A Cheap CW Show versus the “Age of Innocence” Threshold

A Cheap CW Show versus the “Age of Innocence” Threshold

To add to the list of “my productivity of Thanksgiving Break” (which, I won’t lie, has been taken over by sleeping between one in the morning to twelve in the afternoon) I made a terrible decision to sell my soul to CW’s most recent show “Reign”.  Reign is basically about a 15-year-old Queen Mary and her (of the 16^th century) role in Future King Francis’ French Empire. She is sent to France in attempt rekindle her arranged engagement to the crowned-prince Francis in order to save Scotland from being taken over by England. Sadly, when she arrives, she is clearly unwelcomed and has had several assassination attempts by the queen who disagrees with the engagement, and is forced to adapt to this obscure atmosphere where her words are hushed and are snapped at because she is a “woman”. Though Francis is cold to her because of her outspokenness and her presence is risky in the kingdom, he falls in love with her, as well as his looked-down-on illegitimate brother (whose mother is King Henry’s official mistress). She (apparently) falls in love with Francis, but is constantly disrespected by this Olivia-girl who Francis wants to openly make his mistress. I guess  this show is supposed to be about a love triangle but is actually about the Queen (QUEEN) of Scotland being abused because she is a woman therefore she deserves to be publicly humiliated by an affair, and when she takes interest in a man who will respect her (the illegitimate son of King Henry), she gets yelled at and tossed because it is wrong for her to look at other men while her own fiancée drags around his mistress.

Many viewers, including feminists, argue with my description of the show because even though having an affair is terrible, it was accepted in that society therefore it should be overlooked. They think Mary should just forget about the mistress and move on because it is her “job”. And though the inner-feminist in me disagrees with these critics, there is also a piece of me that wonders if I am wrong. Does Francis deserve to be judged, when his father taught him to do it? Does Francis deserve to be punished for something every man with power did have a mistress in that century? And when I really question it, I go back to the Age of Innocence, and how Archer seems to fight with the same system even though he was taught he had no logical reason to defend females, and I realize the show really isn’t about Francis at all. It’s about how women, like Ellen Olenska and Queen Mary, who are suppressed and ignored, continue to beat the odds against men and their social standards, and writers (novel or by screen) want us to realize that no matter what era it is/situation it has become, it is still wrong. The “Age of Innocence”, I think by reading The Age of Innocence , is the unofficial handbook of what a woman should be and what we are taught now (at least in Western countries) to break. It’s why we argue for criticism toward Francis, even though we were taught in World History that it was okay in that era. It is what makes us shudder when a man in Wharton’s story cannot fathom why Ellen Olenska would want a lawsuit against her horrifying husband, if it isn’t about looking for money. It is basically what makes us fight for feminism, even when there is a devil advocate ready to argue with a logical point.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that most of the time trashy young adult shows don’t always grasp feminism right, but when they do they really get it right.