters, plot points, nags and rewards -- hey! they are the exact roles that women are usually regulated to in mainstream films! -- and yet even there, they manage to be campy fun. Conrad is awesome in his slithering sliminess, Nolan gets to be the fun BBF (Bi Best Friend) who gets it on with hot boys and girls, and then there are romantic interests for the leading ladies. The show is really about the battle of wills between the two women, and I think that's pretty cool. (Once again, race is a problem here too. The world of Revenge is pretty Whitey-White, and the two African-American characters they've had on it so far have been disappointing in their supershort character arcs. Ashley may still turn out to be interesting.)

Then there's Scandal. Oh my god, I love this show. I love that there's finally a show driven by a black woman who is professional, who is competent, who is smart, emotionally real, and flawed. 

If we turn to comedy, we get the amazing The Mindy Project, starring a woman of color. She's the driver of her own show and she does a pretty awesome job of it. Like her predecessor Liz Lemon, she is flawed in some areas and actually super competent in others. I love Liz Lemon but I think I like Mindy more because Mindy has more self-awareness and self-confidence. She's a screw-up, but she knows her strengths and weaknesses better. Parks and Recreation, of course, has a very special place in my heart for its quirky heroine and one of the best on-screen romances ever depicted.

She's full of hackings!

And while we're at it, let's talk about how an action show has as its primary protagonist a female computer scientist, that most rare species in media. Once again, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not perfect; but she's a computer scientist! That alone makes me squee a little bit. And then there's the boy-girl Team Science, who are both super cute. The show is getting stronger, too. I'm very intrigued by what they may plan to do with Ming-na's character (who is such a badass and I fricking adore her.) I love that she is set up as being the ultimate badass, tougher than Ward. 

 

I'm not going to pretend that we've solved sexism in TVLand or anything that naive. I'm just pleased that there are juicy, meaty, interesting roles that don't fit neatly into gender stereotypes. Good job, TV.

Now, if you could also try not to give all female characters the same hairstyle, we'd be going places. But that's a rant for another day.

 

Comments

[Michael Hannemann]

You're back!

I'm forwarding this to my wife, who once upon a time was my fiancée and you gave me gameboy advice for her. :-)

[Harold]

I loved Weeds and I fell in love with Orange Is The New Black. Just pure bliss to see so many different, good and charming characters.
Did you play Beyond:Two Souls, and what's your opinion about it? :)