Finding Borgen really annoying - does it get better?

[Takver]

So far I've only seen two episodes, but I'm finding all these emotionally unstable women being supported by their menfolk very irritating. (Despite the fact that it does pass the Bechdel test - at least episode 2 did, just.)

Anyone seen more - does it improve??? (DH reckons that all the men will fall apart too and even the score that way. . .)

Its a Danish political drama so far mostly about a woman trying to form a coalition govt with her as prime minister and a youngish woman tv journalist. DH found it for us to watch in an effort to find something we would both like (I'm hard to please as I dislike anything with violence or social awkwardness / embarassment as well as getting annoyed by sexist programmes) so I want to like it but it is so far not going down well . . .

I've been watching Borgen, so far it's been excellent - Last night's episode about gender politics was interesting. From a feminist perspective, it has a strong central female character who was to deal with the challenges of being prime minister, standing up to men who don't respect her, and the struggles of being PM and having a good family life

I like borgen but can see where you are coming from.
I think it is a realistic portrait of how male dominated the political and corporate world is and what the obsticles are that women face.
episode 5 is the one where the equality bill is discussed and showed how manipulative the 'world up there' is.

Maybe I should give it more time. Absolutely the political and corporate world is male dominated, which is why I find it very implausible that the woman leader of a political party doesn't have more steel. Similarly I reckon any 20 something woman who has made it to that level in political journalism would be a pretty tough cookie.

And why did the alcoholic journalist who gets sacked and the depressed/addicted politicians spouse have to be women as well. . . .

The last thing we watched was The State Within which I found much more plausible - the women were a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly, just like real life (and just like the men). I also liked the fact in that one that the one character who was plainly much younger and more attractive than remotely feasible in RL was a bloke!

I'm guessing the reason why the ex-PM's wife was a woman was because wives tend to be female (ok, that was sarcastic). However, there are female characters who are troubled, because, I would imagine there's a lot of pressure on being a politician's wife. The same goes for the older female journalist - there is a lot of pressure on female TV presenters as they age, and I think the show reflects that.

However, the men don't come across as uniformly great strong characters - Kaspar is troubled, Laugessen is a nasty piece of work.

I think the show just tries to show the political world of Denmark as it is. Be thankful there is such a strong female character in the show.

Well, I'm a feminist and I'm enjoying it.

I guess I just would like to see one significant female character who wasn't troubled / emotional. But I will give it another go.

None of the characters have struck me as emotionally unstable so far - if anything Kaspar is the most unstable, and the fitness bloke with his violent outburst. The set up the Prime Minister being supported at home by her spouse seems pretty typical, although usually it is the female spouse taking up the slack at home.

If all the characters were confident and successful it wouldn't be much of a drama - there needs to be some emotion and turmoil to make it interesting.

I also find katrine very strong. emotional, yes, but very professional and good at her job.

i love it,better than the killing. i do find the constant groping each other for sex a little bleugh, thats the PM and husband.agree about Kasper,cant wait to find out his "secret".i found the battle between Pernille,the "ugly" minister and the "sexy" minister a bit obvious and steriotypical.

I like it but since spotting a formula thats been present in at least the last three episodes I have lost a bit of sympathy with it. It seems that each episode has a tricky canundrum which is solved at the last minute by a brainwave or nifty manouvre from the PM. Shame as I think the characters are interesting and I enjoy the political/ media setting.

I guess I just would like to see one significant female character who wasn't troubled / emotional. But I will give it another go.

So far the female characters have been foremost so we've delved deeper into their emotions or troubles.. brigitte, kristen(?) and kasper are the three main characters so far.

maybenow, that is a fair comment. Maybe I just empathise more with the evil defence secretary and sarcastic FBI agent in The State Within

i think borgen's borin', tbh.

I really like Borgen, although I feel a little tricked by the constant wish-fulfilment as the female PM never fails to save the day. But maybe that?s not necessarily a bad thing ? a shining ?heroine? is much more likely to motivate other women to go into politics after all.

The only thing I wasn?t so keen on was the handling of the ?rape-history? of one of Katrine?s contacts (episode 4). It was brushed aside as if it didn?t matter in the grand scheme of things with the only real focus on the potential character-assassination of the guy. I know it is supposed to be a realistic portrayal of the world of journalism, and I know that in this ?reality? individual women hardly matter, but in the context of Katrine also being a woman, this could, and should, have been handled much more sensitively.

But other than that, it?s really gratifying to see women in powerful positions rather than as the usual side-act!

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