On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 10:15 AM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 24, 2013 at 1:30 PM, Mark Jeffries <[email protected]>wrote: > >> In an NYT op-ed, Anna Gunn, the journeywoman actress who became a cable >> star thanks to her portrayal of Walter White's not-necessarily supportive >> wife on "Breaking Bad" muses that there are people who have problems with >> strong women on television (like Skyler White, Carmela Soprano and Betty >> Draper--although in the latter I would conjecture that the problem may be >> more that January Jones can't act her way out of a paper bag) and then put >> the actress playing the role in the same category (actual Internet comment: >> “Could somebody tell me where I can find Anna Gunn so I can kill >> her?”--something that was probably never said about her first series role, >> the bikini-wearing babe in the long-forgotten Fox sitcom "Down the Shore"): >> >> >> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/opinion/i-have-a-character-issue.html?_r=1&; >> >> > Anna Gunn makes a good point in calling for a real discussion of the > issue, but I don't know of a mainstream forum that could host the > discussion and move it forward. If the issue becomes simplified for cable > news it becomes a case of her griping when she has a chance to get a long > term job on a series lots of actresses would love to have. > > Her main point that strong female characters draw vitriol from some > viewers, and some of that spreads to the actresses, while the same is not > true of male actors is interesting. I think the difference may be that is > an audience has no sympathy for a male leading character they just stop > watching the show. If it's a female character they keep watching and > express their contempt online. (SNIP) > I have been following the "Skyler is a Bitch" debate for several years now. It makes for a potentially interesting conversation precisely because it is complex and multi-layered. The danger is that it is often reduced to nothing but: "men hate strong women". Gunn acknowledges the fundamental dynamic - Skyler (and Carmella, and though to a much lesser extent, Betty) are psychological antagonists to interesting and very active protagonists. It is not that viewers always like the husband and hate the wife, but the kind of viewers who hate the kinds of husbands depicted in these shows stop watching; while people who hate the wife will keep watching the show, and talk about how much they hate the wife. But there is something else too, and that is that these women (none more than Skyler) are just not as well written as the men. They are much more likely to be used for plot purposes than allowed to be true to any meaningful or interesting character development. I have just watched all of BB again in preparation for the new season (many of those seasons seen now for the third time), and the common narrative that Skyler is the moral voice opposing Walter's criminal behavior is not really correct, at least not consistently. Her antipathy towards Walter (once she finds out some of the truth) runs hot and cold, depending on what Gilligan needs her to be doing to create the balance of tension and obstacles he wants to develop for Walter. In Skyler's case, there is also the fact that she is something of an intrusive, control freak in the White household, even before Walter goes out on that fateful ride along. Indeed an important part of the implied backstory of BB is that Walter, who once was a cutting edge scientist daring to crack the codes of the universe and make a ton of money, allowed himself to be castrated by middle-class conventional life. His break bad is as much Samson regrowing his hair and pulling down the pillars of the society that has enslaved him as it is trying to pay for his kid's college education. This is an old story of course, and the fundamental reason for the larger pattern Gunn is commenting on in her piece: women seen by men as agents of civilization, making possible the comforts and safety of family and soft domesticity, but also making life boring and small. But in the White household, Skyler (a bookkeeper by trade) pays the bills (we see her scolding Walter early in the series for using the wrong credit card to make a small household purchase) and generally sets the tone of what the family does and does not do. So the audience perception that Skyler is an over-controlling Bitch is not just projected resentment that she is making it hard for Walter to have fun making and selling drugs and killing people. The character as written, even in good times, is something of an over-controller (I don't approve of seriously calling women in real life bitches, so I will avoid that here). Another aspect for Skyler (though present subtly for Carmella, and pretty much comically for Betty) is the significant weight gain she experienced in the middle of the series. The show itself never comments on it, and the timing was odd in that it happened after the character gave birth. But Gunn gained a good 25 pounds or more around season 3 (I can't recall off the top of my head exactly when it was). I think this provoked a lot of extra resentment from men immature enough to insist at some level that the young girl they married keep the same looks and figure even after birthing and raising a couple of kids (regardless of how many extra pounds and wrinkles they add on over the years). A similar dynamic happens when attractive women with long hair cut it. One more thing, that applies to all three of these television women (Carmella most of all) is their hypocrisy. Skyler accepts a lot of implausible explanations from Walter as to the source of his money (something the show acknowledges in later episodes). She wants to see herself as morally superior to her husband, but she is not willing, even when she is given several specific opportunities and strong advice to do so, to separate herself from the advantages his criminal activity gives her. She may be thinking that she is just protecting her family - but then that is exactly what her husband tells himself. And of course, it is also true that many men are frightened of, and hate, strong women. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. 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