When the drug maker Pfizer put out a request for proposals, they were flooded with ideas from all over the world. But for some reason, one particular concept lodged in the minds of the ad agency: a black female superheroine fighting with a giant pink dildo as a penis prosthetic. The agency’s solution was to propose a very “Hollywood”-y concept: the black actress Anne Sophie DuPont. She would play the dual role of a dominatrix and a nurse in a sexy, high-end drug store montage. She would seduce men into buying their pills with the promise of casual sex. And, of course, she would be fighting crime while impregnating all those white men. To the delight of ad agency and client alike, the idea was accepted and the brief fulfilled. The catch? The actress behind the black superhero and pill saleswoman was actually white.
This week’s cover of The New York Times Magazine is an attempt to shine a light on Hollywood’s racial blind spots. Within its pages are portraits of black actors and actresses who have played leading and supporting roles in feature films. Most of the characters are of the supporting variety. However, there is one exception on the cover: Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time, the oft-delayed film adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic children’s novel. The cover features Madge, the film’s primary protagonist, and her friend Meg.
On one level, the selection of the novel and the film as a whole to represent black women in media this year is an apt choice. They are both outstanding examples of strong, independent black womanhood. Madge is a black female engineer who leads a rebellion against her father, a clockmaker who believes that women should only exist to men. In addition to being a kick-ass engineer, Madge is also a capable woman who is unapologetically sexual – as is evident in the film’s most famous scene, when she has oral sex with a strange man while disguised as a mannequin. Madge’s story is deeply personal for DuVernay and, for the author herself, it was a life-changing moment when she realized that “girls can be as boys”.
The movie follows Madge as she journeys to different dimensions to save the planets and, eventually, the universe. Along the way, she discovers she is capable of great creativity, as well as physically fighting off alien hordes and gigantic dinosaurs. On her journey, Madge meets Meg, a tomboyish girl who joins her quest to save the world. Together, they overcome great danger and struggle to find the answers they need. But it is Madge’s story that is being told here, as she is the one who ultimately changes her own fate. According to The New York Times Magazine, “It’s been nearly 60 years since Madeleine L’Engle published her ground-breaking book, A Wrinkle in Time, and, in that time, she’s become something of a poster girl for feminist thought. So it makes perfect sense that the protagonist of the 2018 film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time should be a feminist heroine, named Madge.”
Madge, like many literary characters before her, is a composite of strong, independent women DuVernay knew in real life. The director has said that she originally envisioned Madge as a younger, more rebellious version of Gloria Steinem, the renowned feminist, civil rights activist, and self-described “pioneer, bitch” – which was also the author’s self-description when she was a young activist. In her memoir, DuVernay wrote that she always saw herself as “the madcap feminist who would do anything for women’s rights.” But, as she got older and more established, she decided she wanted to be “a different kind of feminist – the kind that fights for peace.”
What does it mean to be a feminist these days? According to many women, today’s feminists are neither of the “old” nor the “new” variety, but some combination of the two. While the “old” feminists fight for reproductive rights and equal pay for women, the “new” ones focus on mental health and well-being. Many “new” feminists are highly critical of the idea that there is such a thing as “traditional” or “traditional feminism,” pointing out that there has always been an overlap between the two, regardless of political ideology.
In many ways, Madge embodies both the “old” and the “new” varieties of feminism. She is a trailblazer whose “madcap” antics and refusal to accept traditional gender roles set her apart from her more “traditional” counterparts. But, at the same time, she is also incredibly driven by her feminist beliefs, which are presented in the film as the key to saving the universe.
As noted by the author of the New York Times Magazine article, there is a reason why the character of Madge resonates with people of all genders and sexual orientations: “Madge is a force to be reckoned with – a black woman who kicks ass and tells it like it is. She also happens to be a woman who believes in equal rights for women. Many people, myself included, can relate to that.”
Whether or not you agree with her politics, there is no denying Madge’s bravery. In order to further the conversation about race and gender representation in media, I reached out to DuVernay to ask her about her pick to represent black women in media this year. She told me that, while she had many incredible female characters to choose from, she decided to go with Madge because she wanted to confront “the status quo” and shine a light on injustices that may still occur in Hollywood.
The Status Quo
In the decade since Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time was first published, Hollywood has changed. The industry is more diverse, with people of color occupying a larger portion of the seats behind the cameras. While there has been some improvement – the number of films with predominantly black casts has increased from a few to as many as 11 – it is still a rare occurrence. Even in the most successful films, there are only a handful of roles that can be described as “major character,” and only a handful of those are played by people of color.
Black actors and actresses have historically been cast in supporting roles or as servants. The few leading roles that have been offered to people of color have mostly gone to white men. While this may not seem particularly nefarious, it is important to keep in mind that this is a trend that has been set by Hollywood moguls who are predominantly white, and it has been followed by many lesser-known studios and individual producers.
If this were a story about a white actress playing a black character, it probably wouldn’t even make the cover of a national newspaper. But because it’s Madge, a character many people of color can relate to, it has generated a lot of interest. In addition to the author of the New York Times Magazine piece, Madge has been cited by GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and the NAACP as one of the most prominent black characters in movies this year.
Representation Matters
There is no denying that Madge is an important symbol of black women in film. But, for those who saw the recent backlash against Roseanne Barr and her show after she made a comment about white men, she represents the danger of one person, one opinion dominating the conversation. Barr’s defenders pointed out that she was simply voicing what many people, including her character, were thinking. But as someone who has worked in television for nearly two decades, I see this kind of defense mechanism every day. It is one thing to say what you’re thinking, but it is another entirely to say what others are thinking. If we are going to have a free society, we need to have the freedom to speak our minds, but we also need to have the understanding that this does not grant us permission to offend or hurt others. In this case, it seems that some people, whether they realized it or not, were being hurt by what Barr said. This is why I think it is important to have a conversation about Madge, even if it’s a conversation that makes some people uncomfortable.
A Conversation With Madge
When Madge first arrived on the big screen in the 2018 movie, co-starring the late, great, and forever-iconic Marjorie Merriweather Post, the only thing people were talking about was her large, fake penis.