Could Television Be the Medium for Female Super Heroes?

I started to get into the super hero genre last year after seeing my first episode of the CW’s Arrow. It’s become a personal favorite despite some of the flaws I addressed here. After binge watching Arrow over the summer I bought myself a ticket on the comic book hero bandwagon and hopped on. In the fall, I expanded my viewership to Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which remains my current obsession. I’m also not ashamed to say that I watched all nine Marvel Cinematic Universe movies in the span of one week, after all what else was I going to do during finals week?

Given my newfound love for classic super heroes (and super spies) and old love for the medium of television, it goes without saying that I am thrilled at the expanding super hero market on the small screen. During the upcoming TV season, three new shows pertaining to the worlds of our favorite classic super heroes will premiere on major networks: Fox’s Gotham, the CW’s Flash, and ABC’s Agent Carter. Gotham is set in Batman’s hometown and takes place before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, telling to story of two male police detectives. Flash is a more traditional take on the super hero genre centering around Barry Allen aka Flash. It looks like it will be comparable to Arrow in this way; Flash is in fact a spinoff of that show. Finally, Agent Carter surrounds the life of Agent Peggy Carter, Captain America’s love interest, after World War II and is set to premiere in January. It’s likely to give us more background on SHIELD in the organization’s early days.

Of course, Agent Carter stands out among the other super hero genre shows not only because of it’s late premiere, but because of it’s female lead. Out of the five genre shows that will grace our television screens next season, Agent Carter is the only one that can make this claim. While SHIELD has a strong ensemble cast that is equally male and female, it would be easy to argue that the lead is Agent Phil Coulson, not surprisingly a man.

My regular readers might expect that I’m dismayed at the lack of female leads in these upcoming shows. And they would be right. But I’m also hopeful that television will prove to be a friendlier medium for female super heroes and comic book characters than film has. I often lament the lack of a Black Widow movie or a Wonder Woman feature film. I’m genuinely hopeful that Agent Carter will do well and that all super hero and comic book genre shows will continue to do well on television. Ideally it will clear a path for more female lead characters in such shows and perhaps will provide that final push for studio execs to invest in a movie about one of our favorite female heroines.

Any female super hero or super spy faces a tough battle to mount this spectacular challenge. Geek-ery, especially the world of comics, remains a very male pursuit, or so the powers that be would have you think. While the number of female fans is ever expanding, content that caters to them is not expanding at the same rate. There are more female super hero and comic book fans, but not that many more female characters and female fans often express discomfort in fan spaces like comic book stores, online forums, and conventions. The offensive “fake geek girl” meme remains a problem as does sexual harassment. Until the comic book and super hero fan base fully embraces female fans, it seems unlikely that it will embrace female heroes. Furthermore, movie and television executives are still reticent to producing female-centric films and shows because of the age-old believe that movies about women just don’t do as well despite the recent success of movies like Maleficent, The Fault in Our Stars, and Frozen and television shows like Girls and Broad City. The archaic idea will hopefully wane in the face of stars like Melissa McCarthy and Angelina Jolie who are opening box offices at much higher numbers than Tom Cruise currently is.

Between the relentless march of female progress at the box office, and at the Emmys, and the expanding genre of super hero television shows, female super heroes may still have their day. Maybe it will be on television, or perhaps television will spur movement on the film front. Either way, I can only hope that one day I’ll be able to tell people Black Widow is my favorite super hero or super spy without being asked who she is.

Women Won the Emmys (At Least in Comedy)

The nominations have been announced. The gracious thank yous have been issued. The snubs and surprises articles have been written. It’s Emmy season, everyone, and this time around women took the awards by storm in the comedy category.

In a world where some people continue to debate about whether women are funny, the list of nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series seems to set out to silence the disbelievers. Three of the six nominees have female protagonists and of the remaining three two are arguably ensemble comedies with relatively balanced comedies. Seems to me, women are funny or at least the Academy thinks so.

Furthermore, several of the nominated shows feature strong female characters and explore many of the problems modern women face at home and work. 

Girls of course is renowned for it’s focus on a group of young women who are struggling to find themselves in New York City. The show is, of course, representative of the struggles of a generation of women and with the success of Girls that generation of women finally gets a chance to hear their own voices on television. In addition, the creative genius behind Girls is a woman, the multi-talented Lena Dunham.

Like Lena Dunham, another woman continually proving that women are funny is the extraordinary Tina Fey, the woman behind NBC’s 30 Rock. The show, following the trials and tribulations of TV writer and producer Liz Lemon, has been an Emmy darling for several years, including this one, the show’s last. Though there’s only one other female character, the show does accomplish something in making the focus of the story a woman who openly identifies as a feminist. Liz Lemon feminism has been the focus of many conversations by feminist media critics and portraying a feminist lead was a huge leap in television.

Another stand out is Veep. While it’s satirical nature often makes Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s VP Selina Meyer seem ineffective, it does explore some of the ramifications of Selina’s gender on her job and public perception. Simply the fact that a woman is being portrayed as the vice president should also be appreciated in a world where television still often represents political power as solely a man’s game and where, too often, it’s right.

Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory  struggle most in their portrayal of women. Modern Family is by no means bad at portraying women, thought, it is somewhat lacking in the variety of roles women are portrayed in. The female characters tend to be housewifes but that may be changing and has provided an interesting story line for Claire, a woman exploring how to find fulfillment and fill her time after raising three children. In this way it’s reflective of the lives of many women and takes a stab at exploring the effects of the traditional home on women. Unlike Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory struggles much more to represent women well. Creator Chuck Lorre is infamous for shows with sexist portrayals of women. Women are treated as extensions of the male characters and they are too often the butt of sexist jokes. Their stories aren’t told as their own but are instead used to provide character arcs for the male characters. It’s worth noting, though, that as the show has progressed more women have joined the cast and it’s critical reception and ratings have gone up. Hollywood executives take note, women make good television.

The last show, Louie, of course is the brainchild of feminist darling Louie CK. The show centers on a male protagonist but it’s written and starred in by one of the most feminist members of the media out there. Feminists love Louie.

All in all, it’s a good year to be a woman in comedy television. The only thing missing from this year’s nominees is Parks and Rec.  The show is currently one of the highest rated on television an continues to excel in the world of comedy. Starring the beloved Amy Poehler as the competent and wildly-driven, if eccentric, city councilwoman Leslie Knope, Parks and Rec is both hilariously funny and beloved for it’s rich portrayal of female characters. Most won’t argue that it didn’t deserve more Emmy love than it got. Well, there’s always next year.

tl;dr Women are funny. Girls is good. 30 Rock and Tina Fey are awesome. Feminists love Louie. Yay for Veep and Modern Family. The Big Bang Theory is kind of sexist. Women make television better. Parks and Recshould have been nominated.