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feminist TV?
A friend of mine who is under the delusion that I am a pop culture guru was asking me for suggestions for TV episodes to show in her intro women's studies class for a discussion of different kinds of feminism in the media. (She's looking for TV episodes rather than films because of the length). I had some general suggestions for shows that bring up interesting themes--Buffy, Xena, the L word, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Sex and the City (and maybe something like Dollhouse or Mad Men for the flip side)--but I had a hard time coming up with specific episodes that were fairly stand alone, other than maybe the Buffy series finale.
Anyone have better suggestions than me? Basically she's looking for shows that (a)depict some kind of feminism--and I get the impression that debating what feminism is is part of the question she wants to raise; (b)are short (not more than an hour), and (c) are relatively stand-alone, so not a lot of knowledge of the show is required. Recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Anyone have better suggestions than me? Basically she's looking for shows that (a)depict some kind of feminism--and I get the impression that debating what feminism is is part of the question she wants to raise; (b)are short (not more than an hour), and (c) are relatively stand-alone, so not a lot of knowledge of the show is required. Recommendations are greatly appreciated.
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Other ideas that are more readily available via DVD though, Defying Gravity has a storyline that loads a lot of commentary on women's rights and conservative politics (setting is 50 years in our future, abortion has been outlawed in the US and one of the female leads falls accidentally pregnant and has to access medical support and pregnancy tests in a hush-hush manner, etc.) It would also be interesting for the way that they send a female majority team to run one of the most important space missions ever, and nobody feels the need to comment on it or pat themselves on the back (from within the text itself, or externally that I noticed at the time), it's just a fact of life that the women in the selection program were better qualified for the jobs.
Xena, Legend of the Seeker (would probably provide lots of material via the Mord'Sith ('whores') vs. Confessors ('virgins') angle) , and La Femme Nikita are other shows that come to mind that would probably provide a smorgasbord of opportunities. Something from early on in Ashes to Ashes would also probably work very easily, because the set-up is a character from our time getting temporally displaced, in a fashion, and she has lots of explicit commentary on the change in her political and social surroundings to share with the audience.
If you go with clips, there's also an episode of The L Word where the characters sit around discussing the intersection of women lusting after women with feminism, and how compatible it is to want other women sexually and still not see women as sex objects. I can't remember how much of the episode is devoted to the scene, it could be a scene returned to repeatedly and overlaid with clips for the rest of storyline, or it might just a more typical single scene conversation. I can clip and upload this and any of the above shows for you/her as well though, or provide files if it's just a question of torrent access, not bandwidth/file compatibility in class for Rizzoli & Isles.
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Do you remember what season of the L word had that conversation about sexuality and feminism? I'm sure there are online episode guides, so even if you can't remember the name of the episode I can probably find it if I have a starting point. And thank you for all of your suggestions!
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