Lauren O'Neill, 17, Birmingham UK. I like movies,
baby animals, divas, baking, reading and music.
every girl is a riot grrrl.
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Anonymous asked: Hi. Given your feminist views and love of Zooey Deschanel, I was wondering what your opinion of New Girl is?
hey! I’ve been thinking a lot about this question lately so thanks for asking it!
On a superficial level, I enjoy watching the show and I think it’s funny to an extent (I especially like the character Schmidt ‘cause he brings the lolz), but it’s hardly a feminist handbook.
I dislike the fact that the Zooey character is supposed to be this quirky, “real” girl but every episode she looks like she just stepped off the front cover of Elle magazine. Whilst I realise that this is the nature of television, if a show is going to market itself as a “new” representation of male/female interpersonal relationships (which is what I understand as the selling point of New Girl other than the fact that it stars Zooey Deschanel), it should try to break conventions rather than adhere to them.
Another thing I sort of take issue with is the fact that sometimes the show seems a little bit self-congratulatory because it occasionally presents women as the ones in the wrong (for example that episode where Schmidt has to dress up as the “sexy Santa” to impress his female colleagues or whatever) which, as it is a show targeted largely at females (again, my perception), is not necessarily what its audience might expect. Yeah, it’s cool to show that girls can be skeevy as well as dudes, but at the same time I feel like the show should be addressing more fundamental stuff (like the depiction of Cece as the stereotypical man-eating model, BORING) before it pats itself on the back too hard.
Despite those qualms though, I think that women could do a lot worse than to be represented by someone like Zooey Deschanel who is so publicly pro-positive body image for women, and I hope that the show in time addresses some of my concerns so that I enjoy it even more. Thanks again for the question, it was fun!xx
