Designing Woman by Kelli Stanley

I’m sad today. Dixie Carter—famous as Julia Sugarbaker on Designing Women—passed away.

Maybe it’s because she was 70, my parents’ age. Maybe it’s because I loved the show, loved that peculiar Southern combination of grace and grit and vocal poetry that characterized the writing—when it was good—and the passionate performances that should have earned Dixie Carter an Emmy … and, sadly, did not.

And maybe—just maybe—it’s because Dixie’s character was a politically engaged, courageous, loyal and fiercely independent woman who rose to every challenge and usually conquered it, her indignation at social injustice and boorish behavior—and subsequent eloquent tirades against those most deserving of a tongue-lashing—earning her the affectionate appellation of “The Terminator.”
Yeah. The more I think about it, the more I realize what I owe Dixie Carter, Lynda Bloodworth-Thomason and Julia Sugarbaker.

Assertive women in popular culture are a difficult proposition, particularly if they’re at all political. Maude Finley—certainly the most strident female character on television—was designed and written as a left-wing foil for Archie Bunker, a one-note message and broad (no pun intended) satire. If you watch the Norman Lear shows now, the decibel level is amazing. And if a character did indeed become fully-realized, it was mostly due to the acting chops of performers like Carroll O’Connor and Beatrice Arthur.

Julia Sugarbaker, though, was draped in Southern sugar, armed with ‘80s shoulder pads and big hair, and never left any question—in action, manner or voice—that she was, in the old-fashioned, charm-school sense—a lady. Feminine and tough—strong and sexy. And as sharp and as politically engaged as Shana Alexander (maybe more so) in the old 60 Minutes “Point—Counterpoint.”

I remember watching Designing Women, laughing at Delta Burke and waiting breathlessly for Dixie to launch into one of her dressing-down speeches. And whether she addressed viperish beauty queens or whispering homophobes, you felt better—you felt some sense of resolution, some sense of sanity restored and justice regained.

Miranda Corbie—my character in CITY OF DRAGONS—is certainly not based on Julia Sugarbaker. Miranda drinks too much, smokes too much, and curses like a sailor, for reasons that have nothing to do with her education or vocabulary. She’s hard, cynical and doesn’t hold out much hope for the world—and certainly doesn’t expect that a speech, however eloquent, is going to save it.

Her likability or lack of it has been commented on, for reasons which I personally don’t understand … mainly because I believe that if our hearts and minds were bared to the world, most of us would have moments—and sometimes more—when we might seem unlikable, too. And somehow, whether we like Sam Spade—or whether he is, by definition, “likable”—is never an issue that comes up in the analysis of hardboiled literature. Women have always had to live by different standards.

Yet Miranda is unquestioningly feminine. She is passionate, outspoken, and fearless of the consequences. And, most of all, she is an idealist, albeit a broken one. A woman whose ideals, hopes, and moral and ethical compass have been hit hard by the world, but not hard enough to break. Shattered, not abandoned. Cracked, but not forsaken. Like Julia, she is capable of outrage … and like Julia, she acts upon it.

I miss Julia Sugarbaker. I miss the comfort and hope I felt as a young woman, thinking powerful speeches, eloquently addressed, might right wrongs, achieve justice, and change the world. And I owe Dixie Carter and the Thomasons a debt—not only for years of entertainment, but for inspiring me to believe—like Julia—that someday … maybe my words could, too.

Kelli Stanley is an award-winning author of crime fiction (novels and short stories). She makes her home in Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco, a city she loves to write about.

Kelli earned a Master’s Degree in Classics, loves jazz, old movies, battered fedoras, Art Deco and speakeasies. She is walked daily by a Springer Spaniel named Bertie.

She credits Raymond Chandler, Ernest Hemingway, Cornell Woolrich, Dashiell Hammett and Thomas Hardy as some of her major influences.

Kelli’s second novel, the San Francisco-set CITY OF DRAGONS, was released in February. For more information about Kelli, Miranda and CITY OF DRAGONS, visit Kelli’s website.

“CITY OF DRAGONSs, with its brittle patter and its broken heart of gold, is a joy to read.”
Tom Nolan, San Francisco Chronicle
www.kellistanley.com

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