Strong women on TV and in movies

Hollywood Thinks Rachel Dratch Is a Troll (But if She Were a Dude, She’d Have Her Own Show)

You could add a lot of names to the same list Rachel Dratch is on.  I'd mention Kristen Schaal from "Flight of the Conchords" and regular contributor to "The Daily Show" as a comedian who could have her own sit com-- assuming she wants that.  Very intelligent, very funny woman.

Here's an excerpt from Larsson, S. (2009). The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. (R. Keeland, Trans.) Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Penguin Group.

(Discussion at the weekly budget committee meeting of Svenska Morgon-Posten, a large daily newspaper in Sweden, between the new Editor-in-Chief Erika Berger and Chief Financial Officer Christer Sellberg.)

"This is impossible," Sellberg said with a polite smile.

"How so?" Berger said.

"The board will never go along with this.  It defies all rhyme or reason."

"Shall we take it from the top?"  Berger said.  "I was hired to make SMP profitable again.  To do that I have to have something to work with, don't you think?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"I can't wave a magic wand and conjure up the contents of a daily newspaper by sitting in my glass cage and just wishing for things."

"You don't understand the hard economic facts."

"That's possible.  But I understand making newspapers.  And the reality is that over the past fifteen years, SMP's personnel has been reduced by 118.  Half were graphic artists and so on, replaced by new technology . . . but the number of reporters contributing to copy was reduced by 48 during that period."

"Those were necessary cuts.  If the staff hadn't been cut, the paper would have folded long ago.  At least Morander understood the necessity of the reductions."

"Well, let' wait and see what's necessary and what isn't.  In three years, nineteen reporter jobs have disappeared. In addition, we now have a situation in which nine positions at SMP are vacant and are being to some extent being covered by temps.  The sports desk is dangerously understaffed.  There should be nine employees there, and for more than a year two positions have remained unfilled."

"It's a question of saving money.  It's that simple."

"The culture section has three unfilled positions.  The business section has one.  The legal desk does not even in practice exist; there we have a chief editor who borrows reporters from the news desk for each of his features.  And so on.  SMP hasn't done any serious coverage of the civil service and government agencies for at least eight years.  We depend for that on free-lancers and the material from the TT wire service.  And as you know, TT shut down its civil service desk some years ago.  In other words, there isn't a single news desk in Sweden covering the civil service and the government agencies."

"The newspaper business is in a vulnerable position-"

"The reality is that either SMP should be shut down immediately, or the board should find a way to take an aggressive stance.  Today we have fewer employees responsible for producing more copy every day.  The articles they turn out are terrible, superficial, and they lack credibility.  That's why SMP is losing its readers."

"You don't understand the situation-"

"I'm tired of hearing that I don't understand the situation.  I'm not some temp who's just here for the bus fare."

"But your proposal is crazy."

"Why is that?"

"You're proposing that the newspaper should not be profitable."

"Listen, Sellberg, this year you will be paying out a huge amount of money in dividends to the paper's twenty-three stockholders.  Add to this the unforgivably absurd bonuses that will cost SMP almost 10 million kronor for nine individuals who sit on SMP's board.  You've awarded yourself a bonus of 400,000 kronor for administering cutbacks.  Of course, it's a long way from being a bonus as huge as the ones that some of the directors of Skandia grabbed.  But in my eyes you're not worth a bonus of so much as one single ore.  Bonuses should be paid to people who do something to strengthen SMP.  The plain truth is that your cutbacks have weakened SMP and deepened the crisis we now find ourselves in."

"That is grossly unfair.  The board approved every measure I proposed."

"Of course the board approved your measures, because you guaranteed a dividend each year.  That's what has to stop, and now."

"So you're suggesting in all seriousness that the board should decide to abolish dividends and bonuses.  What makes you think the stockholders would agree to that?"

"I'm proposing a zero-profit operating budget this year.  That would mean savings of almost twenty-one million kronor and the chance to beef up SMP's staff and finances.  I'm also proposing wage cuts for management.  I'm being paid a monthly salary of 88,000 kronor, which is utter insanity for a newspaper that can't add a job to its sports desk."

"So you want to cut your own salary?  Is this some sort of wage communism you're advocating?"

"Don't bullshit me.  You make 112,000 kronor a month, if you add in your annual bonus.  That's crazy.  If the newspaper were stable and bringing in a tremendous profit, then you could pay out as much as you wanted in bonuses.  But this is no time for you to be increasing your own bonus.  I propose cutting all management salaries by half."

"What you don't understand is that our stockholders bought stock in the paper because they want to make money.  That's called capitalism.  If you arrange for them to lose money, then they won't want to be stockholders any longer."

"I'm not suggesting they should lose money, though it might come to that.  Ownership implies responsibility.  As you yourself pointed out, capitalism is what matters here.  SMP's owners want to make a profit.  But it's the market that decides whether you make a profit or take a loss.  By your reasoning, you want to rules of capitalism to apply solely to the employees of SMP, while you and the stockholders will be exempt."

Hmm. Probably.  But somehow I don't think Larsson's estate will mind such a long excerpt being put on a left wing message board on the topic of "strong women."   It's what Larsson would have wanted, I am sure.

In current tV shows, the lead character in "The Good Wife "  (CBS Sunday nights).  Hands down. (Played by Juliana Margulies)

Slight sidetrack:  in the same show, it strikes  me that with the firm's investigator, Kalinda, the writers have been walking a fine line between portraying a strong (at least on the surface), independent woman of colour and indulging in some racial stereotyping --the exotic, inscrutable, quite amoral,beautiful young woman who will do anything to get the job done, including sleeping with anyone (even a female FBI agent), and keep her emotions to herself, always.  How do other babblers  see her?