The Good Wife's Representation of Women in the Political and Legal Realms: Balancing Expectations

Abstract

CBS's The Good Wiferepresents a new model of strong female leads in American television series. While television series have traditionally presented normative femininities, the new generation of political and legal dramas on premium television offers a variety of complex characters more responsive to the realities of contemporary society. The model introduced by Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife'sprotagonist, is analyzed in this paper as exemplary of the conflict between the public and private domains that today's working mothers face. Alicia's happiness is compromised as she tries to recover her identity as both a mother and a lawyer, while at the same time trying to maintain her public image as a political figure. Additional burden to this struggle is added by the disagreement between generations of feminists on what constituted happiness and success. This paper analyzes the individualized way in which a representative of the post-feminist generation tackles this issue and delivers a powerful message about the impossibility to reach balance in a flawed social environment that limits female freedom.