dolorosa_12 | If you want to test a woman's character, give her power

Day Nine: Favorite female character in a drama show

Birgitte Nyborg (Borgen)

Borgen is a show very much after my own heart. If you get me started, two hours later I'll still be waffling on, earnestly rhapsodising about compromise, diplomacy and pragmatic idealism. One of my favourite hobby horses is the tendency of most stories to present inflexibility, individualism and the inability to listen to advice and the opinions of others as inherently heroic, and the related tendency to present these qualities as being essential elements of good leadership. To me, nothing could be further from the truth, and I'm always hungry for stories about diplomats, people who seek common ground, people who make compromises, and people who are effective leaders because they are excellent at working with others and helping pour their energies into achieving common goals.

In short, Borgen, a Danish political drama about the trials and tribulations of a left-of-centre coalition government, is the story I was always looking for. The leader of this government is Birgitte Nyborg, leader of the fictional 'Moderates', a centre-left minor party that has never been the senior partner in a coalition government before. The unexpected election results mean her party is in a position to lead the coalition, which they form with the Labour Party and Green Party, which are also fictional, but which have real-world equivalents. The first season focuses on the difficulties putting this coalition together, the second on the various ups and downs it faces in government, and the third on Nyborg's time in opposition, during which she forms a new party and attempts to change the political conversation. There are also subplots involving Nyborg's family life.

I love her for the principle with which she conducts her political life, the fact that she always tries to seek consensus within her government and among the voting public as a whole, her unalloyed joy in alliances well-made, and the effort she puts into understanding other people's points of view. I think that if more leaders - within politics and without - were like Birgitte Nyborg, the world would be a much better place. I also think that if we changed our definition of good leadership to something much closer to that exemplified by Nyborg, the world would be in much safer hands.

I sometimes feel that Borgen is the perfect foil to both The West Wing and The Thick of It. Each says something essential about the attitudes of the public to politics. While as a political journalist's daughter, a former journalist myself, and the sister of a public servant, the cynicism of The Thick of It does ring true, it's refreshing sometimes to see a show about politics that takes a more earnest, hopeful approach.

Day Ten: Favorite female character in a scifi/supernatural show
Day Eleven: Favorite female character in a children’s show
Day Twelve: Favorite female character in a movie
Day Thirteen: Favorite female character in a book
Day Fourteen: Favorite older female character
Day Fifteen: Favorite female character growth arc
Day Sixteen: Favorite mother character
Day Seventeen: Favorite warrior female character
Day Eighteen: Favorite non-warrior female character
Day Nineteen: Favorite non-human female character
Day Twenty: Favorite female antagonist
Day Twenty-One: Favorite female character screwed over by canon
Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates
Day Twenty-Three: Favorite female platonic relationship
Day Twenty-Four: Favorite female romantic relationship
Day Twenty-Five: Favorite mother/daughter and/or sister relationship
Day Twenty-Six: Favorite classical female character (from pre-20th century literature or mythology or the like)
Day Twenty-Seven: A female character you have extensive personal canon for
Day Twenty-Eight: Favorite female writer (television, books, movies, etc.)
Day Twenty-Nine: A female-centric fic rec
Day Thirty: Whatever you’d like!