But Why Are They So Dumb?—When Dudes Write Women

 Last week, the Missus and I started on the first season of the 2010 FX series Justified. We missed the first run but were introduced to the character via the most recent miniseries, Justified: City Primeval. Based on novels by Elmore Leonard, the series is more neo-western than crime drama. But just barely.

A "meet-cute" if there ever was one...

Raylan Givens is a deputy U.S. Marshal from rural Kentucky. The poverty, entrenched anti-authority creed, and abuse Raylan fled is hinted at. His character is rich and nuanced, which is probably why there are six books and a television show featuring him.

 

The best part of the show though is the way Leonard treats the (often) most mistreated characters. That is, of course, women.

 

See, most television series, movies, and way-too many books (written by dudes) treat the characters who happen to be women as:

• The mother/motivator type who waits in the background until the male protagonist needs nurturing, motivation, or clumsy exposition

• The sexual-furniture type—same basic application as the mother type (but with sex!)— usually the damsel in distress/love interest, they prop-up the protagonist like a chair 

• The sidekick (almost as rare as the fully rounded character)

• The shrew, (villain, ex-wife, boss, really any authority-figure the protag isn’t pursuing)

 

If you doubt me, watch (or read) depictions of women by male writers.

 

I’ve compared/contrasted Elmore Leonard’s writing and that of Tom Clancy before. The comparison holds up in both the books and television series based upon the books. Women in Tom Clancy’s world usually fall in one of the categories above. 

 

We’ll look at the series, Jack Ryan, first.

Captain Sandrine Arnaud is presented as a no-nonsense career intelligence officer. In reality, she is strictly a cheerleader and plot-motivator. Oh, and sexualized because…she is French? 

Hanin, the wife of a terrorist, is the most interesting woman in the series. She walks a tightrope with her children’s lives balanced on her decisions. But, yeah, mother/motivator.

 

I can’t tell you a thing about Cathy, Jack Ryan’s love-interest. That’s how flat the writing and the character is. She is more fleshed out in the books but remains more of an emotional-support spouse than a real person.

 

“Cold nights and days with nothing to do…”

Women in Clancy’s books don’t fare much better. Amongst the true-believers and die-hard zealots in Patriot Games, the character of Annette is shoehorned in like a bad plot device. Which is exactly what she is. There are a few capable, driven women Clancy’s world but they are pointedly described as older and/or overweight, and blatantly non-sexual furniture. 

"Could've been written by Ian Fleming" is not a compliment.

Clancy’s attitude toward women is a carryover from his spiritual (ancient) ancestor Ian Fleming. Neither writer ever crafted a female character with agency. Nor would either understand/care about the Bechdel Test.

 

With Bond, there is the author’s hatred of women showing like a Freudian slip. Fleming was a notorious womanizer, (he was bounced out of Eton for his entitlement and carousing). Fleming’s stint at military-academy ended, in less than a year, when he contracted gonorrhea.

 

And, like a dose of the clap, male writers’ bad depictions of women, from Ernest Hemingway to Nicholas Sparks, persist. Most don’t act from Fleming’s misogyny. More often, it’s offhanded disregard, just like in Clancy’s world.

 

So, which Dudes do it right?

Harris tells more about Clarice' weapon than what she looks like.

Thomas Harris has said that he wrote Clarice Starling to see if he could write from a woman’s perspective. In the endeavor, he wrote a nuanced, capable woman striving to acheive a high goal, (less than 20% of FBI agents were women when Silence of the Lambs was written). Harris leveled-up his skills in the endeavor. Where Will Graham presented as little more than walking wounded, Starling bumps and hustles and fights and she WANTS to succeed. 

Without once describing her breasts…

So back at the ranch, Gaye asked if all of Elmore Leonard’s women-characters are as well-written as Carolyn Wylder (Justified City Primeval) and Jackie Brown, (movie of the same name)? I was elated to say yes. While I haven’t read any of the Raylan Givens books, I have read Rum Punch, (upon which Jackie Brown is based). Elmore writes smart men and dumb men, capable men and dudes who could screw up a cup of coffee. His women are just as varied and with the same agency as the boys. 

Elmore’s perspective informs the Justified series.

As/if not more interesting than the protag.

Carolyn Wylder, (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) is a highly skilled, highly ethical attorney with designs on a judge’s bench. Sandy Stanton, (Adelaide Clemens) is a career hustler and grifter who just wants to roll the monied-up moron who is chasing her. Maureen Downey, (Marin Ireland) is a gung-ho cop with a secret. All three have ambitions, agendas, and agency completely independent of the protagonist. Each are the heroes of their own stories.

Wome are baddies, too

In his most commercial film, Gloria, writer/director John Cassavettes cast his real-life wife, Gina Rowlands as the titular character, a former mob mistress trying to protect a boy after his family has been executed by the mob. Rolands plays the part with an out-of-date hairstyle and lines on her face. And an attitude that never lets you forget who is the focus of this film. 

No one's mother.

See, Gloria is on the downhill of a lifetime of bad choices. She has no desire to be a protector. She doesn’t even like the kid. All Gloria wants is to drink away her remaining years in peace and relative comfort. 

Then she has an epiphany of relevance, if not relation. The mob is ready to kill a child. The can't testify to anything. He can't identify anyone. There's no money, no consequences, no grievances—it's just an exercise in fear and power. 

People Gloria knows are prepared to throw him away, just like her former lover, the mob boss threw her away. She and Phil, (the kid) are both disposable. It may read simple but the revelation hits her like a bullet. 

 

Gloria takes responsibility for Phil, and herself and fights for them both to survive. How important is this movie? It’s been remade (in one form or another) three times. 

Knowing he could not compete with Gina Rowland’s tour-de-force acting or Cassavettes understated writing and direction, Luc Besson ratched up the body count and cartoon violence in Leon: The Professional. Like most immitations, they are thin and cheap.

BTW, LTP is NOT the story of a woman’s agency and self-determination. Further note, I LOATHE that damned movie. Different rant, different time.

 

But for the best examples of well written and well rounded women— read work written by women. 

In her debut novel, My Sister the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwait takes the slasher trope (classic violence against women) and turns it on its ear. Through the nail-biting action, Braithwait also explores sibling dynamics and violence as a control system. She does it all with hilarity and is-it-isn’t-it-satire suspense. 

I love this book.

Lauren Wilkenson’s American Spy opens with an ambush and shootout. That’s where we meet former FBI agent, Marie Mitchell. Mitchell knows who sent the gun-hands and why. She wants vengeance for her sister, killed on a mission with a rogue CIA agent. Throw in several decades of CIA meddling and  manipulation in African-nations and you have a large keg of explosives with a very short fuse. See my review, here.

Shameless plug for a friend’s EXCELLENT BOOKS

This is a gateway drug in text form.

Remi Taleb is a veteran war correspondent. Her explosive exposé on crimes committed by special forces operators resulted in criminal charges and a prestigious award. And then Remi is ambushed and three of her colleagues are taken. Fiona Quinn’s Danger Zone, (Delta Force Echo) is an action romance that never lets up on the action. See my review, here.

These three books represent a cross section of STRONG depictions of real women in extraordinary circumstances. All three feature women of agency and determination pursuing their agendas. All three are also FUN stories that I still reflect on. 

I own none of the photos above. All are used for instructional/educational purposes as covered by The Fair Use Doctrine.