From “The Last of Us” to “Handmaid's Tale”, angry women are centered

Two young women leave the safety of their community in a field infected with monster-place to take revenge.

Against all kinds of objections, a survivor of rape and torture returns to a fascist country in the hope of finding his daughter and overthrowing a theocratic government.

A cancer patient comes out of a stifling marriage and takes control of what remains of her life through an foray of crotch coup in the bdsm.

A matriarch with silver hair coldly picks up those who would steal his earth in a window upstairs with a rifle almost as large as it is.

Women in the street may no longer work in pink cat hats, but the new ambitious television model seems to be women without more f-s.

In emissions as disparate as “The history of the servant” And “Die for sex” “”The last of us, “ “1923”, “The Penguin” “Yellowjackets”, “Bad sisters” and even “hacks”, the female characters are not only opposed to all tyrannies or struggles threaten them. They take measures against them, often openly avenging.

Of course, we have already seen angry, ruthless and violent women on television – who was not a fan of “Kill Eve”, “ “Scandal” or “The Walking Dead”? The writers love playing with the magnificent but fatal female assassin trope (often formed as such), which uses its charms as ultimate coverage. But never before there have been so many scenarios devoted to “regular” women (as in spies, cops or political leaders) who take matters into their own hands to survive, escape or make justice bloody.

In the last season of “The Handmaid's Tale”, it was June (Elisabeth Moss) and the Mayday resistance group which tries to overthrow the patriarchal theocracy of Gilead. In “Dying for Sex”, it is Molly (Michelle Williams) who comes out of a stifling marriage and embracing her dominatrix interior following a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Season 2 of “The Last of Us” follows a spiral of female revenge – Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is there to kill Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), who murdered Joel (Pedro Pascal) for having killed his father – while season 4 of “Hacks” sees Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) finally becoming the first woman at the end of the end of the end End of the end of the end of the end of time.

For some of the female characters, the notion of surviving all costs has returned them – Sofia (Cristin Milioti) in “The Penguin”, and practically all the characters of “Yellowhacket” – While others simply do what should be done. Cara Dutton of Helen Mirren from “1923” has a much higher number of bodies (wolves and murderous men) than her husband Jacob (Harrison Ford); In the last season of the series, she literally held the fort before the cavalry, in the form of a nephew Spencer (Brandon Sklenar), can arrive.

Be that as it may, many of these characters are engaged in behavior that defies the traditional female decline on television – intrigue and blackmail at one end; According to personal care and fraternity – without the benefit of Daenerys Targaryen Dragons (Emilia Clarke). Or, more important, without the sticky end “this woman has gone mad”.

As revolutionary as Khaleesi “Game of Thrones” seemed at the time, she did not authorize the kind of complexities at war that the public could have found acceptable in a male character. In the television drama, men can kill many people, including those considered as collateral damage, while being considered sufficiently acceptable to remain a main character. After all, Ned Stark (Sean Bean) remained a hero after having beheaded a man for Flee white walkers. But when Daenerys killed civilians during a liberation battle, the male characters whose life she had saved have decided that she should clearly go.

Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) in “Game of Thrones” is a revolutionary character because she is not forced to die or give up her deadly actions.

(HBO)

Instead, it is Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), successfully checking her list of delinquents, who seems to have triggered the current model of women who no longer wanted to take it. Small, young and armed with only his spirits, a sword and, ultimately, the ability to change faces, Arya had no thought in power or glory, just the dark determination to put the extent of justice by ridding the world of a ruthless murderer at the same time.

The fact that she was authorized to do so and to go to the end of history without being forced to die or to give up her actions in any way, made her the most revolutionary character of the series and, perhaps, of the history of recent television.

Women, like men, can now decide to become active arbitrators of justice, torments without social censorship or even the help of men.

It is not an argument for more redesigned violence and general blood insurance on television, where women are still too often faceless victims in crime / horror dramas. Giving wrongs does not require violence – in “hacks” and “dying for sex” is a problem of changing game by refusing to play by the old rules, which include women who finally say and do things that, they think, should be deleted.

But it should certainly be noted that at a time when many women are increasingly angry with the reduction of their rights with the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the potential damage caused by federal financing cuts to programs like Head Start, female characters are increasingly refused by any level of helplessness.

Instead of throwing yourself under a train, to flee an abusive relationship – whether with a man, a disease or a government – or simply compress behind the scenes, they are forces of gathering and to take matters into hand.

They are angry, but more than that, they are committed and capable of defending and repairing personal. Ambitious television is always flooded with enviable homes, endless closets and beautiful men and their fancy cars, but more and more, it is also filled with women who are not afraid to leave the security of the family, the community or the civilization and to remove the forces that threaten it.