wisdom in wine

So far two different people have made the comment that the lesbian couple portrayed by Rashida Jones, and Zooey Deschanel in the film Our Idiot Brother reminded them of my girlfriend and I.

Now, when hearing this one can either come to terms and accept the representation or can be offended and battle it. I chose to go with it. Since I was younger I have had to transport myself into a heterosexual couple on TV shows or film to identify with certain emotions, however now I can rejoice and be happy that there are two women that are believable and true. 

Sure their relationship in the film isn’t perfect, but most relationships in film and life are not perfect. It is the character traits that made me happy. Jones plays Cindy a professional woman lawyer with a conservative hipster/preppy style, that as a lover is, as Ms. Jones put it, “a very loyal, stable, consistent force in her girlfriend’s life” Jones is not unfamiliar when it comes to portraying a lady-lover (If These Walls Could Talk 2) she sees these roles and adds realness. Jones on her role, “I wanted to make sure it was an honest portrayal and that wasn’t a cartoon.” Rashida stated. “And I wanted to do it service after seeing The Kids Are All Right — which is such a good movie, and it’s just such a beautiful portrayal of a relationship, regardless of gender or whatever — I just really wanted people to buy it, and make it feel real.” 

She did just that, and I am not ashamed to be able to relate to a lesbian couple in a film. I feel that I am always an arms distance from lesbian films. They feel over the top, and trying way too hard. However by bringing normalcy and focusing on the genderlessness and refocusing on the raw emotions of a relationship she makes this couple relate-able for anyone, homosexual or heterosexual.

I can’t wait for a day when I see a homosexual couple in a film or TV series and a heterosexual couple can honestly say they relate to their situation. Characters should be identifiable not for their sexuality but for their honesty as human beings. 

Liz Meriwether is a name that you should be familiar with by now. Not only is she the creator and writer of the new hit Fox comedy series New Girl, but she also wrote the feature No Strings Attached. What prevails in both her works are the cleverly humorous lines to women characters, and her insight into the insecurities and emotions of male characters. She does it a very choreographed way, laced with punch lines so it isn’t as heavy as it may come off.

Female creators, and writers have been rising up this past season, however I wanted to highlight this series due to the character represented by Ms. Zooey Deschanel. She has sadly become someone easy to hate. She is the perfect representation of that hipster girl that never gave you attention, or broke your heart, or you are simply sick of seeing her only ever be that doe eyed Zooey Deschanel. We (myself included) easily forget that we glamorize classic actresses for merely playing that same ol’ role. A perfect example the adored Audrey Hepburn. She was always that sad long necked set aside book-wise young woman, and we now honor her for it. So, why is it hard for us to rejoice when a subculture woman figure is being portrayed today? Hepburn was always that beatnik wisdom filled girl that dreamt of Paris, and now Zooey is hated for being musically inclined, and a nerd. It is time we put aside our own baggage about that 1960s haircut girl that was a bitch to us. 

In all honesty, New Girl took me a couple episodes to really get into it. Then I found it shocking and uplifting to see a woman portrayed on network television that spent an evening watching intense internet porn. To see a woman act like Jim Carrey from the mask while getting back into the dating field, she makes references to Lord Of The Rings,and  . She is just as funny and borderline annoying as Jerry Lewis, I say that in the most high of respect. Jess is what she is, with no apologies. In episode one she says “I guess I can’t hide the crazy.” She is a great role model for young girls to be as nerdy as they want to be.  

New Girl, a show created by a talented woman, and starring a talented woman.You should give it a try.