New Girl is a TV show that came out in 2011 and ran until 2018. Starring Zoey Deschanel, as a fun and quirky teacher living in a loft apartment with three men she met on the internet. This show is honestly one of my favorite TV shows ever, but when I was reading this week about Marxism and hegemony, and how TV shows can push social norms onto the viewer I immediately thought of this show. I do think that New Girl in some ways doesn't always have storylines that follow the “status quo.” But other storylines follow exact gender norms and other living expectations that a viewer would expect to be pushed.
For example, some things that happen in the show are the fact that they have Jess, Zoey Deschanel, a young woman living in a loft apartment with three men she had never met before. This is one of the things that makes this show interesting. Because yes, Jess does live with three men, which is not traditional. But when she starts living there it is very obvious that the traditional gender norms come into play with her being there. Jess is very feminine, and girly and this is never really challenged in the show. With the other men living there, some of them being more “ladies men”, and some of them being portrayed as a slob or messy frequently. All five main characters are heterosexual and go in and out of those traditional male and female relationships for the whole seven seasons.
Other aspects of the show push a more traditional living situation. All five main characters have seemingly normal jobs, for example, a teacher, a bartender, marketing, a police officer, and the least traditional a model. These are all portrayed as very middle class, but almost never talked about struggling basic needs for money. They do make fun of the bartender quite often, but he is never really portrayed as struggling for money, like making rent. Another aspect about this show that is super interesting to me is it has the same friendship and community of the TV show Friends. Which might be why I like it so much. New Girl portrays this friend group as the “nuclear family” of the show, and then there are many secondary characters that come in and out and some stay the whole show. These characters add to the friend group, but there is always an overarching “family” with the five main characters. The show promotes the idea that life fulfillment comes from close friends, who support each other through everything. They are all very supportive of each other, and not typically tearing one another down.
Posted by Gabby Gunn, not sure why it says Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteI greatly enjoy New Girl as a series. I agree that there are quite a few examples where there are non typical situations that Jess finds herself in and the approach she has to resolving her issues is most often in a humorous way. I think that the show is meant to challenge social norms and show that you can create your own family and happiness even in odd situations.
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