Friday, April 10, 2009

The Cagney and Lacey Factor

There have been a number of articles lately focusing on the fashion sensibilities of the women of the new administration, in particular their choice of haircut. It seems that eight of President Obama's female employees; Cristina Romer, Janet Napolitano, Kathleen Sebelius, Hillary Clinton, Desiree Rogers, Valerie Jarrett, Lisa Jackson, Cassandra Butts, and Lisa Jackson, have chosen short-cropped hair.

Now there are a lot of reasons to have short hair it’s, professional looking, easier to dye, frames the face and or you were alive during the 1976 Olympics and never got over the “Hamill Camel” (a now classic ice skating maneuver) and its creator Dorothy Hamill. Though the reasons may be legion, the choice, I feel, can most be defined by what I call, “The Cagney and Lacey” factor. I am referring, of course, to the much-loved 1980s procedural cop drama and its two smart, female characters who’s lives and careers centered around combating crime in “Thriller” era New York City.

The 14-time Emmy award winning show factors heavily, as Carl Jung put it, “in the reservoir of the experiences of our species” and was the “Police, Sex and the City” of it’s time. The characters of, Christine Cagney, a single, career-minded, tough, witty, working-class woman and Mary Beth Lacey, a married, working mother balancing career, sex and family, have become archetypes, to a generation, of strong minded independent women.

It’s really no wonder. The show, unique in its time for it’s complexity and format, took on controversial issues of the day like, AIDS, date rape, cocaine addiction, racism, and spousal abuse. The real “breakout” element in this “Spiritus Mundi” was that; though solving crimes was part of the series equation, the real emphasis was on exploring the working and personal lives of the two women.

The subject matter of the show was matched with an equally strong visual iconography. Both women were pretty but of “a certain age” that projected ‘maturity of mind”, transcending the merely physical. Their clothes and hair were “a la mode” working-class, both sporting short-sheared-coifs that helped bind them together as well as defend them from their male dominated profession.

This last element, the “hairstyle”, was key. A self-imposed gauntlet; the removal of one of the most obvious tenants of female sexuality, thrown down in a gesture of self-flagellation, to prove their worth and to show diminishment could be transcendent and that through vulnerability they could become even stronger and more complete paragons of womanhood and feminine virtue. Such an open display of power and confidence could not be help but intoxicate and enthrall the show’s viewers. It did.

Though the series ended in 1988, “Cagney and Lacey” continues to inform and influence a generation and has become “the” touchstone of the professional woman’s hair-dressing choices.

Below is our "Fun Poll" please rate the following as more “Cagney” or “Lacey”:

1) Cristina Romer 2)Janet Napolitano 3)Kathleen Sebelius 4)Hillary Clinton 5)Desiree Rogers 6)Valerie Jarrett 7)Lisa Jackson 8)Cassandra Butts 9)Lisa Jackson

Bonus:
Rachel Maddows

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tyne Daly started it all in the Dirty Harry films "The Enforcer". I think:)

Anonymous said...

Wasn't one of the actresses replaced because the audience though she was to butch?

Laurenskills said...

When I was 13 Cagney made me hot

georgia peaches said...

My Mom still has that hair style and clothes

UK Dolly said...

Were they secretly lesbians? I hope so!

Bambam81 said...

My mom too and her sister

Anonymous said...

My stepmother watched this show all the time. It was boring and all the actors looked like soap opera or porno rejects.

Newter83 said...

Lacey looks hot with a pistol

dirtybirdz said...

New show "Cagney loves Lacey" with Mandy Moore and Lindsay Lohan!

SandwickUK said...

Cagney was hotter

Charliintheuk said...

Funny mate

Faith said...

My older sister still looks like that!

Anonymous said...

Sharon Gless (Cagney, I think...she is the blond) is wonderful now as the stalker "Colleen" on Nip/Tuck.

Madge said...

Pantsuits gotta love'm

Anonymous said...

If they make a film maybe it could be maddona and britney as cagney and lacey

Joel said...

Is that Cagney on nip tuck?

Anonymous said...

Britney and Borat as Cagney and Lacey

Anonymous said...

Heavy sexual tension between the two for sure

Anonymous said...

http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/01/23/nip-tuck-magda-and-jeff/

Joel: Er...Lacey, I think. I never watched Cagney and Lacey. So Lacey is Sharon Gless and she is great as the fake agent/stalker.

I certainly hope no one does a remake. One of those boring, terrible shows of the 80's, just my opinion.

Anonymous said...

I think the one on Nip Tuck is Cagney not Lacey

Anonymous said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Gless

Yes, you are right, Sharon Gless was Cagney, not Lacey. How can you argue with wiki? I don't think I watched one Cagney & Lacey all the way through.

gio said...

"Where there's form,there is substance"(old Italian proverb)...I first saw it months ago, watching italian TV in the afternoon...better late than never
Happy easter

carl said...

It must be really funny in Italian

Anonymous said...

Sharon Gless is fantastc on Nip Tuck!

Anonymous said...

She is great on Nip Tuck!

 
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