5 of the Best Women’s TV Speeches Ever (with video, of course)
To begin a series about how pop culture and feminism are intertwined in all kinds of incestuous ways, I must revisit the best of the genre. As I wrote in the introduction to my book, What Would Murphy Brown Do? I examine how the women on TV helped spark the fire of feminism that has been burning as long as I can remember.
If I took inspiration from women on TV, it was because it was more “real” than anything I heard in real life. This isn’t just women opening up, but it’s incredible writing as well. Not much more to say because these clips certainly speak for themselves. Without further ado, a very short history of women doing kickass monologues on televison.
Designing Women
If you didn’t grow up with this show, I’m sorry. You have missed out. But guess what? We have the internet, go watch some episodes. There was something very fresh about this sitcom about a group of women who run their own interior design business. And it was southern women too, a group we rarely saw outside of farce on TV. Designing Women ran from 1986–1993 and that was plenty of time to fall in love with an incredible spitfire named Julia Sugarbaker. I wanted to be her so badly. Played so deftly by Dixie Carter, Julia was that woman who looked great and could take a moronic imbecile down with words, just the best words. It sucks when you grow up and learn that it is hard to say exactly what you mean because, in real life, we don’t have writers. But that’s what we have TV for. Here is a speech titled “The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia.”
Lisa Kudrow in Scandal
In 2013, our most lovable “friend” made her appearance on the wildly popular ABC series, Scandal. Kudrow played congresswoman Josie Marcus, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. This turn by a beloved actress made for great television, giving Scandal a feminist plotline when it sorely needed it. According to The Atlantic’s Jake Flanagin, “She is the best parts of Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand amalgamated.” That’s quite a statment and she is quite a character. You can see her in all her feminist glory in this speech on women and politics.
Sigourney Weaver in Political Animals
This USA Network miniseries, aired in 2012, was about a woman Secretary of State clearly based on Hillary Clinton. (Sadly, I could not find video of this speech.) But in the pilot episode, Ms. Secretary of State decides she’s going to run for president. Imagine that (this is a good bit before Hillary Clinton actually did go on to run for president). When her son asks her what is going on with her…well, just read for yourself:
I’m just sick of it all.
That’s what’s going on.
I’m sick to death of the bullshit and the egos and the MEN.
Just one time, just once, I would like to accomplish something in this city without having to spend all my energy navigating the short-sighted, selfish, self-involved, and oh-so-fragile male egos that suck up all the oxygen in this town.
I may have never heard a better description of women navigating Washington D.C.
Roseanne
Roseanne was one of the pillars of my youth. She taught me so much, but most importantly, she taught me to take whatever life gives you with humor. Roseanne was another show that gave me a woman who was never afraid to say what she thought. She was a woman who looked at the laundry and dishes and said “this shit blows” (I’m paraphrasing.) It was exciting, at the time, to hear a working-class woman’s voice. It was and still is rare in TV. The great thing about the show was not only it’s honesty, but the gift humor gives us in terrible situations. The show was controversial, but, more importantly, it was always hilarious. As always, finales are never what we want them to be because there are just too many opinions. No storyline will please everyone. But that’s not to say that, even if there was a well-publicized hubbub over the Roseanne finale, the final speech should not get it’s due respect. I mean, there’s great writing in there, the gives-you-goosebumps kind of writing. Here’s “Into That Good Night.”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
What can we say about Buffy that hasn’t been said? This show is one of the most beloved shows I have ever encountered in all my years of TV-ing. Even my graduate school profs loved this show! Joss Whedon’s opus did give us some supremely kickass chicks. It also set up Buffy against the Council — a group hailing tradition and patriarchy, not unlike our own government. In the final episode of the series, Buffy bucks Council rules that there only be one slayer. To this end, she makes a rousing speech to her cohorts — the other women who are to be slayers. “Chosen” is one of those speeches that will go down in history as a call to arms for women. And clearly we need it more than ever.
