Here’s the problem: until the press conference scene, it seemed as if Parks and Recreation was telling a much better, albeit badly executed, story. It turned out that those moments had been inelegantly tossed into the episode in order to set up the ridiculous press conference scene where Leslie got to condemn the use of the word “bitch.” 2 The brief moments where Leslie wondered if people weren’t supporting her candidacy because she’s a woman confused me because no character had hitherto expressed any sexist sentiments about Leslie’s campaign. It can’t just be tacked on to the plot in order to make a character look like a total jerk. But it’s an issue that has to to be given proper weight.
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Gendered insults are a sensitive topic for many people, and though it would be hypocritical of me (and my potty mouth) to condemn their use, I think that more TV shows could stand to take a good look at how people employ language. The real world doesn’t work that way.Īt the risk of getting controversial, I mentioned feminism because the way in which a feminist issue was weaved into this episode was clumsy and did a disservice to the serious examination of that issue. You can’t transform a campaign gaffe into a “rah rah feminism” triumph. Heck, your entire political career might be over. It doesn’t matter whether you were called a “bitch,” a “twat,” a “cunt,” or a “dick-infested man mattress.” 1 In real life, if you do what Leslie did at her press conference, your campaign is over. You don’t get up in front of the press and say that it was “awesome.” You don’t use the opportunity to complain about the use of gendered insults. Here’s what should happen if your campaign manager punches someone in the face at a campaign event: you fucking fire his ass. Leslie acted rude, immature, and generally unlikable for most of “Bowling for Votes,” and then the episode essentially handed her a “get out of jail free” card in the form of Derek’s sudden “sexism.” And week after week, I lose some respect not only for Leslie Knope, but also for the writers who expect me to swallow this bullshit and to believe that a candidate’s campaign manager getting into an altercation with a voter would cause the candidate’s popularity to rise. Week after week, the campaign has minor successes that it didn’t really earn. Week after week, the campaign has brought out her worst qualities.
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Week after week, Leslie has demonstrated that she has no damn clue how to run an election campaign. Because then, they’re not underdogs, they’re just idiots.
Sure, the underdogs are allowed to screw up a couple of times if they never did, then they wouldn’t be the underdogs. The thing is: I don’t think Leslie deserves to win the election. I truly have to believe that they’re the people who should win. But that kind of story works only if I want to root for the underdogs. I love a good underdog story – Dodgeball is one of my favourite movies – and I must admit that there’s something uplifting about watching a scrappy team gathering up their courage and their hearts to beat the odds and emerge victorious. And the worst part is that the show wants me to cheer for Leslie nonetheless.Īs cynical as my writing might make me seem, I’m really not heartless. The election storyline just isn’t working, and now it’s turning the once competent Leslie Knope into a shrill, annoying idiot, devoid of common sense. I’ve been holding back on saying this, waiting for the show to pull an ace out of its sleeve, but I can’t hold back any longer: Parks and Recreation fucked up, big time.
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