#ms mojo

God I just want more strong female representation. Not necessarily WLW representation but just female in general. Women-led TV art/entertainment. Female empowerment. Female vulnerability and strength.

I want a representation of the human condition where females can have all their internal conflicts and conditions but not be punished for them. Or if they have to be punished in the narrative - fully explore as to why they do. What the necessity for it is. Whether it’s valid and justified. Whether it serves a purpose in the narrative for that female character. Does it help them grow and evolve into a better person? Does it help them combat their internal demons and heal their mind, body and soul? Or is it only there in the service of someone else’s story arc because they don’t matter as much as that other character does? I’ve always said that punishment for punishments sake is just stupid. It serves nothing. It helps nothing. It evolves nothing. And when it comes to female punishment in TV art/entertainment in particular, there is very rarely an exploration of the reasoning why they have to be. And that’s because of poor narrative writing choices more so than it is because of purposeful ignorance or spite.

Poor narrative writing choices because of the anxiety of providing sufficient representation and the anxiety of cancellation. Rushed written and produced content. Female representation in particular has had a real hammering. I mean you still are provided it but the problem is the lack of care and conscientiousness with it. Representing a female on-screen is different to representing a male on-screen. Not necessarily because there’s differences in the genders or sexes. I am the last person to care about gender stereotypes and the “correct” gender roles and bullshit like that. That’s not what I mean. No, it’s more so about trying to depict the subtle nuances of gender identity. Think of it like the treatment of ability VS disability. What’s required to treat that disabled individual person equally to the abled person will obviously be different things. So you’re more so pointing out the differences in how females VS males are treated on-screen than you are of how they’re represented. Females need to and should be treated differently to males and vice versa on-screen but it should never be in an unequal way the same way it should never be between an abled person and a disabled person. You shouldn’t have to point out the weaknesses or debilitations of one more than the other. You shouldn’t have to punish one more than the other. That’s what I’m trying to say about how female representation has had a real hammering taken to it recently in TV art/entertainment. Or at least since the likes of ‘Xena’, ‘Buffy’ and ‘Charmed’ were on air. All notoriously women-led shows. Two created by men at that.

Not too bad for Ms.Mojo if you ask me, of course everyone has their own favourites but those moments are certainly iconic. From some Lena and Magica de Spell to Superheroes and emotional Della Duck scenes. (Which definetely deserve a place in that list.)

me, every goddamn time: