I fought you, I lost, I had a drink, I took a shower. ‘Cause that’s how it is in the NBA. You know what I do when I win? Two drinks.I’ve been meaning to do some Amy babbling for a while now. She is my favorite character of all time, and she just generally means a lot to me as a young woman trying to work in social justice. She was a huge part of my formative years of deciding what I wanted to do and be and what was important to me. Which basically means I get intensely defensive of her as a character that gets a lot of hate in the fandom.
The quote above basically defines Amy. She knows who she is and what she believes in, and she knows what she is going to fight all out. And sometimes she’s going to lose, she’s going to get hurt, she’s going to screw up, but then she gets up, takes a shower, and has a drink. She is what I mean when I say I want strong female characters. I mean I want women with flaws and strengths who feel like real people. She’s unyielding and she’s stubborn, but while it can be a flaw, it’s also not a bad thing. Amy doesn’t come to policy from the same position as Josh and the other senior staff. Her job is to advocate on behalf of women. That’s it. Better than the other jackass doesn’t really do it for her, and it shouldn’t. Yes, she has to make political decisions and compromises, but sometimes you just have to put it all out there and say this is going to screw over women, I know why you’re doing it politically, but that doesn’t make it ok, the lesser of two evils isn’t going to cut it.
JOSH: You can’t win the White House while the middle class thinks you disdain work and responsibility.
AMY: I would hope not, and I congratulate you for punishing poor women as the symbol of the strength of mainstream values.We need people like Josh, but we also need people like Amy. We can’t leave everything to the opinions of the majority, which means there has to be room for people who aren’t worried about re-election. I always get a little defensive at the implication at the end, when Santos offers Amy a job, that what she was doing wasn’t real work. That the only way to make a difference is to get in there and make changes from the inside. Amy is smart and talented, but I’m not sure that’s the world for her.
And this became a rant about a very specific part of Amy, but it’s part of why I love her, and it’s why I want to do social justice advocacy and not work in government, so you know, feelings. I love Amy Gardner, she’s smart and funny, and I like her face.
