unbreakable kimmy schmidt season 1 musings
***Season 1 Kimmy Schmidt Spoiler alert! I'm going to talk about everything on this goddamn show, if you haven't watched it yet, wtf? There's only thirteen 25 minute long episodes. Take half a day when you are hung over and watch it, holy cow, GO DO IT***
OMG OMG OMG NEW SEASON OF UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT IS NEXT WEEK! I'm mildly excited. Ever since 30 rock, I've missed me some Tina Fey in my life and while Tina is only in a couple episodes at the end, the show is unmistakably hers. Quick cuts to flashbacks for joke setups, over the top dialogue, it's all ridiculous fun. Last week I was talking with my friend Michael and I told him I was going to write about this show and he was very vocal about having some issues with this show. I was drunk so I'm pretty sure I countered every one of his arguments with "Yeah, SOOOO?" which isn't so much an answer as it is annoying. (Thanks for still being my friend Michael!) So I figured I could properly address his issues in here, like a functioning adult and not like some boozed up WOO girl.
One of Michael's issues was that it was filled with stereotypes that makes the characters act predictably. I don't agree with that but I do have a few issues with some of the characters on the show. I'm assuming the character that he's specifically talking about is Titus, he's flamboyant, sure, but I don't think he's a stereotype. So many GBFs are relegated to static characters without any depth, ESPECIALLY when they are of color, and Titus is ANYTHING but static. He starts off the show, resistant to Kimmy, isolated, and then through the community he builds with Kimmy, ends up finally chasing after his dying dream (unbridled fame darling!). He is not her sidekick. He has his own life, issues, concerns, dreams etc completely separate from her. Also with Titus, the writers take on race in a really interesting, funny yet kinda heartbreaking way. Titus finds that he's treated better when he's dressed up as a monster than when he's his normal black self. The premise is funny, him living as a monster, but just depressing because somewhere in the back of my mind I don't think he's wrong. Dressed up in a costume as an actual monster and society finds him less scary than just being a black man? Yup, probably. Now I'm not even going to pretend to know what it's like to be black, or of any color for that matter, but I try to be empathetic despite my gruff, fuck it all internet persona (in reality, I'm in pajamas, cuddling with my cat and crying at Gilmore Girls episodes at any given moment of the day). Titus as a werewolf getting a cab (funny!), Titus as a werewolf not getting arrested (jeeeeesus)...
I guess the only character I had really any problem with was Jane Krakowski's Jacqueline. Don't get me wrong, Krakowski is hilarious and super entertaining to watch, and I also loved when she did it as Jenna on 30 Rock. Obviously, Jacqueline is a little more grounded in reality than Jenna ever was (please watch my favorite Jenna moment) but she is still super wacky and out of touch. But I don't know if she's so much a stereotype as she is a character I have already seen on another TV show and because of that she does tend to be very predictable. But actually my biggest problem with her is her "Native American" background. White washing is a real problem in Hollywood and it's really fucking weird that they went out of their way to do it. I mean, really? And there's this one part at the end that is like uncomfortably racist (she howls at the sky with a wolf...............ummdafuq?), but she's Native American on the show so it's "not racist"? I don't know, I feel like they could've done like ANYTHING else and it would've been better.
I will admit there's a bit of a race issue on Kimmy Schmidt (but Michael didn't even WATCH FAR ENOUGH to see what I'm referring to, asshat). Besides the completely fucking random white washing of a Native American character, there's Donna Maria and Dong. Almost the whole of Donna Maria could be summed up in 5 words "Speaking Spanish, white people crazy". The other Mole women get additional facets to their personality but not Donna Maria (I know eventually she comes up with a salsa and is a tenacious businesswoman but even that development is an aside compared to the other girls from the bunker.) Dong's a different story. The showrunners do some randomly racist shit with him between the music they play when he's on the screen to all the dick jokes at his expense (come on, one dick joke sure, but there was like 5 in one episode. we get it. his name is another name for a penis, let's fucking grow up). But then at the same time, he, as a side character, has a backstory and his own storyarc and I wouldn't characterize any of his actions as predictable. That's more than any white dudes could say on the show (...and I'm just now realizing there's like no white dudes on this show. Holy cow!) So is the show racist and also... not racist? I think on this subject I'm going to label it: "Accidentally racist, with good intentions."
Michael's other problem with the show was the autotuned remix of the intro, you know the song (UUUUUUNNNNBREAKABLE!) and now that you are thinking about it, you won't be able to get that ear worm out of your head (you're welcome). Specifically his issue was that it was incredibly dated ("soooo 2011" lol). There's a couple reasons for this, I'll tell you my thoughts and then I'll tell why it's actually like this in the words of the Music Supervisor on the show that I accidentally stumbled upon when looking up quotes and shit. I don't really think it's "dated" because of Kimmy's story in particular. She literally spent the 15 years underground, under a rock. Since she was taken by Reverend SexyMcHottie when she was only 14 years old (poor little nugget didn't even get to finish the 8th grade) she is behind any and all times which makes everything since she was taken (tooken) current. I mean, the intro could be like a stereotypical 90's sitcom theme song (catches the ball, stops, turns, smiles at camera while actor's name appears underneath and some man and woman sing about family's being unique and happy and shit) and that would make sense too. It just needed to be a song, an upbeat song, about how feeeemales are STRONG AS HELL and it would fit like a goddamn glove with the show.
The intro is dated? So is Kimmy herself. And if we are being honest, isn't an autotuned remixed song just the Kimmy-iest thing ever?
Now for the actual reason:
I really love this show, it's just so much fun. I mean fun in the sense that it's crazy upbeat, super smile-y, "how much Xanax DID you take?". The last couple shows I've watched, I've loved, but they weren't necessarily "fun" per se. One of the things that I love is how colorful the show, and in particular Kimmy, is. Like in the very beginning when Kimmy is first in NYC, the streets are gray, the buildings are gray, the people in the background are wearing gray and black and there's Kimmy shining as bright as the fucking sun that she can't spend too much time in because she'll burn like the little ginger she is. But even with the dancing, the light up shoes, and the yellow cardigans, there is an underbelly of a hint of darkness. I mean, it's a show about a girl who's kidnapped by a cult leader and lives underground for 15 years, of course there's a layer of gloom mixed in there. Now I feel like anyone who doesn't know me reading this might think over the past couple posts that I'm actually some crazed, bra burning, Feminazi but I really am not. I mean the only time I ever even set fire to my bra involved margaritas, a cigarette, and me thinking flashing someone was a good idea (ahhh, 21 was a much classier time). I say all this because there are some bits of dialogue that really struck a chord with me because, while I've never been kidnapped, I have been dismissed, patronized, ignored, and controlled by men all because simply I have 2 X chromosomes (those the things that make you biologically a lady person).
So here are a couple of quotes that I loved:
From Episode 1 - Kimmy Goes Outside!
And I thought I'd share my roommate Nathan's favorite line:
PREACH IT KIMMY!!!
Right here at the end I wanted to take a moment to appreciate one of the unsung heroes of this show, my personal spirit animal, Lillian. Whenever people think of funny moments on the show, they think of Peeno Noir (obvi) or Kimmy's slang/pop culture misunderstandings (hashbrown no filter) but no one really talks about Lillian. Her rants on Wall Street, the destruction of the middle class, and gentrification sound like they could've come from my own mouth hole. I think my favorite Lillian moment is when she is in the Voorhees house, the Wall Street moneyed family and she clogs up every one of the toilets (L- "Your bathrooms, I counted 12, did I miss any?" X- "we only have 8 bathrooms" DEAD). Lillian you are a goddamn dream!
Next week I will probably be posting later than usual (I've been trying to post on Mondays) because Season 2 of Kimmy Schmidt comes out on Friday and I probably won't get to watch it until Sunday or Monday because I have a Saturday off for once and Mama is getting drunk! Thanks (or as Kimmy says *French accent* "Beyonce") for reading this and troll the respawn, Jeremy.
OMG OMG OMG NEW SEASON OF UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT IS NEXT WEEK! I'm mildly excited. Ever since 30 rock, I've missed me some Tina Fey in my life and while Tina is only in a couple episodes at the end, the show is unmistakably hers. Quick cuts to flashbacks for joke setups, over the top dialogue, it's all ridiculous fun. Last week I was talking with my friend Michael and I told him I was going to write about this show and he was very vocal about having some issues with this show. I was drunk so I'm pretty sure I countered every one of his arguments with "Yeah, SOOOO?" which isn't so much an answer as it is annoying. (Thanks for still being my friend Michael!) So I figured I could properly address his issues in here, like a functioning adult and not like some boozed up WOO girl.
One of Michael's issues was that it was filled with stereotypes that makes the characters act predictably. I don't agree with that but I do have a few issues with some of the characters on the show. I'm assuming the character that he's specifically talking about is Titus, he's flamboyant, sure, but I don't think he's a stereotype. So many GBFs are relegated to static characters without any depth, ESPECIALLY when they are of color, and Titus is ANYTHING but static. He starts off the show, resistant to Kimmy, isolated, and then through the community he builds with Kimmy, ends up finally chasing after his dying dream (unbridled fame darling!). He is not her sidekick. He has his own life, issues, concerns, dreams etc completely separate from her. Also with Titus, the writers take on race in a really interesting, funny yet kinda heartbreaking way. Titus finds that he's treated better when he's dressed up as a monster than when he's his normal black self. The premise is funny, him living as a monster, but just depressing because somewhere in the back of my mind I don't think he's wrong. Dressed up in a costume as an actual monster and society finds him less scary than just being a black man? Yup, probably. Now I'm not even going to pretend to know what it's like to be black, or of any color for that matter, but I try to be empathetic despite my gruff, fuck it all internet persona (in reality, I'm in pajamas, cuddling with my cat and crying at Gilmore Girls episodes at any given moment of the day). Titus as a werewolf getting a cab (funny!), Titus as a werewolf not getting arrested (jeeeeesus)...
I guess the only character I had really any problem with was Jane Krakowski's Jacqueline. Don't get me wrong, Krakowski is hilarious and super entertaining to watch, and I also loved when she did it as Jenna on 30 Rock. Obviously, Jacqueline is a little more grounded in reality than Jenna ever was (please watch my favorite Jenna moment) but she is still super wacky and out of touch. But I don't know if she's so much a stereotype as she is a character I have already seen on another TV show and because of that she does tend to be very predictable. But actually my biggest problem with her is her "Native American" background. White washing is a real problem in Hollywood and it's really fucking weird that they went out of their way to do it. I mean, really? And there's this one part at the end that is like uncomfortably racist (she howls at the sky with a wolf...............ummdafuq?), but she's Native American on the show so it's "not racist"? I don't know, I feel like they could've done like ANYTHING else and it would've been better.
I will admit there's a bit of a race issue on Kimmy Schmidt (but Michael didn't even WATCH FAR ENOUGH to see what I'm referring to, asshat). Besides the completely fucking random white washing of a Native American character, there's Donna Maria and Dong. Almost the whole of Donna Maria could be summed up in 5 words "Speaking Spanish, white people crazy". The other Mole women get additional facets to their personality but not Donna Maria (I know eventually she comes up with a salsa and is a tenacious businesswoman but even that development is an aside compared to the other girls from the bunker.) Dong's a different story. The showrunners do some randomly racist shit with him between the music they play when he's on the screen to all the dick jokes at his expense (come on, one dick joke sure, but there was like 5 in one episode. we get it. his name is another name for a penis, let's fucking grow up). But then at the same time, he, as a side character, has a backstory and his own storyarc and I wouldn't characterize any of his actions as predictable. That's more than any white dudes could say on the show (...and I'm just now realizing there's like no white dudes on this show. Holy cow!) So is the show racist and also... not racist? I think on this subject I'm going to label it: "Accidentally racist, with good intentions."
Michael's other problem with the show was the autotuned remix of the intro, you know the song (UUUUUUNNNNBREAKABLE!) and now that you are thinking about it, you won't be able to get that ear worm out of your head (you're welcome). Specifically his issue was that it was incredibly dated ("soooo 2011" lol). There's a couple reasons for this, I'll tell you my thoughts and then I'll tell why it's actually like this in the words of the Music Supervisor on the show that I accidentally stumbled upon when looking up quotes and shit. I don't really think it's "dated" because of Kimmy's story in particular. She literally spent the 15 years underground, under a rock. Since she was taken by Reverend SexyMcHottie when she was only 14 years old (poor little nugget didn't even get to finish the 8th grade) she is behind any and all times which makes everything since she was taken (tooken) current. I mean, the intro could be like a stereotypical 90's sitcom theme song (catches the ball, stops, turns, smiles at camera while actor's name appears underneath and some man and woman sing about family's being unique and happy and shit) and that would make sense too. It just needed to be a song, an upbeat song, about how feeeemales are STRONG AS HELL and it would fit like a goddamn glove with the show.
The intro is dated? So is Kimmy herself. And if we are being honest, isn't an autotuned remixed song just the Kimmy-iest thing ever?
Now for the actual reason:
According to Jeff Richmond, who oversaw the music for the show, Bankston is indeed inspired by Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three young women from their kidnapper in Cleveland almost two years ago. In fact, the song idea was in place pretty much from the conception of the story's plot. Bankston's song serves as a lighthearted entryway into the difficult subject of what it's like to survive in a cult, he says, while also using culturally relevant tools-auto-tune, for instance-that the audience can relate to. (IMDB season 1: Kimmy Goes Outside! Trivia)So it was an idea that came to him when the remixing was still popular-ish and pretty much is a way to make a story of a young girl being kidnapped and forced to live in a bunker for 15 years less fucking terrifying.
I really love this show, it's just so much fun. I mean fun in the sense that it's crazy upbeat, super smile-y, "how much Xanax DID you take?". The last couple shows I've watched, I've loved, but they weren't necessarily "fun" per se. One of the things that I love is how colorful the show, and in particular Kimmy, is. Like in the very beginning when Kimmy is first in NYC, the streets are gray, the buildings are gray, the people in the background are wearing gray and black and there's Kimmy shining as bright as the fucking sun that she can't spend too much time in because she'll burn like the little ginger she is. But even with the dancing, the light up shoes, and the yellow cardigans, there is an underbelly of a hint of darkness. I mean, it's a show about a girl who's kidnapped by a cult leader and lives underground for 15 years, of course there's a layer of gloom mixed in there. Now I feel like anyone who doesn't know me reading this might think over the past couple posts that I'm actually some crazed, bra burning, Feminazi but I really am not. I mean the only time I ever even set fire to my bra involved margaritas, a cigarette, and me thinking flashing someone was a good idea (ahhh, 21 was a much classier time). I say all this because there are some bits of dialogue that really struck a chord with me because, while I've never been kidnapped, I have been dismissed, patronized, ignored, and controlled by men all because simply I have 2 X chromosomes (those the things that make you biologically a lady person).
So here are a couple of quotes that I loved:
From Episode 1 - Kimmy Goes Outside!
Kimmy Schmidt: I am not going back, I am not gonna give up and neither are you.From Episode 11 - Kimmy Rides a Bike!
Titus Andromedon: I am trying to protect you.
Kimmy Schmidt: Protect me? From what? The worst thing that ever happened to me, happened in my own front yard. Life beats you up Titus, it doesn't matter if you get tooken by a cult or you've been rejected over an over an over again on auditions.
Titus Andromedon: some of which you paid to attend...
Kimmy Schmidt: You can either curl up in a ball and die, like we thought Cyndee did that time or you can stand up and say: "we're different, we're the strong ones and you can't break us".
Kimmy Schmidt: Why do we keep doing this to ourselves, replacing one stupid male authority figure with another, like Days of Our Lives replaces Roman Bradys.
Girl in Spin Class: I like the first Roman.
Kimmy Schmidt: You're a moron! Sorry. That's just wrong.
Kimmy Schmidt: Jacqueline, is Christopher here really any different than Julian? Is he different than any guy who tells you he'll make you richer or prettier or safer if you just let him make all the decisions?
And I thought I'd share my roommate Nathan's favorite line:
PREACH IT KIMMY!!!
Right here at the end I wanted to take a moment to appreciate one of the unsung heroes of this show, my personal spirit animal, Lillian. Whenever people think of funny moments on the show, they think of Peeno Noir (obvi) or Kimmy's slang/pop culture misunderstandings (hashbrown no filter) but no one really talks about Lillian. Her rants on Wall Street, the destruction of the middle class, and gentrification sound like they could've come from my own mouth hole. I think my favorite Lillian moment is when she is in the Voorhees house, the Wall Street moneyed family and she clogs up every one of the toilets (L- "Your bathrooms, I counted 12, did I miss any?" X- "we only have 8 bathrooms" DEAD). Lillian you are a goddamn dream!
Next week I will probably be posting later than usual (I've been trying to post on Mondays) because Season 2 of Kimmy Schmidt comes out on Friday and I probably won't get to watch it until Sunday or Monday because I have a Saturday off for once and Mama is getting drunk! Thanks (or as Kimmy says *French accent* "Beyonce") for reading this and troll the respawn, Jeremy.
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