When I was a kid, I would play Charlie’s Angels with my
friends Kim and Tammi. Kim was Sabrina
(played by Kate Jackson on the show), Tammi was Jill (Farrah Fawcett Majors),
and I was Kelly (Jaclyn Smith). I’m not
quite sure what we did to play these characters, besides shoot imaginary bad
guys who invaded my backyard. As a
little girl who was first obsessed with strong female characters in literature
like Jo March in Little Women and
Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind,
perhaps I wanted mostly to be grown up, and thus have some power to change
things for the good. These women, to a
greater or lesser degree, had adventures and took risks unimaginable to me in
our quiet suburban neighborhood.
While I discovered plenty of strong female characters who
could kick some ass in literature and popular culture since then, they have
always been either over-the-top or too perfect.
In the former category, we had Saving
Grace (TNT), a short-lived series featuring a scarily skinny Holly
Hunter, who played Grace Hanadarko, a police detective in Oklahoma City. She drank, smoked, and had sex like the men,
but was also in need of saving by Earl, an angel (yes, I know. The kind sent by God). So the woman needed redemption but not the
men? Hm.
Holly Hunter’s devil-may-care (pun intended) characterization was
undermined by the lousy writing and erratic pacing.
In the too-perfect category, there is The Good Wife (CBS). Alicia Florrick, played by Julianna
Margulies, is a top lawyer at a top law firm married to the state’s
attorney. Yes, she engages in some high
jinks of her own, but even her colleagues at the firm call her “St. Alicia.” No thanks.
Both Saving Grace and The Good Wife suffer from inconsistent
writing and cheesy dialogue. Grace was
too obnoxious and Alicia too mannequin-like for me to want to identify with. *Sigh.* Where are the fierce, compelling, and
realistic (within the suspension of disbelief realm) women who, just by
watching them, can make me feel as if I can channel their powerful, positive
energy and no BS attitude?
Luckily, there are two recent characters who fulfill that
longing. First we have Carrie Mathison
(played by Claire Danes) in Homeland (Showtime). She’s independent, perceptive, courageous,
and while she works for the CIA, she also sees the flaws in the system. What’s not to like? Oh wait…there’s that bipolar thing that
provides some trouble with impulsivity and obsessiveness. However, Carrie’s flaws are also assets. That’s
how she got the information that a POW had been turned. Of course, it’s also why she subsequently
slept with him. It’s also what enabled
her to go into an old mill by herself to confront a terrorist. Of course, she almost got killed. But Carrie’s physical and emotional fearlessness,
along with her commitment to a cause, make her the most appealing female
character I’ve seen on television or in movies in recent memory.
Another new show, also about spies, has a similar
character. The Americans (on FX) is
set in 1981 at the height of the Cold War.
Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) appear to be your typical
suburban couple with two adorable but real kids. You’d never know that they are
(drum roll, please) Soviet spies under deep cover. As their backstory unfolds, we find out they
were trained to take on these American identities, erasing all trace of their
Russian backgrounds, not even sharing their original names with one
another. Their marriage is somewhat
fictional, in that, at first, they are more like teammates than romantic partners. Elizabeth and Philip don different disguises
in order to elicit information from a diverse group of characters working for
the U.S. government, either through sexual or violent means.
Like Carrie in Homeland,
Elizabeth is intelligent and resourceful, and can kick some serious ass. However, she is distinctly different from
Carrie in that she is deeply loyal to the Soviet Union, whereas Carrie
questions her country’s methods and morality.
Carrie has her own perspective and is happy to violate CIA protocol if
she sees fit; whereas Elizabeth shoots a guy in the head simply because she was
ordered to, without questioning if this is an ethical thing to do.
Carrie and Elizabeth also demonstrate vulnerability, which
makes them feel human, and thus easy to identify with. Carrie falls for the wrong guy, and has to make
the choice between him and her loyalty to her country. Elizabeth eventually decides that she is
ready to make her marriage to Philip more than just a cover. It is both tension-building and gratifying to
watch these two powerful women grapple with ethical choices in their roles as
spies and as women.
I hadn’t thought about what it meant to play games like Charlie’s Angels growing up; that is, to
try on different identities. Why would I
want to try on Carrie or Elizabeth?
What’s their appeal to me now, and is it similar to the Jaclyn Smith
character when I was nine? Carrie and
Elizabeth are thin and attractive, but that’s where the similarities end. They are intense, make mistakes, and take
risks for what they believe in. Maybe
that’s what appeals to me now: these characters may have doubt and fear, but
they don’t let those feelings slow them down.
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