When someone tweeted at the show’s creator Nic Pizzolatto, “Hey if True Detective looked at feminine characters with the same lens as masculine, it would be PERFECT & MIND-BLOWING,” he responded: One of the detriments of only having two POV characters, both men (a structural necessity). But Top of the Lake replaces the traditional male detective(s) with Elizabeth Moss - who won a Golden Globe for her performance - and eschews the gorgeous, barely clothed girls in Peaks and Detective for a cult middle-aged woman seeking guidance (and sex) on the outskirts of the small town.Īnd if Top of the Lake doesn’t satisfy your lust for a feminism, there’s a good chance next season of True Detective will. Top of the Lake has that same Twin Peaks-y feel as True Detective and the same general structure - detective hunts rapists after a girl goes missing. It’s called Top of the Lake (available on Netflix for those who are curious). In fact, they already made that show last year. But True Detective doesn’t need to be that show. I’m the first one to endorse feminist portrayals of women onscreen. Of course it would be great if more shows had strong, female protagonists.
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There are more complex portrayals of powerful women on TV than ever before: Claire in House of Cards, Cersei and Daenerys in Game of Thrones, Elizabeth in The Americans, Olivia and Mellie in Scandal and Peggy in Mad Men. I understand how after years of watching male detectives hunt down lady-killers, True Detective could feel like the last straw for Nussbaum. And, as Willa Paskin at Slate wrote, that’s the point. It’s not desirable to be Don Draper - not in the long-run at least - nor is it desirable to be Marty or Rust.
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The once virile philanderer Don Draper is finally, after five seasons, sad and alone, trying to relive his youth to disastrous consequences. A similar downfall took place over the course of several seasons of Mad Men. In fact, the critical eye fell on Marty and Rust much more quickly than it has on other anti-heroes on TV. Rust, who simply ignores live women in favor of dead ones, has found himself drowning in a can of Lone Star. And they get their comeuppance: in the latest episode, we see Marty - who physically abuses his wife, daughter and lover - unsuccessfully browsing dates on and eating a TV dinner alone in his apartment. They fancy themselves powerful saviors of women, when in fact they are sexist monsters. When we see “heroic male outlines and closeups of female asses” in the credits, as Nussbaum points out, we are seeing Marty and Russ’ worldview.
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In fact, the show has spent the last few episodes critiquing their world view, not glorifying it. Just because Rust and Marty are sexist doesn’t mean the show is too. But it’s time that we all stop assuming TV writers endorse the bad actions of their flawed characters on television.