I’ve seen a couple of new TV series recently that had one thing in common; they both had strong female leads, but both women’s characteristics seemed to be rather more male orientated than female.
The Bay featured an intrepid female detective, who was also a single mother of two teenagers. Her underling was a man who seemed to be given all the jobs which would usually have been assigned to female police officers (i.e family liaison officer or sitting with distressed relatives etc.). This lady detective had risky sex at the back of a pub with somebody she had met only minutes before – and appeared driven to solve the case at the expense of her own family problems.
Would a single mother put her job above her children? I don’t know of any that would. Would this same seemingly intelligent single mother put herself at risk by having unprotected sex with someone she had met only minutes before? Hmm…
The second series, The Widow, featured a woman trying to find out why her husband had apparently died. There she is like some modern-day Emma Peel, fighting and shooting men twice her size, while a cliffhanger ending of one episode shows her husband being held prisoner in a small wooden crate. I actually gave up on this series, but watched The Bay through to the end.
In my opinion there appears to have been a total shift around regarding programmes where the hunky he-man type rescues the defenceless female in distress. Nowadays the female leads can take on the world, including men twice their size and strength. Nobody will ever confine them to a small wooden box. These women are frightening in their muscle-power, resolve, and stamina.
My book ‘A House Without Windows’ focuses on how a woman escapes from her ten year hell of being held captive in a basement, and of the aftermath. It was considered for filming in 2017 by a New York media production company, who at the last minute decided that violence against women was now not very PC…
But hey, is this true for real life? Usually it is women who are victims of assault, rape, and domestic violence etc. There are not many hunky females taking on the world and shooting-’em-up in Annie Oakley style that I know of. Who are mostly Managing Directors of large companies? Who make the majority of boardroom decisions? Yes, it’s men. Who struggle to break through those same company glass ceilings? Who takes time off work to look after sick children? Yes, it’s usually women because their male partners get paid more.
In the make-believe world of film, women are taking over the reins from men, but in real life I think they might have to wait a bit longer.
Stevie, Great observations. I think that part of this is that the easiest, most mindless way of changing how women are portrayed on TV is to just switch the male and female parts. Isn’t that a little ridiculous? The true strengths that women are showing as we step into non-stereotypical roles in life, are not things that the average man has run into. Women should be writing these roles. A female cop, a single mother, probably is dealing with the reality of risking her kids’ mother on a daily basis. She’s trying to make a living and knows she’s in a dangerous job. It’s not something she has to deliberately seek out or engage in risky behavior to encounter. That reality is making her careful and impacts the way she talks to suspects and the way she carries herself.
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Yes it is ridiculous to just swap the male and female parts. The reality as you say is somewhat different.
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All they’re doing in these movies (shows) is making the lead (which is usually a man) a woman and the female side-kick the man. In doing so, they make the woman unrealistically violent and aggressive, while the man is feminized. I will not watch them. My philosophy, which I’ve shared with writers who have dragged men down to even the playing field is: It is better raise women to make her equal, not degrade the man. No ground is made if standards are lowered.
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Wise words here. I thought the programme was very unrealistic, and you have the right idea to make the sexes equal. But hey… will they ever become equal all the time males have superior upper body strength and more aggressive tendencies?
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Men and women will never be equal when it comes to physical strength. I acknowledge there are exceptions, but they don’t change the rule. Aggression is a soupy word. It can be used for good and evil, and I’ve witnessed it in both men and women in both forms. Unfortunately, a part of society aims to make men feminine. That’s a real turn off for me, and I won’t watch those shows/movies either. I like my men masculine. I’d take one in dirty jeans who hunts, fishes and plays in the dirt over one that wears a suit and has manicured fingernails because I know when push comes to shove, he’ll be there to help me clean my fish and cook it over a fire, sleep in a tent and change the tire on my truck.
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Nowadays the women put up their own tents in films and change their own tyres. Ha ha, in real life my husband will do both of them while I cook the fish because he can’t cook.
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Slowly but surely it’s changing 🙂
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Hopefully.
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