Meet Charley Bordelon West
Portrayed by the actress Dawn Lyen-Gardner, Charley Bordelon West is the middle sister of the Bordelon siblings. In the first episode of the series, Charley is immediately framed as the epitome of the successful Black woman, seeming to have checked off all the boxes of what makes the ideal Western heteronormative life. She’s attractive with an equally attractive NBA star husband (Davis West) whose career she has successfully managed, transforming their family name into a branded empire. Residing in the glamorous hills of Los Angeles, their modern, extravagant mansion is more than enough room for their family of three.
Gardner herself describes her character as the “Superwoman,” as she tries to fulfill her roles as a wife, mother, sister, and daughter to the utmost potential. However, as Gardner describes, Charley is largely defined by her role as “the brand builder” of her husband’s career. While VH1’s hit reality television series Basketball Wives has circulated images, videos and memes capturing the performative “ratchetness” of the wives of Basketball players, Charley wouldn’t be found participating in such behavior. Her lack of identification with the likes of “Basketball Wives” doesn’t seem to stem from feelings of entitlement rather her pride in her MBA degree as well as the career she’s built takes precedence over any aspiration to be featured in reality television. Succumbing to the ratchet performance of the Basketball Wives isn’t something that Charley seems to have the time or energy for as she is constantly kept busy maintaining her successful image which is discovered to be somewhat of a performance itself.
You’re A Liar and You’re A Cheat: The Impact of Infidelity
Charley’s image as a modern, successful woman is shattered by the end of the first episode of the series, “First Things First,” when it is discovered that her husband has been involved in a highly publicized scandal in which he along with his teammates have been accused of raping a prostitute by the name of Melina Goloudian. Suddenly, the picture perfect lifestyle that Charley had worked so hard to maintain was in shambles. Not only was her marriage falling apart, but this all happened in the form of a scandal for the public to witness. Her feelings of betrayal, embarrassment, and rage manifested in the form of Charley’s outburst which proved more performative than anyone would’ve expected. In the very middle of her husband’s basketball game, when all eyes were glued to the court, an angered Charley on the edge of tears walks onto the basketball court to confront him, repeatedly shouting “What did you do,” and “You’re a lie.” As Charley is taken away by security kicking and screaming, the rage and hurt in her eyes tell a much deeper story than a woman scorned. Rather, in that moment, viewers observe a woman who feels her identity — largely built around her relationship to her husband as a wife and manager — slipping from her very grasp. As she repeatedly bemoans “You’re a lie” directing her resentment toward her husband, the anger and pain in her voice suggest that her resentment is not only caused by her husband’s lies but also the lies of the image she’s built her identity around.
Ironically, though Charley has previously attempted to refrain from the stereotypical ratchetness that comes along with being a “Basketball wife,” the scandal pushes her to the point of a hyperexcessive outburst which seems to make up for all the ratchet she’s managed to avoid throughout her career. As noted by Kristen J. Warner (2015), ratchetness is “excessive and hypervisible,” executed with a “measure of reflexivity” and at its most basic level “performed to be seen and circulated through mediated channels.” (p. 131–133). In reaction to the scandal, Charley has an outburst in front of the entire basketball stadium, which is immediately circulated though mediated channels shortly after it happens. While Charley is typically a composed business woman, she risks her perfect image, as she makes the conscious decision to publicly condemn her husband. Her disregard of respectability in that moment of chaos suggests that even the most reserved, successful Black woman can display ratchetness if pushed to her limits.
The Death of A Loved One
Just when it seems as if things couldn’t get any worse, in the midst of the rape allegations, Charley’s father who lives in Louisiana is rushed to the hospital due to a sudden stroke. Preoccupied with the repercussions of her husband’s betrayal, Charley doesn’t even realize her father’s condition until it’s too late. When she finally arrives to the hospital, she finds that her father has passed before she has had the opportunity to formally say goodbye. Again, another aspect of her identity takes a hit, as she feels the weight of failure in her role as a daughter. When she realizes she’s too late, she breaks down in the arms of her sister, Nova. In that moment, it seems that tragedy has found a home in Charley’s life. However, by the end of the episode it is clear that the fighter within Charley will not tolerate failure. In the final scene of the first episode, she stands in the middle of her father’s farm staring into the distance saying, “Sorry Daddy, I’ll fix it.” Despite an overwhelming number of obstacles that simultaneously seem to come at her, Charley refuses to let things out of her control as she is determined to reclaim her life. While Charley briefly embodies the myth of the superwoman as defined by Michele Wallace, it is through the shattering of that image and the struggle to rebuild her identity, that Charley complicates exactly how this superwoman manifests itself in reality.
Charley’s Relationship to Nova and Ralph-Angel
After returning to Louisiana for her father’s funeral, Charley makes the bold decision to give up her glamorous life in Los Angeles and move her and her son, Micah, to Louisiana permanently. In the beginning phases of rebuilding her life, Charley creates distance between she and her husband and instead opts for closeness to her family hoping it will provide her the opportunity to do the soul searching she needs.
“The land is the Bordelon’s affliction and their healing.” — (Qureshi, 2017, p. 67)
However, it is soon revealed that Charley’s relationship to her siblings isn’t nearly as perfect as other aspects of her life had previously been. When viewers are first introduced to the relationship between Charley and her siblings, the dramatic lifestyle differences between Charley and her Louisiana family not only offer insights into the sibling dynamics but also into the ways in which multiple experiences of blackness create conflict when Black people are in the presence of other Black people. These insights are further explored when it is revealed that Charley has a different mother than her other two siblings. As Charley begins to settle into her new home, she must not only reacquaint herself to the dynamics of Southern culture, but she must also revisit her complicated relationship with her family. Resentment towards Charley is often expressed through subtle micro aggressions, unsaid tension and brewing competition which culminate in escalated arguments such as the one below between Charley and Nova.
Though the most salient aspects of Charley’s life had fallen apart all at once, other parts of her life (such as her relationship to those besides her husband and son) seemed to be gradually crumbling in the process without Charley even noticing. Within this depiction of the frayed relationship between Charley and her siblings, the initial image of the superwoman is further complicated. Despite a successful career, husband, and family, perhaps all of this couldn’t be maintained if Charley had also made a sustained commitment to foster a relationship with her father and siblings. Her inability to do so is precisely why Michele Wallace (1999) has described the superwoman as a “myth.”
“She is the embodiment of mother earth, the quintessential mother with infinite, life-giving, and nurturing reserves. In other words, she is a superwoman.” (Wallace, 1999, p. 107)
While this supposed superwoman is expected to possess the ability to maintain all of her relationships while overcoming all challenges and hardship, this image isn’t attainable for any one person. As hard as Charley tries to embody the image of the superwoman, it is revealed that the superwoman was never truly part of her reality even when she thought she had it down pact. Through the rebuilding of her relationship with her siblings and her ties to Louisiana, Charley begins to unpack and reconstruct her identity.
The Struggle to Let Go of the “Superwoman” Mentality
The most fundamental element of Black womanhood manifested in Charley lies not so much in projections of the superwoman trope by others but rather Charley’s own self projection and internalization of the superwoman mentality. Throughout Charley’s adaption to her new life, she constantly wrestles with the notion that her credentials and experience mean she is capable of accomplishing anything she puts her mind to. As she goes through the process of ending her marriage with Davis, the business knowledge and expertise that she once poured into Davis’s career was now being devoted to the maintenance of her father’s sugar cane farm ultimately leading to the building of her own sugarcane mill. At times, her innate determination works in her favor as it allows her to go head-to-head, unintimidated by racist white male mill owners. This fight earns her the honor of being the first Black woman to own and run a sugarcane mill specifically in service to Black farm owners. Charley’s “I can do it all” mindset seems to get her through the numerous challenges she faces on the way. Except when it doesn’t.
When situations are inevitably out of Charley’s control, the emotional toll of the superwoman/perfectionist mentality are revealed through Charley’s gut wrenching breakdown. Even after her failed marriage shattered the perfect image she had worked to maintain, Charley is still determined to put the pieces of her life back together in a way that maintains a new version of a perfect image. She attempts to embody this by focusing the bulk of her energy into the farm and the raising of her son. When Micah has a traumatic encounter with a White Louisiana police officer in season two, Charley again hurries to find a solution to her son’s pain. When she is unable to “fix” things, she starts to blame her son’s grief on her shortcomings as a mother. Her inner drive for success often has adverse effects when things don’t work out. However, as Charley develops throughout the series, she slowly begins to deconstruct and reevaluate her perfectionist ways, as she learns to lean on the support of her family and friends and most importantly ask for help.
While Charley may never fully get rid of her superwoman aspirations, it is the ways in which she negotiates, works through and keeps moving forward that depict an intriguing representation of Black womanhood. While it’s been proven time and time again that she isn’t the indestructible superwoman she hopes she were, it is also shown that she isn’t broken or incapable of learning from the past and maintaining her inner drive.
