The Bold Type is the millennial feminist show we deserve
From its first episode, The Bold Type felt radically different. The ongoing story of three young women, in their mid-twenties, in New York, might not sound out of the box, but seeing them in a modern magazine setting and having the realities of 2017 weighing on them makes the show feel much more grounded.
“The women of The Bold Type”, our narrator tells us, are Kat (Aisha Dee), Sutton (Meghann Fahy) and Jane (Katie Stevens). They all work at Scarlet, a women’s magazine based on Cosmopolitan, but which seems to have the Teen Vogue edge that we’ve become more familiar with thanks to writers like Lauren Duca and her ‘Thigh High Politics’ column.
Jane is a newly minted writer at the magazine, after years of hard work she’s been given the opportunity to write her own pieces. Sutton is a long suffering assistant turned junior in the Fashion department, and Kat is Social Media Director and the self proclaimed “fun one” at Scarlet Magazine.
The show is aimed at women, young women specifically, but its appeal is universal. For the millennial generation, as broad as it is, who are fast rising, hard falling, career hopefuls who won’t be able to afford property in any major city any time soon, there is a shared drive with the characters of The Bold Type. Namely, they want to love what they do.
Picking where to start when talking about all the interesting, unique and entertaining choices that are being made by the writers of this show is hard, so let’s start at the top. Editor in Chief of Scarlet is Jacqueline (Melora Hardin), a suitably striking name for such a character. As has been noted by any number of reviewers, Jacqueline shucks the dragon-lady persona of a Miranda Priestly, instead she embodies everything the show is: feminist, caring, truthful, tough, loving, bold. It might seem a small aspect to some, but the choice to have Jacqueline be such an imposing presence, we get the click clack close-ups of her shoes as she arrives to the office, but such a fair and approachable person is a significant one. She never encourages our leads to take others down to get ahead. She also isn’t just out for herself. In later episodes, we learn more about Jacqueline which adds more depth to her as a character and tackles another important issue for, especially but not exclusively, women and trans people.
Jacqueline does it all while wearing some amazing outfits and getting out a women’s magazine that she wants to be everything her readers need it to be, with fashion, dating advice and quizzes, but also hard hitting news and political pieces. She basically the best boss/role model you’ve ever wanted.
When Jane struggles with a story and yells at her in front of the team, her first reaction isn’t to exert her power or fire Jane. Instead, she tells her to take a walk, then speaks to her out of work, at her home, reminding Jane that she is a person too, reasserting the boss/employee relationship, while getting to the root of the issue. Sure, this isn’t all realistic, but it could be. Its hopeful and aspirational, especially when viewed by the bosses of tomorrow.
Pulling seniority, next we have Kat. She’s Social Media Director for Scarlet, but she doesn’t really have a team. Instead she’s part of the larger Digital side of the magazine. Her role is very familiar to anyone working in the small business world, where you could be head of a team of one, but still have to sit alongside HoDs with fifteen people to co-ordinate.
One of the storylines that has attracted the most attention in The Bold Type is the fledgling relationship between Kat and Adena (Nikohl Boosheri). Adena is a proud lesbian muslim artist, says so in her Twitter bio btw, and one of the only representations for queer muslim women on the small screen. Through Adena and their shared flirtation, Kat begins to explore her bisexuality.
True to form, it is mainstream media after all, they don’t say that Kat is bisexual in so many words. She’s in the early stages and with less than ten episodes out, it’s understandable that using terms for feelings you don’t quite get yet can feel a bit like putting yourself in a box. Still, it would be nice if there was a character on TV who outright said: “I’m bisexual!” Of course, the writers could decide to sidestep this route but I’ve my bi fingers crossed.
There is certainly room for the #Kadena relationship to develop and with any luck a progressive show like this will get Kat to start using the B word, or perhaps a similar one like pansexal. My only wish is that they don’t make her say that she’s ‘flexible’ or some variant on that which is so non-committal.
Nevertheless, rather than this revelation of sexual exploration becoming the whole plot point, Kat’s best friends Jane and Sutton take it in hand, matter of factly. I think if there was one word that I feel reflects The Bold Type as a whole, its respectful. In a very millennial way, sometimes referred to as PC (politically correct) or snowflake-y, the characters aim in all instances to be as respectful of one another as possible. That doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes, but they are confronted and dealt with. The characters are allowed to screw up and improve because at the core the show respects them and they respect each other.
Then we have “little Jane”. Jane faces a number a situations that aren’t talked about often enough with young women, but which are very much at the forefront of the movement for open discussions about womanhood in the media. Spoiler warning! Jane has to deal with being honest about never having had an orgasm, for which she feels shameful and uncomfortable initially. The idea that young women don’t know how to deal with this situation, tell their partners, or know how to explore this aspect of their sexuality is covered thoroughly in a recent episode of The Guilty Feminist (ep 61, titled Orgasms with Alix Fox). The second major hurdle for Jane is dealing with breast cancer, specifically if she carries the BRCA gene, which she is at greater risk of due to her mother having died of it at a young age. There are some brutal scenes where Jane discusses both her fears and her memories of her mother in the final days.
Last but not least, we have Sutton. Starting as a receptionist/PA/assistant to one of the most successful heads at Scarlet, her passion is for fashion. Now, having her key interest lie in fashion makes for more dazzling TV. Women and men love fashion, yet it could seem a bit on the nose to make her a fashion girl at a women’s magazine. But, Sutton also has a educational background in business. She pursued it to gain financial security, to understand how to keep her family. Twenty years ago, and I say this based on my own experience of growing up with a single parent, this drive would have been enough to build a successful career on. It might not be the job you love, but when you’re smart and capable then this safety net is everything. For the modern woman, millennial worker, a great salary isn’t enough. Or rather, it isn’t everything. Happiness and a job that you want to go to means more.
There is a whole host of supporting characters that help diversify The Bold Type, from Fashion Editor Oliver (Stephen Conrad Moore) who speaks to the small town boy seeking something bigger, to men’s magazine writer Ryan (Dan Jeannette) that might be the best we can hope for when it comes to a straight guy working at a men’s magazine, as well as smaller characters populating the episodes.
Clearly I’m a bit of a stan for this show, but in a time when it can be really hard to find any kind of positive role models on screen who aren’t in a fantastical world, especially in terms of bisexual representation, we have to amplify these voices as much as possible. The Bold Type is the TV show we deserve. It’s honest, feminist, moving and hopeful. And it needs a season 2, too.
