Submitted by twovests in television
A nepo-baby who abuses their position of power to sexually harass you. Being told to "smile more" by people in the workplace. Quid-pro-quo situations with your boss. Failing a male-variant of the Bechdel test.
All these things and more describe Jimmy, one of the main characters of "Hacks".
Hacks is a very good comedy with an almost entirely female cast. The two main characters are a gen-Z comedian and a boomer comedian whose careers are inseparably linked, but who fucking despise eachother. It's a show that makes me laugh consistently, and I love that a lot.
It's not told in a post-gender or a gender-blind thing. The characters experiences are very much shaped by the fact that they are women in a male-dominated society. But it's not a "feminist" show, and it's very much not a show that's not flavored with "girl power" or other milquetoast almost-feminist narratives.
It's rare, I think.
Refreshingly, it doesn't spend a lot of time explicitly re-telling the narratives of the (justified) gripes women have with male-dominated society. It's almost as if the showrunners trust us viewers to have already done our homework, by nature of Being Exposed To Mainstream Culture.
That is to say, even if you're a horrible 2010-era Reddit "le SJW warrior feminazis are killing the mens rights movement and that redpilled me" person, you're probably aware of and familiar with the "Women Are Sexually Harassed" narratives, or the "Women Are Tired Of Being Told To Smile More."
And, as I said in the start... Jimmy is the vehicle for all these things. Because the writers of Hacks know: There are still things to say about being told to smile more.
Jimmy is an effeminate man on Hacks, with a sexuality not confirmed but certainly gay-bait. As the thesis title and the examples of my opening sentence state, Jimmy is written, in part, to carry the more tired feminist narratives.
And, fuck man.
Jimmy suffers so much abuse at the hands of Kayla. (He is abused by other characters, especially Deb, but I'll focus on Kayla for now.) He suffers because Kayla wants to fuck him. His career is tied to appeasing a horrible, horrible nepo baby woman.
It's so on the nose the analogies the writers are making.
But... If you listen to Hacks fandom? This is what they say. (For context, Kayla constantly sexually harasses Jimmy):
Does anyone else ship these two? I know they’re meant to have a bit of an age gap (I think?) but their dynamic is so freakin cute.
Their dynamic is abusive! Hey!
It’s a healthy, positive relationship between people in a power dynamic. Yes it started off as Kayla making Jimmy uncomfortable, but I love seeing them as equal partners.
They are not! She holds immense power over him, and it is not healthy or positive!
Please give Kayla and Jimmy their own spinoff when this is over
Yeah! For the season finale, she can rape him! That'd be epic!
Conclusion:
Jimmy's story, and especially his dynamic with Kayla, is an intentional (and obvious) gender-swap dynamic about traditional narratives about how women endure in abusive, male-dominated dynamics.
It pains me to see so few people seeing this, romanticizing their abusive relationship. It's a subtle, feminist point the writers are trying to make -- the abuses Jimmy suffers are ones that are more often inflicted on women.
But people see it and lap it right up. They see Jimmy and Kayla as a cute couple. And it makes me sick.
I gotta get off Reddit.
TLDR: Good show "Hacks" uses a character, Jimmy, as a vehicle for "feminist" narratives that would otherwise be boring. I thought the genderswap was obvious, but I'm going crazy, finding nobody on the internet agreeing with me.
I'm not the only one who sees this, right? Are people watching this show so uncritically that Jimmy can be told "You should smile more" that they don't see the analogy?
The point is gender-swapped narratives of sexist microaggressions and abuse, right? I'm not crazy, I know Paul W. Downs swapped those genders. Right??
TLDR TLDR: Hacks is a good show and you should watch it. I'm sorry for recommending another Feminist Show with an almost-entirely white female cast.
Please don't mistake this for actual feminist theory. It's a funnies show. Go read some bell hooks for gods sake