Felicity Smoak — an inspiration to women in tech
Characters that are both relatable AND inspirational are somewhat rare in the superhero genre. Most people don’t have aspirations towards vigilantism, and even less have abilities that could be considered “superpowers”, or access to resources that would give them the technology to mimic such abilities. The “normal” people are usually useless, clueless, or one-dimensional love interests. To my surprise and delight, however, relatable and inspirational is exactly what the CW’s TV show Arrow (2012–2020) achieved with Felicity Smoak (brilliantly played by Emily Bett Rickards).
When we first meet Felicity, she is the resident IT girl at Queen Consolidated, owned by the family of the same name, including Oliver Queen (the Green Arrow). She is equal parts endearing and brilliant, as her unintentional double-entendres and occasional awkwardness are as much a part of her as her tech skills. She quickly becomes a capable and integral part of “Team Arrow”, performing hacking, surveillance, programming and writing algorithms to solve complex issues that no one else on her team would be able to accomplish.
While the more visible superheroes in the show such as The Green Arrow, Black Canary, and others, are leaping from buildings and fighting criminals, Felicity’s brilliant technical mind provides the roadmap and realtime instructions to each of their field excursions. Her contributions are celebrated, never minimized. Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow himself, acknowledges that her brain is, in fact, her superpower. Her existence turns the trope of (typically male) “geeky sidekick” on it’s head, and for the better. Even still, she makes mistakes, gets frustrated, gets emotional, and has challenges and setbacks. Her solutions to many of these issues come up in ways that anyone who’s tried to code can relate to — a new approach spawns from a conversation that may not even be related to the project at hand, or collaborating with another developer (the latter often being Curtis Holt, aka Mr. Terrific).
Throughout the series, Felicity is not afraid to own her worth and her abilities, bristling at the idea that she should accept being placed into a lesser role, even as a cover for their superhero work. Eventually, her abilities and reputation precede her, as she even creates her own technology startup in later seasons.
As a woman aspiring to be successful in tech myself, I loved seeing a brilliant (yet imperfect), female technological force to be reckoned with on my TV screen. She is confident and independent but still a team player, is compassionate and wants her work to be important and meaningful. While I may never redirect a nuclear rocket moments before it makes impact with the earth, I can still work towards achieving Felicity’s confidence, competence, and dedication to being a tech-minded woman that others can aspire to become.