The Heel Hindrance | The Media's Female Detective

The strong female detective: a feminist liberation, right? Hold that thought. Who's the first female police officer, detective, copper that comes to your mind? The classic Frances McDormund in Fargo? One of the Criminal Minds chicks, maybe, Prentiss? Recently, I started watching the Danish hit-series The Killing, another crime drama with a female detective as the lead. First few episodes, I'm hooked. But then I notice it. The real killer that haunts every show, every film with a female officer - the high heel.

There's nothing wrong with a lady loving her heels. Stiletto, boot, wedge or little blacks, they brighten our wardrobes and make us feel like we can conquer the world. But when I see an unstoppable ladies run into a crime scene or chase a killer, I want to see her being the badass that she is... I don't want to see her struggling to run because she's been stuffed into a heeled boot by a costume designer.  

Our beloved Emily Prentiss sporting a gorgeously unnecessary black boot in pursuit of a criminal 

Case in point: above, our much-loved Prentiss from Criminal Minds crouches behind a car, pistol in hand, focused on her target, and nicely outfitted in some beautiful black heeled boots. Necessary? Doubtful. "But the Criminal Minds ladies are called out without warning - they don't have time to change!" I hear you cry as you tilt your trilby. I find it hard to believe that in a show where there is a lengthy brief on a private jet, frequent mentions of the "go-bag", and scenes in which the team have had time to put on bullet proof vests, there has been no time for the ladies to slip their heels off. I call bullsh**. Criminal Minds isn't the only guilty party. Three episodes into the original Danish version of The Killing, detective Sarah Lund has been on a murder case for at least 12 hours. She's dropped her son off at his Grandmother's, sauntered in and out of the office, and gone back to see her Mum. But when she gets within 10 meters of the perp and starts to chase him, what rears its ugly head?

It's blurry, but it's there. When you see it...

Hidden under those from-the-naughties flared jeans are a pair of heeled boots bathed in from-the-naughties female objectification. Clearly this phenomenon isn't purebred Hollywood. But it might be where it came to be.
We all know the phrase femme fatale. The "independent", sexy, fierce woman who wears tight fitting dresses and seductive black heels. She was Hollywood's original "strong woman" (although we've come to know that she wasn't that "strong" at all). Hollywood told us she didn't need a man, thought for herself and had everyone under her thumb. And here's where we see the parallel. Hollywood (and apparently the media in general) wants us to think we're seeing a brilliant, well-written female character, because they know that third-wave feminism demands to see one. But instead of taking the time to write brilliant women, they've just hidden the things that made the femme fatale so obviously man-driven under a thin veil of "independence". 
Take Sarah Lund as an example. What they tell us: she's been the chief detective for what seems like a while; she has a sharp mind; she is a single mum; she doesn't need to wear skimpy outfits to be gorgeous. So she must be a well-written female, right? Wrong. What they don't tell us, but show us: her subplot revolves around her being a mother and giving up her job for that role; she's always wearing heels, despite her job requiring sensible shoes; she wants to move departments, but her male boss is having none of it, and stops her by playing the empathy card and listing off the victim's grievances. What's worse is that she's pitted against the macho new guy, who is the epitome of a male detective, making her, what, the epitome of a female detective? 
I'm not the only one this gets to. This kind of criticism really is everywhere. We're sick of it. So why does it keep happening. We've seen it before and we'll see it again, women were brought onto the silver screen as the object of the gaze, and nearly 100 years, 3 feminist movements and an endless battle against it, women still are the object of the gaze. Even if it is hidden under their flares.