For decades, men have dominated the sci-fi genre, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Although women make up half the population, female protagonists in sci-fi are few and far between, often only serving as romantic interests for their male counterparts. We seldom see the everyday woman portrayed on screen in sci-fi; that is, until recently. In the past few years, the release of two popular shows — Severance on AppleTV+ and Made For Love on HBO Max — has marked a shift in the depiction of female protagonists in sci-fi.
Severance follows the lives of workers at Lumon Industries — a sinister biotech company — who have been “severed:” having had their work and personal lives surgically separated through the implantation of a “Severance” microchip. When severed workers descend the elevator onto Lumon’s severed basement floor, the microchip implemented into their brain activates, transforming them into their work self, nicknamed their “innie.” While in “innie” form, severed workers cannot access any of their memories from before the severance procedure, nor any memories from outside work. When they ascend at the end of the day, the severance chip activates again, transforming workers back into their regular selves, who cannot recall any of the events of their workday. The series opens on newly severed employee Helly R (Britt Lower), who wakes up on a boardroom table unable to remember basic information about herself, such as her place of birth or the colour of her mother’s eyes. Helly immediately rebels against the established workplace hierarchy, leading her coworkers to question the true motives of the mysterious Lumon corporation.
Similar in theme, Made For Love follows Hazel Green (Cristin Milioti), wife of billionaire tech mogul and CEO of the eponymous Gogol corporation, Byron Gogol (Billy Magnussen). After her husband implants a microchip into her that allows him to surveil her every move without her consent, Hazel escapes the company’s headquarters – where she has been held hostage for ten years – and begins a journey to regain her independence.
Helly R and Hazel Green represent a different side of women than viewers are used to seeing in sci-fi; they are imperfect, often self-absorbed, aggressive, and downright messy. Helly and Hazel are not heroes, nor are they trying to be; they are simply women trying to survive under the frighteningly realistic ideals of patriarchal capitalism imposed on them in their respective dystopian universes.
The demand for multi-dimensional female characters is constantly increasing; social media posts about supporting “women’s rights and women’s wrongs,” using characters like Fleabag as examples, go viral almost daily. While many of these posts are sarcastic, they depict a desire from everyday women to see more flawed female characters represented on screen. Even with the emergence of female protagonists in sci-fi, in the wake of films like The Hunger Games, there are very few imperfect, multi-dimensional female characters in the genre. Female protagonists in sci-fi are usually written to appeal to the male gaze; they are strong, but not threatening. Helly and Hazel are different: they are strong-willed, bossy, and difficult to please. They were not written to appeal to male audiences, but to be realistic to the everyday woman, who is inherently imperfect.
In Severance, Helly is instinctually cynical and suspicious, immediately questioning the established hierarchy upon waking up at Lumon, thus leading her coworkers in the Macrodata Refinement Department to question all they know. Helly is determined to escape her reality no matter what, making rash decisions and refusing to follow the guidance of her coworkers — even if they have her best interest in mind. In the seventh episode, when her coworker Dylan learns first-hand that management at Lumon can wake “innies” up outside of the severed floor through a method known as the overtime contingency, Helly’s immediate response is to think about her interests. Although Dylan had a troubling personal experience with the overtime contingency, Helly is neither comforting nor understanding. Instead, Helly immediately wants to know if she can commandeer this technology for herself, to escape the severed floor and see the outside.
Like Helly, Hazel Green is innately brash and distrustful. After ten years of constant surveillance in the hub, she begins acting out upon her escape as revenge against her ex-husband. In the second season of Made For Love, Hazel returns to the hub with her father, Herbert (Ray Romano) — who has terminal pancreatic cancer — to get him the care he needs. Hazel transports Herbert to the hub while he is unconscious, recreating his home inside to maintain the facade that he is still in the outside world. When Herbert becomes suspicious that not all is as it seems, Hazel invites her childhood friend Bangles (Patti Harrison) to visit the hub, hoping that seeing her will ease Herbert’s suspicions. Hazel is aware of the risks in inviting Bangles to the hub — having been held hostage there for ten years — but does it anyway, risking the safety of her closest friend to maintain the façade.
Helly and Hazel’s choices in these situations are self-serving; both focus on their interests and ignore the feelings and safety of those around them. However, in the dangerous situations these characters are in — trapped in an abusive relationship or at a job that treats workers inhumanely — these are the kinds of choices these characters, just like regular, everyday women, must make to survive.
Much like regular everyday women, Hazel and Helly must also make sacrifices to help the people around them. Hazel’s decision to risk her safety and return to the hub to save her father is not necessarily heroic, but is sacrificial. She places her father’s needs above her own, knowing this decision means she may never leave the hub again. In the season 1 finale of Severance, Helly puts herself in danger to spread the message that severed workers face abuse and inhumane treatment, being effectively held prisoner by upper-level management. While her boss warns that doing this will lead to punishment for herself and her coworkers on Lumon’s severed floor, Helly does it anyway, hoping she can at least save someone else from undergoing the severance procedure.
It is no surprise that people have quickly fallen in love with Helly and Hazel: their characters are incredibly fierce, funny, and strong-willed, but also inherently flawed — an aspect that makes their characters unique. While the dystopian situations Hazel and Helly find themselves in are not relatable, as neither the severance nor made-for-love chips exist in real life, the plights these characters must face are not that different from what women deal with every day. Women frequently deal with abuse from spouses and poor treatment from upper-level management under late-stage capitalism, making it easy for many women to see themselves in these characters. Helly and Hazel may not be heroes in the traditional sense — they are no one’s saviours, nor are they trying to be. However, in a world dominated by patriarchal and capitalist ideals, Helly R and Hazel Green represent a new type of hero, a hero sci-fi so desperately needs: a woman just trying to survive.
