Yellowjackets Continues the Feminist Legacy of The Golden Girls

Yellowjackets is one of the most unique shows on television right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely void of inspiration. Some have recognized similarities to Lost. Anytime a group is shipwrecked in foreign territory it’s going to plant memories of the immensely popular adventure drama on ABC. Others might draw comparisons to the classic William Golding novel Lord of the Flies, especially since the groups in both stories lean adolescent. There’s one show you’re completely forgetting about that actually aligns thematically with Yellowjackets more than either one of these, though: The Golden Girls. 

Hear me out. Yellowjackets takes place half of the time in a wintry Canadian forest and the other half of the time in normal civilian settings. The Golden Girls frequents 1980s Miami with plenty of shots of the beautiful Southern Florida scenery and aesthetic. The setting doesn’t inspire a lot of symmetry, but the ages and genders of the characters make for an apt comparison. The women in Yellowjackets in the 2021 timeline are in their early 40s. This time period in a woman’s life can be overwhelming. Approaching menopause, empty nest syndrome, and mid-life crises can litter the psyche with an overload of mental health issues. 

Many of the same problems plague the characters in the beloved, revolutionary NBC sitcom. The Golden Girls dared to look at women’s lives differently than TV had done in the past. No longer housewives or active mothers to children as they live out their 50s, the four gals on the lanai had to reorient their purposes in society and leaned on each other to combat past troubles. Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), Rose (Betty White), and Sophia (Estelle Getty) were well-rounded, sexually active, fun, and thriving during a time when women are often relegated to grandma and knitting status in pop culture and media. 

While a little younger than their Golden Girls counterparts, the women in Yellowjackets seize their respective presents while battling with the pasts. In the process of depicting these prescient feminist issues, both shows respect the vitality of middle-aged women and give them a voice when so many other series only give credence to the struggles of the 20-39 age bracket. Friends, Sex and the City, New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, The Big Bang Theory, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Insecure . . . need any more examples of stories dedicating time to women living out their first half of life? 

Believe it or not, women aren’t dead after turning 40. Triumphing over the baggage of the first two decades of adulthood doesn’t erase the future or provide a template for the next step in the journey. These decades are whirlwinds of emotion and novelty that women often feel left out of and detached from the rest of society. Yellowjackets and The Golden Girls utilize realistic, relatable issues revolving around this ignored time period with thoughtfulness and intelligence. 

Women’s stories have long been discriminated against once they reach a certain age, and this lies in direct juxtaposition with the plots of male protagonists on the TV and movie screen. The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are arguably the two best dramas ever. Tony Soprano and Walter White are both in their 40s and 50s for the majority of the shows. Succession’s biggest badass is Logan Roy, a man so old he’s supposed to drop dead (and eventually does) for most of the series’ run. 

Men seem to be stereotyped as gaining complexity as they reach middle adulthood. Both the actors and the characters in these masculine profiles of the human mind are of a certain age, and it happens so often that fans don’t even realize the normalcy of it. If more series would approach the same time period in a woman’s life with respect and creative liberty, you’d get shows like The Golden Girls and Yellowjackets frequently. They would be the norm rather than the trendsetters. 

The performers portraying the characters in both shows deserve major credit for allowing the stories to be so compelling. We already mentioned the four ladies of The Golden Girls (all of whom deservedly won Emmy awards during their time on the show), but the grown adults on Yellowjackets are also jaw-dropping talents. Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and Lauren Ambrose combine to make the Showtime series one of the best-acted on the small screen today. They allow the audience into the turmoil within the characters, making it believable how their time lost in the forest impacts them in the present and compounds the already-present problems surrounding divorce, children, and more.

Thankfully, Ricci and Lynskey have been nominated for Yellowjackets. This demonstrates that the voting body is starting to grasp the importance of women’s stories as they hit their 40s. Movie stars haven’t been so lucky throughout history. The average age of a female Academy Award winner is just under 37 years old. This is almost an entire decade younger than male winners. Yellowjackets is turning the tide for older dramatic female actors, in turn perpetuating the legacy The Golden Girls started in the 1980s. 

Yellowjackets might explode on Netflix this month due to its association with horror, Halloween, mystery, and intrigue, but it’s the power of the leading women and their backgrounds that elevate the series into something wholly different than its peers. It reminds fans that femininity doesn’t disappear, but matures as time goes on. The show should thank The Golden Girls for starting to solve that puzzle with a laugh; they continue to fill in the rest of the pieces with a scare!

Yellowjackets seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. and U.K. Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S. and U.K. Season 3 is expected to premiere in 2025 on Showtime.