Hey, Zooey Deschanel. Hey. I’m sorry I used to hate you.
“Don’t sweat it Georgia, I used to hate you too!”
I don’t hate Zooey Deschanel anymore. All the complaints I used to have about her sound really stupid now. Like, “Argh, why are her eyes so big?” “Why is her hair so shiny?” “Who designed that outfit, some kind of really smart, hip person with a lot of money?!” The tone of bitterness that crept into my voice when I was hating on Zooey Deschanel aged me terribly. It was totally pointless.
I guess there were two things making me hate Zooey Deschanel. One was, obviously, jealousy. Duh! She is super pretty and well dressed! And she sings really nicely, and she is over a hundred times more professionally successful than me. This filled me with rage. The other thing was that I resented her child-like persona- it’s girly and non-threatening, and I thought it was bad for women to be represented on TV by child-women.
I feel calmer about Zooey Deschanel now. I mean, it’s her job to be super pretty and well dressed. If that was my job, I would be too. I don’t get annoyed at Justin Timberlake for wearing expensive suits, or at zookeepers for wearing overalls. They need those things, because without them they would not be well equipped to do their jobs. Zooey Deschanel’s job is being a really pretty, well-dressed musician and comic actor. What did I want her to do, put a bag over her head and borrow some overalls to wear from a zookeeper? She’d probably still look really awesome, causing me further distress!
I also found it in myself to suppress my hatred of Zooey Deschanel enough to watch New Girl. It’s actually pretty funny! Deschanel is a really good physical comedian, and the character she plays is a surprising combination of twee and foul-mouthed. So she is child-like, but in a really ambiguous way. It’s interesting. She’s not as cool as Leslie Knope, but she is way cooler than the pitifully characterised, super boring women you see in most sitcoms.
In overcoming my hatred of Zooey Deschanel, I have learned that there is more than one way to be rad, and that criticising women because they are successful, and good at looking good and making people like them, is a total waste of feminist zeal. So thank you, Zooey Deschanel. Sorry, and thank you.
