Since the sixties of the last century much of the history of the West can be summed up in the phrase, Flight from reality.
When it comes to self defense, ladies should bring a friendly man along with them, ( I have been providing this service to my Bride for 42 years), or recall this maxim of the Old West: God made men, Colonel Colt made them equal.
I never bother to watch any movie or TV show that has a “girl boss” character. They might as well have a “small child boss” as they are just not believable.
I have been watching re-runs of the new Magnum PI TV show staring Jay Hernandez as Magnum and Perdita Weeks as Juliet Higgins. Ms. Weeks does have a great physique, like that of a runner (which I used to be before knees gave out; I am envious), but she can’t possibly weigh more than 120 lbs. Yet she is routinely depicted being thrown around like a rag doll by muscular male criminals twice her body mass with vastly stronger musculature, but she immediately rises without injury to kick their proverbial a$$es into submission. The fictional explanation given is that she was trained in self-defense and martial arts during her days as a former MI6 agent. However, I simply don’t find the fighting scenes in which she is depicted as being realistic. A 220 lb male muscle giant, no matter her fighting skills, would crush her into a life-altering injury from which she would never recover.
Now all that said, the new Magnum PI is one of the few modern TV shows that I actually enjoy, at least for its constant depiction of comarderie and friendship between Magnum, Higgins, TC, Rick, and Gordon. The addition of obviously non-Hawaiian Amy Hill as some sort of native Hawaiian shaman is typical liberal progressive ingratiation to pagan culture (which I ignore). So….good TV show, but utterly unrealistic portrayal of women in fighting sequences.
One of the things that would shock most people is how quickly a person determined to do harm can cover 30 ft. Something they teach you in gun training ownership and use classes.
I saw the line “Since the sixties of the last century” and knew I had to post something angry. Growing up in those years was the cultural equivalent of childhood polio. The world will be so much better when my generation is gone.
I’m encouraged that Hollywood seems to be waking up from…from “woke”, I guess. I don’t think they have a new plan but I think they’ve realized that the old one isn’t working. When people look back on film, there’s a good ten year stretch of material that’s unwatchable.
I’m with JFK: I won’t even consider watching a “girl boss” movie or show. They might as well pull back from the shot to reveal the script girl, the boom mic, camermamen, et al. There would be about as much possibility for suspension of disbelief.
One of the pre-absurdist “formidable women” was Emma Peel from the original The Avengers, who relief mainly on [TV-version] judo, if I’m remembering right. Her main weapon, besides her looks, was a very dry wit.
Fr. J:
Emma Peel was also a dead shot with a handgun.
I liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that was explicitly fantasy. I probably wouldn’t mind it in a superhero scenario but I can’t think of one I’ve seen.
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I’m not sure what you all mean by a ‘girl boss’ movie.
For info on Girl Bosses. (Btw, This term “boss” comes from video games where a tough “boss” villain needed to be defeated in physical combat in order to complete the game level.
Why Modern Movies Suck – The Strong Female Character.
https://youtu.be/xPE7-PRL0M8?si=jhD-by4vtr5xSrVK
And
Death of the Girlboss
https://youtu.be/o84Xp6xh5UE?si=1TioBYmiwoMi2LV2
Policewoman starring Angie Dickinson was probably an early foray into girl boss TV shows and film. Cagney and Lacey is another example. Castle and Becket is another one. I never liked any of those TV shows. I got nothing against strong women. Indeed, the Bible is full of them: Abigail, Judith, Deborah, Ja’el, Esther, etc. But they weren’t girl bosses, and frankly, I despise the girl boss genre.
I don’t remember Policewoman doing that, but I was pretty young back then. The earliest one I can think of is Hunter’s partner Dee Dee. And in that case, she wasn’t actually as tiny as she looked; Fred Dryer is 6′ 6″.
I remember Angie Dickinson was cast in a cop show called <i>Police Woman</i>, but I cannot recall seeing anything but the promos for it. IMDB says her character was an undercover officer.
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<i>Cagney & Lacey</i> I do recall. I don’t recall the characters had anyone working under them, so I’m not sure ‘boss’ is a proper term for them. Like any cop show, the principals were in physical danger every week (as opposed to at risk in circumstances), and that is atypical for working police officers, much less plainclothes officers like the characters in question. Interestingly, the show was set in New York but was inspired by the careers of a pair of Los Angeles police officers who were paired off in a patrol car for a while. One of the two had a 44 year long career in the police forces around LA, starting when she was a 24 year old mother of three separated from her husband and landed a job as a switchboard operator. She went to the police academy and was over a period of about 30 years promoted within the ranks until she was about one echelon below the chief of police, then appointed chief of one of the minor forces in Los Angeles County. When she retired (at age 68) she ran for Pasadena City Council and was a big booster of the local Salvation Army. She lived to see her great grandchildren. She came to some unwanted public attention in 1994 / 95 because she was married to the judge who presided over the OJ Simpson trial and there was some controversy as to a crucial trial witness having worked under her.
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I remember episodes of <i>Castle</i> being on in our house. IIRC, the principal was a plainclothes officer who was not supervising anyone. I don’t remember her being in altercations, but it’s been about a dozen years.
The pilot episode of Star Trek had Majel Barrett, who would later marry Roddenberry, as Number One, the executive officer. The reaction of female viewers was intensely negative, with some of them wondering “Who does she think she is?” Her later role as Nurse Chappel was the epitome of a traditional female role.
For me the “girl boss” isn’t a female in charge but a female who is nasty and cruel and in charge: Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada was a hilarious example. In real, as opposed to reel, life, I have found that women who work under female bosses are often none too pleased with them.
Emma Peel played by Diana Rigg was a strong female character. Apparently there is a new Avengers. Doubt it is as good as the original Peel and Steed.
Honey West a detective show with Ann Francis as Honey had a strong female lead. Although the actress and the series won awards it was not renewed. Ann Francis also played the lovely Altaira in the Sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet. With Leslie Neilson and Walter Pigeon the movie still shows up every so often on TCM.
For me the “girl boss” isn’t a female in charge but a female who is nasty and cruel and in charge: Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada was a hilarious example. In real, as opposed to reel, life, I have found that women who work under female bosses are often none too pleased with them.
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In my experience, (female) first-line supervisors function well enough. I’ve not worked for a female manager who did not have notable performance issues. In re the last one I had, the productivity of her staff improved when she was out of the office.
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I knew a woman who was director of a local art museum. She was most enchanting over the phone and to a degree in person as well. Her staff thought quite well of her. Two jobs down the line for her, she landed a job as a director of a notable cultural institution in Boston. Her tenure there ended badly. I cannot recall if the board issued a letter of dismissal or she resigned consequent to a staff revolt. (Four long term employees resigned en bloc; It was written up in the Boston papers). Quite puzzling to me at first. Then it occurred to me that when I knew her, she had a staff of seven, some of whom were part time. One of her staff had some technical training in art cataloguing, the rest were generic office employees she’d trained. Her job was an extension of her academic expertise. The place she worked in Boston had a multifarious mission – libraries, archives, art, &c. She had > 40 employees and a number had expertise she did not have. One of the disaffected staff members gave an account of the sequence of events which occurred the day he was fired and two aspects of it were familiar; I’d seen that before with other lousy managers.
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She landed a handsome job after that fiasco. After five years there, she resigned abruptly. Her Linkedin indicates her departure was coincident with the press release issued by the president of the board of trustees. No indication in the local media, in his remarks, or in hers that there was an issue there, but I figure if everything was Georgia peachy keen she’d have had a job lined up and she’d have a terminal period during which they searched for a replacement. She’s 54 years old, unmarried and childless.
Real girl bosses in real life were prevalent in the USN Nurse Corps once upon a time. I was line, but my female nurse friends endured a lot from the senior females who were lesbians, mean ones. Dating a male got the junior nurses extra pm and mid watches and dirty jobs. Most, though excellent nurses, said the hell with it and left the navy as a result.
You get a mixed bag with female bosses. In terms of productivity, there are 2 high profile Australian ones who come to mind who are chalk and cheese:
1. Gail Kelly: South African born school teacher who went from a humble bank teller to CEO of Westpac, which she held for 7 years. In the 7 years as CEO, Kelly managed to increase Westpacs profits to $100billion dollars. She has 4 children, including triplets. In 2010 Kelly was named 8th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. And her influence goes beyond Australia. A pretty good “girl boss” who also is a mother to 4 kids.
2. Christine Holgate: born in England, she went from executive positions at JP Morgan, a telecommunication company, CEO of a vitamin company to become CEO of Australia Post. She drove the LGBT workplace “acceptance” at Australia Post. Rather than being a clever business woman, she used optics and marketing to make Australia Post appear productive. She lasted 3 years there which ended in her resignation for purchasing 4 x $22k Cartier watches for Australia Post executives on company expenses. She was later “cleared” of any wrongdoing-doing…hmmm…she is now CEO of Toll Global Express. She is married to the chairman of Downer Group. She has no kids.
Two contrasting “girl bosses”. There are many great female leaders such as Gail Kelly, and many not so great ones such as Christina Holgate.
With all due respect, gender shouldn’t factor into anything if someone is good at their job. And you all know me by now, I’m not a raging feminist. 😂
With all due respect, gender shouldn’t factor into anything if someone is good at their job.
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The whole point of DEI is to give priority to considerations other than performance.
Art I don’t disagree with you that the whole point of DEI is to reward gender/sexual orientation etc… anything BUT being “good at your job”.
Miranda Priestly was good at her job. A mean girl boss.
But I can see how “some” men wouldn’t like to take orders from women. That’s understandable too. And I don’t mean that in a back-handed way. I get it.
I think a good example of the ‘girl boss’ degradation of the entertainment industry would be an examination of the “Equalizer” franchise. In brief:
Denzell + woke-hive-mind = Queen la-effing-teefa.
Go figure?
I’m rather reminded of the contrast between “classic” and new MacGyver.
In the 80s series, we heard frequent mention of the Phoenix Foundation, yet MacGyver mostly operated alone. His science knowledge is the show centerpiece.
Along comes the new MacGyver, the Phoenix Foundation plays an active role in every episode. It’s headed by a lady dwarf who directs everyone in what they do and why. They still use MacGyver’s knowledge of science, yet he is nigh on being a secondary character in his own show.
There’s being competent, …and then there’s being… needlessly bossy.