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 The Emmy nominations on Thursday validated a number of
raunchy and troubling performances by women in both comedy and
drama - lending credence to the idea that likeability is no
longer the key to success for female characters.
Take Amy Schumer, rewarded with her first lead actress
nomination for her candid and crude Comedy Central series
"Inside Amy Schumer."
Then there's veteran Lily Tomlin, a six-time Emmy winner who
pulls no punches as a feisty, sexually explicit woman in her 70s
in Netflix's new comedy "Grace and Frankie."
For audiences and critics who have longed to see female actors
occupy the anti-hero space that has been so successful for TV's
men in recent years, the wait appears to be over.
"For years, there's been a huge problem for women, because
female characters could not be perceived as being unlikeable,"
said Mary McNamara, television critic for the Los Angeles Times.
"Now we're seeing that's changing," she added. "You can have
women who are complicated, irritating, bad, who make stupid
decisions, are raunchy. You're seeing a deepening of the female
character across the board."
Uzo Aduba knows something about that, as the woman who plays the
deeply damaged "Crazy Eyes" in Netflix female prison saga
"Orange Is The New Black" and last year won the Emmy for best
guest actress in a comedy. She was nominated again on Thursday,
this time in the drama supporting actress category.
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"What I feel when I watch our show is that a collection of different
types of people can actually be engaging to audiences, if the story
is true and if it's honest," Aduba said.
In a Hollywood long filled with laments over the lack of good parts
for women, television gets higher marks than film for pushing the
boundaries for females.
"We had a meaningful increase in the number of women nominated in
director and writing categories, a terrific amount of diversity in
front of the camera, and in storytelling," said Bruce Rosenblum,
Television Academy chairman and CEO.
As it happens, Schumer was also nominated for directing and writing
her feminist satire, a no-holds-barred takedown of her ditzy,
selfish, promiscuous self.
"I wasn't surprised given the amount of acclaim," said Cynthia
Littleton, managing editor of television for Variety. "That woman
just has momentum on momentum."
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