Showtime’s ‘female problem’: Cancer, quality and motherhood

Abstract

Since the debut of the TV series Weeds in 2005, the cable network Showtime has developed a reputation for programming content based on the anti-heroine mother protagonist. This programming trend – which also includes The United States of Tara, Nurse Jackie and, most recently, The Big C – demonstrates the network’s success. In this way, Showtime pushes against the dominant trends of ‘quality television’s’ preference for male-centered programs ( The Sopranos, The Wire, etc.) with narratives featuring middle-aged females and the contemporary issues that they face as women and mothers. I use theorist Diane Negra’s notion of ‘time-anxiety’ trope in postfeminist representations of women, motherhood, consumerism and time. For Negra, the ‘time-anxiety’ trope is a marketing tool based on the biological categorization of essential female experiences, which include themes of motherhood, marriage and anti-aging. Turing to trade and magazine publications, I use the term ‘female problem’ to investigate Showtime’s programming and marketing based on female mental and physical illness and its relevance to a broader, postmodern female experience. Using The Big C as a case study, I am interested in the show’s depiction of cancer as a larger cultural metaphor for the failures of motherhood and anxieties around consumerism. At the same time, the show’s investment in female experience fails to account for female bodies that differ from the white, middle-class and youthful protagonist.