For our second film club episode, we discussed Black Doves, a Netflix Original TV series. It's set in London and centres on a strong female protagonist Helen Webb (played by Kiera Knightley) who leads a double life as an undercover spy.
This six-episode series is an interesting mix of action-packed spy movie, thriller and murder mystery, with a good dose of self-deprecating British humour, and powerful female characters.
We discussed the elements of the show that we found progressive and gender-subversive:
- the way the female characters are depicted is not misogynistic, nor are they objectified
- the completely platonic friendship between Helen and Sam: it's rare to see a male-female relationship that doesn't centre on the woman being the romantic love interest
- the show focuses on mature women rather than young and sexualised female characters
- the fact that Helen is a woman doesn't dictate how the plot unfolds
- all of the main players in the world of the TV show are women
- violent physical fights between women
- the conflict and rivalry between female characters doesn't involve them fighting over a man
- most of the deep emotions and tenderness actually comes from the male characters and their stories.
We also discussed how British the show is: the setting, the characters, certain specific cultural contexts, and the self-deprecating humour!
We also touched on some things that we found a little problematic with the TV series: some logical gaps in the plot, the lack of diversity and equality in the casting of characters, and the real life story that the series' narrative was based on.
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Intro Music: Picture Perfect Gurl by SPARKZ
(The first three episodes: Out Loud by Beat Mekanik (Free Music Archive | CC BY))
Outro Music: 2010 Pop by Akira Sora (Free Music Archive | CC BY)
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