The 90’s: what a time to be alive.
I know 90’s-stolgia has painted the
world in rose colors ever since the dawn of the Tumblr age, but as a decade it
ushered in wide-ranging heroines of all sorts.
While you can say a lot about the representation the 10’s have happily
ushered into the landscape, the 90’s were the only decade where you could
worship at the altars of heroines as diverse as Khadijah James and Dixie Cousins.
Dixie is quite the unique heroine
for her time…which was the 1800s. On the
Steampunk western show The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Dix was the
girlfriend of Brisco but oh, did she do so much more than that.
She was, first of all, introduced
as a villain – the cunning moll of Big Smith, one of the men who had killed
Brisco’s father. She first meets Brisco
under the guise of an innocent carriage ride – and after he saves her life she
becomes intrigued by his presence even though he’s clearly somebody dangerous –
or perhaps because he IS somebody dangerous.
Dixie is, forthrightly, a woman
who from her first appearance is unashamed of her sexuality (Brisco asks her if
her bedstand is a “Louis the VIII” antique, and she happily replies “I think
Louis was the tenth – then again, a lady never tells.”) , and who is the
captain of her own destiny (she chooses to spend the night with Brisco after he
wins a gunfight with Pete Hutter, one of Smith’s men, and Big Smith knows
enough not to fight her wishes).
Dix is the sort of character who
might disappear after making such an impression in a lesser show – or worse, be
killed off to further Brisco’s angst – but instead Dixie continues to be an
inspiration in Brisco’s life. Their
encounters are, even better, more about Dixie’s values than Brisco’s. Whether she’s trying to support a Mexican
revolutionary’s attempt at defeating a ruthless general who’s trying to take
over a town, helping Brisco get justice for a young man who’s been swindled out
of his fortune, taking Brisco and Bowler through a tour of her childhood while
running away from politicians who want to cage her for accidentally recording
sensitive information during a tryst, trying to decide between Brisco and her
ex-husband, trying to help her sister regain control of her casino by any means
necessary while navigating a breakup with Brisco, or trying to ignore her lack
of parental instinct while protecting the heir to the Chinese throne while
dodging clumsy assassination attempts by Pete Hutter, Dixie is first and foremost
a woman trying to take care of her own business.
Not only is Dixie well-respected
by all of the main characters, she’s got quite a following. In a way, she’s the artistic mirror of
Brisco, an ubersucess in every field she tries, from saloon singer to politics
to singing to diplomacy.
Dixie is very might a woman with
her own life, her own wants, with her own travels and her own goals, and while
she and Brisco both want to be together and both want peace, they both know
they can’t have it while Brisco’s a rambling bounty hunter and she’s a popular chanteuse. In fact, their final conflict comes when
she’s offered a tour of the Emperor’s realm after saving the heir
apparent. He doesn’t want her to regret
a missed opportunity, and she’s willing to stay behind and be with him – but
they both know adventure’s in her blood, too.
He lets her go, and that’s where we leave her – out on the prairie,
seeking her own adventures. And so may
she ever reign.
FUN FACT: It could have gone a
different way. Dix was originally
counterbalanced in the pilot by Amanda Wickwire, a tomboy cowgirl who was the daughter
of Professor Wickwire. But instead of
giving us a virgin/whore dichotomy and pitting two women against each other…they
made Amanda disappear. Not exactly the
best solution to the quandary, but at least it spared us from Betty versus
Veronica style fighting over Brisco.
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