TV’s wonderful women
IN A welcome development, Pakistan’s Lahore High Court has struck down a notification issued by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority last year regarding a ban on the broadcasting of Indian dramas on the country’s licensed private TV channels. It is a case of better sense having prevailed. On Tuesday, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah ruled that the electronic media regulator needed to revisit its policy, given that the world had become a global village and that the placing of these restrictions was not reasonable.
The decision deserves appreciation. For one thing, in this age of connectivity and digital media, there is no sense in attempting to block certain content when there are so many ways of accessing it. The idea Pakistanis might be harmed by watching Indian content appears besides the point given this larger reality.
Where the greater picture is concerned, however, what must be thought about is the future of Pakistan-India relations. In recent months, cultural ties have increasingly become a casualty in the historically difficult diplomatic relationship between the two countries. Notwithstanding what is happening on the political front, the long-term goal is for Pakistan and India to conclude some framework of mutual cohabitation.
However, what we are seeing is the expansion of the theatre of confrontation; in large part, this is the result of moves across the border where resentment against Pakistani artists working in India in the wake of the Uri attack last year has increased. Such trajectories stymie possibilities of future thaws. Now that the ban on Indian content on Pakistani channels has been struck down, it would be a welcome move for Indian broadcasters to reciprocate – especially when Pakistani television shows reportedly enjoy the same popularity across the border as Bollywood fare does over here. Trite as it sounds, the future lies in cooperation.
IWORSHIP Charlize Theron, the Atomic Blonde trailer is a hoot, and I love the story she keeps sharing with interviewers about training so hard for the fight scenes that she cracked several teeth.
But please stop telling me Atomic Blonde, on the heels of Wonder Woman, amounts to some hinge moment for movies, which are henceforth going to shower us with female action leads. I’ve heard that joke too many times before.
Let’s talk instead about all the wonderful women – brawlers, bawlers, schemers, dreamers – on the small screen, a nickname that we have to retire because television is proving infinitely bigger in spirit and more in tune with the moment than most of the loud schlock shoveled into multiplexes.
And let’s trade the usual, sadly necessary outrage about how poorly a given group of Americans is being represented for a hearty cheer about some heartening progress.
The Emmy nominations came out last week, and they affirmed not only that television is indeed enjoying a golden age but also that part of that is its juicy opportunities for female actors. In terms of gender parity, it puts corporate America, the Trump administration and the Senate to shame.
A New York Times critic, James Poniewozik, pointed to the “murderers’ row” of actresses nominated for best lead performance in a limited series: Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon in Feud: Bette and Joan, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman in Big Little Lies, Carrie Coon in Fargo and Felicity Huffman in American Crime.
Five of them are over 40. Two (Lange and Sarandon) are over 60, playing roles that speak expressly to sexist double standards and the derision women face if they do something as audacious as age in the limelight.
Yes, there’s a negative spin on this: Why have Lange, Sarandon, Witherspoon and Kidman, all winners of the best actress Oscar, fled to television?
Also, the disproportionate crowd of men nominated in the writing and directing categories this year suggests that despite the recent successes of such female writers, directors and show runners as Shonda Rhimes ( Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal), Lena Dunham ( Girls) and Jill Soloway ( Transparent, I Love Dick), women still don’t get enough opportunities behind the camera.
But television is hardly a last-resort medium anymore. And what’s happening in front of the camera really does warrant celebration.
Often, in the wake of Oscar nominations, there’s talk about how tough it was to fill the five slots in the best actress category credibly. Emmy categories accommodate six or seven nominees, and the chatter this year focused on how many deserving women couldn’t be squeezed in. No Dunham for Girls, no Oprah Winfrey for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, no Claire Danes for Homeland and no crime in any of that, because there was so much else that deserved – and got – recognition.
To compare the nominees for best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a comedy series is to be reminded that women rule the Saturday Night Live roost. From that show, only one recurring male performer, Alec Baldwin, got an acting nod, while three female performers – Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer and Leslie Jones – did.
It’s not just that actresses are giving television’s greatest performances but that many of the top-tier shows – The Handmaid’s Tale, Better Things – tackle gender-related issues.
The most recent season of House of Cards was in some ways about the tricky algebra of effacement, assertion, subservience and ingenuity behind many women’s paths to power. It ended (spoiler alert!) with two triumphant words from Claire Underwood, played by Robin Wright, that pointedly evoked Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Feud. campaign: “My turn.”
There’s a world of fascinating women and fierce actresses on television now. Britain, which long ago conjured the miracle of Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, recently tripled down with the messy, mesmerising sleuths played by Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley, Gillian Anderson in The Fall and Anna Friel in Marcella.
And finally, this week, the producers of the BBC series Doctor Who announced that the role of the Doctor, which has changed hands repeatedly over decades, would next be played by a woman, actress Jodie Whittaker. That’s a first.
But to watch Lancashire in Happy Valley, Lange in Feud or Viola Davis in How to Get Away With Murder isn’t to applaud social justice. It’s to savour phenomenal artistry. Television proves what has been observed about all walks of life: For the best talent, cast the net wide and don’t ignore any of the available pools.
Theron long ago worked on a movie with Tom Hanks, who signed her script with words that, she told Variety, “I bet he’s eating.” They were these: “Promise me you’ll never do television.”
I want her to promise she’ll do lots of TV. She’ll get meatier parts that way, and might not even need dental work afterward.
Why have Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, all winners of the best actress Oscar, fled to television?