I don't think gender is irrelevant when it comes to parenting, actually. I think you are overinterpreting the original post and the point made by many of us. This is not about women being subservient to men, or only being able to access a few career opportunities, or about being institutionally forbidden from various jobs. It's about film and tv pushing a certain view of society that is clearly political and ideological in a way that has become so single-minded that it no longer tells the truth.
Did you see the docudrama Mars? That mission was also led by a woman. Virtually all the leaders were women. In "Away" the commander of the mission is a woman and the leader of the NASA ground group is also a woman. Men are relegated to minor or support roles. Look, I'm a woman and I love to see women get meaty roles. But these roles aren't meaty, they are trite and samey. They are just trite in a different way than the old-fashioned 1980s "heroic man looking off into the distance as he ponders his God-given leadership role"* trite.
The Americans was a show that, despite its extreme premise, explored, in an interesting and authentic way (authentic in terms of the characters' outlooks), the issue of women who are totally focused on their mission, and what that costs them and the people in their lives. The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is doing it. From way back, Relic Hunter did it (in a funnier and more light-hearted way, and no one really got it except me, apparently, because they expected standard feminism and didn't notice that the show was cheekily questioning feminism). In all these cases, the show has a female leader, and the male characters are supporting characters, but those shows are telling the truth. Away is not doing it, at least not that I can see. Mars didn't do it. Another Life didn't do it. IMHO, these shows are avoiding telling the truth.
*I know I need a better name for this trope.
reply
share