Parks and Rec, Feminism, and Beauty Pageants

Parks and Recreation is one of my all-time favorite shows, and watching the episodes as they came out might be the only time, other than Game of Thrones, that I had to wait a week for the next installment. 

If you’re not familiar, Parks and Rec is a mockumentary-style show about the staff and zaniness of a city parks department. The main character is Leslie Knope, a go-getter who loves her job even in the worst of times - she says that being yelled at is just people “caring loudly.” A common theme with Leslie’s character is her admiration for women in politics (and generally includes women from multiple parties), and her aspirations to make positive changes in the government. She even is shocked when people don’t know that the picture in her office isn’t her Grandma, but Madeleine Albright, along with other inspirational women leaders throughout her office. 

Leslie’s ambition often puts her in situations where she’s trying to be heard and respected among other men in the city, and sometimes it’s with her obliviously playing into what she thinks is best. In an early episode, she goes to Salvatore’s barbershop, because Salvatore’s is known for cutting the hair of past (male) members of the city government.

Other times, Leslie is very obviously feminist in her opinions, and one of the best examples of this is during season 2, episode 9, called “Beauty Pageant.” In it, Leslie is a judge for the pageant and takes the role very seriously, while her colleague Tom is only there for the bikinis. Right away it is clear that we, the audience, know that Tom is in the wrong, compared to Leslie’s outlook of fairness and wanting the best candidate to win. In the clip, we see (mostly) April’s bits, but the episode focuses more on Leslie’s support of Susan Gleaver because of her dedication to school, classical music, and charitable work, while Tom and others are more interested in Trish and her sex appeal. (And April is only there for the quick prize money.)

During the judges deliberation, Leslie speaks up, firmly saying that Susan is the best candidate and deserves the win, and quips, “I'm a judge, so I don't want to seem partial, but Trish will win this over my dead body.” (Remember, this is a comedy show.) The scene quickly cuts to the announcement that Trish has won.

This episode shows in farcical ways how feminine and masculine roles are socially portrayed, creatively using negative stereotypes to tell the audience how ridiculous those societal norms can be. This is an occluded feminist reading, in which we are aware that women should be praised and awarded for their intellect and character, and even have Leslie as a guide, but we see that it’s on the outside that counts, apparently, to the judges.

I like what Leslie says at the end of the episode about the pageant results: That the “Susans” of the world will continue to carry on, even when they lose to the “Trishes” of the world.

Even though the show is a comedy, I think that Leslie is a decent role model for feminists. She’s a woman who constantly holds her own and can be tough when needed, but also compassionate. I also thing that comedy allows for an audience to laugh at the ridiculous stereotypes that our society perpetuates - hopefully the satire of it all can help us to try more to course-correct whenever we can.

Do you feel like social justice and equality issues can be effectively examined through a comedy lens? What are some examples that come to mind?