Tina Fey is, in my opinion, one of the most important and influential women in media today. She is also, in my opinion (and the opinion of many men with whom I’m discussed this) a woman who is both smart AND sexy. Ironically, though, in this episode of 30 Rock and in basically every other episode, her character, Liz Lemon, is portrayed as smart and funny but not classically attractive; she is also unskilled at dating, has few social graces, and has a spotty sexual history (you’ll notice in the episode “TGS Hates Women” that she references losing her virginity in the dressing room at a clown school, and if you’re a regular viewer, you know that this is a repeated reference to her having dated two men who “went to clown college”). Her foil, the character Jenna, is attractive and portrayed as extremely ditzy and slutty; in this episode, it is suggested that Liz is threatened by Abby’s sexuality and attractiveness.
Tiny Fey is a mother, a comedienne, a producer, and an intelligent and attractive woman, and 30 Rock often addresses issues related to women, so clearly Ms. Fey is fully cognizant of women’s issues and the underrepresentation of women in media, executive positions, and particularly comedy. In a piece she wrote for the New Yorker, she says, “I have a suspicion that the definition of ‘crazy’ in show business is a woman who keeps talking even after no one wants to f**k her anymore.” (See blog post: (http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-tina-fey-defines-crazy/)
How does this characterization of women apply to this week’s reading, and how does Liz Lemon fit into classic media representations of women? Why can’t Liz be more attractive and socially skilled while still being smart? Is Tina Fey hurting or helping the media’s representations of women?
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