Let’s talk about these fine ladies.
See, Person of Interest was my first major fandom after Stargate Atlantis, Sherlock, and Criminal Minds.
Stargate Atlantis had the same problem that BBC Sherlock and Supernatural had: mainly, that the writing team could not control their misogyny long enough not to make every female character a complete dumpsterfire of contradictory motivations, damsel in distress tropes, incompetence, and sidelining.
The fandom reflected that misogyny.
And at the time, I resisted the characters and hated the characters for being emblematic of the misogyny that I had to deal with in my life (formal apology to Dr. Keller).
And then I watched Person of Interest. And these characters were not that. They had flaws, but those flaws existed within a consistent moral framework.
Control was an antagonist, but she believed herself to be the protagonist of another story, and acted in a way consistent with how she define one-who-saves. She resisted the title of “hero,” even, because she knew that her actions were not morally right, but she believed them to be morally necessary. And when the “morally necessary” thing was to work with the actual protagonists, she did so.
Sameen Shaw was largely gender non-conforming. She did not have the feminine empathy that she was supposed to have. But rather than punish her for that, the narrative celebrated her as a hero. At the same time, it also not deny her affection and loyalty and status as someone people believed “she was worth sacrificing for.”
And then there’s Joss Carter, a cop who believes in “protect and serve” existing within a corrupt police force. Having to make the moral compromises necessary to uphold justice when the laws are written by unjust people.
It was gold. It was a balm to my soul.
Since that moment, I have made the decision that I will treat women characters with all of the grace with the fandom normally gives to male characters who are played by actors they want to fuck. I grade female characters on a curve of how much of their moral “badness” is directly attributable to them….
…versus how much is morally attributable to their writers is not being able to contain their misogyny.
Because this show showed me that this is an author problem, not a character problem. It doesn’t have to be this way. People behind the scenes are making it this way, and they could unmake it.
So, anyone who has seen Sherlock, who has seen Supernatural, watched Stargate Atlantis — who is disenchanted with how the women characters were treated: I strongly recommend, on every possible level, Person of Interest.
snowghoul
janainaart
jacobvanloon
theartofmadeline
germansingergirl
turnnoffyourmind
yousharknotpass
dededos
