Light hearted thread: Fort Salem

[spire]

Hello everybody. I was just wondering if any of you have watched Fort Salem on BBC and how you feel about it. It is a mostly female cast and shows women in positions of power (even the non-witches, such as USA president).
I like it because I like seeing older women as strong leaders, young women as not needing men to validate them.

I know this is a story about magic and is clearly aimed at teenage girls, so possibly a bit frivolous for this chat board, but it is really refreshing. Has anyone else seen it?

I watched the first season and enjoyed it immensely - for those reasons, and also I like the magic bit too....

..... and as this is the sex and gender board, for discussions of this topic, I will also suggest that in the alternate reality of Fort Salem, trans women would not have the magical abilities of women because the magic is passed through the female line, to women. It's an interesting program in a world where The Handmaid's Tale is criticised for not portraying trans women.....

I watched it too. Am waiting for the second series. I like the fact that the strong leaders are also wrong, hotheaded, arrogant in their zeal. But are still female, only female.

I am glad to find I am not the only one who thought it had an interesting way of viewing gender roles!
There are plenty of non-gender conforming roles for women I thought. I really wanted my daughters to watch it, because I think seeing women with short hair, lesbians, black women with authority and power, older women, badly behaved women etc were all good role models to see on TV.
Even the general is surrounded by much older women who have power and knowledge.
As you say, in a forum where the handmaid's tale is debated, this is a very refreshing alternative.
Thank you for replying. I am looking forward to season 3.

I read something about it, thought it sounded good, then watched the trailer and wasn't thrilled so didn't get round to watching it. This is making me think I should give it a try though.

If you want a strong female role model, we had a brilliant and hilarious one back in the early 90s. The sitcom “Surgical Spirit” starred Nicola McAuliffe as a female consultant surgeon with an acid tongue and a tremendous line in put downs of her hapless male colleagues. There were about 50 episodes and I loved it. I was an anaesthetist at the time, and the role reversal of the usually male surgeon with a monstrous ego was so refreshing!

Oh I remember Surgical Spirit! 😁.

I have to say Fort Salem was a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I’m about as far from teenage as you can get but I loved it.

Adding this to my "to watch" list.

I hadn't heard that about Handmaids' Tale. WTAF? Have people said where they would expect TW to fit in? Surely they'd be out in the place where you just work and die (the farms?) and therefore irrelevant to the storyline thus not featured. Or maaayyyybeee if they are post op then they'd be in the brothels. They certainly wouldn't be allowed to be important and have the world revolve around them. I guess that might be where the TRAs are struggling with it

"Even the general is surrounded by much older women who have power and knowledge."
Aren't they actually young women whose youth the general is feeding on? (In episode 3, one of the Biddys dies, to be replaced by a young recruit who ages whilst the general regains youthfulness.) So instead of them contributing the wisdom of experience and knowledge to her, they give the devoted loyalty of starstruck youth (and their life-force). Which is interesting too, as it makes the general a more ambiguous character.

"Have people said where they would expect TW to fit in?"
IIRC there were a few posts on Twitter back then (written by TRAs or trolls, couldn't decide which) claiming that TW would be the Wives of the Generals.