There are some shows that amuse you, and there are shows that make you think. I love that I’m able to say that “Good Girls Revolt” does both.
Produced by Amazon after winning a viewers’ choice poll, “Good Girls Revolt” explores the hardships female journalists went through in the ‘60s.
The show tells a fictionalized version of an anti-discrimination lawsuit in which nearly 50 female employees of “Newsweek” filed against their bosses. The lawsuit was documented in a book written by Lynn Povich called “The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace.”
In the beginning of the pilot, we get a glimpse into how the “News of the Week” magazine — a play on “Newsweek” — works. Patti explains it to Nora, who has been recently hired.
“They are reporters, we are researchers,” she said. “We report, investigate and write files for the reporters. They do a pass on them, put their names on them and then the stories go to press.”
So, basically the women investigate and do all of the hard work, and the men get the byline. A matter of credibility, naturally.
The pilot centers around the breaking news that a concert-goer was stabbed in California.
Patti had her first source refuse to go on record because she was a back-up singer and wasn’t “allowed to have her own voice.” So she flew to San Francisco to find another one, that was not only also a women, but also a penis sculpture artist. Obviously the strict editor didn’t consider her as a credible source either.
Patti, portrayed by Genevieve Angelson, is the hippie girl. She smokes weed, lives by herself and is in love with her job. Even if her boyfriend can’t deal with it, she does what she has to do because it’s her passion.
Jane, played Anna Camp, is the a know-your-place woman. She is ambitious, but does whatever it takes to stand by her partner Sam. I hope that Camp’s character can learn to set herself free from the patriarchy and realize that she has much more to her life than to give her work away to a man.
Cindy, portrayed by Erin Darke, is a delightful character. After realizing that her husband had punctured a hole in her female condom, she goes nuts thinking that she’s pregnant. Throughout the season, she takes important steps toward self-sexual discovery, like the hilarious scene when she talks to Patti about seeing her vagina in the mirror for the first time.
These three still have an awfully long way to go in terms of personal development, but it’s clear to see that they are going in the right direction.
I would finally like to say that we should thank people like Povich, who would turn out to be the first woman to be Senior Editor of “Newsweek.” They challenged expectations society had settled for them, and made possible for newsrooms all around to country to be filled with hard-working women.
I am proud to say that I am part of this story by working for a newspaper that has a majority of female editors and a female editor-in-chief.
Thank you, Amazon, for helping to bring this story to the public, and thank you Lynn Povich for making my dreams come true.
regomes@umail.iu.edu
