Powerful Women on Television Shows

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 Powerful Women on Television Shows

            

Women on television have a long history of being chronically dependent on the existence of men to save them, ever since the beginning of any form of entertainment. In modern times, we know that a strong lead that happens to also be a woman is relatively difficult to come by. In fact, there are so many backhanded attempts at “female leads” that it has almost tarnished the characteristics of a good leading character. Luckily, I have set a simple list of women who encompass the role of a good lead and talk about the ways the male gaze might have affected that role. 

 

Now to say that some characters are created under the male gaze does not mean that these women have to be completely void of emotions towards men, simply that their entire existence is not dependent on whether they get the guy or not. First, we have a relatively unpopular and purely chaotic character:

 

 Sophia Amoruso – Girl Boss 




 















    Girl Boss followed the young adult life of the previous Nasty Gal CEO Sofia Amoruso. Sofia lived in San Francisco and was relatively unhappy within her life, she loved thrifting, fashion, and being a force to reckon with to anyone who knew her. The Netflix show, Girl Boss, is currently discontinued due to poor rating but the main character Sofia displayed extreme risk-taking abilities, entrepreneurial development, and overall a need to make her own living and strive for bigger and better. She can be considered a powerful lead, not due to her chaotic choices and personality, but due to her perseverance in succeeding and learning how to dictate her own life no matter how off track it might be going. 


Lexa – the 100 

 
















        Lexa, the commander of the “Grounders,” was an extremely powerful force in the show the 100. Lexa was primarily deemed a cold, heartless leader towards anyone besides her own people. As time progressed, development went to show that she encompassed a multitude of powerful qualities which included her decisiveness and her empathetic nature. Lexa is a representational character for women of the LGBTQ+ community and goes to show viewers that there is more to women than standing at a man’s side. Additionally, she displays the struggles encountered by women to be taken seriously in powerful positions leading to her cold façade.  

 

Samantha White – Dear White People



















        Dear White People followed the lives of college student at an HBCU where black students unionize and discuss the various issues of their peers’ behaviors and society as a whole. Samantha White is a charismatic student with powerful beliefs towards the well-being of black people in America and across the globe. She has a talk show called Dear White People made in retaliation to a black-face incident that occurred on campus. In her show, she discusses microaggressions, contemporary university actions, etc. Samantha is a powerful force within the show seeing as she encounters her own struggles while also trying to solve other peoples. The show and characters are representative of the struggles black people, and women, face and highlights white privilege to all viewers. 

 

Christina Yang – Greys Anatomy

 



 















        It comes as no surprise that Christina Yang is one of the fiercest characters within Grey’s Anatomy. She goes from an intern to the Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery within the span of about 10 seasons. Christina is by far the smartest, most independent woman within the first couple seasons and continues to show that she prioritized her career over the needs of the male partners she has had. Overall, Christina displays a fierce sense of who she is and refuses to be forced into a box of expectations for her gender and within her field of study. She goes against the implications of gender roles and stereotypes.

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