LADIES NIGHT ON TELEVISION

Turns out, positive female characters encourage real life females to be positive.  Who knew? Here are some of my favorites.
By Rachel James (Treasurer/Writer) 

This week I read on article on Jezebel about “The Buffy Effect”.

“The Buffy Effect” is the idea that watching strong female characters on television actually makes the world think more positively about women in real life.  Although, after this week, I might call it “The Warren Effect”, “The Fluke Effect”, or “The FLOTUS effect”.

It got me thinking about television I watched growing up and the female characters I saw.  While I was a huge fan of Buffy, there were lots of women on lots of shows I looked up to.  Here are my top five.

 Jem

 

Her biggest fights were with rival band, The Misfits, but she could project a hologram of her alter ego onto herself BY USING HER EARRING.  Seriously, you guys.  Synergy was a hologram program her dad left her when he died and she used it to create a rockstar alter ego.  That was summoned by touching HER EARRING.  The eighties were truly outrageous.

Dr. Beverly Crusher

 

She was a doctor.  In space.  And a single mom.  In space.  Basically, it was the space thing that really stuck with me.  Plus, it was the Starship Enterprise!

Wonder Woman

 

She flew an invisible plane, blocked bullets with her bracelets, and her main weapon was a Lasso of Truth.  She beats people by forcing them to be honest.  Incredible!

Daria & Jane

 

I love both of these characters separately, but I included them as one because they work so well together.  They cleverly depicted the apathy of the nineties while still just being teenagers.  They were non-conformists not just to be different.  They were non-conformists because all the other people were assholes.  So glad this has a box set now.

Miss Piggy

When I think of strong females, I think of Miss Piggy.  She was loud, opinionated, knew what she wanted, and she went after it.  So could she please help bring back The Muppet Show?  Please???

 

RACHEL JAMES is a native New Yorker and theatre baby. Her plays have been produced by The 52nd Street Project and Starfish Theatreworks. She currently makes a living as a Broadway treasurer.
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