Thursday, January 15, 2015

"But Was It Worth It?": On "Agent Carter" and Feminist Burnout

I want to be writing this right now to tell you just how Agent Carter is good, so good. And I want to be writing this now to applaud how groundbreaking the series is, because it is. It’s brilliant; it’s historic; it’s exciting. But I just can’t bring myself to write to simply extoll all those virtues in detail. Not today, at least.

You see, I have a bad case of feminist burnout. The weight of the issues facing contemporary feminists and the world is getting me down. On days like today, I struggle to believe that the work I am doing is ever going to make a difference. It happens to all of us once in awhile and I would imagine something like it happened to Agent Peggy Carter herself.

When I watch Peggy struggle with the harsh realities of working in a field dominated by men who underestimate her ability and intelligence and who regularly put her down, I see a vivid set of emotions brought to life by the brilliant Hayley Atwell. But the one that stands out the most is exhaustion. Now part of this stems from the fact that Peggy spends her evenings and weekends working outside the law to clear Howard Stark’s name, but I would imagine a significant part also comes from the endless reminders that she is a woman in a man’s world. That is something I relate to all too much right now.

When Peggy faces an office of men who continue to remind her that she doesn’t belong, I am reminded of Congress, of boardrooms, of university faculties. All places where women struggle to achieve equal representation and to have their voices heard. When Peggy hears herself being portrayed as a hapless damsel in distress on the Captain America radio show, I see the way women are portrayed in most media as a series of boring stereotypes rather than well-rounded characters. When Peggy is forced to live by a stringent set of rules in her boarding house, I am reminded of the societal rules policing my own body and sexuality. In short, it all hits too close to home.

But Peggy fights on, quite literally. Through the exhaustion, through the pain, Peggy fights on and serves as a personal reminder for me, and those around me, to do the same. At the close of the pilot, Peggy sits with her sidekick, Edwin Jarvis, at an automat as Peggy questions whether it’s all worth it and Jarvis replies, “I don’t think we’ll know that until the job is truly done.” The same can be said for feminism. Though I may not see the fruits of my labors today, I must remember that one day the job will, indeed, be truly done. Then I will know for sure what I must today believe on faith: It will be worth it.


As I continue to fight in my own small ways for equality and justice, there is another important and affirming lesson I have taken away from Agent Carter. An ongoing theme of the Marvel cinematic universe is, in the words of Nick Fury, that “One man can accomplish anything if he realizes that he is part of something bigger.” Though, Fury may have left us out, Peggy Carter reminds us that one woman can accomplish anything, too. With that in mind, I will go forward and remember that I am part of a larger movement of women who can and will accomplish everything. And I, like Peggy, will fight on.

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