Lipstick Jungle and an Empowering Message
While Lipstick Jungle will be hard pressed to avoid comparisons to the late Sex and the City, the creators and actors say the comparisons are few and far between (Cutler 1). Yes, the show centers around female best friends and the struggles they face with relationships and their professional lives, but the woman in Lipstick Jungle attempt to juggle careers, motherhood, marriage and friendship—issues that replaces the “carefree, cocktail-sipping” lives of Carrie Bradshaw and her girlfriends (Harris 1). The show is not necessarily applauded by critics for entertainment value, but the idea behind the show is empowering for women. Lipstick Jungle centers on the lives of three best friends who are among
Wendy Heely might be a top movie executive but her relationship with husband Shane has become a shaky one (Cutler 1). Shane struggles with the fact that he is not the bread-winner of the family and fills the role of Mr. Wendy in their household (Cutler 1). I can see a few traditional feminist issues arise with these specific aspects of the series. There is evidence just from watching the show that Wendy feels guilty about “signing the tuition checks” for their son’s private school, along with bills and bank statements. As a successful woman, who obviously works hard for the money she earns to support her family, she should not feel any guilt about the fact that she is above her husband financially. In addition, Shane’s career as a struggling musician is not enough to keep their family afloat in
Aside from the financial issues I find it quite evident that Shane feels that his role should not be a “stay at home dad,” just because of societal norms. He feels his masculinity and credibility are tarnished by the fact that his wife is more successful than he—like he deserves or “should” be the one achieving success because he is a male. The show depicts this problem with Shane’s attempt to start a restaurant. While at a meeting discussing plans for the restaurant, the investor and property owner are skeptical to begin without Wendy there to prove financial stability and credibility. As a male and already tussling with the fact that he is under his wife professionally, he is pretty offended, replying with “this is my thing guys.” This same issue comes up again when Shane is vying for a composing job at Wendy’s movie studio. Wendy attempts to submit Shane’s composition under a pseudonym to avoid favoritism or an automatic decision by one of her employees, but reveals the truth causing Shane to get the job because the producer feels it would “make Wendy happy.” The idea of Shane’s wife being more successful professionally and the main source of income is hard for Shane—a male—to grasp, allowing this aspect of the show to correspond with second and third wave feminist issues about male and female gender roles and stereotypes, such as women are inferior and men should be the ones working and making the most money, etc.
Another feminist issue Wendy’s character has to deal with is the balance between a successful career and a family. As if Wendy is not having a hard enough time walking the balance beam with her husband tugging at her heels, the creators throw a five and eleven-year old into the mix. I think this is helpful to the show’s audience because Sex and the City—Shields calls the “pedigree” of Lipstick Jungle—did not really deal too much with the balance of careers and motherhood, adding a long-established feminist issue to the show (Cutler 1). A few episodes focus on a book that could potentially be published by Wendy’s former nanny. The book mentions several fights Wendy and Shane had in front of the kids and other anecdotes that should be kept out of the lime-light, although perfectly healthy in a normal household. If released the book could tarnish Wendy’s status as a businesswoman and prove that a woman cannot balance work and motherhood in a healthy way. Wendy, who stands to lose her reputation, adds preventing the release of this book at the top of her to-do list. As a working mother she knows she “gets by through making constant adjustments to the jostling needs of her children, work and partner,” but the public will just stereotype her as a bad mother who cannot find the perfect balance (Horin 1). But what society does not understand is “the antiseptic talk of work/family balance and the small advances on flexibility hide a core truth: there is no perfect balance, no perfect arrangement” (Horin 1). Wendy is doing what any woman would: the best she can.
The next issue I feel the show successfully addresses is female advancement in the workplace. Nico Riley, the editor and chief of Bonfire fashion magazine, constantly clashes with her boss and male coworkers. She is a no nonsense woman of instinct, but continuously fights to receive the credit she deserves. This is evident in an episode in which Nico helps her boss Hector with a tip for the magazine. A male coworker, we’ll call him John for the sake of clarity, takes credit for giving the information to Hector and proceeds to mock her saying she “threw a fit” about the whole situation. Nico replies with “when a woman expresses her concern that an important business matter be dealt with correctly, she’s not ‘throwing a fit,’ she’s just doing her job.” I feel that scene especially addresses the need for women in the workplace to speak out when they are being taken advantage of. Nico obviously found the information for the magazine issue and should therefore receive credit. Also she should not be characterized as “throwing a fit” just because she is a woman and spoke out about it—yet another stereotype of women addressed by the show.
Lastly, the show on several occasions brings up the issue of women starting a family and working. Nico meets her boss Hector and John for lunch to confront them about the magazine tip-off incident. Nico asks Hector if he is preparing John for a promotion to the Creative Director position and Hector replies with, “Nico, you are a woman of a certain age, and your decision to start a family,” implying that Nico’s potential to start a family in the future is a hindrance to her professional advancement. Her boss goes on to say, “The last woman I promoted to top post went off and had a child and lost her drive.” One study published in the journal of Royal Economic Society gives evidence to women moving down the career ladder after having children: a third of female corporate managers moved down the career ladder, two-thirds took clerical positions, one and ten nurses or teachers quit for lower skilled jobs, but there is no mention of these women losing their motivation (Ward 1). In actuality, “Becoming a parent can make you a better worker—more focused, clearer and more driven to prove yourself” and inspired to provide for your family (Horin 1). One the other hand, “children of working mothers seem to thrive” (Horin 2). Preventing mothers who deserve the top position from achieving it is one feminist issue this show exemplifies through Nico Riley.
Nico is being overlooked for a promotion because she could “possibly” have a child in the future and “loose her drive.” This is an issue in feminist communities because she is being restricted from climbing the corporate ladder because she is not a male. Hector makes no comparison between Nico and John’s situation, “its like chalk and cheese. Women are hard-wired differently” and therefore Nico is out of the running for Creative Director. Her boss does say that she can prove him wrong although there should be no “proving” necessary. John’s performance in the workplace is obviously inferior to Nico’s but because she is a woman she is perceived as the inferior employee and is judged underneath a microscope. This aspect of the series exemplifies the idea that the “glass ceiling” still exists. According to a survey that polled 2,200 executives and managers in North America, Europe and
The number of female centered dramas jumped from fourteen in the years 1985 to 1994 (Growth of Cable TV 1). This number rose even higher to thirty-seven from 1995 to 2005, so it is no wonder the NBC network picked up the Lipstick Jungle pilot (Growth of Cable TV 1). After just six episodes in the season so far Wendy, Nico and Victory have already encountered realistic battles between finding a family and home balance, issues with gender roles and marriage, and the hindrances of being a woman in the professional world. Many critics have given the “thumbs-down” to Lipstick Jungle as an entertaining television show but give kudos to the fact that they are addressing feminist issues. There are a few awkward overly-feminist statements throughout the show that can discredit the writers and dialogue but the message is still being put out there—women can be successful, married or single, with children or no children. While I feel this show is not an outright feminist text—it’s mainly out there for entertainment—I think what the producers are attempting to create is a positive thing.
Works Cited
Harris, Paul. "IT'S A LIPSTICK JUNGLE OUT THERE AFTER SEX AND THE CITY." The Sunday Independent 08 Apr 2007 April 25 2008
Cutler, Jacqueline. "Killer makeup in
Horin, Adele. "Fingers crossed for the new wave." Sydney Morning Herald 29 Jul 2006 April 25 2008
Immen, Wallace. "Despite breakthroughs, glass ceiling still perplexes women; More confident of reaching corner office though gender still an issue, a poll finds." The Globe and Mail 09 Mar 2007 April 25 2008
Ward, Lucy . "News: The baby blues: Study finds a third of mothers slip down career ladder: Professional women pay the price of starting family: Talents and qualifications wasted in lesser roles." The Guardian 27 Feb 2008 April 25 2008
Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company, "More Television Dramas, and Growth Of Cable TV, Redefine Women's Roles." Media Report to Women Volume 35; Issue 11 Jan 2007 April 25 2008
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