I posted this on my tumblr (hence the op-ed-like tone, you know, like you're talking to no one and everybody at the same time). Since we had mentioned True Detective, here it goes:
Behind all the feminist squawking about “unidimensional female characters” in True Detective, it’s easy to spot the real issue: the show’s protagonists are not females. It is simple as that, after all, Commander Speece is very unidimensional too; so was Reggie Ledoux, detectives Papania and Gilbough, Rev. Tuttle, Ginger and all the rest of the cast, males and females, since, well, they are not the protagonists. Not everybody gets to be on the limelight, fellas (and dames). That something as simple as this can be overlooked only confirms to me that Gender Studies are the bane of critical thinking and artistic appreciation.
In True Detective, a female brothel owner verbally stumps detective Marty Hart re: his views on prostitution; a young female law intern shows agency while simultaneously giving Marty Hart a piece of her mind regarding men (“liars and bullies” is the gist of it as I remember it, and considering Marty’s actions, it wasn’t a far-fetched assessment), and in more than one occasion his wife Maggie shows a level of maturity, intelligence and capacity for empathy that her husband can’t even begin to imagine (her speech about having had to “navigate brute men who thought themselves clever” comes to mind — so much for not even being a protagonist, eh). But of course that is not enough. There’s a scene where Marty Hart barges into the hospital where Maggie works. The scene is played with Hart as a bumbling, sniveling brat caught red-handed and pleading for a second chance, while Maggie, shown fully in control of her environment and her feelings, proceeds to trounce him verbally, her stethoscope dangling angrily for her shoulders (“See? She’s not only a woman and wife: she’s a professional working on a physically and mentally demanding area!”). She is completely in charge, the perfect image of righteous anger. I can only imagine Nic Pizzolatto writing this scene, striking his keyboard excitedly, pumping his fist in the air and celebrating what he thought would be a clear-cut display of even-handedness. Poor bastard. It will never be enough — even if the rumours are confirmed and the detectives for the next season are females, it will not be enough.
The only thing I take from all the rethorical cesspool I’ve seen on tumblr regarding this subject is that perhaps you shouldn’t expect Proust-like depth from your weekly serial entertainment to begin with.
p.s.: It’s hard for me not to cringe and roll eyes at all the T&A going on in this series, but it’s not due to any prefab notions about power dynamics between the sexes: it’s just that I like to think myself above such easy baiting of my lower instincts (the thing is: the last I heard, sex was still selling).
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Topic: Some TV show I didn't just see. (Read 58990 times)