Jezebel did a look at 20 feminists on TV. Personally, I think this is a really good period for feminists on TV. Their post made me think and here are some of my favorite TV feminists. So here’s my list:
Dana Whitaker – Felicity Huffman (Sports Night). God I loved that show. It was Aaron Sorkin’s first foray into TV and it rocked. Felicity played a female executive producer on an ESPN type Sportnight show.
Angela Chase- Claire Danes (My So-Called Life)
Kerry Weaver- Laura Innes (ER)
Christine Cagney and Mary Beth Lacey – Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly (Cagney and Lacey)
Rhoda (Valerie Harper)
Laura Ingalls- Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie)
Sydney Bristow- Jennifer Garner (Alias)
Ann Romano -Bonnie Franklin (One Day at a Time)
Kate & Allie- Jane Curtin and Susan St. James
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I’d add Veronica Mars and Buffy Summers to that list.
Disappointed there are no women of color on the list.
that was a great list. I can’t think of anyone else to add to the list, though.
First, I think between the two lists, there are a lot of feminist portrayals on tv, both for good and ill. It says a lot about feminism, but it also says a lot about what resonates with people. This is just as much nostalgia as it is gender issue; it’s like being privvy to what inspires people, what makes them want to take on the world, what their specific brand of feminism is all about. So, to a certain extent, I don’t think there is a missing person(s) perse, although I am interested in hearing other people’s lists.
That being said, the only true omission I would say is the one Chris brought up – why are there no women of color? When men decry gender discrimination, but then do nothing about it, we eventually give them crap for walking the walk and not talking the talk. Should we not do the same for women? I know there are a dearth of female characters of color on tv period, but over the course of decades, surely there were some that could have made the list.
Claire Huxtable seems like a huge omission that actually conforms to their qualities save ethnicity. I feel as if they were addressing all types of gender issues on the show, from Bill and Claire’s discussions and faux man vs. woman battles (she usually won), all the way down to Rudy & Bud’s arguments over what a girl and a boy should and should not do. Many characters on A Different World were feminists too, and what about the women of color on Grey’s Anatomy (I don’t watch the show, so I can’t say definitively)?
I bring it up because, much like men have a hard time relating to women characters, do females have a hard time relating to characters that don’t come from their ethnicity and/or class? Or is there something else going on here?
Also, in just looking at the lists I noticed that most of the examples come from comedies or the more surreal genres like action/sci-fi, etc. It almost seems that the more serious they take it, the more it is played for laughs, as if really advancing feminism (and saying it out loud) is so dangerous that it has to be made fun of, or put into overt fiction because it’s safer there.
So of course, I also started thinking of some! :) Two that come to mind really come from the most surreal places.
Dark Angel
3rd Rock From The Sun
There are so many reasons I liked Dark Angel. But not only did she equal or better many of the men around her, but she questioned stereotypical women’s behavior directly. Other than the class and ethnicity, she shared many of the traits of the initial list: extremely intelligent, very socially awkward, annoying to unlikeable traits.
And while technically Kristin’s character was supposed to be male (on 3rd Rock), I think that was how they got around really addressing some deeply held and established stereotypes of women. Everything was up for grabs on that show, and I liked that.
A couple of others that I liked that are a little more down to Earth are Lois Lane in The Adventures of Lois & Clark and both Joey and Jenn from Dawson’s Creek…ok…maybe Lois is still surreal. :p
But that was the best portrayal of Lois in tv, film, or comic I have seen, and often they would solve the case because of something she did or contributed. She often complained about the sexism in the world, and could even defend herself more often than you’d expect from a Superman show.
And while Joey and Jenn had very different characters and backgrounds, they both pushed a feminist agenda and wasn’t shy about talking about all the little and big assumptions made about women and their behavior.
And I loved the fact that you included a guy Melissa; not all feminists are female. If I included a couple I would have to say Charlie (from Charlie’s Angels) and Wash from Firefly are two guys who strike me as unabashed feminists.
thanks for the link!
I LOVED Sports Night. She was a great character. Thanks for mentioning Kate & Allie. I made reference to that show a month ago to a 20-something woman and her face was blank. She had no clue about the show. :(
Loved all those mentioned and add:
Maude!!!!
Debbie Allen in Fame
Kristi McNichols as Buddy, Family
Judging Amy’s feminists: Amy, her mom, her assistant, her brother
the Cosby Show: Claire Huxtable and her eldest daughter, i guess the other daughters too – Grandpa Cosby, and Cosby himself as well.
The Golden Girls
Smalleville, the one who plays the journalist (don’t really watch the show)
Sarah of Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terminator
Jessica “I’m not Latina” Alba as the Dark Angel character
Julia Margolis (sp?) Canterbury’s Law
Soprano’s: the therapist, Meadow the daughter who becomes a lawyer
the Charmed sisters
6 ft. Under: lots of day players like Susie Bright & Kathy Bates as well as the moms sister, Claire, both of Nates love interests, which means Nate qualifies as well…etc etc
Dexter’s sister & the boss
3 of 4 Sex in the City women
Elaine on Seinfeld
Christine in the old new Christine
Meredith Baxter in Family Ties
off the top of my head in the 5 min pause I just allowed myself-
off to compare to the linked list.
p.s.
loved One Day at a Time and Kate and Alie and have said often how lacking film and TV are in representing modern day single moms who don’t have millionaire ex husbands as in (gag) Starter Wife. Even commercials are constantly showing how great dads are, in particular African American dads- always being there for their kids.
The real single parents- MOMS like me would gobble up a good single mom show and film-
GOBBLE IT UP
and we are a large number.
jes sayin’
OMG how could I forget
Lillith!!! from Cheers and Frasier!
ok now the link
Alice, single mother, waitress, would-be singer, and of course her chum Flo, whose catchphrase was “Kiss mah grits!”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_(TV_series)
Thanks guys for sharing your lists/people too! Birngs back memories! :)
Hey Thomai, this caught my attention:Jessica “I’m not Latina” Alba as the Dark Angel character
At first I thought, really? No way! Then I did a whole bunch quick internet reading about it. And while I don’t think she is, um…the most eloquent interviewee, I do think she is making a good point about who she is and the sort of reverse bondage that cultural awareness does to people.
Here’s a snippet I found from an online article:
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“There was also an overriding feeling that she was an outsider, because of her mixed heritage. “Everything was very segregated,” she says.
“White girls hung out in a group, there was another group of Hispanic girls, black girls had their own group. I was shunned by the Latin community for not being Latin enough, which is why I liked acting so much and wanted to find my own path.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-460832/Jessica-Alba-ambitious-quest-Tom-Cruise.html
_____________________________________________________________
I think it is wonderful that the US is a place now where people can openly express and be proud of their heritage, no matter what it is. But I still think it’s a problem when people assign to you a heritage or culture simply based on your looks, or what they think you should have. And I think she was trying to get at that.
thanks.
Would you feel the same way if Halle berry pretended not to be of African heritage?
Alba’s father is Mexican, mother is French & Danish. She may not be the Latina stereotype she thinks of in her head, but, she is of Mexican heritage none the less. Denying it doesn’t make it less so, it makes people wonder if she is ashamed of it and why. It’s also offensive to the millions who are proud of their heritage.
The fact that she doesn’t own it, doesn’t impress me. You are entitled to your own opinion.
Yes, she is American, but, that doesn’t mean she isn’t also Latina.
Jessica “I’m not Latino” Alba is how I choose to refer to her.
If Halle Berry said, “I’m not African American, I’m just American” She’d lose a lot of fans really fast.
It would be a career killer. Luckily, her “white” mother raised her to be proud of her ancestry.
“Would you feel the same way if Halle berry pretended not to be of African heritage?”
Yep. In fact, that is exactly what Tiger Woods does. Let’s see, what was that word he used. I’ll break it down according to ethnic composition:
CAU – BL – IN – ASIAN
Of course when he first came out people saw him as black, or African American, until they learned of his heritage. Going by that I’d have to assume his dad is mixed, since Asian takes the predominance. But the black part just boils down to the “BL”? But, no matter what I think, every person has a right to define who and what they are, and if that is how he sees himself, then that is how he sees himself.
Like you said, we’ll agree to disagree, but to finish up with the Halle question, I would think exactly the same way. I would agree with you that Halle would have been committing career suicide if she said that. So what she did was pragmatically dead on.
In fact, Halle’s upbringing makes my point. Her mother said it didn’t matter that she was inter-ethnic, people were still going to treat her as a black woman.
This was my point: they (they meaning people who meet her, or see her) know nothing of her origin, nothing of what she learned, nothing of what she knew, nothing of what she gravitated to, liked, or don’t like; she may have a black father, but people don’t know what he would or wouldn’t have taught her (and in fact, he wasn’t even really around). All they see is dark skin, certain facial features and they assume she is black. For all they knew she could have been something else entirely.
And what of her baby? Nahla is technically 1/4 African-American, and that is not even getting into the murky nature of what constitutes gene pool of American born blacks. Angelina Jolie, who is 1/4 native american by way of Canada, is pretty much considered white by the culture’s standards. So is Keanu, even though he is 1/2 minority from his dad.
The further down the generational road, the more murky these things become, and the more it looks like it actually has less and less to do with any cultural pride, and more to do with simply what you look like and what people perceive that as. And to me, that doesn’t seem much different than the 1 drop rule they used to segregate this country.
I am all for heritage, but I think it should have more substance than what a person looks like. And since I was not in her home (I was thinking Jessica, but it applies to either actress), and I am certainly not in her head, I’m going to give what she thinks about herself the benefit of the doubt, as I would do with anyone here, and would hope they would do for me.
thanks.
You come off as someone who is not “othered” aka “white” and therefore clueless about this subject from the “othered” American perspective. You are likely not a minority or maybe you pass for “white” and need to defend that?
I’m not saying mixed is bad.
take a look at my user pic dude-
I can pass for more than one ethnicity. My nationality is U.S. American. If a group shares my ancestry and wants to award me as a film maker someday, I would gladly accept the award and thank my ancestors for surviving so I could thrive.
Half of Alba’s ancestors are an oppressed group in this country.
What she said was a diss.
Flat out lying and pretending or “passing” is not cool.
I lost whatever respect I may have had for her the minute she said that and then even more so when she ignorantly defended it.
Tiger Woods does not deny his ancestry, he hasn’t ever left out African from his list.
Either does Halle Berry.
Jolie is proud of her heritage-
Listen to her interview on the Actors Studio.
You case is so flawed, I’m going to stop now and chalk it up to another clueless one talking nonsense.
Considering how you, “and her ancestors/oh pullease”, have mis-understoood not one, but two of my posts, I doubt any more or any longer delineations would change that, ie. I never said anything about either mixing being bad, or you saying that it was.
In fact, that was my whole point. I don’t need to see your pic, because my posts were never about you. It was about the idea that someone shouldn’t dictate what someone else feels about themselves. Respect her or no, that’s your choice. Both you and Thomai didn’t think what she said was cool, so you said so; I thought otherwise, so I voiced my opinion.
It’s funny how you talk about another clueless one talking nonsense; you’re free to feel it. But have you been where I’ve been? Have you experienced the things I have? Have you walked the roads I’ve walked? Seen the world through my eyes? Know what I know? Felt my hardships?
The obvious answer would seem to be no, but the truth is I don’t know. And I wouldn’t presume to.
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