Read Me My Miranda, I Deserve it for liking Copaganda

I started this blog back in 2022, so I could get all of the political, social, and utter nonsense I obsessed over out of my system. To no one's suprise, my political opinions have adapted inline with my personal growth, and you my dear reader, have been privy to see these adapting unfiltered takes. As a result, I have been branded by my activism and advocacy, being dubbed the “social justice one” in some circles . 

But with this article, I may lose that title. I am having an illicit affair with a product of The Right. I am embarrassed to admit that I love cop shows. 

There. I said it. I love copaganda shows.

Have I lost your respect?

Don’t fret! Despite his best efforts, Tom Selleck has not seduced me into chanting blue lives matter. In fact, the blue bloods coursing through his veins turned me off his tenured series, Blue Bloods. Whether it's on TV or amongst me in the real world, I am repulsed by any and all blue lives matter flags as well as the firefighter equivalent (as no one is says anything bad about them, this is how they show their alliance...shit, I am saying something bad against them). With that aside, you must be wondering, why I’m pulling the blanket off my dirty mistress, and announcing her to the world. Well, I was recently shamed for binging Nathan Fillion’s The Rookie and having a little 3 person watch party of the series return 9-1-1 and the premiere of 9-1-1: Nashville did not help matters. 

I am 100% aware that cop shows are copoganda, and I watch with this aspect in mind. I do not want to experience any interaction with the police. I have zero interest in personally figuring out if a cop is a moral and just one like John Nolan (The Rookie) or a racist, corrupt detective like Hank Voight (Chicago PD). But it’s not about the men. It’s about the women.

The first cop show I ever watched was Hawai’i 5-0. I don’t know exactly when or why I started watching it, as I was not their target audience, but it gave me something I didn’t know I was looking for: undeniably strong women role models. I watched Hawaii 5-0, not for Danny Williams and Steve McGarrett’s cop partner banter, but to explore the storylines of Kono Kalakaua (Grace Park), Catherine Rollins (Michelle Borth), and Doris McGarrett (Christine Lahti). These women had illustrious careers in male dominated fields all while literally flipping men on their butts (okay not literally as stunt doubles do exist, but these women showed undeniable independence and strength). And when the women of NCIS packed up their bags, so did I. And I moved on to NCIS, Warehouse 13, SVU, Lie to Me, Rizzoli & Isles…and the list goes on and on. 

While some of my friends may be entranced by women in a uniform (you know who you are), I was and still kind of am hypnotized by what they represented a woman could do or be. Olivia Benson (SVU) doesn’t let the ironic systemic injustices from supporting sexual assault victims, and she has spent over 20 years advocating for change and adapting with it. Jane Rizzoli (Rizzoli & Isles) didn’t let the rampant sexism throughout Boston or the department stop her from doing her job; in fact, she mostly used it to her advantage. While Doctors Temperance Brennan (Bones) and Maura Isles (Rizzoli & Isles) worked with their respective police force, they solved countless crimes that their counterparts wouldn’t have been able to solve without them. Plus these women are neuro divergent badasses who showed how beauty and brains can go together. 

Women in these series have the opportunity to be some of the most complex characters on television. Like any marginalized group, they internally and externally battle the ingrained institutional bias, but unlike the hypermasculine male counterparts, they have the emotional intelligence to overcome it. When these men view the law in terms of black and white, women have the clarity to see the hundreds of variations of grey in the middle, helping them be better cops, but more importantly community members in these fictitious worlds. Of course, I predominantly see these traits in characters who have a certain intersectionality to them (aka women of color): Athena Grant (9-1-1), Lucy Chen, Nyla Harper, Angela Lopez (The Rookie), Eve Polastri (Killing Eve), Ria Torres (Lie to Me). 

Like the real life institutions, everyone has a different stance on cop shows and cops. I am of the belief that I can watch cop shows in the cover of night and not support the actual institutions. I am of the belief that my viewership doesn’t decide the fate of the series. If so, the queer, POC, comedies and dramas from years prior wouldn’t have been canceled, and I would have other series to watch: My Lady Jane, A League of Their Own, Gentleman Jack, One Day at a Time, The Society, Genera+ion, Rescue HI-Surf, Bel-Air, Girls on the Bus, Everything Now, Slip, Paper Girls, Teenage Bounty Hunters, Love Life and so many more…

Am I advocating for more cop shows…no. But I may be advocating for one womxn only cop show where a whole bunch of undeniable fierce folks, with unparalleled strength and independence take down a slew of criminal masterminds (who are also all women).