I've written before on this blog about representations of women in film, both good and not so good. I bought my husband all Roger Moore's James Bond films for Christmas, so I've spent a good deal of time over the last few weeks watching women on film being leered at, patronised and rescued by the male protagonist. Clearly looking to James Bond for positive female role models is a mistake.
Back in autumn last year the marvellous J.K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith, published her third Cormoran Strike detective novel, featuring ex-military police officer Cormoran Strike and his assistant, Robin Ellacott. Strike is a private detective, who hires Robin by accident as a secretary, and then finds that she has a great deal more to offer. Robin is a really fantastic example of a complex female character who is both strong and vulnerable, feminine and yet defying female stereotypes.
Robin moves to London to be with her fiancé, Matthew, and takes the job with Strike initially because she is looking for secretarial work to pay the bills. However, unbeknown to Strike, Robin has long cherished a secret wish to be a detective, and is thrilled to find herself working with one. She is extremely efficient, sorting out Strike's paperwork and showing professionalism in dealing with clients. Occasionally Strike gives her something more interesting to do, such as following a witness or digging up some information, and then she really comes into her own. Eventually she confesses her desire to be more than a secretary, and Strike sends her on a counter-surveillance course. By the time we get to this third novel, Strike has started to view Robin as a partner rather than an assistant, and is training her up to be a detective.
Robin is a petrol head; she loves cars and is an excellent driver, having taken several advance driving courses. During a long drive in the snow a lorry jacknifes on the motorway in front of Robin and Strike, and instead of slamming on the brakes, Robin hits the accelerator and skilfully manoeuvres them out of danger. Strike is impressed; Robin is irritated at his amazement that she might be a good driver.
In this third novel, Career of Evil, Robin is being stalked by a serial killer - we learn this in the very first chapter. The reader is nervous, knowing that she is in very serious danger. Meanwhile [SPOILER ALERT], we discover that Robin was once the victim of a violent crime, which caused her to drop out of university and move back in with her parents, unable to leave the house for months. As readers and movie-goers, we are used to women being the victims of violent crimes. However, Robin's quick thinking and excellent powers of observation meant that she not only survived the attack, but gave evidence which got her attacker convicted and imprisoned. She tells Strike about all this while drunk, and then is horrified the next day, fearing that he will see her as a victim and seek to protect her, rather than allow her to flourish as a detective. Fortunately, her fears are unfounded.
Towards the end of the novel, the serial killer finds Robin alone on a deserted street and pounces. She is on the phone to Strike at the time; her phone goes dead and he is terrified, thinking that the worst has happened. Later he discovers that the self-defence training she learned after the attack at university saves her; she manages to break away from the killer and runs to safety. I found this extremely satisfying as a female reader. Women learn to be afraid and to keep away from dangerous situations. We see ourselves as the victims of violence on TV, and when we are rescued, we are rescued by men. It was refreshing and encouraging to meet in this novel a woman who is vulnerable, as all of us are, men as well as women, but who refuses to be a victim.
Plus, she returns the Jimmy Choos she bought for her wedding and uses the money to hire a bodyguard so she can go and rescue a woman and her daughters from an abusive and violent partner. Robin Ellacott - what a woman.
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