Catherine's mettle proven

Malaysia’s the star online published an article on TV’s strong female characters and naturally, our beloved Catherine Willows was one of the wonderful examples given in the article.

Friday March 6, 2009

Women take charge

By MUMTAJ BEGUM

They may not have superpowers, but here are some women who have demolished the proverbial glass ceiling.

It’s a fact that Liz Lemon of 30 Rock is weak-willed. As much as we love her and her neurotic behaviour, and considering that she’s head writer for a highly-rated television series, she does allow her friends and colleagues to walk all over her. The horrible ex-boyfriend, her super-serious boss and even the actors on her show know how to take advantage of her weakness.

On the other hand, the actress portraying her is awesome. Tina Fey has grown from strength to strength, as a scriptwriter (for both television and film) and an actress. No wonder she’s become America’s latest sweetheart while keeping intact all the admirable qualities in a woman – intelligence, humour, beauty and the ability to juggle both career and family life without creating any tabloid drama.

Liz Lemon represents only a handful of working female characters who are not the ideal version of what women in the real world aspire to be. Putting aside the niggling facts that their hair and skin always look nice even while running after bad guys and that they have no unsightly fat on their bodies, career-wise, female characters on TV have smashed the glass ceiling to bits.

The breakthrough happened way back in 1977 with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which showcased an independent career woman in her 30s as the central character. Mary Richards (Moore) arrives at a TV station to get the job as an associate producer for the Six O’Clock News when she originally applied for the job of a secretary. This show literally started the working woman sitcom; say thank you, Liz Lemon.

Three decades later, and it’s no big deal to see a woman occupying the White House as the president of the United States (Commander-in-Chief and 24) on TV. In the real world, there was finally a wind of change when a female candidate ran for office last year.

The tendency to write strong women is especially obvious in Battlestar Galactica. In the original series back in 1978, the cigar-chomping Starbuck was portrayed by Dirk Benedict. Today, in the re-imagining of the series, Starbuck is still a hotshot pilot but she’s a woman in the form of Captain Kara Thrace aka Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff).

Another strong female in the series is President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) who is appointed as the leader of the survivors as she held the highest post back on their own planet.

In almost every episode, the women onboard the battleship make tough but sound decisions while the men can be whiny at times.

Another field that women have taken over is forensic investigation. The CSI series (Las Vegas, Miami and New York), NCIS and Bones all feature women characters who are leaders in their respective fields. Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation may have had humble beginnings (she was a stripper/dancer/addict) but she’s proven her mettle again and again as a forensic scientist. In the latest season, she takes over the post of supervisor of the night shift at the lab, upon Gil Grissom’s retirement.

All the series that JJ Abrams created – Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe – revolve around very capable female characters who can handle the physical part of the job and the emotional side of their life responsibly, and with integrity. Regardless of whether she’s a university student, a spy, a conwoman who takes the law into her own hands or an FBI agent investigating bizarre cases, make no mistake, she is in charge.

Abrams knows that anything men can do, women can do better … and they look good doing it.

The women of Lipstick Jungle are top of their game – one is head of a studio (Brooke Shields), another is the editor of a woman’s magazine (Kim Raver) and the final friend is an up-and-coming designer (Lindsay Price). Eat your heart out, Big Shots (which is kind of the male version of the show – it was so dire that it was cancelled soon after making its debut).

In Ugly Betty, Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams) claws her way up to become editor-in-chief at Mode. She may use dirty tactics and step on others on the way up, but there’s no denying that she’s extremely ambitious.

Strong as these female characters on television are, they aren’t perfect. If they can represent the best of us, they can also show the worst.

In Saving Grace, the title character (Holly Hunter) is a petite cop, a cili padi nonetheless, who can take down a man twice her size. Despite her brave front, she has loads of demons in her closet which have driven her to drink, drive recklessly and have one-night stands.

On Battlestar, Starbuck was abused physically and emotionally by her mother. This has made her an unstable person who does not value her own life, so she takes unnecessary risks and denies herself the chance to be happy. It seems the only thing that is holding her together is her responsibility as a military pilot.

All these fictional successful career women featured on various television series go to prove that the so-called weaker sex is no longer weak. We know this in the real world too, from all the headway that real women have been making.

Source: eCentral @ the star online

Catherine’s mettle proven

Women take charge