For Holly...
For Holly- because she loves this show (from SMRT-TV):
In the mid 1980's, Remington Steele premiered, offering a slightly post-modern take on the lack of sexual equality in the work place. Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) is a brilliant detective who owns and operates a failing detective agency. No one wants to hire a girl detective. So she creates a myth, a man who embodies all of her own fantasies, and builds him a life, an apartment, and hands over the agency to his non-existent hands. Business takes off. No one ever gets to meet the elusive Mr. Steele, yet cases are solved with genius and discretion. Laura has her cake, and gets to eat it too. Mostly. Until one day a con artist discovers her ruse and steps into the identity that she's created. The next four years are filled with wild cases, palpable sexual tension between Laura and Steele (Pierce Brosnan), and a running commentary on identity and how we shape it, create it, fall into it. Laura is caught in the post second-wave era of feminism, both on television and in the world around her. As a result, the viewer is allowed to explore the way that women's abilities are both mistrusted and appreciated as the world tries to grapple with new roles.
Because Laura has created the identity of this man that she must defer to, people assume she's a secretary, a peon. She can't tell them the truth, and yet she's also obligated to give the imposter the knowledge and skills he needs to play his part so her deception won't be discovered. The fact that she's actually the brains of the operation, the women behind the throne is a representation of both the ways in which our culture was more comfortable seeing women and the dichotomy of maintaining authority and shaping her own identity. Laura has set herself up for the challenges she faces, both in trying to make the flesh and blood Steele into the person she envisioned and figuring out ways to deal with him getting credit for the work she was doing. These issues mirrored the realities of the time while still offering us some telling mysteries and sexy banter.
In the mid 1980's, Remington Steele premiered, offering a slightly post-modern take on the lack of sexual equality in the work place. Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) is a brilliant detective who owns and operates a failing detective agency. No one wants to hire a girl detective. So she creates a myth, a man who embodies all of her own fantasies, and builds him a life, an apartment, and hands over the agency to his non-existent hands. Business takes off. No one ever gets to meet the elusive Mr. Steele, yet cases are solved with genius and discretion. Laura has her cake, and gets to eat it too. Mostly. Until one day a con artist discovers her ruse and steps into the identity that she's created. The next four years are filled with wild cases, palpable sexual tension between Laura and Steele (Pierce Brosnan), and a running commentary on identity and how we shape it, create it, fall into it. Laura is caught in the post second-wave era of feminism, both on television and in the world around her. As a result, the viewer is allowed to explore the way that women's abilities are both mistrusted and appreciated as the world tries to grapple with new roles.
Because Laura has created the identity of this man that she must defer to, people assume she's a secretary, a peon. She can't tell them the truth, and yet she's also obligated to give the imposter the knowledge and skills he needs to play his part so her deception won't be discovered. The fact that she's actually the brains of the operation, the women behind the throne is a representation of both the ways in which our culture was more comfortable seeing women and the dichotomy of maintaining authority and shaping her own identity. Laura has set herself up for the challenges she faces, both in trying to make the flesh and blood Steele into the person she envisioned and figuring out ways to deal with him getting credit for the work she was doing. These issues mirrored the realities of the time while still offering us some telling mysteries and sexy banter.
posted by Catterpillarboy at 4:52 PM
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