Long Naps, Strudel, and Improvisation

halphillips:

jonbershad:

newyorker:

In Defense of Liz Lemon

Well, I can’t get on board the hate train, especially after last week’s tour-de-force episode, in which Liz morphed from a crazy old subway lady (every New Yorker’s dream: she gets her way at every turn) into Heath Ledger’s Joker. Someone needs to speak up for the Lemon, and for the Fey. Because from the beginning Liz Lemon was pathetic. That was what was enthralling, and even revolutionary, about the character. Unlike some other adorkable or slutty-fabulous characters I could name, Liz only superficially resembled the protagonist of a romantic comedy, ready to remove her glasses and be loved. She was something way more interesting: a strange, specific, workaholic, NPR-worshipping, white-guilt-infected, sardonic, curmudgeonly, hyper-nerdy New Yorker. In the first episode, Jack nails her on sight as “a New York third-wave feminist, college-educated, single-and-pretending-to-be-happy-about-it, over-scheduled, undersexed, you buy any magazine that says ‘healthy body image’ on the cover and every two years you take up knitting for … a week.” Even Liz had to admit he scored a point.

- There’s been a backlash to “30 Rock” this season, particularly the character of Liz Lemon; which is why you should read the rest of Emily Nussbaum’s impassioned 1,700-word defense of her: http://nyr.kr/xDdxKc

I really can’t understand why people are shitting all over the characterization of Liz Lemon yet no one seems to be noticing that Parks and Rec is having its worst season ever (first included). If you want to waste a whole lot of time, stop me in a bar and ask me why I think that.

Actually, for both our sakes, you probably shouldn’t.

(also I really like this New Yorker column)

All the criticism I’ve read about Liz Lemon has nothing to do with how good or funny or well-written the show is, and everything to do with saying she’s anti-feminist, runs to a male character for validation, etc. I don’t think that’s fair. She’s not being put forth as a feminist role model. That’s people wishing the show were a different show. Liz Lemon is not Tina Fey!

The criticism about her running to a male character for validation is a criticism raised on contrast to the character put forth in the first few seasons. Liz Lemon began as a generally self-possessed character and she has gradually been infantilized. Lemon was always on some level pathetic, yes, but she was seen as autonomous.

Her relationship with Jack began antagonistically during that time she was constantly fighting against him but as they evolved into mutual allies she stopped fighting because she no longer had a reason to. She gained a mentor, something everyone (of any gender) can benefit from.

I think there’s some truth in the criticism waged against Lemon but really she’s human. She’s not a feminist symbol, though her character does oft claim to be, but it’s her hypocrisy about so many things that makes her Liz Lemon.