By Julia Eve
Few characters are as consistently-defined across all iterations of a genre as the Detective. In most cases, he is an aloof, yet highly charismatic, man (what are real detectives even like, anyway?) who navigates through situations by the sheer force of his cologne.
BBC’s
The Fall, now in its second season, has received some attention for its supposedly counter-intuitive lead character, Stella Gibson, a hardened superintendent detective, played by the piercing Gillian Anderson. Gibson, a woman, is brought to Ireland from England to investigate a serial killer who, surprise, preys on women. The show has been given a lof of credit for the way the victims are treated as people rather than props and for the general badassery of Stella Gibson. However, the killer Paul Spector (played by Jamie Dornan) is sexy and intelligent, and the show devotes a lot of attention to him. Anti-heros are exciting, but to create a viewer-friendly serial killer who preys on women for the sake of entertainment is a tired trick. The show is also written and directed by a man, Allan Cubitt. And though he does aim for some sensitivity on the subject matter, making violence against women
sexy and clever at any time is
no longer excusable, especially when coming from a man.
But recently, I’ve found comfort in another female-led detective show, and it is beautiful.
Top of the Lake is directed and mostly written by Jane Campion,
the first female director to win the P’alme d’Or (for her 1993 film
The Piano). It takes place in the fictional town of Laketop, New Zealand, a pastoral but troubled town where children travel to school on horseback and drug lords live in A-frame homes. Something sinister is happening, and when a twelve-year-old pregnant girl, Tui Mitcham, disappears, detective Robin Griffith (Elizabeth Moss) must enter the dark corners of the Laketop’s consciousness.
