Whatever happened to Ally McBeal? And other pertinent questions
Posted on 12. Aug, 2010 by Simon in Pop Culture
Olivia Foster agrees, recalling being called upon to write essays in school about female role models. Coming up with someone who wasn’t famous primarily for her looks or style was next to impossible, she says: “It’s either Oprah or my mom. Not that my mom isn’t great. She is. But there really isn’t anyone else to choose from.”
So goes a quote from a recent Macleans article about the (supposed) erosion of modern feminism at the hands of, I assume, a misguided post-modern feminism?
The feature makes some pointed observations, particularly in regards to mainstream media consumption. For starters, the mid-nineties certainly did seem like a golden era for female protagonists in popular culture. There was the ubiquitous dancing babies of Ally McBeal (and her all-star cast of lady litigators). My-So-Called-Life, Freaks and Geeks, Sailormoon, Lara Croft, GI Jane, La Femme Nikita, Felicity, Tori Amos, Lilith Fair, and two-fifths of the OG Power Rangers.
What do little girls have today? Lady GaGa? Miley Cyrus? iCarly?
Pop culture has moved away from the Reality Bites, strong minded female empowerment model of feminism. The article seems to imply replacing Doc Martins with Lululemon pants is a manifestation of trading intellectual for sexual empowerment.
I’m not quite convinced, but I’m also pretty intrigued. Not being an expert on women’s studies and not having many discussions with my fairer friends about growing up girl, I am hesitant to draw an conclusions about whether it sucks more to be a woman now than it did in 1997.
So what’s it like growing up a gal these days? Where did all the leading ladies go from television? Why does Lilith Fair suck suddenly? How come Jewel can only book gigs singing her own songs at Karaoke incognito while Katy Perry is the toast of ta-ta-town?
Can a wizened mind answer these questions for us? Male or female alike? Inquiring minds want to know.
rafi
Aug 12th, 2010
“There was the ubiquitous dancing babies of Ally McBeal (and her all-star cast of lady litigators). My-So-Called-Life, Freaks and Geeks, Sailormoon, Lara Croft, GI Jane, La Femme Nikita, Felicity, Tori Amos, Lilith Fair, and two-fifths of the OG Power Rangers.”
That is a really weird list of random things that don’t all belong on the same plane as far as female role models are concerned and aren’t all from the mid-90s.
Ally McBeal was famously criticized as anti-feminist because she and her friends were ditzy, needy, boy-crazy, etc. While the women in the office who were strong and viewed their job as primary were fetishized (esp lucy liu) as cold, castrating dominatrices.
How about the success of the late 80s and early 90s establishing Murphy Brown, Roseanne, and Designing Women with grown up, working women as the focus of shows. Or Cagney and Lacey if you want to go back a little further.
Simon
Aug 12th, 2010
I’d tend to agree.
I never said those examples were role models. I’m just listing properties with female leads in pop culture — an increasingly rare sight today. Going by pure volume (not necessarily value or cultural relevance) the mid-90′s seemed to be a high point no?
So… what happened?
Dust
Aug 12th, 2010
The rise of the born-again right.
-d
rafi
Aug 12th, 2010
Actually the problem might be that Ally McBeal happened. And Felicity. And Sex in the City…. It’s a slippery slope.
Plus reality tv happened which made it much cheaper for tv to focus on histrionic, dysfunctional drama queens. That’s also mirrored by the explosion of gossip/celeb news on tv and the internets – more cheap sensationalism about broken girls.
Steph
Aug 12th, 2010
I think still is a number of strong female roles out there. Some are just kinda sucky which is why you forget about them. Right now we have Gray’s Anatomy, Rookie blue, Cougar Town, desperate housewives (bad example), private practice, ugly better, V, and a whole bunch more with both male and female leads (modern family, brothers and sisters, etc). We’ve had our Alias and the strong female roles in ensemble casts (BSG and to a lesser extent flash forward). Not to mention any action movie starring Angelina Jolie.
rafi
Aug 12th, 2010
yeah, also worth mentioning weeds and true love. and tina fey and amy poehler.
Simon
Aug 12th, 2010
No little girl should be watching Sookie Stackhouse. Just… no.
Dust
Aug 12th, 2010
Okay, so there’s no dearth of leading ladies. Let’s talk quality. Are today’s female role models smarter or sexier than those of the past two decades?
-d
Susannah Straughan
Aug 13th, 2010
Interesting that Steph has mentioned Grey’s and Private Practice, because creator Shonda Rhimes appears to be walking a tightrope trying to make her female characters both strong and conventionally appealing within the confines of a network TV show.
For me it would have been a really groundbreaking show if Sandra Oh’s character Cristina Yang had been made the lead and not Ellen Pompeo’s drippy Meredith. Characters like Yang, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) are ballsy, highly talented and career-oriented — but the show needs Katherine Heigl’s rom-com friendly looks and Kate Walsh’s legs to attract maintream audiences.
It’s hard to make a comparison between different decades, but I’d point to the current success of (mature) actresses like Kyra Sedgwick, Julianna Margulies, Edie Falco and Laura Linney as evidence that female leads are providing genuine substance and not just eye candy.
Anupa
Aug 13th, 2010
They’re definitely sexier.
And don’t forget the paragon of Canadian programming—Ready Or Not, which featured two average-looking young girls (well, one borderline androgynous) dealing with real-life situations.
If we’re getting into the movie debate, Tilda Swinton makes a strong case for unconventional, headstrong leading ladies. But, to tell the truth, I’m mostly anti-lead female actresses etc (no-misogyny) purely because in any type of way they are role model-y, they are somehow over sexualized or simplified right away. Perhaps it’s safe to say that we shouldn’t look to actresses or reality tv stars as role models? I sure as hell don’t.
Also, don’t forget Daria. Marisa Meltzer wrote a great couple of blog posts about this exact subject (in fact, I’m inclined to believe it was Maclean’s source material) for The Paris Review:
http://blog.theparisreview.org/2010/07/22/where-are-the-darias/
Simon
Aug 13th, 2010
Great call on Edie Falco. Nurse Jackie and Carmella Soprana are two female characters who probably wouldn’t have existed not too long ago.
There’s a lot of sympathy in pop culture for flawed male characters (see: House, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Wire, etc.) but a double standard in accepting this nuance regarding women and, indeed, glorifying them for being self aware.
Just look at the women who play opposite the male roles above. Betty Draper is often loathed, as are Carmella in the Sopranos and Skyler in Breaking Bad.
I think that double standard leads to a lot of the simplification Anupa is referring to, but there are indeed a few characters out there who buck the trend for the better.
Don’t forget PJ Jen. She was the only reason I ever watched YTV.
Jef
Aug 13th, 2010
Ally McBeal was definitely problematic. (The show and the character.) But also, dancing baby aside, Ally McBeal was a pretty good show, at least the first season or two. That has nothing to do with anything, but I had to admit it.
Lucy Liu’s dragon lady was also an interesting milestone for me: at the time, I didn’t know what a “dragon lady” was, and audience reaction to the role was one of my first introductions to thinking about identity, representation and television. To me at the time, there was absolutely nothing wrong with that character. There is also an episode where Portia de Rossi’s character addresses some of these issues within the show, culminating with a speech about how she chose to never build a family in order to advance her career, and that would-be mothers have the same option available to them. I’d be interested to re-watch that episode today and see if I respond differently.
From what I’ve seen of Grey’s Anatomy, it really does feel like Ally McBeal redux where the show lightly explores other options for women and women characters, but where the main character is nonetheless this (white) direction-less, weepy puddle.
Not that any of this adds to the discussion you all already have going, but just to say thanks to this post, I’ve remembered Ally McBeal, and have now spent 20 minutes thinking about Ally McBeal. Dammit.
Anyhow, I agree with Rafi’s mentions of Murphy Brown and Roseanne. Who are the modern day equivalents? As far as I know of, no leads at least. Also, pour one out for Ugly Betty.
Anupa
Aug 14th, 2010
Has anyone seen The New Adventures of Old Christine? How does that character play out. I thought Julia Dreyfuss did a good job on Seinfeld as Elaine, she’s probably one of the only women I’ve ever been able to relate to and WANTED to relate to.
@Jef: Gilmore Girls?
Simon
Aug 16th, 2010
Really? I don’t know if we’re supposed to want to relate to any of the Seinfeld characters. They’re basically all horrible people, hahaha