My worst habit is undoubtedly that I watch far too much television. When I was younger, I used to be a bookworm, but studying literature at university sucked much of the enjoyment out of reading for me. Books have now been replaced with television shows, and more often than not, I'll spend my weekends catching up on the latest additions to Netflix, whether this is The Blacklist, Peaky Blinders or The Good Wife.
I'm always drawn to shows which have strong female characters as their leads. For far too long, there was a dearth of complicated, unapologetic female leads on television, apart from Sex and the City which was one of the first to depict women and their sex lives so transparently. Then a plethora of shows emerged.
There's Homeland's Carrie Mathison, whose bravery and instinctive nature prove incomparable; she is also one of the only characters I can think of who openly suffers from a mental health disorder, which often threatens to overwhelm her. Detective Inspector Sarah Lund of The Killing (the original Danish version) is dogged in her efforts to solve Copenhagen's grisly murders, often at the expense of her personal life. Another Dane who stands apart is Borgen's first female Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg; she remains principled in the face of underhand political maneuvering while also struggling to balance her family life with her high-flying career. It's positive to see the challenges that so many women navigate in their lives so well represented on screen.
If you'd like to join me in binge watching Neflix at the weekend (I hope I'm not the only one), I've chosen three fellow leading ladies who are equally as inspiring and who you can watch now. Enjoy!
When her husband, a former state's attorney, is sent to prison following a sex and corruption scandal, Alicia Florrick returns to work as a lawyer to provide for her family. Over the course of the series, we see her grow and come into her own as she adjusts to life as a single working mother in the face of such humiliation. She is not always likeable and her motivations are sometimes unclear, yet no matter what, you always want her to succeed. It was announced during the Superbowl that the upcoming nine episodes of The Good Wife will be its last. TV is going to be a poorer place without Alicia's precociousness.
No longer content with aggregating a gamut of films, documentaries and TV shows from producers and networks across the world, Netflix is creating its own content and it's packed full of quality. A case in point is Jessica Jones. In stark contrast to her fellow superheroes wielding their powers for the common good, private eye Jones doesn't want to use her super-human strength and powers of flight to save the world, far from it. Belligerent and spiky while guzzling what seems like a bottle of bourbon a day, Jones is the antithesis to the schmaltzy earnestness of Daredevil or Captain America. What Jones wants is a quiet life as she attempts to come to terms with the guilt she feels for the atrocities that villain Kilgrave made her commit while under his powers of mind control. As Jones suffers from PTSD and flashbacks, this is a show that explores the aftermath of rape and addiction. Marvel's universe, which has long been in need of some points of differentiation, has become all the better for it.
"A young woman recently rescued from a doomsday cult moves to New York to finally begin her life." It doesn't sound like the premise for one of the most successful sitcoms of 2015, but that is the genius of Tina Fey. In anyone else's hands, a sitcom about an abduction survivor could have been a disaster and downright offensive; yet, it's whip-smart and subversive. Dressed in an array of kaleidoscopic outfits (including sneakers that light up), Kimmy's zeal for life is infectious as she sets out to acclimatise to her new surroundings. Despite having undergone a terrible ordeal, she is relentlessly perky and can see joy in the most mundane of things. Similar to Elf when Will Ferrell experiences New York for the first time, much of the comedy comes from Kimmy's naivety, such as when her flatmate Titus pretends to write Katy Perry's Firework for her birthday. She hilariously questions why he would refer to her as a plastic bag in the wind. Each charming episode has a childlike, innocent quality to it, whether Kimmy is returning to school or learning to ride a bike. This is a show you can't help but be inspired by.
