Humor As Armor

If you haven’t been offended by the sitcom 2 Broke Girls, you haven’t been paying attention. It seems critics everywhere are slamming the show for its racial, religious, sexual and even dietary punch lines. But like going to a late night comedy show, as long as you know what you’re getting into, and put yourself in the right frame of mind, you should still be able to have a good time and perhaps even laugh at yourself a little bit.

 

Maybe the problem is that it’s easy to assume 2 Broke Girls is going to be a fun, flirty show. After all, it’s using the successful Odd Couple setup, and stars two very engaging leads, Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs. But be warned, this is not a show about two feisty women taking the world by storm. It is about two vulnerable women who have been stormed by the world; broken, if you will.

Max, played by the salty Dennings, has a tragic past, and is now stuck in a life she gets little enjoyment from; and Caroline, played by the sugary Behrs, has lost everything that used to define her. Neither women were willing participants in how they wound up working the late shift at a diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but both refuse to be deflated by it. They use their often severe humor as an armor against the everyday onslaught of negativity sent their way. They deflect what comes at them, and make themselves smile in the process.

Both Max and Caroline are trying to find a way to not give up and settle for what the world has dumped on them. And thanks largely to their differences, they are each able to buoy one another up; keep one another afloat.

I can understand why the dark laughs would turn some viewers away; the writers may sometimes cross the line for their timeslot as they feel their way into the groove of the show. But it’s important not to be rebuffed by the armor, and instead get to what is beneath it. For all the laughs, 2 Broke Girls is really a story about two women, deemed inconsequential by the world, finding the power to pursue their shared dream in one another. The sitcom isn’t about the comedy so much as showing how this unlikely friendship will help Max and Caroline find value not only in their lives, but within themselves.

It won’t matter if they ever achieve their financial goal amount, because as long as they have one another they are richer than they have ever been.

The Objective: Real Girls

There’s nothing I hate more than a weak female character. A character that behaves no better, and even sometimes worse, than an animal. One whose only objective is materialistic, with a thought process no deeper than a puddle. I know these type of women exist, but they are nothing to revolve a story around and certainly nothing to promote.

Yet everywhere you look that type of woman has permeated through our culture, to such a ridiculous degree that one is left to believe that a strong, smart, capable female is not only the exception but a bizarre anomaly. In life, of course, this is not the case. If it were, all of society would shut down. In fact, civilization probably wouldn’t have gotten any further than discovering fire.

Maybe it’s lazy writing, maybe it’s an attempt to put others down as a way to bolster themselves up, maybe their mommy didn’t love them enough, maybe… oh honestly, I don’t care why, I just want it to stop.

Now I could call out all the pathetic depictions out there but I don’t think fighting negative with negative will get anyone anywhere in life. So instead I’m going to celebrate the positive.

So that’s what this site is about; celebrating the real girls in literature and film. Women with intelligence, humor and strength. Three dimensional beings with a heart and mind that stand side by side with their male counterparts, not meekly following behind.

I hope you’ll join me in the celebration.