Female Character Meme Day 1: CJ Cregg

[paxpinnae]

So. This journal has been profoundly dead lately, because, well, life, the universe, and everything got in the way of fandom. However! I want it to be un-dead, or even resurrected, if you will. To that end, I'm doing the Female Character Meme that's been making the rounds, and because I'm a masochist, I'm not letting myself repeat a fandom. Thirty days, thirty fandoms, (more than) thirty kick-ass women. Let's begin.

Day One: Favorite Lead Female Character

C.J. Cregg, of The West Wing

When I saw the prompt for today, my first thought was “Are you sure you wouldn't rather have me do something easier and less heartless, like, say, kill a kitten?” Because I am very bad at picking favorites, and I have a LOT of favorite female leads. (This will become apparent later on.) So I decided to go not just for my favorite, but also for my aspiration, to look at the character I show to my younger female friends and relations as a role model; in short, when I was a wee baby Pax, who did I want to be when I grew up? And then C.J. Cregg waltzed in on legs that go to Canada and took over in a New York minute whilst making a better geography-related witty remark than I just did.

Over the course of seven seasons of The West Wing, C.J. stayed witty, poised, and utterly able to command attention at a podium and onscreen. Starting as Press Secretary, or the only one in a building of wonks and nerds who talks to the outside world, she made her job of controlling a room full of slavering reporters hungry for ink and airtime look easy enough that anyone could do it - until it was proved, repeatedly, that no one else could.

President Josiah Bartlet: You told the press I have a secret plan to fight inflation?
Josh Lyman: No, I did not. Let me be absolutely clear I DID NOT do that. Except yes, I did that.
President Josiah Bartlet: Josh, I'm a little confused.
Josh Lyman: Sir, there was this idiotic round robin. It was sarcastic! There's no way they didn't know that. They were just mad at me for imposing discipline and calling them stupid!

While she shone professionally, her personal life was also interesting and compelling, without delving into the complete soap opera that the lives of Josh Lyman and Toby Ziegler would become. (Sam's life, of course, started out as a soap opera. But we loved him for it.) Her love interests were, well, interesting - I wanted to see more of them, always. The romance between her and Danny Concannon, with all it's professional tension and witty repartee, remains one of my favorite of all time.

"Josh said you like goldfish."

She repeatedly used her position to argue for women's rights in the Middle East over military and political expediency, despite being fully aware of her position as the one on the senior staff with the least direct experience in political jockeying. However, she didn't let that stop her from developing increasingly original solutions to their problems, including one that still sticks in my mind as one of the greatest summaries of how American politics work ever, calling to mind the works of the late great Molly Ivins.

CJ Cregg: Leo, we need to be investigated by someone who wants to kill us just to watch us die. We need someone perceived by the American people to be irresponsible, untrustworthy, partisan, ambitious and thirsty for the limelight. Am I crazy or is this not a job for the U.S. House of Representatives?
Leo McGarry: Well, they'll get around to it sooner or later.
CJ Cregg: Let's make it sooner, let's make it now.

It was moments like that one that, in my mind, made her the only logical choice for Chief of Staff once Leo, Josh, and almost everyone else ran off to run the next campaign. She had the knowledge, she'd gained the experience, and she was the best person - male or female - for the job.

In the fullness of time, I can now admit that CJ Cregg is, as a character, not as flawless as I once thought she was. She suffers a little from sorkin-itis, that syndrome that makes everyone sound basically alike if you remove their intonations, and her screw-ups were treated in a slightly different manner from Josh Lyman's screw-ups. However, these flaws do nothing to change the fact that when I grow up, I want to be CJ Cregg - poised, professional, and able to crack jokes at the drop of a hat.

This classy, elegant lady thanks you for your time.

Day One: Favorite lead female character
Day Two: Favorite supporting female character
Day Three: A female character you hated but grew to love
Day Four: A female character you relate to
Day Five: Favorite female character on a male-driven show
Day Six: Favorite female-driven show
Day Seven: A female character that needs more screen time
Day Eight: Favorite female character in a comedy show
Day Nine: Favorite female character in a drama show
Day Ten: Favorite female character in a scifi/supernatural show
Day Eleven: Favorite female character in a children’s show
Day Twelve: Favorite female character in a movie
Day Thirteen: Favorite female character in a book
Day Fourteen: Favorite older female character
Day Fifteen: Favorite female character growth arc
Day Sixteen: Favorite mother character
Day Seventeen: Favorite warrior female character
Day Eighteen: Favorite non-warrior female character
Day Nineteen: Favorite non-human female character
Day Twenty: Favorite female antagonist
Day Twenty-One: Favorite female character screwed over by canon
Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates
Day Twenty-Three: Favorite female platonic relationship
Day Twenty-Four: Favorite female romantic relationship
Day Twenty-Five: Favorite mother/daughter and/or sister relationship
Day Twenty-Six: Favorite classical female character (from pre-20th century literature or mythology or the like)
Day Twenty-Seven: A female character you have extensive personal canon for
Day Twenty-Eight: Favorite female writer (television, books, movies, etc.)
Day Twenty-Nine: A female-centric fic rec
Day Thirty: Whatever you’d like!