It's Murray Time!

[meddow]

I wanted to contribute to halfamoon and decided I would celebrate Nicola Murray, lead character and Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship in the third series of The Thick of It. I'm not sure how well known it is, but The Thick of It changed last year from a show with a male lead, to a show with a female lead, and really, how often does that happen? That in itself is pretty awesome and that way, she is actually quite ground breaking.

But, really, what I love most about her in terms of being an awesome female character is that she is not the singular and not-so-funny female island of competency in a world of screwed up and hilarious males. No, Nicola is just a screwed up, hilarious and incompetent as all the men in The Thick of It. That sounds contradictory, but the above trope seems to be the norm in comedy these days and I think it's fantastic when women get to be funny.

Comments

[arathesane.livejournal.com]

So beyond awesome I don't have the words.

I agree with everything you said about Nicola and I love the quotes you chose.

I love Nicola and Rebecca Front so much!

(Oh, by the way, the link you put in TTOI comm doesn't seem to work. I had to come to this comm directly to see this. Or rather I went to that comm and then linked into your lj!)

[runawaynun.livejournal.com]

I love this so much. I fell in love with her when her first answer to Malcolm was the crack about her daughter and heroin. :D

Anyway, I'm really happy that someone did something for Nicola for halfamoon. The Nicola love MUST spread.

And it's always hard to explain WHY I love her so much -- 'cause so many of the other women I'm fannish about are amazingly competent and down-right scary. And then there's Nicola Murray -- the bumbling cabinet minister. But I love that she gets in a male dominated arena and keeps fighting and swearing with the big boys. And while so many of the characters seem to be so focused on their OWN careers that she in 3x04 during her breakdown in Malcolm's office is worried that she's not helping OTHER PEOPLE. <3

[icecrystal2k.livejournal.com]

These are really nice! The quotes, too! Heh, the one about "I'm using fucking vanilla extract!" never fails to make me laugh.

I love your point about women being allowed to be funny.

[oddrid.livejournal.com]

Oh my god I love her so much. That quote when she tells off Malcolm, about how male power obsession is making people despise politics, I LOVE her for that because it's SO TRUE.

I'm definitely bookmarking this so I can come back to it whenever I need cheering up. Thanks!

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

This is brilliant, thank you. I love how there's no 'generic totty' characters on TTOI. There are quite a few women (Terri, Robyn, now Nicola and Emma) who are all AWESOME but none of whom are "conventionally attractive".

[lynchgrrrl88.livejournal.com]

I am seriously attracted to Rebecca Front! Guh, awesome spam, absolutely loved the quotes being added too. This show hasn't come out in Australia yet so I am patiently waiting. Thanks for posting :D

[cannibalcake.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this. Made my fucking day.

Nicola's so AWESOME. And so's Rebecca Front. Funny women FTW!

[grenadine.livejournal.com]

Oh, Nicola. I do love her, and it did take me a while to figure out why, since like you I tend to be drawn to much stronger, more competent female characters. When I first started watching tTOI, she reminded me of a quote about Sam from West Wing:

"You know, it was a screw-up. But I gotta say, I love the way he did it full speed, bam. Like there's a Sam Seaborn-shaped hole in the wall."

And I think that's why I love Nicola, like, in front of her there's this giant wall made of her own inexperience, and her total lack of power, and the way the system is constantly working against her. But she's just going to keep running into the goddamn wall, because that is literally the only thing there is to do besides going and lying down in the street. Which is what I would have done, if I were her, like a million times over by now.

Plus, she'll do what Malcolm says, but she'll also tell him exactly how much he (his plan, the entire political system) can go fuck themselves. Which is her wringing some shreds of agency out of her own powerlessness, which is totally awesome.

[whyoffry.livejournal.com]

HOT DAMN. Now there's a picspam! Thanks for the giggles!

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

Oh my GOD!!! I love Nicola! I love this show! It's absolutely cringeworthy sometimes, but I get so hypnotized by Malcolm Tucker, I can't look away!

And yes, I love everything you say about Nicola's character. As much as I love for a female character to kick arse, I like her inexperience and her foibles. How deep down, she wants to make changes and realises that she has to play the power game, but really doesn't like the taste of it. She and Malcolm are fantastic to watch!

This was awesome!

[lathaina.livejournal.com]

LOL, love all the quotes. btw, what font did you use? it looks great.

[lucinatrivia.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with Nicola not being the Competent Woman Surrounded By Comedy Men - Rebecca Front wrote somewhere about how she had to play that role in an early show and she was determined not to get into it here. But as a character, one of my favourite moments is when the useless conference press officer is being useless, to which Nicola replies something about 'not to be rude - fuck it, let's be rude: it's your job.'

[catslash.livejournal.com]

This is a brilliant picspam. :D You did a great job compiling the images and quotes, and reminding me of how much I love Nicola! I can't wait to get to series three in my personal journal rewatch. I have missed series three, especially Nicola.

[patsch.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Great picspam, and I agree: what I love about Nicole (/Rebecca Front) is that she's just as hilarious as her ale counterparts and predecessors - if not more so.

Also: your header is the Best. Thing. Ever.

[britfan1013.livejournal.com]

A bit late but I had to say "Awesome picspam." :)

[murphy987.livejournal.com]

I was sadly out of commission when this was posted, so I'm just seeing it now, but this is OUTSTANDING!

I have mad love for Nicola and for her really earnest desire to make things better. But, like you said, I love that she gets to screw up and be funny and swear with the big boys.

Thanks for this!! :D