Taking Care Of Women – Not

To be clear, we are talking about the care of female characters in TV and film dramas. Actresses may have to work ungodly hours under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. But that is a subject for another time. Here we deal only with fictional characters.

• “Chicago Fire.” An ambulance goes through a freeway guardrail and falls a full story onto its side. Miraculously, the two paramedics, Brett and Mackey, survive. They return to the firehouse, where Chief Boden, normally very solicitous of his people’s health, asks if they are okay, but does not send them to Med for a concussion protocol, or anything else. False machismo is called that because it is false, even when done by women.

• “Chicago PD.” Upton is hit on the head and knocked unconscious. When she regains consciousness, Sgt. Voigt does not send her for a concussion protocol, though she obviously had a grade 3 concussion. She touches a small cut on her face and says, “It’s superficial.” as if that were the problem. False machismo…

• “Law and Order.” Female detective Cassady is roughed up arresting an obnoxious suspect. She returns to the station, where Lieutenant Van Buren says, “You look like hell,” but does not turn this observation into “Are you all right?” or “Go get checked out.” Her subordinate’s disheveled clothes seem to be the lieutenant’s only concern.

We know that actresses must often put up with difficult job conditions, including sexual harassment. But we could hope that the fictional characters, at least, would be treated well. After all, it costs nothing.

And like it or not, TV and movies serve as role models for young people. They did for me.