We all have our soft spots.
Any television show with a film noir look, a period drama setting, and a female protagonist? That’s sure to make me sit up and look. As it turns out, ABC’s Agent Carter is the only show with those qualifications that’s currently on the air. Catching a preview for the show was like spotting a unicorn gliding over a chocolate mountain. It just doesn’t happen, much less on network television! Then add the fact that Agent Carter is a spinoff of Marvel Comics’ Captain America, and the impossible unicorn on the chocolate mountain just spouted a rainbow from its horn. And that was just the preview. Having watched the full season that unicorn turned out even more wonderful than expected.
Agent Carter is set in 1940’s New York after WWII and follows Peggy Carter, a downtrodden agent working with a team of all male co-workers at the Strategic Scientific Reserve (S.S.R.). She’s relegated to serving coffee and filing paperwork instead of solving cases and catching bad guys like the rest of her colleagues. Her stellar former war work experience (she joined the French Resistance and was Captain America’s sidekick) are constantly disregarded and overlooked. With her mind and talents left to rot, Carter roils in frustration and humiliation, shamed for being a woman both in the office and outside of it.
Weapons inventor Howard Stark (who’ll eventually father Tony Stark, aka Iron Man) catches up with Carter while he’s on the run from the government. He needs her help to prove he’s not selling his deadly weapon to the highest bidder. Carter agrees to help find his stolen weapons and gather proof of his innocence. Stark goes into hiding and leaves her with his butler Jarvis for aid (and comic relief).
Agent Carter is a light show and easy to watch—it’s an ABC show after all. But despite its light tone, it is the only network show I’ve seen where this level misogyny is so blatantly thrust forward, without relief. In Agent Carter, misogyny propels the very plot along. It’s Carter’s humiliating treatment at work that leads her to aid Stark. While hunting for his stolen inventions, she goes on hair raising spy adventures, stretching her unappreciated war training and muscles.
And Peggy Carter takes adventures with a vengeance. Nothing puts her down for long-She can shoot and dodge bullets with the best of them. And she doesn’t pull punches when hitting men in the gut. But Carter is also a product of her time: while she hunts for clues and baddies, her hair is carefully styled and she’s never seen without her fire-engine red lipstick.
Some viewers may dislike her gorgeous hair, lipstick, and stylish clothes, but it fits right into the look and priorities of a 1940’s woman. Peggy Carter can get a tough job done but she also does it with her own feminine flair. For years, the joke about Fred Astaire was simple: “Sure he was great, but don’t forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did backwards…and in high heels!” That comparison easily applies to Carter and her fellow male agents. It takes more effort to kick ass while wrestling with hair, makeup, and 1940s undergarments, but Carter manages to do it all—while her male colleagues treat her presence like punch line.
Everywhere Carter goes, she’s viewed either as a silly nuisance or a piece of eye candy. And what held true for the 1940’s still holds true now. Be it movies, music, television, books, or magazines, women are still relegated to the roles of sex objects or witless interlopers. Carter may be living in the 1940’s but her experience is all too common for women today.
Still, unrelenting misogyny is hard to watch. Fortunately, Carter isn’t one to stand by and swallow it all down. Her barbed tongue and quick wit are call backs to the wonderfully smart and tough ladies in 1940’s, be it Barbara Stanywck in Double Indemnity or Bette Davis in Now, Voyager. After all, it’s hard not to poke fun at Howard Stark, or notice that Iron Man’s Tony Stark is a chip off the old block:
Jarvis: Mr. Stark believed that the intruder had some advanced technological assistance.
Peggy Carter: Mr. Stark believes brushing your teeth requires advanced technological assistance.
An even more memorable moment comes while Carter’s dining at an Automat restaurant and notices a bully. He’s harassing and demeaning her friend who’s waitressing the tables, and what follows is a happy fantasy for anyone who’s worked in service industries.
Carter: [Walks to the table of the man who continuously insults his waitress, picks up his fork and leans over his shoulder] I understand you’re not happy with your meal.
Madison Avenue Guy: Do you work here?
Peggy Carter: Unfortunately, no.
[Presses the fork tines into his side as he groans]
Peggy Carter: Just so we’re clear, this is pressed into your brachial artery. It may
be dull, but I’m determined. Keep smiling. Once you start to bleed, you’ll lose consciousness in fifteenseconds. You’ll die in ninety unless someone comes to your aid. Now, given your recent behavior, how likely do you think that is to happen? To prevent this not entirely unfortunate event from occurring, I suggest you find a new place to eat. Do we understand each other?
Madison Avenue Guy: [In pain] Yeah.
Peggy Carter: Good. Oh. One more thing. Tip generously.
[She puts the fork down and walks away. He then lays several bills down]
As the series rolls on, Agent Carters’ worth comes to the forefront and a list of male allies begins to grow. My particular favorite ally is Stark’s butler, Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy). Soft spoken and gentle, Jarvis is an excellent chauffeur and cook. He struggles to time his adventures with Carter just right so he can make it to home in time to prepare dinner for his wife. His mild demeanor can be misleading because Jarvis is a proficient liar. He stumps both bad guys and the government on a regular basis with his sweetly smiling deceit.
And then there’s Hayley Atwell, who plays Agent Carter. Atwell is a gem. She rarely needs lines because her expressive gaze tells it all. Like many British actors, her eyes speak more eloquently than the lines themselves. Atwell carries off Carter’s sharp retorts, impatient looks and gorgeous clothing with such a natural flare that makes it impossible to think of a Peggy Carter being played by anyone else.
Despite her comic book antecedents, though, Agent Carter is a normal woman. She’s neither a mutant nor a superman, and yet her superpower is undeniable: she pursues a dangerous line of work surrounded by men who dislike her and wish to hurt her simply because she is a woman. The ongoing casual abuse and belittling is hard on her but it never stops her, and she always carries out the job. Her world is film noir, but Peggy Carter’s dangers as an active and intelligent working woman ring as true as ever today. It is her fantastic resolve to carry on despite all the resistance surrounding her that makes this show well worth the watch.
Catherine Eaton is a contributor to The Stake. Catherine is a writer living in a western suburb of Chicago. She blogs over at sparrowpost.com and enjoys foraging around the neighborhood in her spare time.
