Michelle Monaghan defends portayal of women on True Detective

Credit: HBO

While the first season of True Detective was otherwise flawless, one major gripe that fans of the series had was the portrayal of female characters and the utter lack thereof when it came to them existing at all. With female characters either appearing underwritten or as dead bodies, True Detective seemed to skip over the development of their female characters and not everyone was happy about that. But one of those female characters on the show is defending the writing. Michelle Monaghan, who played Maggie Hart, disagree with the idea that the show underwrote it’s female characters or that they were overshadowed in the grander scheme of the story. Per Stylist:

"“No, I’d disagree. They’re telling a particular story in a particular place at a particular time. I think the women as well as the men are portrayed as lost souls.”"

She has a point, as the female characters in the show weren’t just props, they had a bit of bite to them. For instance, as cocky as Marty is and as powerful as he is portrayed, he is still reduced to nothing when Maggie takes control and leaves him after discovering his affairs. It’s also insulting to Michelle Monaghan as an actress to say her character was underwritten, as that’s implying that she picked a role she knew she wouldn’t pop in. If Monaghan’s role is underwritten, then she makes the absolute most of it and saying that the female characters in the show are overshadowed by the main story is in of itself a sexist statement to make, especially given the excellent performance that Michelle Monaghan turns in. That’s not to say we wish we hadn’t seen more development of Maggie, but she was hardly a silent witness to the events of the series. [H/T: The Independent]