Wonder Women: The Fictional Ladies of T.V.

By Amber Charleville

I do a lot of thinking about fictional ladies. Don’t look at me like that! I mean it in a purely academic sense. Mostly. For the purposes of this blog, I want to talk about some of my favorite TV Shows with amazing women characters who are treated fairly and dynamically. I do a lot of talking about the way the media gets it wrong, but I think it’s also important to talk about the shows that get it right!

Without further ado, here is Amber’s List of Favorite Fictional Ladies in the Past Year:

1. Dr. Cristina Yang of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, played by Sandra Oh. Cristina Yang demonstrates again and again what it means to be a woman who chooses career over having children, to not be someone who wants to be a mother. Cristina shows us how that can be both empowering and alienating in a society who expects all women to work toward motherhood as the ultimate accomplishment and goal. While there is certainly nothing wrong with having children (as demonstrated by numerous other characters on the show), Cristina’s struggle speaks to those of us who don’t feel that drive and know we never will.
2. Detective Amy Santiago and Detective Rosa Diaz of Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, played by Melissa Fumero and Stephanie Beatriz. Funny, quirky, driven, and inspiring, both of these women show us that women don’t have to all act the same to be badass and amazing. They also teach us something about how important camaraderie and mutual support is among women, especially women in a “boys club.”
3. Sophia Burset of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, played by Laverne Cox. Sophia Burset brings some much needed exposure to Transgender Women and their experiences with transmisogyny and cissexism. She’s funny, smart, and beautiful, and she shows us that what it means to be a woman in this world isn’t regulated by the sex you were assigned at birth.
4. Carol Peletier and Michonne of AMC’s The Walking Dead, played by Melissa McBride and Danai Gurira. When it comes to drama at the end of the world, The Walking Dead does an amazing job of exploring gender essentialism, gender roles in survival situations, and what it means to be willing to do anything to stay alive. They are every bit as broken, dangerous, compassionate, and brutal as their male counterparts, and watching their growth over the past several seasons has been riveting.
5. Sarah Manning, et al. of BBC America’s Orphan Black, played by Tatiana Maslany. It would be impossible to list every single character played by Tatiana Maslany on Orphan Black, but each and every one of the clones she portrays is unique, dynamic, and has different experiences and views in the world. It shows us what our identity looks like when it cannot rely on our physical features.

6. 

   Myka Bering and Claudia Donovan of Syfy’s Warehouse 13 played by Joanne Kelly and Allison Scagliotti. Warehouse 13 is one of my favorite shows on television even though it occupies a relatively obscure corner. Myka is ambitious and rule oriented, Claudia is daring and creative, and they both shine as individuals capable of so very much. They explore different and evolving relationship dynamics, what it means when the family you create is more important than the family you were born into, and how love is more than just romance. It’s friendship, partnership, sisterhood, and so much more. The show itself is maybe a little cheesy, but the characters, especially the women, make it stand out.