Icon Analysis

What is an icon? When I typed “icon definition” in Google’s web search engine it defined icon as “a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol of something.” This definition is pretty straightforward, but I will build upon it by discussing the three characters from three different popular television series as icons in today’s popular culture. The three characters I will discuss are Claire from House of Cards, Lori from The Walking Dead, and Tara from Sons of Anarchy.

Claire Underwood is the wife of the House of Cards’ protagonist, an ambitious and cunning politician, Francis J. "Frank" Underwood. She is a lobbyist and leads a nonprofit environmental conservation organization. Lori Grimes is the wife of The Walking Dead’s protagonist, Rick Grimes, a previous sheriff’s deputy and group leader. She is part of a group of survivors in a post-zombie-apocalyptic world. Dr. Tara Knowles-Teller is the wife of Sons of Anarchy’s protagonist, Jax Teller, the National President of an outlaw motorcycle club. Tara works as a pediatric surgeon.

Claire

Lori

Tara

I chose these three icons because I find it ironic that even though they appear on three different networks, they have so much in common. They are women married to men in leadership positions, and disagree with the some of the their husband’s decisions throughout the series. They act as supporting roles to their protagonist husbands and vary their roles, playing both “cold as ice” and vulnerable, emotional women.

These iconic characters seem to represent popular culture’s definition of a good “wife” and a woman’s role in a marriage. This is apparent to me because throughout the three series one pattern is very prevalent: these characters are only portrayed negatively when they disobey, betray, or oppose their husbands. As a nation, we have definitely made progress achieving women’s equality through legislature. However, to achieve true equality, it seems we should penetrate popular culture as well.