The Flying Nun is an icon in many people’s imagination — whether Catholic or non-Catholic, whether you saw the originals or just the re-runs. The Flying Nun was a sitcom in the late 1960s starring a young comic Sally Field as Sister Bertrille, a novice with the Daughters of Charity who could fly. Admittedly I dismissed the Flying Nun image as an unfortunate stereotype that we Catholic sisters and nuns still have to tangle with. Inevitably I’m asked, once people find out I’m a nun, if I can fly. The answer (not counting biking or driving) is um, no.
But I think I have had a conversion, or at least the beginnings of one. This morning I read an op-ed piece that made me proud to share the word “nun” with the Flying Nun. The article “Fear of Flying Nuns – a feminist defense of a 1960s girlhood TV hero” was written by Melody Clark for OpEdNews.com. In the article Clark wonders aloud why it’s perfectly acceptable to have a flying Kansas farmboy (Superman, Smallville) but not a flying young female nun. (Her commentary here is exquisite.) While I don’t necessarily agree with everything in the article, it did give me a different way to think about the image of the Flying Nun.
Here’s a snippet from the article.
And Sister Bertrille was no “owned woman” like the female lead in I Dream of Jeannie (constantly clad in provocative attire while she refers to her male companion as “master”). Or a housewife who was regularly “ordered” to do things by her husband as was Samantha on Bewitched. Sister Bertrille (whose “real name” was Elsie Ethrington) was not a nun but a novice and therefore not yet “married to Christ”. The only man in her life was her companion of choice (the wonderfully harassed while continually love struck Carlos Ramirez). Her life was her own. Her career was her choice. She owed her gift of flight to no one but destiny.
Quite simply, The Flying Nun is a sweet, lovely allegory for personal empowerment (especially for little girls … and for those of us who occasionally aspire to think like them)….
I encourage you to read the whole article which critiques reviewers who have cast aside The Flying Nun as “the worst TV show of all time”. Clark redeems the show as well as the image of The Flying Nun and in effect reclaims Sister Bertrille as a young woman who can inspire us even today.
Archived Comments
- December 4, 2008 at 10:00 am
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From the article: “We wanted her to forget her lame, ultimately disempowering engagement to Jesus.” Ouch. I have only seen a few episodes, but I thought they were fun and featured a nun, so that worked for me. She did make some good points, so thanks for sharing it.
- December 4, 2008 at 10:53 am
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Thanks for posting this. The article is really thought-provoking and I appreciate your comments on it. I was never a big Flying Nun fan, but now I might have to go rent it on DVD. Thanks again!
- December 4, 2008 at 9:37 am
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Thanks for sharing this article! It rescues one of my (secret) favorite shows of my childhood. I am glad that poor Sr. Bertrille has been rescued from the dungheap of worst TV show icons ever. Talk about putting your gifts to use for the good of others!
- December 4, 2008 at 1:27 pm
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hrm…going to have to watch for this on hulu or fancast. I barely remember it being in syndication when I was a kid.
- December 4, 2008 at 3:26 pm
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Yes, but can you leap tall buildings in a single bound? LOL.
- December 4, 2008 at 11:02 pm
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So it fits in well with aliens made out of tin foil and painted bubble wrap?
- December 5, 2008 at 5:56 am
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What a great article excerpt! I loved the Flying Nun. I used to flap my arms and jump off our picnic table, thinking I’d become airborne just like sister Bertrille. Interesting perspective on Bertrille!
- December 5, 2008 at 8:30 am
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“She blogs, she flies, she’s SISTER JULIE!” Well, we can make you a cape to wear while you are flying by on your bicycle, but with the initials SJ on it, poeple will think you are a Jesuit! (=^D
- December 6, 2008 at 9:17 pm
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i loved the flying nun as i loved all the nuns in my life. i remember as an adult, long after i’d fallen for the original episodes, being in the hospital and being upset to see a wire attached to the flying sister bertrille in the show’s opening credits.
- December 9, 2008 at 3:50 pm
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I love the feminist commentary, although in the end she sort of shoots herself in the foot. The whole article is about how Sr. Bertrille’s life was her own, yadda yadda, and the she ends it with her desire that Sr. Bertrille toss the habit aside and kiss Carlos (or kiss Carlos without tossing the habit aside, which would contradict the vows she presumably chose to make). It seems to me that everytime there’s some sort of commentary on nun characters, there’s the underlying assumption that she shouldn’t be a nun (or doesn’t really WANT to be a nun) and should instead be with a guy. Which isn’t exactly a feminist ideal, now is it. I’ve just seen it in a LOT of TV shows. There’s this idea that:
#1 – Yea, it’s okay to be a nun (you can also actually substitute “nun” for “single”) but to be REALLY fulfilled you’d have to leave and get a man; and
#2 – If you do leave the convent, then it must have been because you fell in love/were attracted to someone. There’s no other reason. Haha. - March 22, 2009 at 7:53 pm
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First of all, thank you, Sister Julie, for the lovely comments about my Op Ed. I’m so glad you enjoyed them. This is a late reply but my friend Sister Mo just emailed the link to me.
To Annie, this was an Op Ed (an opinion editorial) and was entirely my own subjective opinion. I apologize for any hurt it caused. I’m an atheist although I respect everyone’s rights to believe as they wish without my butting my head into them. I’m afraid I’m not much of a fan of women de facto giving themselves to any structure of patriarchal control meaning unhappy marriage in whatever context. That said, I’ve been happily married for thirty years so I recognize it can happen in many instances, just not in every instance. In Sister Bertrille’s case, I feel it would have been “disempowering” but certainly not in every case … and clearly not in Sister Julie’s. There are many happy, self-fulfilled nuns AND wives. The importance is in it not being the only option available, imho.
As for “shooting myself in the foot”, I made the statement that I saw their relationship as a relationship of *equals* which I do. To me, that isn’t the sacrifice of any power to a man but merely, in the words of Hildegard of Bingen, the merging of souls in a higher flight.
As always, your mileage may vary. lol I urge all of you to revisit the Flying Nun. It’s a very sweet, hopeful show with something to say to all women, whether we are young or can simply (often distantly) remember that experience.
- March 27, 2009 at 11:54 am
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Hi Melody! I just saw this. This is Annie, lol. How cool to have the author of the article visit the site! You certainly did not hurt me, so no apology needed! I’m a feminist too, and I agree with you that women giving themselves to patriarchal structures, the Church being one of them, is a complicated thing. I do feel like in most portrayals of nuns, though, there is always a lot of talk of other people wanting them to leave the convent so they can fall in love, as you sort of mentioned in your articles about fan of the show wishing Sr. Bertrille would just kiss Carlos already. I’ve even seen it happen in person, where someone will be talking with a nun and saying things like “there’s still hope for you” – referring to meeting a guy. This isn’t just true for nuns, it’s also true for people who prefer to stay single, and it does seem kind anti-feminist to me, though in a somewhat innocent way. So I think we’re pretty much on the same page, it’s just the latter part of your article kind of brought up a related issue for me.
As for “shooting myself in the foot”, I made the statement that I saw their relationship as a relationship of *equals* which I do. To me, that isn’t the sacrifice of any power to a man but merely, in the words of Hildegard of Bingen, the merging of souls in a higher flight.
I agree. I’m referring to the larger structure in our society where if a woman doesn’t have a man, we always assume that she wants one. Which I think translates into girls wanting Sr. Bertrille to just kiss Carlos already – it’s part of the romantic idealism, which is not all bad by any means, I just think it’s sometimes overdone in our society. Not that the two of them getting together would make her disempowered, but if she were married and the situation were reverse, nobody would be going, “oh, but she could’ve been a nun!” It’s just that in my opinion, it’s a very common thing when it comes to portraying nuns, and it sort of overlooks the fact that (hopefully) people who become nuns are very attracted to the idea to begin with, and it can be just as powerful as falling in love.
End of rant
I’ve seen a few episodes of the Flying Nun – they don’t have reruns on anymore though, do they? I remember Sally Field saying in an interview that she didn’t really like playing the character because everybody else in the 60s was letting loose and she was playing a nun!
