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.
