Or, my self as a tapestry of ladies...but not in a serial killer way!
As the title and subtitle of this post imply, I've always found a lot to identify with in female TV characters. As early as middle school, when I was a vulnerable young boy realizing I had crushes on all the other boys, I found vicarious empowerment in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (as did a lot of gays). Those formative years also saw me cheering for Gilmore Girls's Paris Geller, an insensitive overachiever whose demanding personality was tinged with social desperation. I was never actually a bossy know-it-all, but I wanted to be. Then I realized how much smarter other people already were and I quit while I was ahead. Well, behind. You get my point. Since then I've found myself in a host of lady characters, from Miranda Hobbes to Liz Lemon, and with the second season of HBO's Girls set to premiere this Sunday, I thought it would be nice to do a quick roundup of a few standouts...
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Miranda Hobbes
I hold Sex And The City responsible for igniting the, "I'm such a _______!" craze. "I'm a total Carrie! But with a Samantha streak (wink)." The only thing I have in common with Carrie is that we both have ferocious bods and are roughly the same height in heels, whereas I have a lot in common with Miranda. We're both high-strung and cynical and also we eat our feelings. I'm also a lot like Charlotte, though, because I have one too many detached-from-reality romantic ideals, although I hope my tweets have made it explicitly clear that I could never date/marry anyone with back hair and the only religion I'll convert to for a man is Asian.
April Ludgate
April Ludgate is just fucking great because she, like me, is vaguely Latina (I mean, I think Aubrey Plaza is actually half Puerto Rican and I'm pretty much just a brunette...but, like, whatever) and she would rather be dead than "share" her "feelings." I can't say I didn't tear up at Ben's proposal to Leslie, but most of the time I prefer Ludgate's brand of sardonic misanthropy. Plus, remember when she had a boyfriend who had a boyfriend?
Mindy Lahiri
A touch of neuroses and a dash of vanity operating under a hefty dose of life misguidance from romcoms - tada! These are the things I have in common with Mindy Kaling's quasi-fictional, quasi-autobiographical-ish character, Dr. Mindy Lahiri. I think after reading Kaling's book there's just this soul sister thing happening between us that she's not aware of, but that is as real and healthy as any other imagined relationship between a gay man who used to collect Beanie Babies and the first Indian female comedy writer to have her own primetime sitcom. The parallels...are endless.
Jess Day
I don't want to, but I kind of love Zooey Deschanel. Sometimes I'm like, "girl, you're trying too hard," but other times I'm like, "girl, let's go shopping for sweatpants and then bake vegan cookies so we can use the batter as filling for buttermilk chocolate butter cupcakes." Mostly, I appreciate that Zooey's character, Jess, can't take sexy seriously, because me trying to be sexy is sort of like your dad using Snapchat - it's confusing and vaguely inappropriate.
Liz Lemon
Because in almost all instances I'd rather be eating than having sex with you. Unless you're going to do all the work for me, but also be respectful of my needs and boundaries, and also don't be judgmental. Actually, I'm kind of tired. Let's work this out over a ham sandwich tomorrow.
Who are your favorite girls on TV? And will you be watching Girls this Sunday?
