I read this article about the show "New Girl" today, I literally love this show:
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2012/04/not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman/
The article brought up an interesting point: is the public only interested in seeing a woman who is "girl-like" and, at times, immature? Is this our perception of femininity? I feel the show creates characters (male or female) who seem to act younger than their 30 years. They all seem to be stuck in some form of childlike suspension. (See Nick who drops out of law school to become a bartender or the other two roommates who have quirks of their own).
Could this show be evidence that, as a culture, we practice “extended adolescence”? Is 30 the new 20? Are we delaying “growing up” in regards to how we approach major life decisions like marriage and our careers? I must admit, I derive a little bit of comfort from their childlike antics as I watch the show from week to week on my dad's tv with his U-verse on his couch, I fell a little better about being 26 and back at home.....a very little.
What the show does do, and I'm sure we all would agree, is glamorizes that awkward late 20-something age when you decide your not content working in the traditional workforce like your parents and you want, dare I say, more. I mean Winston doesn't even have a job and Nick doesn't know what he wants to do with his life besides be a bartender. No one talks about investing or preparing for tomorrow. They're too busy dating and having social lives.
Unfortunately for me, and those like me, we don't have super cool friends who'll let us live with them in this super nice apartment that we shouldn't be able to afford, but somehow can with 4 of us. We don't have the excess money to splurge on random cross country trips to retrieve distant significant others when gas is $4 a gallon. Nor have I met an equally dorky guy teacher during my student teaching who "gets me" and wants to have crazy, awkward, monkey sex. (I'm not looking for a teacher to have monkey sex with by the way)
But alas, I'm reminded daily by my dad that I'm damn near 30 and need to be out by the end of May! Maybe I too will find these mythical friends who want to combine our low incomes to afford this really fantastic apartment in the city....maybe.....
But still, infantile or not, I will continue to watch "New Girl" every week because it's simply, pure genius.
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2012/04/not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman/
The article brought up an interesting point: is the public only interested in seeing a woman who is "girl-like" and, at times, immature? Is this our perception of femininity? I feel the show creates characters (male or female) who seem to act younger than their 30 years. They all seem to be stuck in some form of childlike suspension. (See Nick who drops out of law school to become a bartender or the other two roommates who have quirks of their own).
Could this show be evidence that, as a culture, we practice “extended adolescence”? Is 30 the new 20? Are we delaying “growing up” in regards to how we approach major life decisions like marriage and our careers? I must admit, I derive a little bit of comfort from their childlike antics as I watch the show from week to week on my dad's tv with his U-verse on his couch, I fell a little better about being 26 and back at home.....a very little.
What the show does do, and I'm sure we all would agree, is glamorizes that awkward late 20-something age when you decide your not content working in the traditional workforce like your parents and you want, dare I say, more. I mean Winston doesn't even have a job and Nick doesn't know what he wants to do with his life besides be a bartender. No one talks about investing or preparing for tomorrow. They're too busy dating and having social lives.
Unfortunately for me, and those like me, we don't have super cool friends who'll let us live with them in this super nice apartment that we shouldn't be able to afford, but somehow can with 4 of us. We don't have the excess money to splurge on random cross country trips to retrieve distant significant others when gas is $4 a gallon. Nor have I met an equally dorky guy teacher during my student teaching who "gets me" and wants to have crazy, awkward, monkey sex. (I'm not looking for a teacher to have monkey sex with by the way)
But alas, I'm reminded daily by my dad that I'm damn near 30 and need to be out by the end of May! Maybe I too will find these mythical friends who want to combine our low incomes to afford this really fantastic apartment in the city....maybe.....
But still, infantile or not, I will continue to watch "New Girl" every week because it's simply, pure genius.
Nice article. Yeah, I've been in "delay" mode ever since... I was 21. After I finished my bachelor's degree and after going to Europe for the first time for study abroad, I didn't know what I wanted to do after I returned to the U.S. Nothing clicked in my brain. I only knew that I adored traveling in Europe. Then I knew that I should keep on traveling. I didn't want to just work a job and submit to regular life. I thought that that was so boring. Plus I was never into all the regular things that people always do and I made sure to keep myself "unplugged" from life in Georgia. I didn't engage myself to deeply in life at home, because I had this insatiable desire to travel and I knew it could not be quenched by the opportunity to remain in Georgia. Alas, I am with you.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you put together a plan to teach abroad again. Korea will always welcome you and you're familiar with it. They pay well too. I don't know if you're ready to live in Korea or anywhere outside the U.S. as though it is your definite home, but that is up to you.
but do you ever get this feeling that you need to begin setting roots somewhere?
ReplyDeleteHey girl Well said. I simply understand where you are coming from. Sometimes, I feel like I am supposed to start my roots somewhere else as well. I have been told time and time again to get out of my shell.
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