Several TV shows killed off several female characters last week – but why?
It has been a difficult week to be a woman on television: six female characters were killed off in the past week alone.
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Recently, Daniel Fienberg at The Hollywood Reporter examined this rather bizarre situation and tries to understand what it says about Hollywood, death and violence and the way women are treated on screen.
That’s when you start pondering something along the lines of, “Wow. Is this the only way we know how to do drama, and should this be a subject of some concern?” Because death is a powerful writing tool and it’s one that I’ll never demand scribes relinquish or even ponder toning down. And I’m not going to say that last week’s estrogen blood bath was a sign of institutional sexism or anything else.
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According to Fienberg’s count, six shows from April 4th through APril 10th killed off a female character including:
- The Americans
- Arrow
- Empire
- Hap and Leonard
- Sleepy Hollow
- Vikings
But, the show that shocked audiences the most was the departure of Nicole Beharie, who starred in the Atlanta filmed Sleepy Hollow. However, according to reports Beharie’s unhappiness with the show led to her exit. This didn’t sit well with Sleepy Hollow fans on Twitter:
I’m disgusted! Another POC basically bullied out of a job much like Ricky! Nicole Beharie. SHAMEFUL! #SleepyHollow pic.twitter.com/mRVARIswKD
— How Regina Sees It ? (@Keepin_It_Evil) April 10, 2016
I’ve never seen a TV show be so completely unaware of what their audience wants and sabatoge itself like this #SleepyHollow
— A Man Called Hawk (@AManCalledHwk) April 9, 2016
They’ve been dissing Nicole Beharie since they didn’t invite her to do a Comic Con panel, if I recall correctly
— Saffron the Sadge (@JSoAbove) April 9, 2016
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Entertainment Weekly reports that showrunner Clifton Campbell explained the writers’ reason for offing a main character (Walking Dead envy?), saying, “[Beharie’s] relationship with Tom and obviously with Crane has been instrumental to the development of the show. As with a lot of genre shows, as television matures and evolves, it becomes important to recognize the frailty of characters, particularly in a world such as ours, and it’s unrealistic to think that shows can live and breathe on one note.”
But, Fienberg continues by pointing out that it was not the fact that the female characters were kicked off the show but, that they were killed off.
Last week, the number of shows that had female characters who left storylines either via natural, non-violent death or any of the myriad ways which, in normal life, people depart jobs, cities or fantastical realms without dying equaled zero. Not one female character on any of show I watched got a job in a different state, returned to her home planet or incredulously asked, “Is this because I’m a lesbian?” after being fired.
If you’re a fan of any of the previously reported TV shows, than his breakdowns are an interesting look at how character’s death impact not only a TV show but Hollywood itself.
