Dear Glen, Phil, and Joel,
Would it be too terribly predictable if I weigh in with some ambivalent reactions to Dr. Melfi’s portrayal from a woman’s perspective? I think you gentlemen are a bit too easy on her (or perhaps I should say, on her writer). Ugh, she makes me squirm! Her stiffness and the formulaic quality of many of her interventions suggest that it’s time for her to retool, both psychically and technically. (She’s already periodically seeing her own therapist, but she needs to meet with a supervisor or consultant who can more directly address her technical deficits and her countertransference issues.) Treating Tony–even now that the heat (both legal and erotic) has been turned down–still seems to be traumatizing Melfi personally. How else to explain her too frequent retreat into “psychoeducational” monologues that he can make only limited use of? I have to wonder whether she feels so intimidated by Tony–both his aggressive masculinity and the far more pernicious sociopathy–that she has to both retreat emotionally and also “one up” him by taking that high-handed (as well as “heavy-handed”) attitude toward him. The gender/power division is a profound issue in their relationship, ramped up by the “life or death” significance of their work together. She is an extremely threatened and very angry woman–understandably so, given what it has cost her to treat him.
Now here’s where my feminism comes in–I think that Melfi is being portrayed in an especially negative light, perhaps in keeping (if not as egregiously so) with the negative stereotypes that so often color the portrayal of female analysts. (Glen, what do you think, in light of your own very persuasive work in this area?) I am particularly troubled by the contrast made in seasons past between Melfi and her own male therapist. The latter is portrayed as far more rational, clear-headed, philosophical, and wise–than his patient Jennifer. Now admittedly, the once-removed clinician called in to help a therapist manage a difficult treatment is indeed in a calmer, more protected position, so portraying him that way isn’t necessarily unrealistic. But the juxtaposition of a rational senior male clinician with an emotionally overwrought junior female clinician can reinforce gender stereotypes in a most unfortunate way. After all, in terms of social power, the only ones “on top” in this series are male! And that’s not only within the necessarily patriarchal Soprano family itself. Does this have to be repeated among the clinicians as well?
