At face value, Tina Fey is a role model. As the first female head-writer of “Saturday Night Live,” screenwriter of “Mean Girls” and now writer and star of “30 Rock,” a new NBC sitcom, Fey proves that women can be funny, successful, and hold their own in the entertainment industry.
However, I’m hesitant to assert my full-out support for her. SNL itself has had a long history of issues with race and gender throughout its long run, and while Fey has contributed to equalizing its screen time, she has also reinforced some of its long-time issues. Such comedic greats as Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Sarah Silverman and Victoria Jackson have stated that they experienced discrimination, lack of attention, inability to get a skit approved, and instant sexualization when they were on screen. The same problem relates to African Americans who are rarely cast in roles beyond police officers, criminals and janitors.
Then there’s the case of Maya Rudolph, the gifted actress, comedian, singer and impressionist. She’s been on the cast for six years and, as the child of a black mother and white father, has played every race and every ethnicity imaginable. Because she is so clearly marked as “other,” she fills in all the blanks.
Fey, however, can’t blame the writers. It seems that she promotes many elements of sexism in her writing and self-casting. She cast herself in “Mean Girls” as a lonely, awkward school teacher struggling with a divorce, and in one scene flashes her classroom and the camera by lifting her shirt above her head. In “30 Rock,” she is the head writer of a late night comedy show called “The Girlie Show.” Fey’s character is once again smart, and single but lonely, self-conscious and unhappy. Just as mysteriously as Fey flashes her students in “Mean Girls,” Fey does a pole dance at a strip club in the first episode of “30 Rock.”
Fey hosted “Weekend Update” with Jimmy Fallon before his departure in 2004, and after he quit, she continued to host the fake news segment with Amy Poehler. At this point, the segment became less news-focused, and more focused on Poehler and Fey making fun of themselves. Whether by calling themselves lesbians or sluts, the joke always seemed to be on themselves, but more specifically on women.
So, I wonder about Fey. Yes, she’s funny, successful and has broken down doors for women in entertainment, if even by reinforcing some stereotypes and objectifying herself along the way, but why must she take off her clothes, climb on stage at a strip club or call herself a slut or lesbian?
Then again, I wonder if I’m holding her to too high a moral standard. What’s comedy without a little self-effacement? And can I really be angry about her meager little acts of self-degradation when I compare a glimpse of her bra for the sake of a laugh to the other 99.9% of female images in the media? Even a recent stand-up special on Bravo featuring three female comedians is titled “Funny Girls,” while, rest assured, each of the comedians on stage is over 40.
Perhaps the true problem lies in Fey representing smart women. She’s not just any comic, actress or writer. She’s come to represent all sarcastic women in glasses. And she’s sending the message that they may seem happy with themselves, but deep down, smart women wish that they were just attractive, sexy, and in a relationship. In reality, Fey is married with a child. Why are characters that she writes, who seem so similar to her in career choice and sense of humor, always single and desperate? Why the desperation and self-consciousness when Fey has one of the best jobs in entertainment? Fey’s reality, though, isn’t our version. Would we buy her characters if they were happy? Would they have a shot of reaching the airwaves? Would they even be funny?
Fey spent many years behind the scenes before taking the newscaster chair for “Weekend Update.” Before she let herself appear on camera, though, she lost 40 pounds. Not to condemn weight loss or interest in one’s appearance, but I’m wondering if she could have made the jump from writing desk to ‘Update“ desk as a woman of average weight. Would her intelligence, humor and dead-pan delivery be enough to keep viewers watching?
Other women, such as Allison Silverman, executive producer of ”The Colbert Report,“ have experienced comedic success without broadcasting themselves as sad, lonely women, but they’ve also never broadcast themselves. And funny non-skinny women like Rosie O’Donnell who we see on TV get instantly tokenized as fat actresses. So, if a funny woman is either a fat comedian or a sexy comedian, maybe Fey’s shows of sexual desperation are the product of a choice: be fat or be sexy. At least she’d be cast in more roles that way.
The starring role in ”30 Rock’s“ fake TV show and plot focus, ”The Girlie Show,“ was originally written for Fey’s hilarious SNL castmate and friend Rachael Dratch, but the show features sexy blonde Jane Krakowski instead. And that’s what’s so strange. Dratch, the true star of a late-night comedy show, isn’t allowed to portray the star of a late-night comedy show. This somehow leads me to think that the problem is a lot bigger than Fey.
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