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We love women who support other women.
By Kaitlin Kaiser — Written on Jan 25, 2020
People have been flocking to the Amazon Prime hit series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The TV show has everything you could possibly want in a television show — it is funny, clever, colorful, full of well-developed zany characters and filled will tons of old Hollywood charm.
But perhaps its most important attribute is its demonstration of strong, successful female characters and their abilities to maintain healthy relationships with one another.
The show (created by veteran television writer Amy Sherman-Paladino) is about a woman in the 1950’s recently separated from her husband, who falls in love with stand up comedy. We (as the audience) learn early on that Midge (Mrs. Maisel) is a smart, strong and witty woman, who endlessly works to be the best at whatever she does. But it is not until she teams up with bartender and aspiring comedy manager, Suzie Myerson, that things really get set into motion.
We watch as these women work together to be seen in the male dominated world of comedy, in a time where women weren’t allowed to be crass or edgy.
The two female leads in the show work together to make Midge a star. We see how they work together, have fun together, laugh, cry and drink together. We watch them argue with each other, and we watch them reconcile. We watch them find themselves in each other.
Sherman-Paladino has a way of successfully depicting female friendships that makes our hearts ache and warm the way that is rarely attempted by most.
This isn’t the first time Sherman-Paladino has successfully created a show centered around two smart and funny female characters. The cult-classic show Gilmore Girls was penned by the same woman. It was a show that’s central love story was centered around the love between a mother and daughter. While they both had their share of romances, we all tuned in to watch how mother and daughter laughed and learned, fought and forgave, lived and loved.
There is a test many people hold TV shows, movies, and books to called The Bechdel Test. Named for American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, it was created as a way to test the fiction entertainment content we consume. If the content features two women who are named in the story discussing something other than men or relationships, it passes the Bechdel test.
While it is insane that we even need to hold our writers to standard, assuming it would happen naturally, there are very few stories that do feature women not directly in pursuit of love.
Thankfully, this is where Sherman-Paladino thrives.
It is important to tell these stories. It is important to show women who are important to one another. It is important to encourage women to experience the joys of friendship with other women. We don't want to encourage the idea that the most important thing to a woman is finding true love. We need to introduce the idea that true love can be found in a friend, and as corny as it sounds, true love can be found in yourself.
These stories teach us to love ourselves, trust ourselves, and believe in ourselves. And hopefully you find a great girlfriend along the way.
Kaitlin Kaiser is a writer who covers pop culture, astrology, and relationship topics.