Zooey Dechanel is The new girl
I’ve seen 3 episodes of the tv show ‘New girl’ and they’re not even that bad or unfunny However THIS is my problem with the show:
Zooey’s character Jess is meant to be someone who’s kind of ‘quirky’ or an ‘oddball’. This is illustrated in ways such as: spontaneous crazy dancing, making up little tunes, having typically unsexy or not dainty body language, cracking jokes, making things occasionally awkward or using props in a way no one else finds that funny (aka fake teeth). But these characteristics of this girl (who is meant to be different to other girls supposedly) are SO familiar to me. Almost all of my female friends or just girls I know do stupid little dances, songs, movements, and jokes. THIS ISN’T WEIRD, its just called having a sense of humour or not being all stiff and boring. But all the male characters in the show try and tame these quirks Jess has, as if they’ve never met a girl like her and she should try and be like other women, newsflash: THERE ARE A MILLION WOMEN LIKE HER. The theme of the show is a group of guys trying to ‘fix’ a woman, as if they’re doing her a favour. I know there are moments where the moral is that she should be able to act however she wants (e.g episode 3 when she says something along the lines of “my favourite thing about our relationship is you not letting me be myself”) and sometimes the guys should learn something from her approach to life. But the fact is, the programme still enforces this idea of the ‘oddball’ that isn’t necessarily odd, shes pretty normal and always looks perfectly groomed. Lets see them make a show about a woman who is actually mentally ill, see how they handle that!
One more thing, I think it was in episode 1 the character shmit (unsure of spelling) goes into the bathroom and demands Jess shaves her legs front and back. Um, fuck off? none of your business if she wants to shave her legs or not!
Yeah, I agree, haven’t seen it, but I get what you mean, when I think about how these ‘special snowflake’ women are portrayed and how supposedly boring the rest of us are supposed to be… it’s usually a toned down version of how most girls I’ve been friends with have been anyway, like goofing around etc. except as it’s tv it’s goofing around with perfect hair and makeup. And would they dare show a woman on tv without perfectly shaved legs? No.
Duh, feministfilm followers.
My thoughts exactly, ever since the teaser commercials in the summer.
