22 December 2009

things don't change: on Wollstonecraft and Tina Fey

"Two feelings remained acute: irritation with her own sex -- the boisterous, unmeaning laughter and bickerings of 'silly females' -- and persistent alienation: 'I am an exile -- and in a new world.'" Vindication A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft 86


I kind of hate women of today. There, I said it. I liked them better in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth century when they had to fight for their individual freedom. Even though there were plenty of women then who were, by Wollstonecraft's account, "silly females' -- caring only for show in order to acquire husbands, focused only on begetting babies, not caring for others feelings save their own -- there were also those who were upset with their inferiority in society and strove, as Mary Wollstonecraft did, to change that.

Now women have been given lawful rights and education they seem not to know how to use it. They still parade in showy dress (or no dress) excentuating their physical body, neglecting their mind. We praise and veritably stalk female celebrities (twitter, anyone?), but not one among us can name a famous female scientist. I feel like women today have given up, retreated into their silicone bodies, and so have become the new creator of their own inferiority: Doctor Frankenstein and the monster in one.

There are a scant number of women today who, wittingly or no, provide a model of the true liberated female. The big one in my book is Tina Fey* and her character (that she created and embodies) on 30 ROCK. Liz Lemon (and by extension, Tina Fey) is pretty, in a non-model nerdy and quirky sort of way. And she is an in-charge woman, the boss of her employees, script writers and actors who are composed of dorky men and Liz's best friend Jenna, a platinum blonde, attention-seeking narcissist who was the lead actress of Liz's "The Girlie Show", now renamed for the incoming of a more popular (african american male) actor. Her boss Jack Donaghy is played by Alec Baldwin, a controversial figure in his own life and in the show no less. He is at once the model of the patriarchal gentleman, wielding his power over all, ruthless, exacting -- and Republican. He owns Lemon's show, like a 19th century land-owner. A corporate big-wig -- but one with a heart, who desires to take Lemon under his wing, be her mentor, improve her life. He criticizes her and uses his power to improve her. Which is a bit Pygmalion-esque mixed in with a little Emma of the Jane Austen variety. And this probably proves more than anything that things don't change. Men still have a desire to shape women to their ideal, and because of long-held social mores or gender DNA, this will probably, in my life-time at least, always be so. What makes Tina Fey's character so inspiring for me is that no matter how much Baldwin's character tries to improve her, she is, and will always be, (mostly, granted, as a vehicle for comedy) a scatter-brained, cute but never beautiful, faulty, smart, witty woman who embraces her independence. And for those of us who live in the real world, this is a relief.



An addendum -- couldn't fit this in above, but a counter-argument could be that such female models like Tina Fey's character have been around for a while: Murphy Brown, for instance. But what I see in Tina Fey is a 21st century model of an independent woman, for obviously she exists in this time period, but also she comes at a critical time, when our desire to control technology supplements our socially unacceptable desire to control others, and women, subjugating themselves on television in reality T.V. shows and home-made movies, need some models other than the Kardashians and the Girls Next Door of this world.

An addendum to this addendum: I watch, and even enjoy, both of the latter programs.

*another favorite of mine is Chelsea Handler.
----
Gordon, Lyndall. Vindication A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft 2005

10 comments:

Corzich is not a member of this site said...

Very interesting post. The 'silly females" of today are not really "of today"--they are eternal. They have always been, and always will, be with us.
Whats different is that they now have a choice, which makes life a little easier for the "Tina Feys" of the world. (You know I dont watch TV, but I get your drift). In fact, the game is now rigged so that women dont have a bad choice--they can retreat into traditionality, and be praised as "pretty" and "mothers" or they can conquer the world and be praised for that. Really, my pity is for men today, including myself--traditional standards of masculinity have become stigmatized, yet when we try to abandon them, we are seen as raiding "the girls club", and put firmly back in our box, under threat of a sexual harassment charge. (It is truly terrifying how much power the law now gives any woman to ruin the life of any man). Men have no good choices, and in modern society, one increasingly gets the feeling it was wished we didnt exist. When gender is an afterthought of interest primarily to one's physician, we will have REALLY made progess! Just some food for thought.....

HelenW said...

wow. how do women get to wield power over man? are you thinking about abortion? right to custody?

yeah, I am certainly not saying things are not bad for men, as I'm sure you know. I like men and sympathize with them more. I was just ushering today and watching all these 12 year old girls and they were all dressed so skanky and their hair was so perfect and they were all chattering like ignorance little hussy's and it made me sad.

HelenW said...

oh, and read my amendements. I was writing those when you commented.

Corzich is not a member of this site said...

read your amendments. There is indeed plenty of eye candy out there due to modern technology, if thats your taste. I personally find Hef's taste in women a little predictable, but I'm not him. A little cheesecake and titillation does not a patriarchy make, however. Women exert control by reserving the right to set the standards for appropriate discourse in the public sphere, including work and politics. This is what I meant by my "power of the law" talk. Women can basically behave however they please, within VERY broad limits (no pun intended, lol). It just takes one offended woman though, to file a charge and smear a man's resume for life. The standards are VERY different for what the genders can do and say out there, take it from me. Look at the library. Women can flirt and make fun of men's appearance and be as raunchy as they please--it's called empowerment. When men do it, their very livelihoods and social standing are in danger. And I just try to raise consciousness about it, let women who may not know whats going on (like you, for instance) see how big the gap is between the standards and fairness. And when I do, like as not, an angry woman like D.C. "puts me back in my box" by screaming very loudly (if a man did that, it would be threatening--we have to hold everything in and die of heart disease) and shutting down the discussion--you remember, you were there that time. That is how women guard their turf, their exclusive priviliges. Now obviously I am quite fond of many women--and I am certainly not tolerant of TRUE sexual harassment that makes someone, anyone, feel coerced or threatened! But when certain people rigidlt enforce these double standards, I confess, it upsets me.

Corzich is not a member of this site said...

P.S. We now have a female secretary of state, she almost was President in her own right, and we will probably see a female President in our lifetimes. There is already a female 4-star general. All of which I truly think is grand. But if man tries to find employment in child-care or elementary education, the world thinks he's a pedophile. You see?

HelenW said...

I agree. Hmmm. Definitely something to think about. Perhaps women have now been given too much power?

But then this is another reason why I like Tina Fey and her character. Most empowered women are -- dare I say -- rather annoying, very bossy and exert their thoughts on people without you wanting them to. Fey's character is both strong and, well, feminine. She can be very intelligent and at times rather naive.

HelenW said...

Perhaps the new two vexing models of femaleness is: (a) beauty and meekness followed by women in order to unwittingly infantilize themselves or (b) exerting their independence (the power that now exists) for bad.

David said...

I won't taint this back-and-forth with a hasty, clunky comment right now. Too distracted. But...I dig the exchange - and the inspiring blog post! Bravo.

I'll try to comment when the holiday clears. And, coincidentally, I address the worth of bimbos in my "thoughts" for the January TEA (to correspond with a poet interview that touches on beauty = female).

HelenW said...

I'm looking forward to reading that David. As you know, I love beautiful women, and beautiful women who are intelligent even more.

David said...

Right on!