Firstly, every single character is attractive. All of them. It's just so aesthetically pleasing to watch Jack Falehee's face for 45 minutes.
Secondly, the show is very feminist! Nothing makes me happier... I broke it down into three main ways HTGAWM is a solid feminist series, and even if you have never seen it or don't plan to, I'll address some generic issues about diverse representation in the media.
REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN
How to Get Away With Murder is dripping in strong, developed, complex female characters, and it's really quite beautiful. Although the protagonist is (the very good looking) Alfred Enoch, the show straight up establishes many female main characters. Considering that the genre of the show - legal murder mystery - is a typically male dominated sphere in entertainment, it is extremely significant that there is strong female representation. While we usually see only female victims and the occasional female romantic interest in these types of shows, HTGAWM has female murderers, female legal professionals and female law students. The plot revolves around five law students (three male, two female) and their brilliant professor and mentor Annalise Keating. Yep that's right, the highly respected, powerful, in control and terrifying barrister is a woman! This is actually a very unusual sight on TV.
On top of having a solid female cast, HTGAWM goes a step further and actually develops the female characters. So often we have women on TV who are never given as much history and depth as their male counterparts, and if they are, its usually only in relation to their status as love interest/sex toy. In this series, we see multiple women given interesting back stories and multi-faceted personalities that portray these women as actual people. Ugh its amazing! What's more, these personalities don't just stick to typical female tropes; Annalise Keating and her assistant Bonnie Winterbottom actively go against the "nurturing" "motherly" tropes that women are so often stuck with. And on top of this, they are not vilified for being "barren and cold hearted bitches", they're characterised as accomplished lawyers who are worthy of respect.
The good stuff keeps coming, HTGAWM has excellent female casting even in the background (literally). In a courtroom scene, it is pretty standard to see a male judge, male barristers and male court officers etc. Even when your main character is female, you still expect to see these minor characters as male because it is such a normalised masculine situation. Not in this show! Throughout the various cases Annalise takes on, it is very common for the courtroom scene to be female dominated. That's right, not just equally represented, but dominating! So many court scene have female judges, female prosecution attorneys, female solicitors. We are so used to seeing men in these positions that one or two women seems "accepting", and a predominantly female cast in a single scene is outrageously feminist. Why is it that we can so easily accept having a mostly male cast, but a mostly female one is weird, unnatural, "too PC"? Oppression, that's why.
RACIALLY DIVERSE REPRESENTATION.
You know how I said it's so amazing that the powerful barrister is female? She's also black. So is Wes, the protagonist. So is the top student, Michaela. So are two of the judges in the series. So is Annalise's police-officer boyfriend.
In reality, black people are overrepresented in jails and on death row in America, often because the white-dominated legal system is prejudiced against them. This issue is very well addressed in the series, as Annalise's legal team often discuss the difficulty of defending black clients, as they are more likely to receive harsher sentences, especially if they're charged with the murder or assault of a white person. HTGAWM also undermines the stereotype by creating plotlines where the black defendants are usually found to be innocent; framed by the *white* murderer. Whether or not this is statistically common, it sends a very powerful message and helps challenge our racist lens on society.
The other thing I loved about Annalise's characterisation as a black woman was that they didn't ignore her blackness. It's all very well to have strong, wealthy, respected black actors on the screen, but often their characters are represented as... white. Having a black person act as a smart, self-made barrister without acknowledging the socio-cultural factors that affect them as actual black people is the lesser of two evils rather than stupendous African-American representation. HTGAWM however, chooses to actively incorporate aspects of Annalise's life that are linked to her experience as a black woman in America. As the plot investigates her childhood, the audience become aware of things she has experienced as a disadvantaged black person, and how these experiences shaped the person she currently is. Three thumbs up.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE CHARACTERS
Very often the power dynamics between male and female characters regurgitates the old sexist trope of dominant males and submissive females; the male boss and the sexy female assistant. Once again I am pleased to announce that HTGAWM subverts this wonderfully.
One of Annalise's assistants who she bosses around, and who abides by her every word is male. A man subservient to a non-villainised woman on national TV! It's basically Christmas! But seriously, it is so great to finally see a reversal of these tired gender roles, and it makes us realise how conditioned we are to assume that the female's "natural" position is below the man. In your average TV show, we would expect Frank's role to be played by a woman, and the fact that the character is not only male, but also hyper-masculine is very significant in challenging the status quo.
And overall, the relationship between the male and female characters is great; the men respect and admire the women both above and below them, and the women are independent of their male counterparts, yet still pursue healthy, natural interactions with them as people.
How to Get Away With Murder is dripping in strong, developed, complex female characters, and it's really quite beautiful. Although the protagonist is (the very good looking) Alfred Enoch, the show straight up establishes many female main characters. Considering that the genre of the show - legal murder mystery - is a typically male dominated sphere in entertainment, it is extremely significant that there is strong female representation. While we usually see only female victims and the occasional female romantic interest in these types of shows, HTGAWM has female murderers, female legal professionals and female law students. The plot revolves around five law students (three male, two female) and their brilliant professor and mentor Annalise Keating. Yep that's right, the highly respected, powerful, in control and terrifying barrister is a woman! This is actually a very unusual sight on TV.
On top of having a solid female cast, HTGAWM goes a step further and actually develops the female characters. So often we have women on TV who are never given as much history and depth as their male counterparts, and if they are, its usually only in relation to their status as love interest/sex toy. In this series, we see multiple women given interesting back stories and multi-faceted personalities that portray these women as actual people. Ugh its amazing! What's more, these personalities don't just stick to typical female tropes; Annalise Keating and her assistant Bonnie Winterbottom actively go against the "nurturing" "motherly" tropes that women are so often stuck with. And on top of this, they are not vilified for being "barren and cold hearted bitches", they're characterised as accomplished lawyers who are worthy of respect.
The good stuff keeps coming, HTGAWM has excellent female casting even in the background (literally). In a courtroom scene, it is pretty standard to see a male judge, male barristers and male court officers etc. Even when your main character is female, you still expect to see these minor characters as male because it is such a normalised masculine situation. Not in this show! Throughout the various cases Annalise takes on, it is very common for the courtroom scene to be female dominated. That's right, not just equally represented, but dominating! So many court scene have female judges, female prosecution attorneys, female solicitors. We are so used to seeing men in these positions that one or two women seems "accepting", and a predominantly female cast in a single scene is outrageously feminist. Why is it that we can so easily accept having a mostly male cast, but a mostly female one is weird, unnatural, "too PC"? Oppression, that's why.
RACIALLY DIVERSE REPRESENTATION.
You know how I said it's so amazing that the powerful barrister is female? She's also black. So is Wes, the protagonist. So is the top student, Michaela. So are two of the judges in the series. So is Annalise's police-officer boyfriend.
In reality, black people are overrepresented in jails and on death row in America, often because the white-dominated legal system is prejudiced against them. This issue is very well addressed in the series, as Annalise's legal team often discuss the difficulty of defending black clients, as they are more likely to receive harsher sentences, especially if they're charged with the murder or assault of a white person. HTGAWM also undermines the stereotype by creating plotlines where the black defendants are usually found to be innocent; framed by the *white* murderer. Whether or not this is statistically common, it sends a very powerful message and helps challenge our racist lens on society.
The other thing I loved about Annalise's characterisation as a black woman was that they didn't ignore her blackness. It's all very well to have strong, wealthy, respected black actors on the screen, but often their characters are represented as... white. Having a black person act as a smart, self-made barrister without acknowledging the socio-cultural factors that affect them as actual black people is the lesser of two evils rather than stupendous African-American representation. HTGAWM however, chooses to actively incorporate aspects of Annalise's life that are linked to her experience as a black woman in America. As the plot investigates her childhood, the audience become aware of things she has experienced as a disadvantaged black person, and how these experiences shaped the person she currently is. Three thumbs up.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE CHARACTERS
Very often the power dynamics between male and female characters regurgitates the old sexist trope of dominant males and submissive females; the male boss and the sexy female assistant. Once again I am pleased to announce that HTGAWM subverts this wonderfully.
One of Annalise's assistants who she bosses around, and who abides by her every word is male. A man subservient to a non-villainised woman on national TV! It's basically Christmas! But seriously, it is so great to finally see a reversal of these tired gender roles, and it makes us realise how conditioned we are to assume that the female's "natural" position is below the man. In your average TV show, we would expect Frank's role to be played by a woman, and the fact that the character is not only male, but also hyper-masculine is very significant in challenging the status quo.
And overall, the relationship between the male and female characters is great; the men respect and admire the women both above and below them, and the women are independent of their male counterparts, yet still pursue healthy, natural interactions with them as people.
The show definitely has its problems, the token gay character Connor is a little stereotypical, and the main representation of Asian people is an IT guy - again quite a stereotype. But overall, How to Get Away With Murder actively portrays its characters as people rather than tropes, and that's what makes it feminist. It is actually very unusual for screenwriters to represent characters as complex humans when there is such a strong trend of following set characterisations, but this just results in regurgitating oppressive stereotypes.
10/10 would recommend.
Hannah
10/10 would recommend.
Hannah
P.S. Here is a picture of Jack Falehee to brighten your day :)
