"That might play with the masses, but underneath that angry young woman shell, there's a slightly less angry young woman who's just dying to bake me something. You're a marshmallow, Veronica Mars. A twinkie!"
So, yeah, you know you're addicted to a show when you start reading quotes on wikiquote to prepare a blogpost...and all of a sudden more than an hour has passed. And what's worse, aside from bringing back countless memories of moments that make the show great, I still don't quite know where to start talking about it.
Maybe here then: aside from being snarky and funny and heartbreaking, Veronica Mars constantly subverts (gender) expectations, and offers an exploration of what it means to be a girl in today's society.
Now, those are big words. But I think I can defend them.
Let's start with the concept. It's not just P.I. in high school, it's girl P.I in high school, and the girl part is just as important as the high school. I mean, just think about it: how many books or movies with a female detective do you know? They're there, actually, just google it and see, but generally, when we think private eye, we think private dick.
Considering this, making the main character female was already quite innovative, and to be honest, would probably not have been thought of were it not for the success of Veronica's big sister Buffy. But the creators went further, and dared to investigate what this gender change meant.
Joss Whedon has stated on numerous occasions that the inspiration from Buffy came partly from the "take back the night" campaign. What would happen, he wondered, if after a cute tiny blonde and a scary monster went into a dark alley, it was the monster who would come out battered and bruised, and the perky blonde victorious?
Rob Thomas took this idea to the logical next step: Veronica is a rape-victim. This immediately makes us aware that she is more vulnerable than the traditional PI's, who ran the risk of getting beaten or killed, but rarely to be violated. At the same time, it makes her stronger, or at least more fierce. Veronica is not just a PI with boobs: she's a PI who has other problems than the traditional ones, and other solutions.
In this way, the show investigates not only what it is to be a girl PI, but also more generally how to be a strong woman in today's society. Veronica copes by putting on her "angry young woman shell", and getting vengeance. In her own words: "Here's what you do: you get tough. You get even."
On the one hand, we can understand why she turns to this technique. On the other, we are presented with some alternatives, girls/somen who deal in different ways. We have the traditional madonna represented by Meg (complete with "immaculate" conception), though it has to be said she ends up dead. On the "whore" side of the spectrum, there are many examples, chief among them Kendall, who's gone so far into the manipulative and out for herself that she doesn't seem to have any emotions (she ends up dead too, incidentally). It seems nobody has found the perfect way of coping, not even Veronica
There is no doubt that Veronica is a role-model, at least in some repects. She is smart, she is strong, she is funny, certainly pretty, and while the most terrible things happen to her, she always stands back up and fights back. The stand up for herself, and for others. At the same time, she is not by far perfect, and she might not even always be the hero. In this way, she is exactly like Sam Spade, Phil Marlowe and all those others. She doesn't even always have the moral high ground. And she struggles with the balance between the twinkie inside and the (often all too ) necessary barrier that protects it.
No PI, of course, without a dame. And of course, here it's easy to run into trouble, and they did at first.
See, the mistake made at first is to intepret the femme fatale as someone who might be dangerous. And hence, we got dreadfully dull Duncan, who had weird "spells" and might have murdered his sister. But there's a problem with this did he or didn't he approach: if and when it turns out he didn't, the character becomes entirely uninsteresting. And let's be honest, nobody ever believed Duncan did it. Furthemore, while Duncan fit well with the overly sweet and vulnerable pre-murder and pre-rape Veronica, there was never any noticeable spark with the Veronica we all know and love, and luckily the writers quickly discovered they had another asset on their hands: Logan.
See, what really makes a femme fatale (or in this case homme fatal) dangerous is that they're in the big grey zone between good and bad. They usually feel real affection for the hero, but they never forget their own agenda, and they can't stop themselves from exploiting the hero's weaknesses.
Still, there remains a problem with the concept. See, the gender reversal here can never be complete. Veronica is a woman who is quite resolutely from Mars, and how could she ever fall in love with a Venus denizen?
They tried "feminizing" Logan in some respects. He is, for example, often the more affective of the two, while Veronica keeps her self-protective impulses firmly in place, as witnessed in this exchange:
- Logan: [About Keith] He should feel lucky. I mean, you could be out here with some pretty boy jerk just looking to get laid.
- Veronica: Wait, what are you saying? You aren't pretty?
- Logan: What I'm trying to say is that I'm in love with you.
- Veronica: The things guys'll say to get past second base.
I often wonder what it is I find fascinating about guys kissing. One of the explanations I have considered is that when two guys kiss, there can be ambiguity about who's kissing whom. While there are, of course, differences within the particular relationships, the basic premise is one of equality. When a girl and a guy kiss? Not so much. No matter how equal a relationship might be, when it comes to kissing, the girl is always supposed to be yielding.
I'm as guilty as the next girl. When I like a guy, not only do I giggle more, but I also try to appear somewhat softer. More vulnerable, even. I'm not sure how much of this is nature and how much is nurture, but there's no denying it's true. And I'm not even sure it's a bad thing, to be honest. I kind of like the feeling of being protected. But there's no denying a thrill is missing. A thrill often present in scenes of boys kissing boys. A thrill present in that wonderful scene in which Buffy and Spike bring the house down. A thrill present in those first two kisses Veronica and Logan share, because there is no way Veronica is yielding, ever. But here's where my examples stop, simply because I can't think of many.
What about girlpower, you say? What about the surge in female action heroes? Well, because despite their butt-kicking ways, they're often either non-sexual or as girly if not more so in their private lives. In the former category, think of Lara Croft, for example. Yes, she has big boobs. And I am aware she is very much lusted after by boy geeks. But the character itself is a video-game character, and even in a film remains flat and devoid of any true sexual nature. In the latter category, think of Charlie's angels, especially the ones played by Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore. They might be able to hold their own in a fight, but in their private lives they're just the same giggly, unsuspecting creatures men love to protect -and deceive.
The closest we've come to a LoVe or Buffy/Spike situation was another Angelina Jolie outing, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", which had some interesting things to say about gender roles as well (note especially how Mrs. is the more professional assassin). And strengthening my theory, I thought that kiss was not bad at all.
Still, no relationship on TV is as consistently fascinating and subversive as the one between Veronica and Logan (currently "on" again, for those keeping track). Theirs is an "epic" story, as Logan says "Spanning years, and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic! ". They're perfect for each other, and perfectly wrong. Logan's right. No one writes songs about the ones that come easy.
P.S. Wow, this was meandering, wasn't it... Oh well, as procrastination, it did its duty. Also, if you don't know VM, don't be discouraged by the above blather: the show is actually a lot of fun, not an exercise in feminist critique. It references "The Big Lebowski" repeatedly, for instance. And it has episode titled "Hi, Infidelity". And basically, it just rules. So watch it. Help keep it on the air, 'coz I can't.
