New Girl and the End of Quirky White Women

[@emmachangkredl]

Thank you so much for watching:) if you’d like to support my channel, I’m super close to monetization and a subscription would help me out so much

[@etymonlegomenon931]

@@emmachangkredl Do you need the money to buy a bookend?

[@emmachangkredl]

@@etymonlegomenon931 yes! You can send me money directly if you want :D

[@etymonlegomenon931]

@@emmachangkredl Do you have a Kickstarter for it? I need some sort of assurance that's what the funds will be put towards.

[@aesop1451]

My two cents as a socialist: 1) The roots of the feminist movement in America (Ernestine Rose, Rebekah Bettelheim Kohut) haven't historically been anticapitalist. 2) Many of the second and third-wave feminists haven't particularly focused on the working-class (Betty Friedan, Shulamith Firestone, Andrea Dworkin, Judith Butler, Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Gloria Steinem even collaborated with the CIA! 3) Native Americans are 1%, Asian Americans are 7%, Black Americans are 14%, and Hispanic Americans are 19%. If they all voted together, they would only add up to 41%. I understand your animosity towards yt people, but the demographic situation won't tip in the other direction until 2045. I prefer to call Hillary Clinton-style feminism neoliberal feminism instead of yt feminism. 4) I agree with you that not every show or movie has to have a political message. Another KZbinr was trashing Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette because Marie was an aristocrat. Just enjoy what you like. Men don't stop watching The Godfather because Michael Corleone is rich.

[@cartilagehead]

Watching this now and thinking back, it’s interesting how much of the “girlboss, quirky Hillary girl” feels like a continuation of the broader “we elected a black president, we’ve won, we did it, we finished history” vibe that dominated so much of the liberal discourse of the Obama era

[@Celestialplane945]

Because both sentiments neglect the necessity and contributions of BW

[@aesop1451]

@@Celestialplane945 You're right. I love Oprah, Michelle Obama, and Beyoncé. Especially her album Black is King.

[@apinchofdisappointment]

@@Celestialplane945 THIS ‼️👏

[@daniellehix7384]

The last season of New Girl was not supposed to happen. The show was on the chopping block and going to be canceled. FOX pushed 8 episodes out to give fans closure. They did the same thing to Gotham.

[@jcampos002]

🫡

[@frannie4310]

I really hate that Jess moving away from teaching is considered a “girl boss” move for her. Teaching takes so much dedication, patience, and skill that most people don’t have or aren’t willing to develop. Because being a teacher is considered a more “feminine” career traditionally and the pay isn’t proportional to the amount of work put in, there was no way for the show to make it seem like Jess was “successful” in the eyes of most viewers because the general public does not acknowledge it as a successful career. It’s infuriating that women in this era of feminism have to achieve certain levels of prestige and earn higher wages to be respected. Important jobs are not always prestigious or well paying. Jess was a great teacher and it made her happy, that should be all that matters. She shouldn’t have been forced by the narrative to climb the corporate ladder.

[@rubinhardin4183]

Same this bothered me so much. Her leaving teaching was so out of character for her.

[@tangyorange6509]

Fuck. I wore a crop top and high waisted mom jeans yesterday…

[@emmachangkredl]

Omg yesss bring it back 😍

[@williamdixon-gk2sk]

Sure, but were you quirky? Thats the key.

[@zenleeparadise]

That's half my wardrobe lol

[@williamdixon-gk2sk]

@zenleeparadise sure. But... are. You. Quirky? Thats half the wardrobe right there.

[@dfsdfsdfs]

Yeah it's that not what people are wearing? so confused

[@abbyatwood3592]

I always found Jess's rant about femininity groundbreaking, for me personally at least. During the early 2010s the internet was rampant with the shitty misogynist take that women who dressed and acted in feminine ways were weaker and lesser than girls who dressed and acted in a more traditionally masculine manner. Growing up in that made me constantly try to change myself to not be seen as lesser. The whole "I'm not like other girls" take was EVERYWHERE. I don't know a single woman who was a teen/ young adult during this time who didn't fall into this mindset for awhile. This show, and that scene in particular, really helped me stop thinking this way.

[@OceansTreasure]

During its time, it truly was. Feminism was soooo misogynistic back then, still have notes for current feminism ofc mainly intersectionality, but at that time, feminism aligned with male values without realizing: aloofness, cut throat rising in the ranks and a rejection of vulnerability and girlhood.

[@shelbybullock3146]

It's actually almost impossible to go from being an administrator to being a classroom teacher again. Hiring managers notice that in the interviews and resumes. Idk if the writers knew that but that is a thing.

[@emmachangkredl]

Ooh that’s super interesting!! Ty for clarifying 🫶

[@FuzzyKittenBoots]

Why is that? If you have time to explain. :)

[@Vivian-ks7jr]

Not sure if that is true. I have had a teacher colleague do that.

[@glub__blub]

I’ve seen it happen a few times but they stayed in the same district so hiring managers weren’t an issue

[@PirateQueen1720]

@@FuzzyKittenBoots I'd imagine it's because hiring managers assume that the reason you're "downgrading" is that you sucked at admin, not that you just really prefer teaching.

[@coolchameleon21]

i feel like i’ve been living in an alternate reality since 2020

[@bellaren1145]

same 😭😭 how do we get out

[@eatatjoes6751]

Dammit, me too.

[@coolchameleon21]

@@bellaren1145 if you ever find out lmk 😅 i hate this timeline lmao

[@brecky]

Same

[@Daydreamerr13]

Me too 😢😢

[@wigsfordogs]

I feel like the movie resonated in part because Feminist Icon Barbie healed some very old psychic wounds in middle-aged women. As a 1984 millennial who served in the same Blurred Lines trenches: For a hot minute, ripping on Barbie through a feminist lens was peak mainstream White Feminism. It was a whole, exhausting thing when you were a baby, and it really thrived for years on the early internet. I wasn't long off my Barbie years at that point and it was one of my first feminist inner conflicts. Friends and even grown adults actively ridiculed my young teen self for any remaining whiff of Barbie-adjacent femininity, as things like my all-hot-pink desk chair were considered embarrassing artifacts of a regressive, Mattel-based childhood. It was considered unbecoming for a young woman """with a brain,""" while boys and men continued to collect nostalgic Transformers merch in peace. As remedial pre-101 as the movie was, it served some powerful catharsis for people who still needed liberation from that era's feminine shame and the 2010s shaming of feminine juvenilia.

[@aesop1451]

I thought it was a bad look for grown men to be obsessed with Star Wars and Marvel 🤔

[@wigsfordogs]

@@aesop1451 your straw man is leaking over there

[@aesop1451]

@@wigsfordogs There's a video of a man with glasses crying when he sees the Rise of Skywalker trailer. And everyone in the comments is making fun of him. Obviously women have it harder, but it's normal to shame men and women once they're of a certain age for being too attached to kid's things.

[@clarkbowler157]

​​@@aesop1451 Why do would you need to put such limits on things that can and are literally enjoyed by all kinds of people? Take computer games for example. All kinds of people play computer games.

[@wigsfordogs]

@@aesop1451 Mmkay, you don't seem combative and you willfully engage when I have openly announced my 40 years of age, so I will explain. I mentioned juvenilia because of a separate phenomenon of the bad faith criticism that was all over pop feminism in the 2010s, specifically aimed at popular girls' media of the millennial childhood. It wasn't an issue of mocking individual people for liking children's media, it was a constant drumbeat of, "This character/media/property is bad, it's bad for you, and you're a little dumber for having ever enjoyed it." What I'm talking about in reference to Barbie, however, isn't playing with toys and the like. I was still a child, mind you -- I was 11 and 12 in 1996 -- but this was an era where the kind of femininity Barbie represented was not considered strictly childish, but vapid and brainless. In more feminist-leaning cultures, like where I spent my later childhood and teen years in the northeastern US, it was Not Okay to like pink or admit even a nostalgic fondness for things like Barbie. We didn't use these exact terms at the time, but it was considered a surrender to the patriarchy, an attempt to be more appealing to men by appearing weak and stupid. "Smart girls" were meant to be precocious, ideally a little bit tomboyish, and actively loathe pretty pink things, even if they weren't meant for children. The Barbie movie is a parody of the lifelong internal wrestling match many of us inherited from that cultural moment, between brains and ambition and a secret, shameful fondness for frilly pink bullshit. America Ferrera's daughter in the movie is a mouthpiece for the internal voices we all carried as we tried to give up the fight. The fact that the cultural memory of that shame is fading is probably a good sign that we didn't bring it with us to our little sisters and children. The Quirky White Woman, incidentally, was a direct answer to this '90s era attitude. What isn't mentioned in this video is how intense the scrutiny and criticism of that character was at the time. Zooey Deschanel was frequently held up as the poster girl for twee, juvenile, "adorkable" femininity, and the consensus was often the same as what we got in the '90s -- it wasn't an authentic personality, it was all a performance to appeal to men. Whereas New Girl tried to bend to this criticism with a Girlboss pivot, the Barbie movie just exploded with the pent-up anger and fatigue of never being the "right" kind of woman. That was the catharsis. So no, it isn't about liking childish things past the appropriate age.

[@nep22nne]

I'm so glad this video was recommended to me! The title was hard to hear, as nobody told me (a white woman with bangs) that quirky white women were over, but I really resonated with the points you made. We do have different relationships with Jess, as I really identify with her more than a lot of other TV characters, but I understand that her exaggerated traits make her seem not based in reality. I often struggle with the feeling you expressed around the 17 minute mark, how shocking it is to me that some people have only a basic understanding of feminism without seeing how intersectionality and capitalism and everything else interferes with those ideas. I think it's probably why I honestly never really considered New Girl a "feminist" show or Jess a "feminist" character. She never really had any challenging or very nuanced opinions, so I never thought anything of it when the show's writing fell short of a meaningful message. Of course it's almost a silly standard to hold a TV character to, but for the sake of discussion and understanding my point I hope it makes sense. Even saying that, I can't really think of any TV shows that really delved into the more "controversial" and nuanced ideas of feminism past a brief mention of "The Second Sex". I do still appreciate the media coming out really pushing a palatable feminist narrative, like Barbie, because I think the length they went to was understandable for an average viewer, especially older women with more "traditional" feminist ideas, without challenging their ideas enough for them to write off feminists as man haters and "crazy lesbians". Even looking at Jess and her portrayal as a feminist, as you did here, she is notably an improvement from Leslie Knope of the Obama era and her very anti-sex work beliefs, and feminism was one of her defining traits (it was kind of shoved down your throat at times). I still love Parks and Rec, but just like New Girl it was very of its time. Sorry for this mammoth of a comment, I don't know how to make my thoughts more concise. All this being said, I do hope to personally help keep the quirky population alive. Let this be the end of flawed, boring, and white feminism; I have no problem with that, but I just can't grow out my bangs.

[@alyssapinon9670]

This was really cool to read. I also wanted to add onto this dialogue as a quirky WOC who had to survive in predominately white spaces. Despite the fact that I am not white or white passing in the slightest, I constantly got Zooey Deschanel/Jess comparisons because I was (still am) an artsy, bubbly person. I lived by the “I break for birds” quote as a way to cope with the effects of 2010’s NLOG, femininity= bad beliefs and the bullying that came with it. Even though my perceived “quirkiness” (including being a brown skinned WOC) made me feel a bit outcasted at times, it gained me many mentor figures and allies in academic and work spaces. Looking back, I felt immense pressure to assimilate to my surroundings, and while my love of twee fashion and creative pursuits are real parts of me, it also was a bit of a survival mechanism. To be seen as a “safe” woman of color. And it is a bit disheartening how WOC in Barbie and New Girl never get to be the leading women. I’m not black, but Chewing Gum (which has a similar quirky feel as New Girl) has a special place in my heart because it has a dark skinned black woman as the lead and a lighter skinned biracial best friend. And sadly it doesn’t get the same hype as quirky white woman media. I’m happy about the resurgence of twee and Barbie fashion, but am even more happy that people are enjoying them while challenging the fat phobia, cis heteronormativity, and white middle class elitism that was rampant in the 2010’s. I also agree with keeping the quirky population alive, and even helping it grow by taking a more intersectional approach.

[@nep22nne]

@@alyssapinon9670 omg chewing gum is such a good show, i haven’t watched it in years and have been meaning to revisit it. also i appreciate a response, i couldn’t tell if my comment even made sense because i didn’t (and don’t!) know how to get all my thoughts out. i hadn’t seen my comment on mobile before and it looks… too long 😭

[@alyssapinon9670]

@@nep22nne haha don’t worry. I’m a rambler myself as you can see. Chewing gum and Community were my comfort shows when I was fresh out of college. Definetly captures the anxieties of your early twenties and figuring yourself out while having more adult responsibilities. Abed and Tracey are my quirky POC icons Your comment resonated the most with me because of its complexities. Subjects that can be expressed succinctly get stripped of their depth and nuance. I have a love-hate relationship with twee and the quirky community for the reasons I mentioned. There’s room for improvement but it doesn’t need to be dismissed entirely because of its flaws. A lot of my queer BIPOC friends expressed similar sentiments about being in alt spaces. How they loved the feeling of community and being able to express themselves, but not so much the obsession with whiteness and thinness (which goth icons like Tim Burton played a large part in perpetuating). Plus goth/punk clothing brands are expensive and inaccessible when the whole point of the subcultures are to be diy and anti capitalist.

[@Lenaacast]

I agree a lot with this comment, to be completely honest I haven’t watched the whole show, but for me, Jess is really special, because my partner said that he was watching New Girl because Jess is just like me (also, at some point on the series we said the same thing at the same time and that freaked the hell out of me lol) I think what makes Jess so relatable is the fact that she is not quirky just to be desired by the guys she is living with, she is quirky because that’s her personality (as you said, her traits are exaggerated but she still feels kinda real) But the criticism is really valid, I love the idea that feminism is taking so much strength during this decades, but is necessary to do better and think critically in order to achieve actual change, New Girl is a really cute and funny show, but if you try to use politics as a plot line is really important to actually do research and go beyond the basics. Sorry if I don’t make sense at some point, English is not my first lenguage. ^^

[@aesop1451]

@@alyssapinon9670 I'm so sorry you had to go through all that! 😢 I've read that unfortunately Han Chinese are overrepresented in Chinese media, Hindus are overrepresented in Indian media, Slavs are overrepresented in Russian media, and Koreans and Japanese are overrepresented in Korean and Japanese media! Hopefully one day that changes! 🥰

[@albertoticozzi2741]

i thought people hated lena Dunham due to what she did to her sister

[@patiencekillz]

what did she do

[@Theunspoiledprincess]

@@patiencekillzMolested her and wrote about it in her book

[@patiencekillz]

@@Theunspoiledprincess wtf?

[@alysaurusrex2166]

Worth noting when the molestation occurred, Lena was 6 years old. Her sister was 4. It wasn’t as if she molested her when she knew better. Weird choice for her to write about it undoubtedly. And she’s done and said a lot of other problematic things before and since.

[@SuperSecretAgentNein]

No, no one in good faith judges a six year old by the same standards that they judge an adult. It was weird to write about it (don’t know if she ran that by her sis first), but the people who bring that up usually had other issues with her to start with.

[@oli_via1016]

KZbin recommendations actually working for a change, great video!

[@longlostgf]

is the point at which New Girl killed itself not when Winston became a cop? also, say what you will about s7, but the Little Red Book joke was maybe the funniest thing in the whole show. i remember seeing someone tweet that there was a Mao joke in New Girl, not believing it, then watching it a year or so later and still not believing it. so funny, except for being unintentional in any case, cheers to being far, far away from the early 2010s

[@emmachangkredl]

Ok yes agreed! I was going to talk about Winston being a cop but it just didn’t fit in at allll. I was really fascinated by the one episode where they try to talk about police brutality? Every show with cops in the mid-late 2010s has one of these and it’s always so weird to watch. I’m in the middle of Scandal rn and I just saw a particularly bad one. New video essay topic??? We’ll see! Also yes that joke had me dying LMAO

[@SpencerOrmond]

​@emmakredl that would be a great video essay topic!

[@fu_bi]

Not to ignore the entire message of this video... But has anyone else who grew up through this era being compared to Jess and Zooey Deschanel characters more broadly been diagnosed as ADHD/AuDHD? When I was a kid, before this show aired there was only Phoebe from Friends as the example for neurodivergent coded white woman and I never enjoyed that one, but leaning into the Jess comparison was like a social lifeline for me ahaha

[@fu_bi]

This is my thesis anyway, that one of yhe the best things characters like this did was ease the social burden for autistic/ADHD women (at least if they were white and feminine presenting) because people wouldn't be so weirded out they'd be like "oh you're kind of like Jess from New Girl!"

[@strawberryboi3517]

​@@fu_biyes!! I've actually had one of my friends call me Jess from new girl and I found it odd, I do find comfort In Jess as she does have alot of autistic traits but it made me think a bit more on how she viewed Jess vs how she trully viewed me as I have adhd as it is good representation/ I hope there is more Poc women with AUDHD traits in modern media!!!!

[@rubberlover666]

Would you put Broad City into this category too? They also went hard for Hilary and seemed to be everywhere in 2016 - and now, no one talks about that show anymore?

[@emmachangkredl]

Ok yes!! I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen Broad City but that’s such a good point… I’m gonna watch it soon out of curiosity hahaha

[@rubberlover666]

@@emmachangkredl I really liked the show (it helps if you've ever been flat broke and tried to live in NYC) and it seemed to really capture a cultural zeitgeist (it brought "yas queen" into the popular lexicon) but when Hillary showed up on it there was some immediate backlash. The show went on for two more seasons after the election but it felt less vital and the episodes leaned into goofier premises.And for what felt like such a popular show, it's almost vanished from conversation? I'm curious about your take!

[@mazapandust]

@@emmachangkredl broad city is so good!!!! definitely falls into this same category of quirky white woman shows but i thoroughly enjoyed it

[@williamdixon-gk2sk]

​@@rubberlover666that's funny, I really liked 'Broad City', mostly because of what you pointed out. It really captured what it was like trying to be a broke 20-something in NY, which was a great time in my life. But i lost a lot of affection for the show when they dove into the whole Hillary thing. Not that I care one bit for the other guy, but she is a horrible person as well, and I truly believe it is not cool to use your fame to schill for any politician. It's us against them, and moves like that just show you're on that "them" side. It's too bad, but that's why Abbie & Ilana are doing stool-softener commercials instead of making miss Brooklyn.

[@nataliei.4114]

HBO's "Girls" too

[@edenrose8831]

I never saw Zoe's Jess character as existing solely for the male gaze, so I never saw her as manic pixie dream. I do think quirky white women are too relateable to disappear.

[@slipclot2242]

Looooved this take, especially after seeing a few pro twee resurgence tweets amid the 2024 elections. It’s interesting how fashion comes to play in this context, how someone like Zoey who popularized the movement is a very quirky, charming but feminine feminist and how that influenced and basically encapsulates 2010 white feminist culture. And how someone like Lena Dunham, who is also quirky and somewhat charming presents herself in a “masculine aligned way” towards the public eye ( like her god awful mobster outfit in the bad blood cameo) and the whole political girlboss pantsuit encapsulated the post 2010 in the white feminist landscape. And the whole Barbie costume design as a whole influences the modern white woman’s day to day wardrobe. As a former H&M employee in the south, it’s insane how so many 30-40 yr old white women buy the regurgitated version of 2018 pantsuits and palazzos and genuinely see it as fashion forward. Anyways, loved the video!! I subscribed !!

[@saltytbone]

I did the same thing about season 7! I rewatched New Girl last year and was surprised the streaming continued after "the kiss." And I was so disappointed. Also the irony of how many white women voted Republican in 2016

[@Kosmokatgirl]

The majority of Hollywood actresses are Republican. Don’t forget it. And somebody that used to work in the industry as a stylist I won’t.

[@aesop1451]

@@Kosmokatgirl I guess Jane Fonda, Shaileene Woodley, Dua Lipa, Rachel McAdams, Emily Ratajkowski, Nikki Reed, Kristen Wiig, Chloe Sevigny, Susan Sarandon, Alyssa Milano, Lily Rose-Depp, Rosario Dawson, Tessa Thompson, and Anya Taylor-Joy were all pretending to be Bernie supporters and actually secretly voted for Trump 😂 But on a more serious note, I think there's a disconnect between what yt woman watch and their own feelings. This goes across the board. Men will cheer for Joker going against Thomas Wayne and then go vote for literally Thomas Wayne 💀 Meanwhile POC like Azealia Banks, Stacey Dash, Amber Rose, Shmexxy Red, Snoop Dogg, Anuel AA, Kodak Black, DaBaby, Waka Flocka Flame, Nicky Jam, Lord Jamar, M.I.A, MLK's daughter Alveda King, and Lil Wayne are voting for Trump.

[@rosita061]

Interesting take… I didn’t know NG ran for 7 seasons, but based my interpretation on how you described the weirdness of Jess’ arc, I’d say that’s kind of realistic, from my 45 YO self, whose life took an odd twist from corporate in my early 30’s to to an awkwardly placed latinx finding my way in a male dominated tech industry as a business owner 10 years later. It wouldn’t make sense in the story arch of where you’d think I’d go, but here I am 🤷🏽‍♀️. How you described her character, IMO, actually is relatable to what it’s like in mid life looking back 😂.

[@Play4keeks]

How did you get into tech?

[@rosita061]

@ i couldn’t find a job in my field of communications/ writing. My partner (a developer) bought a VR headset around 2015, and we were like: we should start a VR Horror Game company. So we did and started as a startup but evolved into a small business. We’ve navigated the “serious game” industry (in medical and education) to keep the lights on, but also making our own games- our latest title is called MRDRBRS (“mu-rrr-D-errr Bears)! 🐻 Anyway, it hasn’t been easy, and I spent much the first several years trying to figure out what I was doing. And each day is a whole new challenge. But- isn’t that just life in general? I’m not a technical person- but I have a vision, and I work really hard to be able to translate that vision to build something new, and get people excited about what we do.

[@hysterikole1]

I tried watching Girls. It was just annoying, as the characters were just unlikeable. New Girl was fun and light tho

[@Theendbeginsagain]

There is also the horrifying scene in that show Broad city where Hillary Clinton showed up. I never watched the show I just saw that clip and it was enough to make me never want to watch the show.

[@chelmrtz]

Lana del Rey is a feminist icon? I am confusion

[@Carolina57685]

After all the romanticizing of the nymphete/coquette/lolita(BOOK) bs I can't imagine calling her a feminist icon while acting as if Barbie is worse lmao Plus that very sexist and racist rant she went into on instagram and how she talked about other female singers.... no thank you.

[@emmachangkredl]

Lana isn’t a feminist icon and I don’t say she is in the video. I said you can enjoy her music or a product like barbie WITHOUT trying to turn them into feminist icons

[@Soul_underground]

She’s a gator boat ride wife

[@briemme]

You're killing it--I love this vid. So wild to see these cyclical trends! The resurgence of Lana, especially, has been such a weird one to watch.

[@emmachangkredl]

I know it’s crazy!! Thank you so much for your support 😇🫶

[@tz64nk41]

You should check out Supergirl - it's second season straddled the 2016 election and I'm not sure it ever regained its identity after that (which was a bit shaky to begin with).

[@patrickholt2270]

I think the deprecated type isn't white feminism, it's bourgeois feminism. The working class is inherently diverse and contains the overwhelmingly majority of all minority persons, and their class interests encourage unity whereas identity politics is essentially a bourgeois and professional-managerial class phenomenon, ideology and project, which by essentialising identities actually causes division and ends up espousing forms of segregation. Supporting HRC, a phenomenally corrupt war criminal and financial oligarch, proves that the problem was bourgeois feminism not white feminism, because she only represented rich women, and it was only women within or with access into the elite who could benefit from solidarity with her. She was actually terrible for working class, black, poor and foreign women. She had no solidarity with all women, especially not the Libyan, Iranian, Syrian and Palestinian women that she inflicted war and sanctions on, and the migrant women she tried to wall out well before Trump started calling for a wall.

[@Play4keeks]

Facts ❤

[@thewizard8263]

i remember watching a bit of this show over my friends shoulder and seeing an apparantly running gag about a homeless guy and getting so angry i felt ill, never felt interested in watching it after that

[@wren923]

“outside dave” and yeah it’s one of the worst running jokes in the whole series :(

[@coolm3th]

As someone who has consistent interactions with people who are homeless and are also a touch mentally ill, i enjoyed the running outside dave bit. it's genuinely accurate to my experiences with people like him. I see where it can be problematic, but also i found it relatable. People are just like that sometimes

[@Ray03595]

Outside Dave was hilarious. There are homeless people like that in any major US city. Pretty unfortunate obviously but I don’t see how a homeless character existing in a comedy show is automatically offensive. He was never treated badly

[@herbst_zeit3890]

I actually loved the 7th season of New Girl. It just felt like the writers had one last chance to get real goofy with the characers and they did. I don't think they intended for it to actually have a lot of plot, it was just one last chance to mess around a little and show us what became of the characters we know and love. RIP Ferguson.

[@meganclow6959]

I gotta say, I really really love New Girl, it is one of my main background shows. This and Will & Grace. Both wildly white and have a ton of cringey and sometimes problematic jokes, and I get it's not the highest quality and there's little to no deep thinking involved, but for the most part it's just goofy, light hearted fun. I expect little to nothing from sitcoms though

[@meganclow6959]

I also didn't watch the show until like 2021, I was wildly poor at the time it was airing and didn't have tv or regular internet access until 2020. Anything that happened between 2012-2020 I only really heard about if someone told me 😅

[@noragami97]

I see Uzumaki behind you, have you read Black Paradox or Lovesickness? Would you ever post a video of your favorite Junji Ito works?

[@dylanhuntly3517]

I’m currently in the process of writing a video of my own about the Aussie breakdancer, Raygun and how she can be viewed as this perfect figurehead of ‘white liberal feminism’. The idea you talk about at the start here of white liberal feminism being more about giving white women the same space within patriarchy as white men, rather than being something that actively challenges the underlying systems of oppression that are perpetuated by patriarchal capitalism was really interesting and to add to the backlash people like Lena Dunham received I think it’s worth exploring the idea that they wouldn’t have received as much hate and vitriol had they been men. Anyways, cheers for the insightful video!

[@aesop1451]

The problem with Raygun is that she misunderstands Deleuze. It seems she’s confusing his explanation of how capitalism disrupts and reshapes culture with the idea of culture jamming. She believes that by dancing in an unconventional style that strays from traditional breakdancing, she is somehow "subverting" the patriarchy and consumerism. It's like abstract art. Imagine if a big artist released an album where every track was just radio static. "See? I'm challenging capitalism!" No, you just made terrible art. The Barbie movie thinks its doing something by criticizing the sincere girlboss feminism of the 2010s, but it fulfills the same function as the previous feminism. It's another version of Not Like Other Girls where modern audiences can say, "I'm not like those cringy feminists from 10 years ago." BUT Barbie doesn't critique capitalism. And if you've read Marx, the superstructure (fancy term for culture) is shaped by the base (fancy term for economic system). If you only critique the culture without critiquing the economic system, you're just another poser.

[@meganclow6959]

I love the last season of New Girl! It was just extra New Girl to me, none of it was too off brand it was still goofy and weird(the cat funeral? "All around me are feline cat faces"??? Iconic)

[@Heyfifii]

I also like the last season of New Girl, Ferguson RIP, and I wish there were more Nick and Ruth moments 😂😂😂

[@meganclow6959]

@Heyfifii Yes! Nick and Ruth were so funny, I would have loved more of them!

[@row2matow557]

This video is fantastic, thank you for the deep new girl analysis!!!!!

[@carriedream101]

This is the first video of yours I’ve seen! Great analysis!

[@leighamlemire8804]

I see Uzumaki in the background, I listen.

[@emmachangkredl]

@@leighamlemire8804 thank you for noticing that and not how insanely messy my mantle is LOL

[@Daydreamerr13]

I’ll take the girl boss problematic era than whatever timeline we been on since 2020😂

[@KevLavigne-qp5sx]

awesome video, my only small criticism would be that Taylor was always commercially successful, and to say or agree she had a “comeback” at any point goes along too much with her preferred narrative imho, like, because Kim k didn’t touch her commercial success, but she likes to pretend kim did, as if she’s still some underdog. I guess maybe you meant swifties were more quiet in like 2016 and 2017. I read this annoying article trying to justify Taylor’s lack of endorsement in 2016 and it’s stuck with me lol

[@360shadowmoon]

Yeah...I wouldn't put Taylor Swift in the category of "quirky white woman"...that wasn't her brand. Girlboss, yes.

[@yokothespacewhale]

Please stop associating mom jeans with other millenial bs. Killing skinny jeans is perhaps the only thing of value we did as a generation and tbh we were just copying the Korean kids in our art schools.

[@tempy2440]

What was wrong with skinny jeans

[@yokothespacewhale]

@@tempy2440​​⁠they only look good on one body type that is already enjoying being tall and skinny. More Power to them to enjoy their beautiful bodies but I’m glad the rest of us have fashionable options now.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

Mom jeans is a gen Z thing, paired with crop tops. Millennials are into skinny jeans and baggy tops

[@yokothespacewhale]

@@aeoligarlic4024given our age I hope not Also I’m talking from a guys perspective. Skinny jeans plagued us too

[@milkglassfairy7641]

@@yokothespacewhaleskinny jeans look good on an array of bodies. Mom jeans and baggy jeans etc and HIGH WAISTED JEANS look good on an array of bodies too. Not mine!! Not a very short, petite woman (petite as in frame and bone structure not just weight) with a very short torso. Jeans like that cut us off in the wrong place, give us no waist, swallow us up and dont hug the right places. High waisted jeans make me have NO waist and girls with bodies like mind end up looking.. rectangular. And it sucks lol. I am all here for the low and mid rise that’s come back in style because those of us with short torsos and boyish frames can finally have a waist lol the high waist cuts it off at the wrong place. I’ve seen women with much bigger bodies than mine wear skinny jeans and they look fantastic because they’re hugging all the curves and just look great. Skinny jeans don’t need to be demonised lol they’re not actually that bad. They don’t JUST look good on ‘skinny’ women.

[@dr3dg352]

I don't miss 2016 fashion... 😅

[@biboebbs624]

love the take on imperial feminism

[@Caitlin_TheGreat]

I don't recall that New Girl episode... but I _do_ recall a similar sort of episode from Broad City. It felt _so_ out of place to see Hilary show up and I'd gotten the impression that that particular episode had been paid for by her campaign. Maybe both were. Which does play into the inherent insincerity she had. Hilary had _no_ policy when she ran, it was 100% "vote for me because I'm a woman". If that had been in _addition_ to an actual campaign, it'd be fine. But it was pretty much the entirety of her platform. Don't get me wrong, I have a number of issues with Harris. It'd be so nice if we could get a woman candidate who was awesome. Couldn't be a full on socialist because too many people would freak out about it, but even just some mild SocDem proposals would be great and, I think, massively motive people to vote for that person. Hilary was -- and is -- a hanger-on to the billionaire capitalist elites, who had no issue with a lot of very right-wing politics just so long as she could fit it into a liberal aesthetic. All surface, no depth. And that too would have been preferable to Trump. But in 2016 Hillary was doing all she could to downplay the threat of Trump and clearly didn't believe it herself that he could get elected. The guy just had to tell people what they wanted to hear, ramp up the fear-mongering with some sleazy charisma that apparently works for some people, and Hillary more or less did the rest of making herself unlikeable. Harris, despite some horrendous policy stances, is a much more likable person. And, I think, the threat of Trump (and his dangerous incompetence and love of fascism) is not being undersold. It's not "no way could this guy get elected" but more "look, he's gotta lose this... but could she just come out against genocide? Why is it so hard for her to say mass murder of a whole people is bad?"

[@mirianakovachevic748]

Because of her husband.

[@aesop1451]

I guess progressives are just finding out that capitalism is not necessarily incompatible with their social views. The differences between Democrats and Republicans are social issues. A lot of Democrats are in favor of legalizing marijuana under the guise of, "This will help a lot of POC start small businesses." Rosie the Riveter was the original girlboss. Jennifer Pritzker is a Democrat billionaire MtF. The Soviet Union, East Germany, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, DPRK, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are or were relatively conservative compared to any modern Western country.

[@yhqraz]

i just found this channel, i love it!

[@emmachangkredl]

Omg thank youu 💕

[@celestecelestial90]

Zoey looks just like Katy Perry. They could pass as fraternal twins. The show is liberal millennial cringe. 😅

[@m00nbeams42]

YOU SLAY SO HARD!!! you deserve millions of subscribers:):) wonderful video!!!!!!

[@Manakuuchiha]

I have a lot of different thoughts but the words are all jumbled together right now. I will leave this algorithm comment instead of an incoherent essay 👍

[@Ivan-Ivan-p]

This is a nice video. Have you thought of putting house plants in the background? I think it would make the space look more cozy. Anyways I'm looking forward for your future Videos :)

[@lochnessvhs]

I also had no idea there was a 7th season of New Girl and thanks to you I will never watch it. That show ended in the elevator 💛

[@seanh9445]

I liked it tbh but I agree with a lot of this Winsons plot line with the protester being just kinda dropped was weird too it could’ve been a very interesting way to examine the issues

[@90sbby37]

with Hillary, the issue I feel now is that they were saying there's only ONE form of feminism. the boss girl, red lip and always says what's on her mind 🥴It literally goes against feminism by making a certain way women dress, act, and feel. and if you weren't the cookie cutter of that, you just weren't a feminist. It's annoying how when women's rights are being discussed, there always needs to be a almost masculine woman talking about it. or at least a discussion of hair, makeup, and wardrobe because they "gotta entice the women somehow!!!"

[@emmelinesprig489]

“quirked up white women” !!! 😂😂😂

[@pchiare]

Damn girl, my high-waisted mom jeans are all sold out in my Etsy store.

[@heatherrae901]

What’s your Etsy store called?

[@m.stewart8094]

Only watched the Prince episode. Never could get into this show even tho always liked Zoey. I much preferred the white hot messes that were in Girls and also Fleabag.

[@ranbummerz729]

I yawned at 1:16 and thought I went deaf in one ear for a sec

[@amekat]

HC jumpscare in the first minute??? brutal

[@alicereiter24]

Dude this is such a good video

[@emmachangkredl]

Love youuuu

[@nicholasgarcia6402]

First time watcher, I really enjoyed your analysis! Really contributes to the discourse, and inspiring :)

[@Bubbles603]

Thank you KZbin recommendation algorithm and thank YOU way more Emma I’m sure I’ll love this

[@abhipsa5714]

just found your channel, this video is fantastic!

[@carlsh2000]

Wow im glad now that i never new about the final season

[@andrew-hf9fl]

I don't know that I did know there was a season 7 lol. I feel like I used to feel that way about season 6 though, Didn't it also come out way later and be made by a different network?

[@flower5185]

Pretty reasonable analysis but it's hard to take criticisms of class privilege seriously from people who are obviously upper middle class or above

[@emmachangkredl]

@@flower5185 lmao it’s nice to know that my video background gives off that vibe… I wish!!

[@flower5185]

@@emmachangkredl Strange to deny it but ok!

[@aesop1451]

@@flower5185 Yeah. She's like the Barbie movie. "See, we're criticizing 2010s upper class feminism, so we're totally different!"

[@arbyswitch5580]

​@@flower5185 no but like how do you know that

[@katinthehat1736]

Watched Girls for the first time this year and loved it, the main characters kinda really suck but in a way that's written really well lol.

[@EvilWeiRamirez]

My wife just started watching new girl, and so I'm watching it too. I find that none of the comedy stands, but my wife and kids are laughing, so maybe that's just me. I also think Barbie was actually extremely critical of 2010s feminism. I wonder if this is the flight club of today, and Barbie is the new Tyler dyrden. To me, the movie said these are all facades. The idea of representation when being sold is never really what it is. They are selling another thing. When America Ferrara ends her arc with her attempt to jump into the petite bourgeoisie, she will simply become the person in power who is doing the exploitation of feminine representation. We see that, in the Barbie world, when men were in power and when women were in power, we had winners and losers with an underclass and a class in power that did not want to give up the power. The underclass was happy with taking on the facades of power but not attaining equality in the supreme Court. I guess it should be no surprise that the message is lost in the masses.

[@aesop1451]

Well Fight Club critiques capitalism by suggesting capitalism is emasculating. So it shares much in common with what the Italians and Germans were doing in the 1930s. Barbie is not suggesting a return to traditional femininity by critiquing capitalism. Barbie is saying that girlboss feminism and new feminism can coexist. A Barbie doll that can be President, an actress, a skier, or an astronaut is the definition of girlboss feminism. But new feminists are embarrassed by that type of feminism, so they have to constantly criticize it. Barbie is girlboss feminism that pretends its not girlboss feminism. Feminism is inherently capitalist. I think most people would agree that the EU and North America are more feminist than any currently existing and historically existent communist and socialist countries. Yup, the frightening realization is that Fight Club _is right_

[@arbyswitch5580]

You genuinely think that Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach wrote a script with a Marxist framework?

[@TMeyer-ge5pj]

I didn't wear mom jeans in 2016. That was still skinny jeans. Where were people wearing mom jeans in 2016?

[@sailorsenshi4504]

I had a phase where I kind of tried to be like this. Quirky. I grew up to look more like Cece definitely.

[@mirianakovachevic748]

They are all so cringe. Real women are not like that. Right ?

[@GalacticR.E.M]

Very weird and unfortunate that in 2024 people are still bringing race into every conversation, aligning stereotypes to people based off thier race, speaking about unimportant topics that aren't even topics....

[@Soul_underground]

Is feminism strictly aesthetics now? All your heroes are just actors or musicians or icons. What happened to praxis?

[@KirstenC-q2x]

It’s strange alright. People of one culture don’t help people of their own culture preferentially? Sorry, that’s funny.

[@shirleyparkersk]

New Girl is miles better than Friends and HIMYM and I dare say it's the best of the genre (unless we count Community and Parks & Rec as the same type of show) due its charm and genuine funny moments and characters. The political standpoint of the show, however, is clearly liberal and American and it shows in several stances which reeks as bullshit today since we are not as naive about the world as we once were and we are more critical of capitalism and US as a country, but I won't hold against it, I just roll eyes the same way I despise US politics and label them as a political aberration, filled with war criminal presidents and it's essentially a terrorist organization.

[@jadet4748]

FACTS ON FACTS ON FACTS

[@qoak9265]

Now the DT has won once again, can we expect the same cyclical rejection of “white feminism”? And if so, who’s in the crosshairs this time?

[@PenelopeAstony]

This was great!!

[@GalacticR.E.M]

Make a video about how wokies like you are getting outdated😂

[@princesspuddinhead]

Love this vid but also hair 360 PLS

[@Megara.x]

18:08 You just cant please some people. Toy companies are gonna make and market toys. And some people are out here getting mad that they're getting more diverse and inclusive..?? As if it's ~*some big trick*~ to make us like them. It isnt a trick to give people the representation they want lol

[@perezpilled]

1996 zillennials rise up 🙌🏽

[@voodooomega4387]

Comment for the algorithm. Good video!

[@hellaradusername]

This is some good video essaying! Have an engagement

[@joesiemoneit2787]

Dunno why but i found the show utterly depressing

[@joesiemoneit2787]

…like fleabag levels of depressing

[@fujithegreat6069]

What? How? It was absurd as fuck.

[@louisnemzer6801]

3:45 First as tragedy, then as farce

[@cashboii_]

fire vid emma 🔥🔥🔥🙌

[@emmachangkredl]

Ty erik!!! 🤭

[@TheCandela15]

New Girl is one of the best, most heart-warming sitcoms ever. Its' only problem was when it got political, when it really didn't need to be. I guess that's the problem with most of the media nowadays.

[@CalvinCashen]

Thanks!

[@emmachangkredl]

You’re welcome!

[@GalacticR.E.M]

You're trying so hard to break big with a hit video with all these controversial videos but that unfortunately just wont happen, because nobody cares about "controversial" youtubers who make "content" which is basically gossip and unwanted opinions about topics that takes intelligence and education to speak about.

[@GalacticR.E.M]

Also its weird and regressive that there are people in 2024 still race coding topics, speaking about stereotypes and bringing race into every convo. But ig Americans or anglophones

[@Lucy-tl3ed]

I never liked new girl 😭

[@BroccoliDog420]

Hey great video!

[@angelmoreno5783]

Great video!

[@GalacticR.E.M]

Just look at urself 😂

[@Sthomp10]

Well done!

[@IGBOSTROLOGY]

great video 😊 😊 ❤❤

[@thesyclemonte6571]

Dawn of the grundle girl

[@eternalia4059]

Nice!

[@brownkv081]

Whos life looks anything like it though. Shows about people living and being rich kill me. I wish life was a fraction as fun instead of a relentless slog of embarassment.

[@cheyennegreenwood8700]

wait when did we stop liking lana del rey LMAOO

[@emmachangkredl]

HAHA real… I feel as though people really weren’t feeling Lust For Life then came back for NFR then she was really criticized between 2020-2022 and now shes back in a hugeee way… anyways 2024 was a Lust For Life summer 😙

[@kehlcassidy9562]

This is news to me as well... 🤔

[@maddiesmusings]

Lol longtime Lana stans will remember the days in the trenches, Lana’s actually gotten ‘canceled’ several times over the years so it is funny for me to see all the girlies pretending to have liked her all along rn when I’m like, no I remember y’all ‘bullying’ me for loving her despite the ‘nepo baby’ claims, Question for the Culture, maskgate, etc. It only became ‘cool’ to like Lana within the last few years, but everyone likes to pretend now that they’ve always been on board w her

[@cheyennegreenwood8700]

@@maddiesmusings never did i once say i “liked her all along” lol i said 5 words and got an essay back.. i’m sorry that other girls bullied you for your music taste but, continuing the gatekeeping isn’t gonna make anything better… enjoy your longtime lana stan title, its about the authenticity of the supporters and not the longevity anyway ❤️

[@kehlcassidy9562]

@@maddiesmusings I never really got into her music then, besides one or two songs, and I'm not into it now. I just didn't know she was involved in any drama, figured she was too obscure for that. She's the redhead who went viral for that music video of her playing violin in a glacier, right?

[@baviddeckham411]

good stuff

[@AldenTuttle02]

It’s one of my favorite episodes of the whole show and I love it because it’s a great time capsule of the absolute delusion that Hilary would’ve been president. Like really??? The woman who kind of failed that everything in terms of her political career??? I just love it and I also love that we can just look back and laugh because Trump’s win was so obvious.

[@coolchameleon21]

she actually won the popular vote but sure. also, trump has ruined everything in his “career” but for some reason he’s still around. like a bad rash that won’t go away

[@AldenTuttle02]

@@coolchameleon21 I really do wish that once he lost 1 everyone stopped complaining about him. And 2 he just left.

[@drewgon13]

Hillary didn’t just botch her election, she made Trump win. Bernie was far more popular, not just in the party but among independents, and she pulled every string to get him out of her way. She also focused her PR efforts on Trump, giving him huge boosts in screen time and hobbling the other Republicans. This gave him the position of Anti-establishment candidate on a silver platter. Combine this all with an American public dissatisfied with the tail end of the Obama administration and her completely status quo stance, you get a Trump victory.

[@perfectallycromulent]

I didn't know being a senator was failing. I guess only when a woman does it. When you're a man like JD Vance, not even completing one term makes you prime VP material.

[@AldenTuttle02]

@@perfectallycromulent wasn’t Hillary a fully successful senator and secretary of state?? I mean, I thought she was.

[@ga4667]

Subscribed

[@ThaDrizzle]

❤

[@NicoleMichelChannel]

Omg this is just classic irony. 😂 👎

[@venus67venus]

Same