Favorite Characters: Marnie Madden (The Hour)

The Hour has plenty of great characters on The Hour, but Marnie is kind of a stealth favorite.  Though she’s initially portrayed as a dull stereotype and no more than a moderate roadblock for Bel and Hector’s growing attraction, she becomes so much more, adding deeper far nuance to the tone of the already-engrossing series.  (Marnie-related spoilers.)

We meet Marnie as the posh, frivolous wife of news presenter Hector Madden.  Or, more specifically, we meet her after we meet Hector and see his instant spark with Bel.  Their first meeting is flirty in a slightly combative way; Hector relishes in keeping Bel on her toes, and she immediately recognizes the roguishness of his charm.  Our impression is perhaps that Bel should steer clear of the suave womanizer.  But when Marnie enters, presented as little more than sweet but vapid arm candy, we see how “superior” the intelligent, driven Bel is.  Marnie is blithe and submissive, not one to worry about things like news.  Rather, her main concerns are her house, her husband, and society gossip.  While Hector is bored and maybe even a bit embarrassed at Marnie’s shallow conversation topics, he and Bel feed off of one another intellectually.  If anything, the depiction of Hector’s wife rules in favor of his having an affair with Bel.

Fast-forward to the end of series 1, when Marnie make her way to the BBC.  She’s out of her element – she’s made for “Daddy’s” country estate, and the bustle of a frantic news office is no place for her.  She makes pleasant, empty small talk for a few minutes in Bel’s office, talking about anything that comes into her head while Bel busily ignores her.  It isn’t until Bel is about to rush off that Marnie comes to her point:  “At least you’re not his secretary.”  As she proceeds to calmly, quietly talk about what a “relief” it is to speak to “a proper woman” after all the “silly little girls” she’s had to deal with and reminds Bel that, regardless of whatever she and Hector share, he always comes back to Marnie, Bel has no response.  All she can do is stand there petrified while Marnie primly details the state of affairs between Bel and her husband.

This is a phenomenal scene that totally reframes Marnie.  We’re trained to root for clever, career-driven Bel.  Bel is meant to be the boundary-breaker, while Marnie is the trademark Meek Little Housewife of the day.  She’s supposed to be a stereotype, a flat rule-follower made to highlight Bel’s exceptionality.  But that’s the thing.  Marnie has fallen in line with what society instructs her to do.  She has no career, nothing to occupy or challenge her.  She positions herself to exist on her husband’s behalf.  She’s done it all “right,” and in return, she has a charming philanderer who breaks their marriage vows without a second thought.  She’s been shaped to understand that there’s literally nothing she can do about this; she just has to put on a chipper face, look lovely on his arm at society parties, and pretend it isn’t happening.  Marnie’s confrontation with Bel is her way of saying, “Look at the collateral damage of your actions; this much, I can do.”

From there, Marnie just gets better and better.  As the cracks in the Madden marriage splinter in series 2, she becomes more of her own person.  The early scenes of her waiting for Hector to come home and hitting her breaking point epitomize “lives of quiet desperation,” and the more she realizes she doesn’t have to do what’s she’s “supposed” to, the more she finds her own way to be.  Does she start chasing news stories?  Of course not, because that’s not Marnie.  The path she forges is her own, and it’s a good reminder that feminism comes in all shades and stages.  Independence can be found through baking, and one can toe the party line without buying it.