Rita West is one of the most defining characters in arguably the most successful and critically acclaimed New Zealand-made TV series. Even dead, in Outrageous Fortune, she had a formidable presence. Antonia Prebble writes about playing Loretta and then her grandmother, Rita, in Westside. The final series started screening this week and comes to an end after 12 seasons. Prebble also reflects on her character's influence on feminism and fashion.
Is it possible to be a feminist even when you say you're not one? Rita West showed me that yeah, maybe it is.
I had the pleasure of playing Rita for 20 years of her life. From when she was a young woman in her prime, bossing everyone around and shagging Ted at every opportunity, to the very end of her life when she was, well, still bossing and shagging quite a lot, actually.
And now that we have wrapped the final season of Westside, it feels apt to take stock and reflect on this remarkable woman who, throughout our time together, never ceased to surprise, delight and completely confound me.
One thing that always intrigued me about Rita was that she doesn't consider herself a feminist. In fact, she thinks they're ridiculous; getting their knickers in a knot - and ruining perfectly good bras - for no good reason. She articulated her position back in 1982, when Cheryl and Riana, Bert's girlfriend at the time, were criticising the unequal division of labour in the West household. Several gins to the wind, Rita sat the girls down and said, "Okay bitches," (a moniker possibly not endorsed by Gloria Steinem) "you need to learn some lessons about what it's like to live here in the real world." She went on to explain that it's "a man's world" and, while that might not be fair, it is the reality, so there is no point trying to change that fact.
Having spent six years inside Rita's mind, I understand her position on feminism and the logic she used to get there. However, I can also see that, despite her convictions to the contrary, there are certain elements of her character that do align with the pillars of the feminist movement. For example, when there's a job on, Rita's role is to cook Ted and the gang a hearty meal before they leave and then sit up - all night, if necessary - and wait for them to return. But she is no 1950s housewife whose jurisdiction stops at the front door. Rita, along with Ted, is the accepted leader of the West family and their associates. She is the matriarch who people must report to, who people are scared of and whose hardened reputation is known throughout their West Auckland universe. She has high status within her world and her practice of cooking and cleaning does not diminish this in any way. Rita reclaims her right to stay at home in the same way that the third wave feminists reclaimed their right to wear lipstick, high heels and push-up bras.
