Friday, July 25, 2008

My Weekend Crush

Smart women dig Gillian Anderson. She embodies a certain quality we all hope to find in ourselves. She represents an ideal, a kind of gold standard. She is, in short, Special Agent Dana Scully. As a loyal “The X-Files” watcher through all but the last few send-in-the-new-guys seasons, I confess that after I first heard about the new movie my heart did an involuntary pitter-patter at the thought of seeing Anderson pantsuit up again. Scully was everything we don't normally get to see on television. A strong, serious, intelligent, independent, rational and respected female hero who was a true equal to her male partner.

Scully was the eternal skeptic, the perfect foil to Mulder's eager believer. She never once traded on her sexuality instead of her smarts. Sure she got rescued sometimes, but she also did the rescuing right back. Even today, 15 years after Dana Scully first entered our collective conscious, a female character like hers is the exception rather than the rule on television. We have Anderson's portrayal, at once so cerebral and centered but also searching and sensitive, to thank for keeping Scully true through all the twists and turns, conspiracies and cigarette smoking men, aliens and abductions. While I'm still not sure I believe in little green men, I know I believe in her. Happy weekend, all.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saw the movie last night. Seeing her again on screen was awesome!
I had missed Scully and Anderson.

jennifer from pittsburgh said...

I can't make the movie today (have to paint the bathroom) but I'll be there for the very first viewing tomorrow afternoon! I love, love, love the character of Scully, and GA is without a doubt my numero uno celebrity crush!

Sue J said...

oh yeah. once again you're spot on with this one, Ms. Snarker!

Anonymous said...

Scully was my first girl crush and 15 years later I still think she´s one of the most perfect charcters to ever grace the tv screen. I can´t wait to see the movie. I hear it´s very scully-centric!!!

Anonymous said...

Good choice, Dorothy. Dana Scully was definitely one of the best TV characters ever and I'll always have a hankering for Gillian Anderson because of her brilliant portrayal.

J9 said...

Saw the movie at 12:01 this morning, and I am still swooning over Scully - we got kick-ass Scully, and internally tormented Scully this time, and I think the depth of Gillian Anderson's understanding of Scully shows in subtle ways throughout. I hadn't realized just how much I missed well written, intelligent women on TV until now. I also horribly miss the chemistry between the actors, and haven't seen anything approaching this today.

chapin said...

The likes of Scully are sadly missing from TV today. I didn't think GA could get any sexier but I was totally wrong. She gets hotter every time I see her.

Trihardist said...

Plus she's hot!

Anonymous said...

Gillian A. is hot!

I read somewhere that David Duchovny suggested Jennifer Beals for the role of Scully. Which made me think:
Gillian Anderson as Scully
Jennifer Beals as Mulder.
::drool::

Anonymous said...

She is the only reason that I will see the movie. Plus, Beals x Anderson. Now, that's casting.

Anonymous said...

One of my first, if not the first crush I had on a woman. I want to see the movie even if they waited entirely too long to make it. I'll just have to wait a little longer for the dvd.

Lezlie Mac said...

I want to believe too...! Gillian A. does embody all that smart, kick-ass woman we still don't get to see enough on TV/Movie today.
And she's drool worthy. The reason for which I'm a sucker for suits now...
I'm sending waves of geek love to her.
Nice crush Ms.Snarker

Anonymous said...

First proper crush ever, and it never went away. And thanks to a side-crush on Annabeth Gish I even found the last few seasons quite pleasant. Lots of chemistry between the two of them! The movie opens here on Friday, and I'm gonna be first in line for tickets when they're released on Wednesday! I can't wait!

@ Anonymous re: J. Beals

Mmmmm... lovely visual. I think I read the same interview, it sent my muse right off to write L Word/X-Files crossovers. Good times.

Anonymous said...

Oh Ms. Snarker,
You never disappoint. I knew you'd think there was no other possibility for this weekend's crush. Went to the 12:01 showing and was actually pretty stunned at how much i loved seeing scully again. Since then, I dug out my old box sets and have been having a marathon.

Anonymous, what a great idea with J Beals and Gillian A. I think that thought will keep me smiling all week.

Anonymous said...

Her performance was without a doubt the best thing about the new X-Files movie. The strength, depth of character, and uncompromising awesomeness of Scully is something I've really, really missed having in my life and it totally made up for an otherwise pretty lacklustre film.

She was and remains my favourite celebrity crush :)

Anonymous said...

i love you gillian.