The Women of WESTWORLD
**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
While it’s been a few weeks since the finale aired on December 4, I can’t get the phenomenon that is Westworld out of my head. The series captured the attention of viewers with its myriad unfolding narratives (pun intended). Some decry that there are elements of the show that couldn’t happen because of X, Y, or Z character motivations, but we’re talking about a sci-fi theme park where the ultra-rich go to kill and screw robots in all sorts of ways. (Probably coming in about ten years, I know.)
While that premise alone is fascinating, it’s not the only thing the series has going for it. Not only is the show spectacularly well executed in every sense, it portrays fully formed, complicated characters of various ethnicities and both genders, which I find particularly interesting if not revolutionary.
We live in a society that has steadily regressed in terms of its treatment of women for the past few decades. Alas, we bore the brunt of GamerGate, and now we have a screeching Cheeto mouthpiece that is President “Pussy Grabber” Elect. Or if you like, an even worse version of Greg Stillson from Stephen King’s The Dead Zone. In fact, this presidential election is a huge metaphor for all the suitably qualified, capable women who were ever shoved aside for a promotion in favor of a distinctly terrible male choice — just because.
The Director’s Guild of America reports that during the 2015-2016 season, women only directed 17% of episodic television. The numbers in feature film are even worse: the 2013-2015 two-year study found that women directed 6.4% of films. I can’t name a single female filmmaker whose body of work I grew up devouring, but I can name plenty of influential male auteurs. In films, television, and even cartoons, male characters are still the default protagonists.
As a result, the male gaze and perspective permeates our culture and how women are portrayed in media. Because of this, we see that female characters are not often relegated to the status males enjoy. Lady people onscreen are often there to further the plot, so the guy can save the day, or worse, up his status as a hotshot. See the phenomenon in which a smoking hot female “10” is partnered with a doughy schlub. I get that it’s a fantasy, but it’s infuriating how often it occurs.
Avoiding these awful, overused tropes is where Westworld is eons ahead of other television shows and most films. Here are a few choice quotes from my favorite women of Westworld and a little more about them:
CHARLOTTE
“I like you, Theresa. Not personally, but I like you for this job… The gods demand a blood sacrifice.” — Westworld board member Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson)
I’m unclear as to what exactly Charlotte’s role is, but she’s on the formidable, mysterious board of Westworld. She’s very young to hold such a position; she's also smart and cold-blooded. She’ll tell you exactly what’s on her mind, but she isn’t as rash as Elsie; she delivers her barbs with a calculating mind and can be diplomatic when it suits her interests. Charlotte is an executive who’s not afraid to get the metaphorical blood on her hands when it comes to making business decisions, and has no problem telling Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Ford (Anthony Hopkins) that they are to be fired or must resign.
THERESA
“Fuck you.” — Westworld Head of Quality Assurance Theresa Cullen (Sidse Babett Knudsen) to Director of Narrative Development Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman). [It’s worth noting that not long after this exchange, the frustrated Sizemore pissed on the Westworld interactive map in a drunken fit; instead of being fired, he was promoted. Also note that if a woman were to do this whether in reality or in fiction, she’d very likely not only lose her job but her sanity and morality would be questioned and she’d probably have a pretty hard time finding another gig. Charges might even be pressed for mayhem, destruction of property, and indecent exposure.]
Theresa starts out as a hard executive who has no issues butting up against other departments in a quest for dominance, or more importantly to her, the safety of the Westworld guests. She’s resourceful, insightful, and she uses people when she feels like it — notably her counterpart, Head of Programming Bernard, with whom she developed a romantic relationship. When she broke it off, it seemed like she felt a little bad, but she didn’t let that get in the way of business. She was presented like a bit of a villain, as it becomes known that she was secretly responsible for transmitting Westworld data out of the park, but that’s likely because she was acting on behalf of the board. I wish her character had been developed more and that we were able to learn more about her motivations before she came to an untimely end.
ARMISTICE
“I like your hat. I think I’ll keep it. The horses can have the rest of him.” — Westworld outlaw Armistice (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) to the Man in Black (Ed Harris)
We don’t know too much about Armistice, except that she has a tragic backstory, which has resulted in her becoming one of the leaders of an outlaw gang, along with Hector Escaton (Rodrigo Santoro). She appears to be one of the only female hosts in Westworld to not only raise a gun to someone, but to do so often. Her goal is to hunt down the newly minted Wyatt villain and his ilk. Every time she gets a step closer and kills one of his posse, she inks a section of her colorful snake tattoo — which swirls up her neck from her torso and onto her face. Armistice even manages to impress the hardened Man in Black with her steely eyed determination. She’s one of the hosts who helps Maeve escape, shooting humans and hosts alike without hesitation. Armistice’s arm was stuck in a hydraulic door during the finale, and rather than stick around and be defeated, she amputated herself. Fuck. Yeah. I can’t wait to see more of her.
DOLORES
“I imagined a story where I didn’t have to be the damsel.” — the oldest active host in Westworld, Sweetwater resident Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood)
Dolores is one of the characters we see the most over the first season of Westworld. Her character arc starts her off as the sunny, pretty girl-next-door type who “wouldn’t hurt a fly.” As the show goes on, Dolores experiences flashbacks of memories she’s been programmed to forget — awful things that have been done to both herself and to others around her. She has a naturally sweet disposition, but when she recalls these atrocities, she goes against her inclinations to fight back. A wallflower no more, Dolores even goes so far as to willfully assassinate Ford (likely something he wanted) during his resignation speech during the finale.
MAEVE
“At first I thought you and the others were gods. And then I realized you're just men, and I know men. You think I'm scared of death. I've done it a million times, and I'm fucking great at it. How many times have you died?” — Westworld madam Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton)
I think I might marry Maeve if I could. What an amazing character. She’s a no-holds-barred, I-don’t-give-a-fuck badass — as well as one of the first fully sentient hosts of Westworld. Her journey is fascinating to watch as she wakes and discovers her true reality, from little snippets of “gods” and nightmares to getting killed on purpose to learn more about what’s going on, and finally, to manipulating the body shop “butchers” into caving to her every will — and delivering scathing witticisms all the while. If the show were only based completely around Maeve, I’d still be hooked.
ELSIE
“It’s like everyone around here’s got a fuckin’ agenda except me.” — Westworld behavior tech Elsie Hughes (Shannon Woodward)
Elsie is a character who doesn’t take any shit, even though she’s constantly up against security and the QA team — who she constantly takes to task for their poor programming skills. She’s also not afraid of anything, be it searching for a stray host in the middle of the night or hunting for the source of the signal transmitting the Westworld data out of the park. She’s also intensely loyal to her boss, Bernard, which we see when she calls him immediately when she finds the transmitter. Things don’t seem to end well for Elsie, but I have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of her — especially since the show hasn’t explicitly spelled out her fate yet.
Actions speak louder than words, of course, and there’s plenty that the women of Westworld have to offer. In episode six, “The Adversary,” Theresa walks in on Charlotte in bed with bandit host Hector who’d requested a meeting. It’s a surprising display of dominance, as Charlotte opens the door to Theresa, fully nude and without a hint of shame.
Even Maeve’s formerly submissive friend Clementine Pennyfeather (Angela Sarafyan) went amok after a reset with some pretty insane moves — a head butt, throat punch, and breaking the neck of another host who’d beat her. Sadly, this means she must be retired. After all, we can’t have these pretty objects standing up for themselves and fighting back when they’re supposed to be subservient dolls.
There are many more examples of independence, dominance, sociopathy, anger, sorrow, and just about every other feeling or attribute on the spectrum of the human rainbow. To be fully represented without boundary is what equality is. When so little of your gender is shown that way, it feels revolutionary to see it actually done. I can only hope for more of this treatment, and that it becomes the norm.
And so Westworld, a show that explores what it means to be human, truly encompasses that concept by allowing every character to have a rich, developed life and story — not just the ones with extra appendages.
