Examining Power Structures and Edwin Jarvis’s Characteristics in Season 1 Episode 2 of Agent Carter

Did it pass the Bechdel Test? Yes

 

Power Structures enforcing Masculinity and Femininity

• Masculinity
  • “A lady shouldn’t be seeing this” … when they were torturing a man to see what he knew, she wasn’t allowed to be in the same room. This would be enforcing the thought that men are supposed to be and see violence and women are supposed to be more passive. 
  • The male CEO calls Peggy “darling” and referred to her as their secretary. 
• Femininity
  • They always send Peggy to do file related things, instead of actual fieldwork
  • When they did need her in the field, it was to scan the women for vita-radiation, as the men did not see that it was fit that they did

 

Edwin Jarvis’s Characteristics on the Bem Sex Test

• Masculine
  • Analytical, strong personality, ambitious
• Feminine
  • Loyal, no harsh language, compassionate

Shared by: Abby Kramer
Image Credit: Agent Carter, Season 1 Episode 2, 22:46

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