TV and my feminist sensibilities

[claudia_writes]

Lately I’ve been feeling that we’ve taken a step back on the issue of TV’s female characters. There were two instances particular which made me think that.

Comments

[divalucia]

Hear hear. I've haven't seen a single episode of Bones, and I've stopped watching CSI a long time ago, so I don't know about these two ladies, but I do know the pattern. As you might know, there's been some fandom-debate (as witnessed in metafandom) about the lack of good/strong/complex female characters in entertainment industry, but I tend to agree with this random commentator (whose name I've forgot) that this is mostly bollocks. There are good/strong/complex femmes in books and on the screen - the real problem is just that production teams don't know what to do with them! Sure, they're all kinds of awesome, but they never really get to do anything, or they get chastised and pulled down as soon they start meddling with the basic (masculine) dynamics of the story. I've been told this happened to Sara when she finally hooked up with Grissom; being-in-a-relationship became her only mode of existence and so gone was the Real Woman. It is pretty sad IMO, and if Grissom was real, I bet he'd agree with me. I don't think that was the Sara he fell in love with!

And the funny thing is, it's not even exclusively male writers who do this. Lots of women treat their own gender badly to the extent that sometimes I wonder why we even need men anymore o.O

[claudia_writes]

Sra did pretty much loose all of her own storylines, after the get together. Or actually even before, because if you look at the episodes from the perspective that the relatisnhip was going on, there were hints and looks about it. And that was her storylne pretty much the entire season.

There are strong female characters, or more specifically female character that have a possibility for strenght and boldness, but it never comes through. The film industry has gotten better, the readon being that I think actresses there are far more powerfull and far more pushy. For instance Jane in Mr. and Mrs. Smith was just my epitome of feminism that works in a relationship. And Versper Lynd in Casino Royale, because that showed that women do not need to physically strong to be emotionally/mentally strong.

But TV is still lagging behind. One TV series that I do have congratulate is Gray's Anatomy because it's about relationships between women (i.e. friendships) that are stronger than any romantic affiliation. Also they carried a relationship (a strong one at that) for over 3 series and it didn't get boring.

With Bones I'm beginning to feel like I'm watching the X-files all over again, because the woman (even if she is clearly intellectually and theoretically superior) she must always come around to the man's way of thinking. She can never be right, never be the one to save the day. She is always the one lagging behind. That is partly why I am beggining to hate partner-cop shows.