American Television:
Seinfeld:
This show is probably the least problematic. In fact, the only reason it is listed at all is simply because the most female-empowering aspects are more in the background. Elaine is a great and may I add feminist character. She is completely and unashamedly sexually liberated and intelligent and for most of the shows duration, in a high powered work position [apart from a short stint as Mr. Pitt's assistant]. She is also the most socially conscious of the group, starting with her being a vegetarian and taking issue with sexists and an apathy for the environment [as was her reason for helping George poison his boss, she did it because he cheats on his wife and he doesn't recycle]. All very empowering qualities, my favorite part is that in spite of these very feminist attributes she is still portrayed as a "Guy's girl" not a quality that the stereotype of feminism is usually bestowed with. All of this being said and even though she is a main character she is only one of four and the other three are all men mainly consumed with getting women and avoiding anything committed or deep and rather averse to any emotion but anger. Although it is intelligent, hilarious and forever a classic of television.
Another one of my favorite shows. It is hilarious and though the format of beauty wife/goofy husband has been copied since, it was the original when it began. The character of Carrie is very assertive and strong minded and does in many situations get the last word, all good things. However the last few times I watched it I couldn't help but notice that Doug is often extremely manipulative towards Carrie, one scenario even includes him being so polite to her work friends when she is in the room and then frightening them when she leaves. This causes them to become so uncomfortable that the guests all leave and then stop talking to Carrie, even at work. Then when she asks him about it he lies, causing her to get angry not at him but at her friends. Hilarious scenario for a sitcom, in real life these are often the symptoms of an emotionally abuse relationship. Not to mention that the couple often fight like cats and dogs, complete with a barrage of degrading insults, also all portrayed hilariously. That being said, I feel it must also be mentioned that Carrie and Doug adopt a child in the end something not normally a part of the live "happily ever after" recipe, beautiful.
Will and Grace
This is another show that I love and incidentally I am watching as we speak. This show is progressive and innovative centering around two outspoken, proud gay men. It's the Grace character that causes a slight problem for women. Though, she owns her own business, is sexual without shame and can sometimes do things that require assertion, Grace by description and format, is weak. She is portrayed as needy, weak and is always in need of Will to save her. Not only that she is almost completely obsessed with the idea of getting married, not necessarily with having a successful, healthy relationship, just with the idea of being married. And she does often choose her relationships over friends. The second female character in "Will and Grace" is Karen Walker. Now, I love Karen, she is unemotional, sexual to the point of being openly bisexual, and is often showed being in control of her husband. However, her well being is still completely dependent on a man, always. In the beginning of the show she is married to the never-seen, Stan, an extremely wealthy business man, which is Karen's original reason for marrying, while funny, not necessarily symptomatic of a strong, well rounded female. Stan is where she gets the majority of her finances from apart from working as an assistant to Grace, a not very high-powered job that she is terrible at and the money from which she does not even use. When Stan dies she lives off of what was left to her in his will, and then marries, Finch, another successful business man with all the means to support her without her help.
Sex and The City:
Boy, oh, Boy. Where to begin with Sex and the City, a show that I am no longer a fan of in adulthood but I did absolutely LOVE when I was a teenager. I guess I should start with the things that are rather positive about the show. They are 4 women that are all at least financially independent from men, all holding relatively high powered and certainly respectable professional positions. Now for the problems, I am going to do this character by character because there is too many to list just randomly. Lets start with Carrie, the woman who is now being considered in many women's media outlets as a "feminist Icon". Once again, oh boy, Carrie Bradshaw is a materialistic, shallow, naive, obsessive, emotionally dependent and unstable adulteress. Not to mention that she lives in a fantasy world being completely financially irresponsible with an almost perpetually maxed-out credit card, but never without a 400 dollar pair of shoes. She is constantly going back and forth into a clearly unhealthy relationship with Mr. Big. When involved in any one of the many stints of their relationship she is seen doing a slew of problematic things. First, she neglects her friends during their first and second stint [during the first she spends weeks wrapped up in their relationship until Miranda finally has to call wondering where she is and during the second she blows Miranda off because Big wanted to cook for her]. The second being that it drives her to some very obsessive behavior, including but not limited to when she follows him and his mother to church, when she tracks down his ex-wife to, "see what she was up against", this also leads her to be so insecure that she has visions of his ex-wife while she's in bed with Big. The third is that she engages in a extra marital affair with Big while she is involved with Aiden, the nicest of all the men she dates, and the one she treats the most terribly. She then falls for Alexander, another successful yet emotionally unavailable man whom she naively follows to Paris under the delusion that it will be the fantasy that he paints for her. Next, is Miranda, probably my favorite of the characters on SATC. She is clearly an extremely intelligent woman having gone to Harvard, being a lawyer and also being and fighting for her right to be sexually liberated and initially she rejects the idea of marriage. She also is not as emotional as most of her partners a stereotype I love to see debunked. Not only that she becomes a single parent towards the end of the series and resists being with the father, also very cool. However she does eventually give in after realizing he is "the one".Blargh. And although she is clearly the most intellectual she is never seen reading a book, or doing anything that uses those skills unless it involves a man or one of the other 3 women. Charlotte is the simplest to analyze, the problems with her are easy to spot. She is unapologetically naive, idealistic, sometimes prudish, oppressively traditional and, well, weak. She doesn't offer much other than a desperate and relentless desire to get married. That and she commits and promotes a cardinal sin against feminism, faking orgasms. Tsk, tsk, Charlotte, big faux pas. Samantha is the last character to consider. She has great qualities, one being that she is sexual in a way that no other female in television has been. She is sexual not for relationships but for her own desires, she is in it for herself and she gets it. She is also one of the most successful owning her own P.R. business. However, she is still far too shallow to be a substantial character. All these things compounded with the fact that none of these characters is ever having a full length conversation about anything but men, and yet it is portrayed as empowering make this show the biggest problem.
Everybody Loves Raymond:
Part of the problem with this program is that there is actually not a lot to say about the characters at all. Ray and Debra are to of the most flat and underdeveloped characters on television in the last few years. Raymond likes sports and doesn't speak well, Debra cleans, rolls her eyes at Raymond and wishes he expressed his emotions better. Other than that there is Raymond's mother who while she at least has a distinct personality it is extremely problematic. She is consumed and obsessed with catering to her two sons every need, she is over critical of her fellow women, BOTH her sons wives. She is also married to a man who is rude to her, calling her names and insulting her. He is constantly humiliating and degrading her in front of anyone and everyone in the room.
British Television:
Absolutely Fabulous:
MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOW IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Though the character centers around two women, Edina and Patsy, who are considerably flawed women being that they are you know, rabid addicts. Their characters are still indirectly empowering because they are so different from any of the other characters played by females today. They are in fact basically men in women's bodies, a recipe that makes for a perfect third-wave feminist. They are also all high-powered, wealthy, business women. That and they are also rarely with men for any significant amount of time, but they do have sex, and even used prostitutes at one point, another feminist pro. Then there is the still main but not central character of Sapphy. Sapphy is incredibly brainy, unbelievably strong and is emotional yet sensible. She is the daughter of Edina who is cnstantly trying to make sure that her mother is not drunk/high/dead, yet is always finding new ways to gain back her independance. She is the strongest character on the show, the most sensible and she eventually towards the end of the show, goes to Africa to do humanitarian work. It is also written by one of the coolest ladies in entertainment, Jennifer Saunders. Tres Cool, Sweetie, Darling.
Thin Blue Line:
I feel like I have said, my favorite show too many times now, but this truly is. And this may actually be the most feminist-like because, well, not only is one of the main characters strong she is a self-described and active feminist, Maggie Habib. The Constable under Inspector Fowler, not only says she is a feminist she is constantly bringing her politics into the show. Having lively debates with even her superiors about everything from sexism, to history,to religion, to racism, which she is aggressively faced with being Asian in Britain. Then there is Patricia, Raymond Fowlers partner of nearly 10 years [no marriage], and also a constable in the police force, a strong plus for any woman character being that most female characters aren't usually. Pat, is constantly fighting to amp up her sex life with Fowler, even forcing him to go to sex therapy. She also takes issue with being treated as an object by men ["There's nothing boosts a girls self-esteem more then having a 6 foot Gorilla from two stories up asking you to peal his Banana!" as barked at Constable Boyle with regards to construction workers.] She experiments in broadening her horizons with shiatzu, re-birth, and alternative healing. She never lets Raymond be disrespectful and is constantly critiquing Raymond and the other men for their childish behavior.
French and Saunders:
It is a sketch show written by two of the coolest females in entertainment history. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, they write every skit and episode and have created the best and funniest skits in history, far better quality then any other sketch show, *cough* SNL *cough*. They tackle and take on every character from celebrities, to randy men, to society ladies to wedding obsessed brides. Fabulous, I must say.
The Vicar of Dibley:
The Vicar of Dibley is the ultimate in feminist friendly t.v. shows if you want my opinion. First addressing the issue that just before the show came to be was when the law was passed for churches to allow women to be Vicars. Most of the male vicars in television history have been bumbling, unworldly, clueless twits. It wasn't until Dawn French came along that the character of the Vicar added a worldly, educated, in control and charismatic character to its roster with Geraldine Granger. She came in to Dibley and blew everyone away even those who were strongly against a woman Vicar. She is the strongest most intelligent and most knowledgeable and mature character and she also changes not just the range of female views but of our perceptions of members of the clergy. She is the most liberal characters on the show, even though she is the Vicar. She accepts everyone, gays, fornicators... everyone is loved by her. Not only that but she is independent and single throughout most of the show, having relationships but moving on from them and rarely complaining about being single while clearly having a passion for men and sex and only getting married towards the end of the show. Top, Ms. French, Top.
Keeping up Appearances:
The show that centers around the ultra classy Hyacinth Bucket [its pronounced like bouquet, she swears]. Though she is a character that most of the others is a bit afraid to run into, she is the character that the whole show centers around. She is a strong, very in control, if not too in control woman who knows exactly what she wants and gets it. She runs her household with a strong hand and a proper word and everyone listens to her and dare not tell her no. She is always put together and always get herself what she sets out for no matter how trivial they may seem, and as a result of no one living up to her standards, she usually has to get it all by herself. Thereby, inducting herself into the Kick-ass ladies of T.V. land!
No comments:
Post a Comment