Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and the State of Period Dramas

In a recent Racialicious article, Kendra James explores why period dramas that feature harsh realities would never show up on primetime television nowadays.

Late in the second season of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, there’s an episode where the Klu Klux Klan comes to Colorado Springs. Half of the show’s one Black couple, is cornered by three Klan members the situation takes a disturbing turn. The Klansmen grab her in broad daylight and hold her down against one of her restaurant tables. At first it seems an act of rape is imminent. Yet somehow, when they rip her hair down from the carefully constructed bun she wears and begin to slowly carve it away with a barbershop razor while she screams, it seems almost worse –more intimate– than what could have been. Unlike many period dramas, Dr. Quinn never shied away from dealing with the difficult realities of its setting laid out.

Dr. Quinn used the characters Cloud Dancing and Sully to tackle a variety of issues not limited to the troubled formation of reservations and the Custer-led Indian Wars (notably, the show portrays General Custer as an unquestionably villainous character). The episode “Hearts and Minds” focused on the forced Westernization and education of Native American children, emphasizing the show’s efforts to present a different American narrative. Sully and Cloud Dancing’s relationship would fit well under the modern definition of television bromance that every show has to have, but could a Native character be created with as much thought as Cloud Dancing? Instinct and the craft shop crow sitting atop Johnny Depp’s head in trailers and stills for The Lone Ranger say, “probably not.”

Dr. Quinn distinguished itself by being one of the very few period dramas about the American past that focuses solely on a female protagonist — a professional female protagonist at that. Mad Men does the same, to an extent, but it’s built around an ensemble cast. While the professional woman hasn’t disappeared from modern or period television, their portrayals have changed. Shows can no longer get away with having only one “conventionally attractive” female star; Dr. Quinn went so far as to allow only Jane Seymour to wear her long hair down — the Western symbol of traditional femininity — all six seasons. And the lack of passionate romantic encounters would likely bore a modern audience so used to these encounters, problematic or not, as being necessary to move the plot along.

Whether we realize it or not, period television concerning American history tends to situate itself in a male Manifest Destiny mindset. From acts of gratuitous violence on shows like Boardwalk Empire and Deadwood, to the technically period-accurate acts of racism and sexism on Mad Men, American takes on period television present an unapologetic view of America’s upbringing. Instead of ever trying to challenge the actions (justifiably so) of our forefathers, current period dramas glorify them.

It is odd that period pieces have distinctly changed from showing the other side of the coin to as necessary to become the greatest country in the world. James says it only takes 1-3 million viewers to keep a cable show on the air, networks could probably do better if their shows catered to a larger audience.