Talk:Frank Black

One of the most interesting things about the Frank Black character is his interactions with sexist statements from other men, which I read as relatively feminist responses. The two examples I'm thinking of:

• In discussion with Peter when Peter talks about having a son, Black doesn't counter it, but he doesn't go along with it either. I want to see this again. My recollection is that there was a sort of absence of agreement which had its a significance; but maybe I'm reading too much into it. OTOH I would be very surprised if Black actually agreed with Peter on this, and could see him not going out & arguing in this moment when Peter is talking about his own motivations, his own thoughts -- good investigatorial technique. Maybe I'm being too apologist / thinking about it too much / over-analyzing; Peter's comment could have been either a throw-away not-thought-out example of sexism, or a deliberate portrayal of sexism; and either way, Frank Black's non-response could have been just that the writers didn't have anything to say. But they're very thoughtful throughout, so ...
• In discussion with sexist cop who can't imagine a woman investigating, Black argues; I think it happens a couple of times, once with an argument and once with an "I told you so" kind of moment. (But more polite.) To my mind, this is almost unique in TV. Women are sometimes shown confronting sexism but it almost always feels too pointed, too "I am a politically correct male director and I sympathize with my female characters." But the passing sexism that happens in commentary between men -- when do we see that? And when do we see a man critiquing or resisting it?

Will try to run down episodes & write something up on this, if someone else doesn't beat me to it. --LQ 11:23, 14 February 2007 (PST)