But UNCLE has so many women in the office first season - all the extras wander about with guns and training, they go to other offices and there are more women there, they're so useful and needed on assignments... I can't really think that Uncle doesn't have women field agents
See, the thing you might be missing about those women, though, is that they're all wearing the office uniform. They may carry guns in case of emergencies (heck, there's a break-in in the first scene of the very first episode), but most 60's viewers would take the presence of so many women in uniforms around the office not as a sign that UNCLE is an equal opportunity employer, but as a sign that it had lots of 'female' work to do - crucial but undervalued busywork like secretarial work, answering phones, typing, collating information - all the stuff we're most likely to see them doing. Even with that many women around the office, there's still a lot of sexism in play in what the show implies they're there to do. (But I can always headcanon that maybe they're all stuck in the office uniform to make them look harmless, when really, they're listening to and remembering every last thing that visiting dignitary says when he doesn't think anyone important is listening, and any intruder is going to be in for a nasty surprise if he assumes they're not quick off the draw. And I could cite you a lot of stuff to back that idea up too. *g*)
All that said, I completely agree it doesn't make any sense that there wouldn't be more full-time female field agents, no matter which way you look at it. And going back through the script for Moonglow - y'know, Slate seems surprised that the new agent is a woman, but I don't think there's anything that clearly states she's the very first. Maybe they're just less common, and Slate, being an old dude, is a little out of date. It's possible there is something in Girl from UNCLE that makes it more explicit, but I think we've already established that fandom gets carried away with crumbs and fanon-interpretations awfully easily around these parts...
Explains everything about the Wandas. ^_^
Oh, I wish - unfortunately, it doesn't quite explain why Napoleon clearly calls one of them 'Sharon' over the radio, while we only hear the name 'Wanda' over the radio maybe two or three times in total, between all those other Lindas and Margos and all the rest. But it's too much fun of a theory not to play with a little, all the same.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2016-09-07 03:44 pm (UTC)See, the thing you might be missing about those women, though, is that they're all wearing the office uniform. They may carry guns in case of emergencies (heck, there's a break-in in the first scene of the very first episode), but most 60's viewers would take the presence of so many women in uniforms around the office not as a sign that UNCLE is an equal opportunity employer, but as a sign that it had lots of 'female' work to do - crucial but undervalued busywork like secretarial work, answering phones, typing, collating information - all the stuff we're most likely to see them doing. Even with that many women around the office, there's still a lot of sexism in play in what the show implies they're there to do. (But I can always headcanon that maybe they're all stuck in the office uniform to make them look harmless, when really, they're listening to and remembering every last thing that visiting dignitary says when he doesn't think anyone important is listening, and any intruder is going to be in for a nasty surprise if he assumes they're not quick off the draw. And I could cite you a lot of stuff to back that idea up too. *g*)
All that said, I completely agree it doesn't make any sense that there wouldn't be more full-time female field agents, no matter which way you look at it. And going back through the script for Moonglow - y'know, Slate seems surprised that the new agent is a woman, but I don't think there's anything that clearly states she's the very first. Maybe they're just less common, and Slate, being an old dude, is a little out of date. It's possible there is something in Girl from UNCLE that makes it more explicit, but I think we've already established that fandom gets carried away with crumbs and fanon-interpretations awfully easily around these parts...
Explains everything about the Wandas. ^_^
Oh, I wish - unfortunately, it doesn't quite explain why Napoleon clearly calls one of them 'Sharon' over the radio, while we only hear the name 'Wanda' over the radio maybe two or three times in total, between all those other Lindas and Margos and all the rest. But it's too much fun of a theory not to play with a little, all the same.