Low stakes viewing: The Bold Type

Mid way through last year my then-housemate introduced me to a show on Stan called The Bold Type. The story of three millennial woman working at a magazine in New York City, the show has a pretty obvious appeal for anyone with an interest in anything to do with media, current events and pop culture.

The show styles itself as extremely ‘woke’. Storylines revolve around the relative privilege of characters, the bisexuality of one bi-racial character, the workplace dynamics relating to sex with a superior and the importance of diversity and inclusion in all things. In this sense, it can be easy to roll your eyes at the sheer volume or buzzwords and good intentions, but ultimately, the characters are likeable and a realistic enough portrayal of a certain kind of inner-city modern feminism that it remains entertaining.

It also features Australian actress Aisha Dee (known for her Saddle Club fame) and a non-Meryl Streep version of an Anna Wintour style character as the magazine’s editor in chief. Yet, in The Bold Type universe, the editor is a mentor and promoter of women’s careers, in contrast to Wintour’s famous tendency to pull the ladder up after herself. Whatever the glories of Streep's Wintour inspired character in The Devil Wears Prada, it is positive that more supportive perspective be portrayed. 

While The Bold Type isn’t likely to win major awards or indeed set the TV landscape on fire, it says something that a broadly popular, middle of the road show now features notions of diversity and inclusion so centrally. In doing so, it probably helps to shape the worldview of otherwise non or a-political viewers, somewhat by stealth. If that sounds like a right-wing talking point about the assault of political correctness of western civilisation, that’s because it kind of is, just something I, in this case, would regard as a good thing!