'Jessica Jones' Is More Than Her Gender

Emmy nominations may still be a while away, but that isn't stopping conversation on which shows may be in the running. And with Marvel's very first (solo) female superhero series, Jessica Jones still generating buzz, there's definitely talk about how the action-packed show may fair in the race. However, in an Emmys contender event held by Deadline, the show's star, Krysten Ritter, and executive producer, Melissa Rosenberg, had more to say than just what fans were expecting. Instead of focusing on Jones as being a strong female character, they flipped the script on what makes her character so important. After all, the truth is that Jessica Jones is in a league of her own for characters both male and female.

“It was really about building a character, and not being defined by her gender. Informed by it but not defined," Rosenberg told Deadline. "One of the things I love most about this character and the way Ritter plays her is she is utterly unapologetic. I mean, she just is who she is.”

And, there's nothing like a character that holds so much confidence despite all she's been through. “There’s so many layers for me to play, as an actor just getting in there and build this from the boots up was the biggest challenge I could have ever asked for, but that’s the good stuff,” Ritter said in the same interview. "What I loved about Jessica was how informed she is by her past, how vulnerable she is, how strong she is, how powerful she is.”

However, that's not to downplay the fact that Jessica Jones is an awesome female superhero. In an industry where the tables are just now starting to turn, seeing a woman who is not afraid to stand up for herself and be herself in the face of adversity is definitely important to see on both the big and small screens. But, the point that sticks out to me most is that fact that it is not her gender alone that made her that way — It's Jessica Jones' overall being.

So, in a league of her own, how could Jessica Jones change the game? Well, by continuing to be herself and inspiring future characters with as much self-confidence and self-assurance as her. But, more than that, inspiring other characters who have the same ability to allow themselves to also be vulnerable or to mess up. Jessica Jones is not 100 percent hero all the time, and I love that about her. She's just a regular person who experiences regular ups and downs. Superpowers or not, male or female, it doesn't really matter. What matters is she's a character who is a hundred percent herself without a care in the world of what anybody thinks. And, to me, there is nothing more inspiring than that.

Images: Myles Aronowitz/Netflix; Giphy