#GAReads | Russian Doll casts men in roles usually reserved for women. The results are brilliant.
“Russian Doll casts men in roles usually reserved for women. The results are brilliant.”:
I think what ultimately makes Russian Doll work is the way it centers women’s perspectives without really calling attention to what it’s doing. On the surface, you’re getting a compelling story about one woman battling her inner demons via a wildly entertaining time loop plot device.
But if you start to dig around in the bones of the thing, you’ll realize just what’s going on. In particular, if you look at how Russian Doll uses men, you’ll realize how deep the series’ interest in centering women’s perspectives goes. This show uses men the way most pop culture uses women — which is to say it turns them into supporting players whose inner lives are mostly glossed over in the name of what the protagonist is going through.