I'm going to disagree with you on the X-Files, in that I find Scully to be far more feminist than Buffy or... unfortunately, many of the female characters today. (I actually think in many shows, depiction of female characters has regressed).
Scully was competent. She rarely, if ever 'got saved'. 99% of the time Scully saved herself and Mulder would show up later/afterward, occasionally giving a shoulder to cry on (because she was human. She did the same thing for him), but Mulder was never 'her savior' (except in the first movie. On the show, it didn't happen like that).
What I love about Scully in a way that I feel like I never got with Buffy (but we do in many ways with Olivia Dunham), was that they celebrated her competence. She was good at stuff because she worked at it. She was accomplished.
Scully was unapologetically smart. They didn't try to cutesy her up. She dressed professionally, as was appropriate to her job, not in some unrealistically sexy way.
And while Mulder was there she was pretty much pegged as being the anti-alien position (which was ostensibly wrong a lot of the time... but not really, as often it really wasn't aliens) she was also the one who was the 'believer' when it came to some of the more supernatural things, in which case Mulder was the cynic, and she was usually right in those cases.
She also carried episodes all on her own quite often. If Mulder was MIA or it wasn't a Mulder-episode but a Scully-episode, there wasn't a vacuum. She functioned independently (hence the excessive use of cellphones.) If Mulder was taken out of commission, she wasn't lacking but could kick ass as far, as both investigator and general kick-assedness.
And they did it without the "petite girl has improbable superpowers" schtick. Scully was a small woman. She had believable FBI training in self-defense, but she didn't have superhuman strength... which is why she carried a gun which she was quite competent with.
And I think what made me admire/love Scully the most was her ability to confront people in her job, even her superiors. She always did so with authority of her own. She wasn't 'a bitch' and neither was she a pushover. She was, I thought, an aspirational model of women in the workplace.
Yeah, she was thwarted sometimes (because who isn't?) but she could state her position with strength, back-up what she was saying with facts and logic, and she could express herself with gravitas and authority.
So many times now it's reduced to a 'buddy cop' format with the 'sexy girl'... but it's still the guy who rescues the girl most of the time. Scully didn't work like that, and neither did Mulder/Scully. She was actually more likely to rescue him than he was to rescue her. And...he really came to love her for her mind.
She was also blessedly free of Daddy issues (she loved her father and missed him after he died, but ... that's normal.) And while reticent, she wasn't hopelessly damaged emotionally (as is sometimes the case). She existed in the realm of believable -- if aspirational -- woman.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2012-02-07 06:18 pm (UTC)Scully was competent. She rarely, if ever 'got saved'. 99% of the time Scully saved herself and Mulder would show up later/afterward, occasionally giving a shoulder to cry on (because she was human. She did the same thing for him), but Mulder was never 'her savior' (except in the first movie. On the show, it didn't happen like that).
What I love about Scully in a way that I feel like I never got with Buffy (but we do in many ways with Olivia Dunham), was that they celebrated her competence. She was good at stuff because she worked at it. She was accomplished.
Scully was unapologetically smart. They didn't try to cutesy her up. She dressed professionally, as was appropriate to her job, not in some unrealistically sexy way.
And while Mulder was there she was pretty much pegged as being the anti-alien position (which was ostensibly wrong a lot of the time... but not really, as often it really wasn't aliens) she was also the one who was the 'believer' when it came to some of the more supernatural things, in which case Mulder was the cynic, and she was usually right in those cases.
She also carried episodes all on her own quite often. If Mulder was MIA or it wasn't a Mulder-episode but a Scully-episode, there wasn't a vacuum. She functioned independently (hence the excessive use of cellphones.) If Mulder was taken out of commission, she wasn't lacking but could kick ass as far, as both investigator and general kick-assedness.
And they did it without the "petite girl has improbable superpowers" schtick. Scully was a small woman. She had believable FBI training in self-defense, but she didn't have superhuman strength... which is why she carried a gun which she was quite competent with.
And I think what made me admire/love Scully the most was her ability to confront people in her job, even her superiors. She always did so with authority of her own. She wasn't 'a bitch' and neither was she a pushover. She was, I thought, an aspirational model of women in the workplace.
Yeah, she was thwarted sometimes (because who isn't?) but she could state her position with strength, back-up what she was saying with facts and logic, and she could express herself with gravitas and authority.
So many times now it's reduced to a 'buddy cop' format with the 'sexy girl'... but it's still the guy who rescues the girl most of the time. Scully didn't work like that, and neither did Mulder/Scully. She was actually more likely to rescue him than he was to rescue her. And...he really came to love her for her mind.
She was also blessedly free of Daddy issues (she loved her father and missed him after he died, but ... that's normal.) And while reticent, she wasn't hopelessly damaged emotionally (as is sometimes the case). She existed in the realm of believable -- if aspirational -- woman.
One of my fave Scully vids: