"I think the roles in television are better for women right now. At this point, I don't want to continue doing the same things I've been doing in film because it's very limited"
About this Quote
Sandra Oh is naming an industry truth without dressing it up as a grievance: television, right now, is where women get to be complicated. The line lands because it’s both pragmatic and quietly indicting. She’s not claiming TV is morally superior; she’s pointing out where the oxygen is. “Better” isn’t about prestige, it’s about range - the difference between being cast as an accessory and being written as a person with motives, contradictions, and time to evolve.
The subtext is career strategy as self-preservation. When Oh says she doesn’t want to “continue doing the same things,” she’s talking about the trap of repetition that hits actresses earlier and harder: the narrowing funnel of film roles that default to the girlfriend, the grieving wife, the competent-but-flat professional. “Very limited” reads like an understatement sharpened by experience; it suggests she’s seen how film still treats many women as plot devices rather than plot engines.
Context matters: Oh’s rise through long-form storytelling (Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve) coincides with TV’s prestige boom and streaming’s hunger for character-driven series. Television’s economic model rewards continuation and depth; it can sustain a woman who is messy, ambitious, even unlikeable, across seasons. Film, especially studio film, often requires instant legibility, which can mean stereotypes that travel well internationally and offend no one in the boardroom.
Oh’s intent is less to praise television than to publicly redraw the map for what “moving up” looks like. She’s refusing the old hierarchy where film equals arrival. Her real flex is choosing the medium that chooses her back.
The subtext is career strategy as self-preservation. When Oh says she doesn’t want to “continue doing the same things,” she’s talking about the trap of repetition that hits actresses earlier and harder: the narrowing funnel of film roles that default to the girlfriend, the grieving wife, the competent-but-flat professional. “Very limited” reads like an understatement sharpened by experience; it suggests she’s seen how film still treats many women as plot devices rather than plot engines.
Context matters: Oh’s rise through long-form storytelling (Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve) coincides with TV’s prestige boom and streaming’s hunger for character-driven series. Television’s economic model rewards continuation and depth; it can sustain a woman who is messy, ambitious, even unlikeable, across seasons. Film, especially studio film, often requires instant legibility, which can mean stereotypes that travel well internationally and offend no one in the boardroom.
Oh’s intent is less to praise television than to publicly redraw the map for what “moving up” looks like. She’s refusing the old hierarchy where film equals arrival. Her real flex is choosing the medium that chooses her back.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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