Pop culture is intrigued by the decade between 1960 and 1970 because of its contributions to fashion, music and art. It’s glorified by Hollywood in a way that tends to ignore the struggles and fights that were occurring during this time in order to maintain the light-hearted, “good vibes” feel of the era. Sometimes, however, it does produce content centered around the fights for change that made up the ’60s and ’70s and the Amazon Original Series “Good Girls Revolt”, released in late October, does just that.
The series is based on the 2012 novel by Lynn Povich called “The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace” and takes place in late 1960s New York City. It centers around the fight for workplace equality at “News of the Week,” the fictional magazine based off of “Newsweek,” because in the 1960s most aspiring female journalists were unable to actually write for a publication, instead remaining in the position of a researcher. They did the bulk of the journalistic work for their male coworkers who would then write the story and receive the byline and essentially all of the credit.
With the passing of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act in 1964, practices such as this were technically made illegal but some companies, including “Newsweek,” did not abide which inspired its female employees to file a lawsuit with the help of Eleanor Holmes Norton of the ACLU.
The show is made up of many familiar faces including Anna Camp, Hunter Parrish, Chris Diamantopolous, Joy Bryant and Jim Belushi but also features many first time or unknown actors such as Genevieve Angelson who plays the lead role of Patti Robinson.
“Good Girls Revolt” holds many similarities with “Mad Men” by their use of beautiful costumes, elegant and powerful characters, soundtracks that encompass the era they’re set in and new scandals at every turn. Fans of “Mad Men” are very unlikely to not enjoy this show because they are so similar and both deal with a sector of media, advertising and journalism.
When shows or movies depict the fight for some kind of progress and its specifically based on a real life event, it’s vital that that production shows all sides of the story. Although Hollywood has made immense progress in avoiding white-washing, it’s still too common and ignores the fact that the fight for the same progress was different for different groups of people.
“Good Girls Revolt” uses intersectionality to tell the story in a way that is more than adequate but less than perfect. The women of color at “Newsweek” did not participate in the lawsuit against the company because they felt that their fights were different from their white female coworkers. They are not a focal point of Lynn Povich’s novel and thus do not become a focal point of season one, which makes sense.
The show addresses women of color when Denise, a black woman, is hesitant to join the lawsuit after Patti and Cindy try to convince her and the other black women to join in the lawsuit. They even bring their lawyer, Eleanor Holmes Norton, in to try to convince her to join but the fight was too different and the repercussions were too severe for them to join. The show discusses this in vague detail because the specifics of the struggle black women were experiencing is hardly touched on.
The show talks about race relations again after Doug Rhodes writes a piece on the Black Panther Party and results in backlash which was common for the time. His discussion with a member of the Black Panther Party clearly shows their message, methods and fight and Denise later brings up a good point to Patti in stating how frustrating it was that no black person worked on the piece with Doug. The use of this situation highlighted a very important part of the history that took place during this time and the show did a good job of revealing the reality of this situation.
Acknowledging the fact that “Good Girls Revolt” addresses race relations and the women of color in this space is important, but it’s also important to use a critical feminist eye when watching shows intended to address historical events. This was also just the first season and season two could potentially bring the women of color into the picture more extensively.
From the point of view of someone that desires to enter the journalism field, this show inspires, ignites my passion and reminds me why the path I’ve chosen is important. After seeing what these women had to go through and what they were able to accomplish for me and every other woman that wants to enter this still male dominated field, I feel a renewed sense of aspiration. I eagerly await the release of season two and am comforted by the fact that I can go back to this show when I’m in need of some inspiration. We can never forget the fight that past generations went through so that we are able to live the way that we do today but it’s important to remember all parties involved, not just the ones you identify with.
You can watch “Good Girls Revolt” on Amazon Video.