AMY CHOZICK in today’s Wall Street Journal writes about the new television show “Nikita:”

The show reflects new thinking among television network executives: Their core audience—female viewers—want to see a woman take down the enemy, preferably with a little bloodshed along the way. The approach overturns years of belief that violent shows turn off women who prefer to watch earnest nurses, headstrong housewives or quirky career women.

I am not convinced that this is what viewers want, but this and the other shows mentioned by Chozick do reflect the cultural celebration of aggression in females. And, it is clear viewers will chow down on the junk that is fed to them.                                  

                                                                         — Comments–

Chris Roach writes:

I believe the theme in television and movies of the aggressive super-woman is a teenage (or rather preteen age) boy fantasy. They are not prepared yet to address the otherness of women. They just emerged from elementary school where girls had cooties. But the sexual feelings are emerging, so they want the best of both worlds: a “bud” they can play video games with not so different than their guy friends, but who is sexually attractive. In real life, such as the business world or college even, such women are shunned, ignored, considered asexual, or otherwise not desirable. In spite of everything wrong with our culture, femininity is still attractive.

Laura writes:

Television executives, according to Chozick, say women are the main viewers of these shows. I find that hard to believe. You are probably closer to the truth.

That’s interesting what you say about the ideal woman to a preteen boy. The version of Mr. Darcy in the movie of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice fits the bill in the same way for girls. He’s a man, but a girlfriend too.

John P. writes:

Actually, it’s highly likely these shows are being watched by women. When ‘Charlie’s Angels’ first appeared in the ’70’s it was intended as “entertainment for men” but the show was quickly re-envisioned in the second season when it was realised that the audience was overwhelmingly female. Why? Top fashion, hairstyles and aggressive superwomen. It was the start of something new in women’s entertainment.

TV is aimed at women, even action/adventure, cop shows – the works. The ShowCase channel shows an endless round of programmes with significant action but unquestionably aimed at women (trust me, I can feel the vibe.)

But it is true that a lot of teenage boys are interested in these super woman characters. Frankly, they turn my stomach.

Brendan writes:

I think that the trend towards portraying physically aggressive, dominant women in TV and in films has a few factors behind it. One is outright feminist propaganda — the writers and producers are often women and/or gay, and are interested in writing characters that are anything other than white male hero protagonists. And even sidelight women are now being played up to be superpowerful heroes, like the Megan Fox character in the Transformers films, or the new female side-, kick in the latest Iron Man film. It’s in part propaganda, without question.

However, they are also out to make a buck, and so the propaganda is tailored to what audiences want to see. I would agree that adolescent boys may have an affinity for those types of “strong women” portrayed in these ways in films and on TV for the reasons described. However, I also think that “mainstream” adult men also do not mind seeing these portrayals because (1) they are not dating the woman in question and (2) often, especially with the physically aggressive portrayals we are increasingly seeing, the female body is more on display — twisting and turning, lithe hips and arms dancing about and so on — and it is visually appealing to watch. It’s kind of like a version of soft-core porn, really, I think.[Laura writes: That’s a great point.]

I also think that quite a few adult women like seeing women portrayed on TV and in film as strong, independent, aggressive, in the mens’ faces, besting men at their own game and so on. It doesn’t have to be of the over-the-top man-hating kind of Thelma & Louise or Monster (both of which were well-liked by women, generally, however), because many find that too extreme, for obvious reasons. But I do think a LOT of women don’t mind seeing women “kick men’s butts” in more familiar settings, such as office politics or family situations or,as we see here, replacing and sometimes displacing the role of the male hero. It’s certainly true, given the way that TV viewing skews significantly female today, and the reality that women have a huge impact on what movies are viewed, as well, that these images and portrayals of women are not exactly disliked by a large number of women. By contrast, I have read a lot of impatient whining from female reviewers about films like the recent Star Trek remake because of decisions like having the female characters wear 60’s-style miniskirts (objectification and sexism) and having Uhura not be “kick butt” enough, while two white guys were permitted to be the main characters.

Entertainment today is one of the main means by which the memes of cultural change are propagated. People do not read much any longer, other than snippets about Snooki on their Twitter accounts, or gossipy text messages. So the main way that the culture is being transformed at large, other than the educational system, is the entertainment culture. And it’s eaten up, largely, by most people. I think men and women like it, for different reasons, but I don’t think there’s a big backlash against it from either sex. You will see MRAs complaining about it, because of the unrealistic portrayals it involves, but in the mainstream I think most people think a portrayal of a kick-butt female lead as in the recent film Salt is “cool”, full stop.

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