Five TV ‘Girlfailure’ To Subvert The ‘Girlbosses’
Phase out the ‘girlbosses’ archetype; she’s just the sock-puppet with pink glitter of the good old boys club. But the new era of ‘girlfailure,’ — the absolute loser of a female character, offers a humanized depiction of a women’s flaws. I collected five TV ‘girlfailure’ that takes a swing at translating modern female angst.
This character juxtaposes the manic pixie dream girl trope. ‘Girlfailure’ defies stereotypes and allows viewers to identify with her struggles and setbacks. It could be about her mental health issues, financial freedom, romantic failures, or moral quandaries. Women can be losers, too, you know.
Five TV ‘Girlfailure’ Women To Subvert The ‘Girlbosses’
Britta Perry (Community)
“Britta’s the worst,” cannot ring more true. Greendale people scorn Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) for her holier-than-thou attitude and performative activism. She calls Shirley and Annie’s (Yvette Nicole Brown and Alison Brie) protest on the killed Guatemalan journalist “tacky” despite doing nothing. Her anarchist group kicked out Britta, a high school dropout (to impress Radiohead), for not being anarchistic enough.
Pierce also describes her as “King Arthur of bad taste in men,” considering her terribly-named roster of romantic interests. Carnival worker and ex-boyfriend Blade, named after the fantastic kickboxing vampire, Subway, a corpo-humanoid student who later dumps her over his new job at Honda, and two people from her study group.
Fleabag (Fleabag)
“I sometimes worry that I wouldn’t be such a feminist if I had bigger tits” is still imprinted on me. Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), self-proclaimed #BadFeminist, pioneered ‘girlfailure’, giving grief a human, profoundly flawed face.
She (name unknown) strikes to be bold and outgoing compared to her uptight sister Claire (Sian Clifford), but she breaks the fourth wall to reveal that she still hasn’t coped with the passing of her best friend and mother. Boo (Jenny Rainsford), co-owner of the hamster fusion cafe, dies in an accidental suicide after learning about her boyfriend’s cheating. Tragically, the Britcom series reveals that the girl was Fleabag.
Fleabag curls up with guilt and shame and pursues unpleasing sexual encounters and dysfunctional relationships. She has an on-and-off thing with dinosaur boy Harry (Hugh Skinner), hookups with “Bus Rodent” (Jamie Demetriou), and “Arsehole Guy” (Ben Aldridge). Of course, the unrequited love from “Hot Priest” (Andrew Scott), who later breaks his celibacy but still chooses God over. “It’ll pass,” as he parts away.
Shiv Roy (Succession)
Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook), the only daughter of the Rupert Murdoch-esque patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), fights for the CEO seat against her siblings. Her ‘girlboss’ era is long gone. It’s all about the powerbob, expensive suit, infidelity, and not-so-elaborate schemes that blow right to her face.
It has been a roller coaster for the youngest, Roy. Shiv momentarily becomes a throw-away CEO when their brother Kendall (Jeremy Strong) goes berzerk. Her rocky open marriage with her estranged husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) falls through, and a surprise pregnancy that he refuses to acknowledge. “Some people just aren’t made to be mothers,” Lady Caroline’s words sadly echo. And the stake-to-the-heart death of Logan, their father.
Skip this if you haven’t watched Succession’s series finale.
It all comes full circle. Shiv becomes her mom, the housewife of the most powerful man, closest to power yet with no control over it. She has not succeeded in all the battles in her life. Her father’s approval, besting his two brothers for the family legacy, the US CEO race dangled by Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård), and the dominance play with his once “corn-fed basic” husband.
Shiv also has fallen into the cracks of sexism. Matsson drops her for the US CEO gig, calling her “pushy” and “too much.” He also wants to have sexual intercourse with her but is afraid it will be another Ebba (Eili Harboe) situation.
Dee Reynolds (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
Dee’s (Kaitlin Olson) dream to be an actress and be on Broadway has already sailed. The episode, “The Gang Broke Dee,” where she eats day-old cake from trash, drinks whiskey, and smokes, seals the deal — she is the ultimate girlfailure. She’s tired of the tired bird jokes and all the browbeating and misogyny from the Gang.
Sweet Dee finds men beneath her to feed her low self-esteem, which stems from being called “Aluminum Monster” from severe scoliosis and wearing a neck brace during her younger years. Besides sleeping with a married man, she falsely confesses her love for Priest Matthew Mara (David Hornsby), her former classmate who has a crush on her, to prove she still has her looks from high school. Mara later leaves the priesthood for a leap of love for her, but eventually, she dismisses it and leaves him to descend to madness—a reverse Fleabag-Hot Priest.
Antoinette Marie “Toni” Childs (Girlfriends)
Nothing screams girlfailure more than Toni Childs (Jill Marie Jones), It-Girl, and ¼ of the Girlfriends. She’s two things: a horrible friend and a partner. To prey on deep-pocketed men is one thing, but trying to sleep with your best friend’s boyfriend, who’s a recovering sex addict, is diabolical.
Toni also drops the ball on the relationship front. She can’t maintain healthy relationships throughout the series due to unresolved childhood trauma. She accepts a marriage proposal from the wealthy doctor Clay (Phil Morris) while his bum boyfriend (Chuma Gault) sits at home.
She comes off as emotionally stunted towards her husband, Todd Garrett (Jason Pace), and emasculates “pocket doc” at any opportunity. She even tries to leverage her pregnancy on the brink of him leaving her, but it ends with divorce, where he paints Toni as a bad mother in a custody battle.
Honorary mentions: Barry’s Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg), a canceled actress and fugitive, runs away with an abusive murderer. Never Have I Ever’s Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), a teenager dealing with his father’s passing, cheats on her two boyfriends and is an undeniably horrible friend to many.
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