Brave Dames and Wimpettes
Brave Dames and Wimpettes (Library of Contemporary Thought (Los Angeles, Calif.).) Susan Isaacs, Tracy Brooks Swope (Narrator)
Publisher: Audio Literature
ISBN: 0787118303
DDC: 791.43652042
Edition: Audio Cassette; 1999-01
Summary:
Why are Jane Eyre, Marge Simpson, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer "brave
dames"? What makes Ally McBeal, Madame Bovary, and the good wife Beth
from Fatal Attraction "wimpettes"?In this thoroughly witty, incisive
look at the role of women on screen and page, Susan Isaacs argues
that assertive, ethical women characters are losing ground to
wounded, shallow sisters who are driven by what she calls the
articles of wimpette philosophy. (Article Eight: A wimpette looks to
a man to give her an identity.) Although female roles today include
lawyers like Ally McBeal and CEOs like Ronnie of Veronica's Closet,
they are wimpettes nonetheless. A brave dame, on the other hand, is a
dignified, three-dimensional hero who may care about men, home, and
hearth, but also cares--and acts--passionately about something in the
world beyond. Brave dames' stories range from mundane (Mary Richards
in The Mary Tyler Moore Show) to romantic (Francesca in The Horse
Whisperer) to fantastic (Xena: Warrior Princess), but whatever they
do, they care about justice and carry themselves with self-respect
and decency. For a Really Brave Dame, think Frances McDormand as the
tenacious, pregnant police chief in Fargo. Isaacs's unmistakable love
of fiction and film shines through even her most scathing wimpette
assessments. In the end, she urges us to become "more thoughtful
critics." The artist, she says, has the right to create whatever he
or she pleases--and we have the right "to applaud or to yell, 'Hey,
this stinks!' " If we do so, not only will fiction be improved, but
so too might real life.
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