Cristina Yang, a Role Model for Women Everywhere
May marked ten years since Cristina Yang last blessed our screens. Actress Sandra Oh bid her farewell in the season ten finale but before her character fled off to Zurich, she danced it out last time and said her infamous parting quote, “He is very dreamy but he is not the sun, you are” to Meredith Grey.
While “Grey’s Anatomy” has taken several twists and turns since its start in 2005– a plane crash, a bus collision, a hospital fire — the show follows the professional and personal lives of surgeons in Seattle.
This summer, I decided to rewatch the earlier seasons this summer (It’s on season 21, so season 10 is still early if you can imagine). Since I was a toddler when season 1 came out, I began watching the show starting in middle school, long before I had any real-life experience. Revisiting as an adult rather than 13 was eye-opening for many reasons but if I could only share one takeaway it would be: Cristina Yang is the best television character of all time.
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Watching for the first time, I hated the character and I never understood why she was everyone’s favorite — she was selfish, overly egotistical and rude to her friends and partners, she lacked compassion as her mentor, Teddy Altman once said. From her poor patient interactions to her aggressive stubbornness, I much preferred the optimistic and bubbly Izzie Stevens or neurosurgeon, Derek Shepherd, although for much different reasons (I mean, he was very dreamy).
But if your 20s are for one thing, it should be for self-reflection and realizing when you are in the wrong and I was absolutely wrong about Cristina Yang.
Rather than selfish, egoistical or rude, she was ambitious, determined and most importantly she knew her worth. Throughout the show, Cristina has two major relationships. The first being with cardiothoracic surgeon Preston Burke who leaves once he realizes she will not change for him. The second with Owen Hunt, a trauma surgeon, who she divorces after he disapproves of her abortion and decision to not have children for the sake of her surgical career. Her friendship with Meredith is strong, too, often referring to one another as each other’s “person” yet Cristina does not hesitate to explore opportunities away from Seattle or her friend.
Cristina put herself and her own dreams above everything else.
As I get older and begin to think of the rest of my life, I understand Cristina more and more. Over the past two years, I have fallen in love with my future career plans, and if I were to tell a 13-year-old me that I spend most of my time writing or studying rather than out or chasing “Mr. Right”, she would be furious. However, if I could go back in time, I would tell middle school me anything, it would be to be more like Cristina Yang and to dream big, dream hard and never let anyone or anything get in the way of those dreams.
