Feminist Television - Joss Whedon and Buffy
I wrote my final paper/project on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The creator, Joss Whedon, is openly feminist and his TV programs (Angel and Firefly in addition to Buffy) are full of feminist themes: he empowers his female characters with agency, allows them room to grow and mature, and resists creating women who fit solidly into one gendered catagory. I almost wish we would have had time to explore positive images of women on TV...the reality TV assignment included a few, but mostly we focused on gender/class/sexuality/racial stereotypes. I would have liked to see what other feminist (even those who do not claim the term for themselves the way Whedon does) media makers are doing within the context of contemporary television.
That being said, Whedon's work is wonderfully surreptitious. He is quoted somewhere as saying "I didn't make 'Buffy the Lesbian Separatist'" because it would have alienated viewers. Instead, he creates a strong female character who isn't afraid to be both "girlie" (she likes her fashion, likes boys, et cetera) and to also embody traditionally "masculine" characteristics: strength, rationality, leadership (remember our lists of gender boxes?). Without ever saying the word "feminist" in the show, the show is DECIDEDLY feminist, and works its way around having to peg itself as such. In this way, Whedon can create a (relatively) plausible world where women and men are equals, and can explore these relationships and the empowered people in them in a way that is funny and entertaining but also meaningful.
If you have many, many hours over break to get really into something entertaining and special, go rent Buffy. All of it. :-)