An Exploration Of How Feminism Is Portrayed in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s ‘Killing Eve’
I believe feminism is a key theory heavily denoted in TV show Killing Eve, not only by the characters but occurring in the genre and storyline itself. I aim to explore these themes within this essay and reveal any other relevant theories applicable too, as I feel there are a few different theories or aspects connoted in this media text.
The thriller/ comedy genre series follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a British intelligence investigator tasked with capturing psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer).
Killing Eve’s series 1 showrunner, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, is best known for her hit series Fleabag & Crashing which she both wrote & stared in. Most of her previous work contains feminist themes, denoting the female characters as strong and represented as equal compared to the male characters, while questioning gender roles and what it means to be a feminist. She is quoted saying “…As women, we get the message about how to be a good girl — how to be a good, pretty girl — from such an early age. Then, at the same time, we’re told that well-behaved girls won’t change the world or ever make a splash. So it’s sort of like, well, what the fuck am I supposed to be? I’m supposed to be a really polite revolutionary?” — Aitkenhead, D. (2017). Phoebe Waller-Bridge: the Guardian.
Waller-Bridge’s own interest around assassins and murder actually fueled her inspiration for writing the show, based on the books by Luke Jennings. “I fell into a Google hole around female assassins” — Phoebe Waller-Bridge Nytimes.com. (2019). The Wild Inspirations for ‘Killing Eve’. She also turned to ‘My Favorite Murder’, an all-female true-crime podcast, for understanding Eve’s growing fascination with murder.
Throughout the female-led dual narrative, both the protagonist and antagonist are represented as strong, independent and successful women in their own careers, actions and lives- although they couldn’t be more opposite. Eve & Villanelle are drawn towards each other, offering an interesting juxtaposition of personalities to intrigue the audience. The representation of women within this story goes against the stereotypical portrayal of women in media, providing a much stronger, equal and even dangerous depiction. I think the creators of this show intended to showcase that there isn’t just one kind of woman in society- which is usually stereotyped as a sexual object seen through the male gaze. Laura Mulvey theorised the voyeuristic approach to film denoting that women are seen as sexual objects through the eyes of a male perspective. “The spectator thus takes on the role of the male voyeur who imitates the voyeurism of the camera and the male actor within the film. This gaze causes the woman to be fetishised as a passive object to be looked at, while the man is the active subject who looks at the woman.” — Wan Yahya, Wan Roselezam, Abd Rahman, Emily and Zainal, Zainor Izat (2010) ‘Male Gaze, Pornography and the Fetishised Female’
However, I don’t believe the male gaze is prominently featured in Killing Eve itself, I think the oppositional female gaze takes it’s place instead. The female gaze takes on the point of view of a female perspective, forcing the audience to see the narrative through female eyes, rather than the usual objectifying male gaze. I can see the female gaze being used by both villanelle & Eve within this story as they are shown to be attracted to each other, not just through physical appearance or sexuality but also emotionally and intellectually. I think villanelle takes on a masculine approach to the female gaze, maybe paying homage to the male gaze, as she is seeing Eve in more of a scopophilic way- taking pleasure in watching Eve. We are then subjected to Eve’s viewpoint, providing a much more analytical, emotional & intellectual attraction. “It’s emotional and intimate. It sees people as people. It seeks to empathize rather than to objectify” — Telfer, T. (2018). How Do We Define the Female Gaze in 2018? Within this genre, I believe Villanelle represents an alternative to the typical femme fatale we are used to seeing. Femme Fatale’s have been a notable part of film history, creating the ideology that women can be dangerous and use their sexuality to get what they want- usually in an empowering way rather than being objectified. “When you think of a female assassin, you always think of the femme fatale, or overtly sexual, always using their sexuality to gain something or further themselves,” Comer tells Bustle. “Whereas I thought Villanelle had a lot of humanity and wit, and she was just really good at her job. I felt there was a lot more depth to her than what we see. She’s so quirky and she has a very particular sense of humour.” — Jodie Comer. Bustle. (2018). This TV Show Is Turning The Sexist Femme Fatale Stereotype On Its Head.
Despite the female gaze being a very noticeable theme within this media text, I have found the characters tend to use the male gaze to their own advantage and personal gain from an empowering and feminist standpoint, reaffirming their femme fatale attitudes. An example of this is when Eve agrees to go on a romantic date with a member of the Chinese government to seduce him and extract some important information about a suspicious death of a Chinese colonel she believes may be linked to Villanelle. There are also many instances where villanelle does a similar tactic to manipulate her victims or people for her own personal gain. This isn’t how audiences are used to seeing the male gaze on-screen. Instead of the male gaze denoting the males to be in power and control of the narrative, the females are. This allows us to question gender roles within in media and explore feminism in a different light, connoting that woman can use their sexuality to get what they want and be an empowered femme fatal rather than be a sexualised object there to satisfy the audiences need for the male gaze, as the uses and gratification theory would suggest.
Male characters within this show are often portrayed as passive, like Eve’s husband Nico who hardly has any impact on the storyline- except playing the part of a nagging husband, instead of the expected nagging wife. I think this is done on purpose to emphasise how important the female roles are for this storyline. Many of the male characters in the first few episodes are represented as sexist towards Eve for her position of power in her career- I believe the creators of this show intended to portray this as it’s a very real issue many women face in their everyday lives. Sexism is a constant presence for many women that can become an obstacle, Killing eve presents this perfectly when Eve figures out a key part of the investigation stating that the killer is female, but is completely dismissed as her male co-workers don’t believe a woman would be capable of such violence. Little did they know at the time, Eve was right- proving the point that even in the most professional of environments like MI6, sexism still exists and is engraved in society. The only male character in this show to be shown in a positive light and to impact the narrative is Bill. Bill is quite the unique character as he reveals he is queer- despite being married to a woman- minds his baby daughter often bringing her to meetings and cares very much about his work partner Eve and her safety. Bill seems to have quite a maternal instinct, not only for his baby but for Eve as he is always trying his best to look out her, help and be there for her when she needs it. Ultimately, this costs Bill his life in a tragic twist of cat & mouse between him and Villanelle. Within similar genres, the woman is often the one to be sacrificed for the sake of the narrative but I can see killing eve decided to shake things up and have a male role sacrificed as an alternative. Many of Bills gender roles are stereotypically feminine, which is another example of how this show challenges gender roles.
Overarching elements of queer theory linger within in Killing Eve, expressing that there is not just one type of sexuality, meaning heterosexuality, and people can identify as they like such as homosexual, pansexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, non-binary, gender-fluid or other subsets of the LGBTQ+ community. Eve and villanelle have a complicated relationship that seems to be mutually romantic but is built on a foundation of curiosity and fascination due to their work. As Eve is already in a relationship with her husband Nico, she goes through quite a confusing time, questioning her sexuality. I think the target demographic can relate to this issue as many people struggle themselves with sexuality, coming out and accepting themselves. Bill can also be seen as an important queer character in the show, as he reveals to Eve he has an ‘arrangement’ with his wife, where they are in an open relationship with any genders they like. Killing Eve highlights important issues regarding sexuality like homophobia, this is especially denoted when Villanelle is held in a Russian prison and beaten up by guards for being gay. I feel it’s important for the LBGTQ+ community to have better, bigger and more positive representations in media and killing eve has made a step in the right direction incorporating gay, bisexual and queer characters. “In recent years there has been some improvement in the representation of queer people on mainstream network television. The popularity of shows such as Will & Grace; La vie, la vie…; and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy demonstrates that networks are willing to feature queer characters as long as the shows draw high ratings and generate profits for advertisers.” — MediaSmarts. (2018). Queer Representation in Film and Television.
Killing Eve does a great job of creating important, equal and strong female characters- without it feeling forced or ‘man-hating’. Because of this, I feel strongly that the narrative passes The Bechdel Test. For a media text to pass The Bechdel Test, it must include the following:
Have at least two female characters
They must both have names
& They must talk to each other about something other than a man
