Role Models

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Say Yes to Knope

Knope Knows Best

She’s blonde. She’s pretty. She’s upbeat. She’s sweet. And she may be the most transgressive fictional character on screen right now, big or small.  Her name is Leslie Knope.  And I love her.

Confession: when Parks and Recreation first hit the airwaves in 2009, I didn’t quite get the show—or its central character played by Amy Poehler.  I wanted to like it more than I did.  It came with great auspices (Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, both of The Office), so I watched it, but something didn’t quite work for me. 

I thought Leslie was a little too broad (starting with her joke of a name) and bordered on the silly.  She was so happy.  She didn’t seem all that smart.  She couldn’t “read a room”.  It felt like the creators were making fun of her, a comic technique that always leaves me cold.  (If you don’t love your protagonist, why should I?)  But as the show found its footing and improved (an oft reported ascension), and as the creators and Poehler refined and deepened the character, I started to see Leslie as something utterly fresh and new on television. Continue reading