English 1102: Television and Feminism

Dr. Casey Alane Wilson • Georgia Institute of Technology

Tag: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

An Ode to Greg

Having watched Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, there’s a lot I’ve taken away from the show, and there’s a lot I admire about it. One aspect I really appreciate, and which I’ll focus on in this blog post, is Greg’s character. Throughout season 1, he’s consistently been one of my favorite characters – if not my favorite – and that’s because I think he’s a complex, deep character.

One way this is true is that he’s unapologetically quirky, and yet his importance and relevance to the show aren’t negatively affected in any way because of that. The show is very good about organically incorporating his quirky personality into his interactions with the others, especially Josh and Rebecca. Perhaps the best way his quirkiness comes across is through songs he sings in. In “Settle For Me,” for instance, he’s suave and well-spoken for the most part, but he has moments where his awkwardness dominates the scene. Sometimes, it’s charming and clever:

I know I'm only second place in this game

But like 2% milk, or seitan beef,

I almost taste the same

Other times, it’s more grimace-worthy:

Don't make me feel like a little girl;

Exposed and raw, whose boobs can't even fill a training bra

...Let's pretend I didn't say that

Despite his quirky demeanor, though, Greg is not a character’s that lacking in struggle. He has several legitimate issues to grapple with throughout the show. He wavers on whether he should date Rebecca, which represents the larger problem of people struggling to leave and quit relationships that they know aren’t healthy for them. His parents went through divorce, and his commitment issues due to his fear of being left by the people he loves is proof of how the divorce still affects him. He also struggles with pursuing his dreams; while he was accepted into Emory, he was initially unable to go due to his father’s ailing health. While he eventually is able to attend Emory, this doesn’t change the fact that this was a difficult situation for him, and one of his solo songs – “What’ll It Be?” – does a great job of portraying his resentment and fear over the situation and whether he’ll ever be able to leave to go pursue his dreams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw0Z7E1L6pE

In summary, I think Greg is a very dynamic character. He has a lightness and darkness to him that makes him a very realistic-seeming character, and it’s in large part because of this duality to him that he’s stood out as a highlight of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Works Cited:

“Settle For Me,” Genius, https://genius.com/Crazy-ex-girlfriend-cast-settle-for-me-lyrics

Crazy Ex Girlfriend and the Jewish Problem

When I started watching Crazy Ex Girlfriend, I was extremely excited to see Rebecca Bunch’s character, not only because of the way the show was lauded for portraying her mental illness, and her hilarious musical numbers, but also because of the simple fact that she was Jewish. I was excited to see a single Jewish woman at the helm of a show, and I assumed her Judaism would be a real part of her character, not just played for laughs. I was expecting another Mrs. Maisel, who fabulously combined the humor of Jewish life with actual insights as to what it means to be a Jew. I thought that with Rachel Bloom writing and portraying the character, who once wrote a whole Chanukah album entitled “Suck it, Christmas!!” that Judaism would be an integral part of Rebecca. But unfortunately, I was wrong.

Rebecca’s Judaism is exactly the kind of Judaism I see in sitcom characters everywhere: Full of family stereotypes, only relevant as a joke, and, don’t you worry, she still celebrates Christmas. Her Judaism really only comes out when she’s dealing with her obsessive and controlling mother (read: Jewish Mother stereotype to a T), waging a legal battle against her New York nemesis (read: Jewish American Princess stereotypes), or talking about all the bagels she eats (which, to be fair, bagels are pretty great). Other than that, Judaism has absolutely no meaning in Rebecca’s life. She observes no holidays, takes part in a “California Christmas” with seasonal cheer, and has no connection to a Jewish community beyond her mother. In a word, it’s disappointing. 

Rebecca isn’t even an accurate depiction of most Jewish millennials. While many don’t attend synagogue on the regular, or ever, there is still a strong sense of community that drives young Jewish adults together and causes them to seek each other’s company. I know many Jews who were brought up with no religion, and yet strongly identify as Jewish and regularly attend non religious Jewish events. What makes Rebecca’s character truly sad to me is that she’s not accurate- she’s palatable.

When I say palatable, I mean specifically to Gentile audiences that have no idea of Judaism beyond Chanukah, the Holocaust, and a few odd jokes and stereotypes. Rebecca makes no jokes about being Jewish that run any danger of being incomprehensible to Gentiles. Her ethno-religious background is simply a font of jokes, as significant as any other small quirk.

I don’t know why, but it seems that Jewish writers, the ones that rightfully should be creating a diversity of Jewish characters, can only seem to write us in generalities calculated to appeal to anyone but us. 

“Do you mean to tell me you’re trading 8 nights of presents for just one? What the hell is wrong with you??”

A Crazy-Emotional Character Rollercoaster

As the semester winds down, so does my analysis of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It has been very interesting seeing the strategies that the creators and writers of the show use to convey themes and develop the characters’ personalities. Character development is a significant part of the show Crazy-Ex Girlfriend and is something that I have kept a close eye-on while watching the first season. In this last post I’d like to analyze the character development of various characters in the show throughout the first season. Rebecca Bunch and Greg Serrano are some of the most amusing characters in the show and their character development is notable.

Rebecca Bunch starts the season making irrational decisions. She quits her job at a high-profile law firm in New York City to be with her former summer camp boyfriend, Josh Chan, in West Covina, California. Bunch tries to rationalize this as normal behavior and denies the reason for her moving to California being because of Chan for most of the season. However, later in the season she begins to admit her love for him and he also admits that he has feelings for her. This shows that she becomes less in-denial throughout the season and becomes more in-tune with her feelings.

Greg Serrano starts the season being extremely sarcastic and keeps his feelings inside. He is reserved and does not like to seem like he feels emotions. He is insecure because he got into Emory University and is quite intelligent, but his friends outshine him socially. Throughout the season he struggles with his insecurities and has problems with keeping his feelings inside. Towards the end of the season he admits he has feeling for Rebecca, which shows development because at the beginning of the season he would not have admitted something that significant. Despite this development he goes to Emory University at the end of the season and does not pursue a relationship with Rebecca.

People Other Than Josh Chan Can Love Me?!

In “Josh Has No Idea Where I Am!”, Rebecca Bunch takes a flight to New York City to go back to her old life because she doesn’t believe she can find love, romantic or with friends, in West Covina. She has a conversation with her “Dream Ghost”, her therapist Dr. Akopian, after taking many sleeping pills. The show is arguing that mental health is a real issue and that adults in professional fields struggle with their mental health.

The show supports this argument by showing the adverse effects of abusing prescription drugs and the realizations that Bunch makes while using these drugs. Bunch ends up having vivid dreams involving her “Dream Ghost”, which shows how the sleeping pills make her hallucinate. She realizes in these dreams that other than her love for music and for her mother she doesn’t have any romantic love in her life. Dr. Akopian proves her wrong by showing her that there are people in her life that love her in different ways. Her therapist ‘takes her’ back to West Covina, where many of her friends are worried about her. Greg is particularly worried and had been searching for her at hospitals and morgues. This shows Bunch that her friends care about her and love her. It also makes her realize that she has been focusing on Josh Chan when she can find love in other places. Her anxiety is displayed through these instances because it demonstrates her worry about how others think about her and her assuming that she is not loved by people in her life.

The theme relates to the show as a whole because much of the show revolves around mental illness and how it affects Rebecca Bunch’s life and those around her. It also relates to conversations about mental health because mental health is something that isn’t heavily discussed in mainstream media. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a show that does discuss mental health and its effects and does so effectively through this episode.

Rebecca Bunch and her therapist, Dr. Akopian.

Gender Representation in Crazy Ex Girlfriend

For a show that is largely focused on two female characters, Crazy Ex Girlfriend sure does have a lot of men. This may seem like an obvious conclusion, as the show is mostly about the romantic travails of the straight female main character, but the abundance of male characters isn’t just limited to Rebecca’s boyfriends. In Rebecca’s work, the only character that has any depth and storyline (aside from Paula, who doesn’t really count since she is the other main character of Crazy Ex Girlfriend) is her male boss, Darryl. While Darryl is bisexual, making him a type of male character that doesn’t get enough representation, the females of the office consist of neurotic Karen, whose defining trait is that she talks too much about her personal hygiene, and Mrs. Hernandez, who is literally mute. Neither of those women get any real character development or insight, whereas Tim, one of the most bland annoying white men ever seen on the silver screen, gets a whole subplot related to his deep dark secret of being an illegal (Canadian) immigrant. Most of Rebecca’s friends are men as well: While she does eventually strike up a real friendship with her neighbor Heather, she spends most of the first couple of seasons attempting to be friends with White Josh, Greg, Hector, as well as two other bros that are so bland I can’t even remember their names as I write this.

This discrepancy isn’t limited to Rebecca’s life, either. Though two mothers are introduced (Mrs. Bunch and Mrs. Chan), and Rebecca’s mother gets one hell of a mother-daughter episode, the parental figures with the most real impact are the fathers. Greg’s father is the reason why Greg stays in West Covina, gives him relationship advice, and ultimately provides him with the means to escape California. Never an explosive figure like Mrs. Bunch, Mr. Serrano is nevertheless a constant presence whose character has more influence on the outcomes of the show. In contrast, Rebecca’s father Mr. Bunch manages to have more of an influence and development than his ex wife though having just a fraction of her screen time (which is already limited). Through flashbacks, we learn about the complicated father figure he was and how his influence continues to sway Rebecca into so many decisions throughout the course of the show. Both father figures certainly fare much better than poor Mrs. Chan, who is reduced to a traditional mother who loves the idea of her son moving back in, and who can always be counted on to do the cooking for family events. In the end, through her role as a conduit from Rebecca to Josh, it is how she is influenced by the main characters than her influence on them that really defines Mrs. Chan.

I find myself left with the question, why does Crazy Ex Girlfriend fall so short in female representation after breaking so many feminist boundaries?

“Oh my goodness, I get a line that isn’t about Josh or cooking??”

It’s a text-mergency!!

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend uses several strategies in the cinematography and direction of the show in order to convey the emotions of the characters in the show. In season 1 episode 11 Rebecca Bunch accidentally sends a text to Josh Chan expressing her love for him, and has to figure out a way to delete the text before he sees it. Bunch goes through a rollercoaster of emotions during this episode due to the gravity of the situation and her severe anxiety. She has to find ways to deal with the problems happening in the episode along with this recurring anxiety.

Most of the show is shot with medium shots. You can see the character from the waist up and the background. It is very effective within the show because it shows the characters’ facial expressions and emotions up close, but also what’s going on in the background. There are some close-up shots which truly convey the characters’ emotions and the anxiety experienced by Bunch specifically. There are some long takes, such as the scene where Bunch is in a meeting at work and accidentally sends the text to Chan, but most are quick cuts. It matters because emotions are a significant theme in the show and using certain shots when filming is an effective way to convey them.

The lighting in the show is usually bright. When Bunch is at work, the colors are mute and serious. The colors became dark when Bunch got back to her apartment and Chan figured out that Bunch had fabricated her story as to why her apartment had gotten broken into. However, in general, the color scheme of the show is bright and cheery due to the light-hearted nature of the show. The episode stands out visually from many other episodes because it has more dark colors. The color scheme leans more to the dark side in this episode.

Crazy Ex Girlfriend and Deconstructing the Love Triangle

In the season 2 episode “All Signs Point to Josh… Or is it Josh’s Friend?” Rebecca spends most of the 42 minutes allotted looking for a heaven sent sign that will tell her whether she should date Greg, the man whose heart she has broken multiple times, or Josh, the man she has been obsessing over since the start of the show. Although she’s genuinely distressed by her indecision, there’s a fair amount of glee in her tone when she tells her best friend Paula that she’s in a “love triangle.” The Love Triangle is a common trope in media, and what is somewhat desirable about being the apex of the triangle is that the person having to choose essentially holds all of the power in the situation, while the other two can only try their best to enrapture them. Rebecca goes through the episode weighing the pros and cons of the two men, never doubting for a second that she will decide everything and that both men want her desperately. However, outside of Rebecca’s inner world, that is clearly not the case. While both Greg and Josh do want Rebecca, they are also both consumed by more important problems: Greg must decide whether to follow through on his dream of attending Emory University (far away from the show’s setting) and Josh must try to get his adult life back on track after losing his apartment with Valencia. While Rebecca imagines that she is the one making the decision that will end the love triangle, it is actually the two men in her life that decide to opt out of the triangle, with Greg abandoning his chance of a new beginning with Rebecca in favor of Emory and Josh ending their relationship after a pregnancy scare that makes him realize he is not remotely ready to settle down. In this episode, the show essentially argues how much of a fallacy the Love Triangle trope is- in reality, people rarely have such all-consuming importance to two others, and the two ends of the triangle have just as much of a say as the apex, as demonstrated by Greg and Josh’s refusal to participate. This deconstruction of a popular trope is very much in Crazy Ex Girlfriend’s purview, as the show is largely about the delusions of the main character, who often imagines that she lives in a much more romantic and Rebecca-centric world than she really does.  In a broader interpretation, this episode’s theme confronts a fallacy that most people fall into- the fallacy that we are the protagonists of the story, and everyone else are merely side characters affected by our actions.

Rebecca realizing that people around her have inner lives that have nothing to do with her

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Really Represents

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of the most unique shows on television. Males and females are mostly represented equally and there is representation of other sexual orientations and of people with mental illness. The genders represented are male and female. The main characters are equally represented by both genders (Rebecca, Paula, Josh Chan, Greg, Darryl and Heather). However, males are represented more in the show because Josh Chan has many male friends and Rebecca does not have many friends other than Heather, Paula, and Valencia.

 

Male and female characters make decisions in the show, but more often than not, women, mainly Rebecca Bunch, make significant decisions. Rebecca has to decide who she’s going to make friends with, who she wants to be in a relationship with, and many other important decisions. She constantly has internal conflict about social situations and so these decisions are even more difficult for her to make. Josh Chan is a person who simply reacts. His personality doesn’t have much substance and he lets things happen rather than taking action. This matters because it gives the main male figure in the show less of an impact than the main female figure and lowers the significance of male decisions in the show.

 

Race and gender interact through the varying amount of racial representation in the show. Josh Chan is Filipino, Valencia is Latina, and Darryl claims to be Native American. Class and gender don’t usually interact because they’re all middle class or upper middle class. There is representation for other sexual orientations through Darryl. In the middle of season 1 Darryl comes out as bisexual by performing the song “Gettin’ Bi”. Shortly afterward he began dating White Josh. Mental illness is also represented through Rebecca Bunch. Rebecca has severe social anxiety and other undiagnosed mental illness that is very prevalent throughout the course of the show.

Overall, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend does a great job representing both genders and multiple races, sexual orientations, and mental illnesses. The show gives many different perspectives and explores these perspectives thoroughly.

Crazy Ex Girlfriend’s Visual Design

In Crazy Ex Girlfriend, dark subject matter is often juxtaposed with a cheery tone (example: the cartoon sun in the intro that joyfully sings “She’s so broken inside”). The general color scheme of Crazy Ex Girlfriend provides the same kind of optimistic contrast to Rebecca’s serious mental health issues. Often, light, bright colors dominate the scene. From the setting of the scene (think the bright green walls of the bar that Greg works at, or Rebecca’s white and airy house) to the clothing the characters wear (like Rebecca and Paula’s work outfits), bright colors can be found everywhere.

In addition to providing a cheerful visual tone, color is also used symbolically, especially in the outfits worn by the women of the show. For example, in Episode 6 My First Thanksgiving With Josh!, Rebecca and Valencia display their clashing personalities and methods through the clothing they wear. While Rebecca wears light blue throughout the episode, symbolizing her thoughtfulness and how she strategizes winning over Josh’s parents in order to win over Josh, Valencia wears a dark red dress that connotes her vibrant sexuality and how she uses sex to win Josh over after a fight. In the same episode, Josh’s mother Mrs. Chan wears a light pink sweater which corresponds perfectly to her nurturing personality.

In all honestly, the direction is very standard for a TV show. Quick cuts are used during conversations to display a person’s face as they speak; long shots are usually reserved for a character’s pensive expression as they mull something over or have a realization. Where the show really takes off directorially is during the musical numbers, which are shot in a variety of ways. Earlier in the show, when Greg sings “Settle For Me,” the sequence is shot in the style of ‘3os musicals, a la Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, with uninterrupted shots of them dancing in black and white. In Episode 6, which features a lovely number named “I Give Good Parent,” however, the show goes a more MTV route, with shots where the camera rotates around a still figure, and shadows are used to convey power and sensuality. The musical number are where the true talent (as well as often the true feelings of the characters) of the show’s cinematography comes out.

Another stunning example of Crazy Ex Girfriend’s directorial versatility

 

The Writing of Crazy Ex Girlfriend

One of the most interesting things about Crazy Ex Girlfriend is that Rachel Bloom, aside from starring in the show, is also it’s co creator and co head writer along with Aline Brosh McKenna. I cannot even imagine the hours Rachel Bloom must log writing lines, memorizing those lines, and then performing take after take. Rachel Bloom, interestingly enough, does not have a background in script writing. Before Crazy Ex Girlfriend, her main output in regards to writing were her comedy music albums (If you’re Jewish, and you haven’t yet listened to Chanukah Honey, do yourself a favor and google it. Seriously, it has the line “Chanukah Honey, at the JCC you play basketball! So tall. You must be 5’8″”) of which she wrote two. However, her creation of Crazy Ex Girlfriend does make logistical sense because of Rebecca’s (the main character) tendency to burst into song in fully choreographed musical fantasy sequences. Bloom’s particular brand of off kilter, brutally honest humor displayed in her earlier albums is easily found in Crazy Ex Girlfriend, particularly in the Sexy Getting Ready Song, where Rebecca ironically demonstrates how unsexy the typical woman’s preparations for a date night are.

Aline Brosh McKenna’s writing background, however, is a little harder to detect in Crazy Ex Girlfriend. She is most notable for her movie adaptation of the book The Devil Wears Prada, a story which does deconstruct some of the “perfect woman” myths we see surrounding models and businesswomen, but still features an effortless makeover and consistently stunning women. In one horrifyingly memorable moment, Emily Blunt’s character announces that her new diet is to eat nothing, except for a cube of cheese whenever she feels like she is about to faint. McKenna’s second most notable writing credit, the 2014 musical movie Annie, is even more difficult to detect amongst the adult themes of Crazy Ex Girlfriend. Where Annie is overwhelmingly sweet with a central father-daughter relationship, Rebecca’s most impactful relationship is with her neglectful, spiteful, and emotionally/verbally abusive mother. Where Annie focuses on a brave, morally pure girl, Rebecca in cowardice takes advantage of her friends and hurts many characters around her (read: leaving her date with Greg to sleep with a guy she met while on the date with Greg). True, Annie and Crazy Ex Girlfriend were made for vastly different audiences, but there is almost zero overlap in the writing styles of the two. As I watch the rest of the show, I will be keeping my eye out for any similarities to The Devil Wears Prada and Annie.

Overall, I do love the writing style. The dialogue is fumbling in a natural way, with enough ums, uhs, and likes to make me feel like those conversations could be happening in real life. This realism injects a much needed dose of the mundane into a show that has a sometimes larger than life plot (not to mention the musical numbers).

Me whenever another musical number plays on CEG

“Aline Brosh McKenna.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm0112459/.

“Rachel Bloom.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm3417385/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1.

 

Let’s Go to the Beach, Beach!! (while simultaneously denying our problems and elevating our anxiety)

Rebecca and Valencia feud on the party bus on the way to the beach.

 

In Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Rebecca Bunch is prone to getting herself into, wait for it, crazy situations. In season 1 episode 9, “I’m Going to the Beach with Josh and His Friends!”, Bunch gets herself into one of those situations when Valencia invites her to go to the beach with the “crew” that consists of Josh, Greg, White Josh, Hector and Valencia. The writing in the episode is quite unique, as it usually is in the series. This episode was written by Dan Gregor, known for How I Met Your Mother (2011-2014), and Doug Mand, known for How I Met Your Mother (2011-2014).

The dialogue begins after Rebecca goes and sees a movie by herself. She walks out of the movie theater and sings about how she “totally has friends”. This dialogue shows how lonely Rebecca is because she’s dealing with the fact that she actually has no friends and can only talk to herself about the situation. Throughout the episode there is also a lot of dialogue attempting to directly address the issues that Rebecca are facing. Much of the current conflict is that Rebecca won’t admit that she’s in love with Josh Chan and hiding that truth is affecting her social life and her mental health. Paula calls Rebecca out in the episode and states that Rebecca is in love with Josh Chan and that by going to the beach she is going to be humiliated by Valencia and it’s going to be “another one of her disasters”. This dialogue is significant because it’s saying what we’re all thinking and the direct format presents reality right in front of Rebecca, which, probably, along with the fact that Paula gets mad at Rebecca for being in denial, heightens her anxiety about the situation. There isn’t a voice over which doesn’t really matter because most of the situations in the show are presented by the characters directly.

There isn’t much intentional silence in the episode, but there is a little bit at the beginning. When Rebecca is walking out of the movie theater alone there is muffled chatter between the friend groups outside of the theater. This muffled speaking accentuates how alone Rebecca feels. There are several external references about Seinfeld, Magnum P.I., and The Butterfly Effect. Most of these references are for comedic purposes within the small jokes and jabs and don’t have a huge bearing on the plot. Despite this, the use of these references in creative and makes references to some niche humor.

The writing in this episode was very direct, as it is a lot of the time during the show. However, the episode dives deeper into Rebecca’s insecurities and anxieties and shows how the move to West Covina has affected her. Josh Chan’s cluelessness about Rebecca’s feelings for him and the reasons why she moved to West Covina is a recurring detail that stands out to me in the writing, especially instances where the characters indirectly reference it and it goes over Josh’s head.

Why Settle For One Visual Aesthetic?

First episodes are a tricky thing to get right. There’s a lot of information to unpack, so many shows’ first episodes are a bit awkward. After watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s first episode, though, I wouldn’t include this show within that category. “Josh Just Happens to Live Here!” is an engaging episode, and its cinematography and direction especially stands out. There’s major visual appeal, and not only does this stand out – this also compliments the show’s other aspects. One example of this: the color tone. The tone of the show varies from scene to scene, based on what’s happening, and this contrast of warm- and cool-looking scenes adds to the viewing experience. By seeing moments like Rachel, the show’s protagonist, first arriving in West Covina tinted with a warm tone – and Rachel’s mom berating her for moving, via-phone call, with a cool tone – we, the viewers, get a better understanding of how different scenes affect Rachel.

As you can see, Rachel is very excited to be in West Covina.

Another example of the show’s quality cinematography and direction comes from the composition of the scenes themselves. The scenes are directed in such a way that they last for as long as the director intends. Scenes that would typically feel too long, like when Rachel waits for Josh to text back, don’t drag at all, and this is thanks to effects like the superimposing of her typing her text. In contrast, any of Rachel’s awkward interactions, especially with Nathaniel at the party, appear painfully long. Besides this, the scenes also don’t feel bloated. For all that’s being introduced, most of the scenes only possess as much detail as is necessary. The best example of this is Rachel’s mom: throughout the episode, the viewer never catches a glimpse of her. All we get of her is her voice – and yet, from the dialogue she has, that’s all we need to know that she’s cold, ruthless, and ambitious. Of course, this only applies to most of the scenes. There’s one significant exception to this observation, and that’s the musical scenes.

These scenes are very elaborate, complete with choreography, costumes, and back-up dancers. There’s a lot of detail within these scenes, and this is best exemplified in how the locations and actual happenings of the scene affect the songs. A shot of the music program being cut is shown just as Rachel sings a reference to it – and later in “West Covina,” the same band plays before being forcibly stopped. The explanation-parts of “West Covina,” where Rachel justifies moving to West Covina, are set to shots of her defending herself in conversation. The rapper in “The Sexy Getting Ready Song” stops rapping after seeing the state of Rachel’s bathroom and leaves to apologize to the women “he’s wronged” (which the show kindly shows us at the end.)

If only there hadn’t been a budget cut…

Overall, the cinematography and direction in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s first episode was excellent and has left me eager for what comes next.

Intro to Alexandra Jungreis

Hi, I’m Alexandra Sarah Jungreis, an 18 year old Chemical Engineering major from Anchorage Alaska (I know. It was 10 hours by plane). I expect to graduate in spring 2022, and I’m expecting to take summer classes in order to accomplish that. So far, my only English experience has been with standard high school classes, which I must say I loved. I greatly enjoy reading and talking about books with complex themes and characters. In terms of communication, I love talking and having oral conversations with others, and writing, though not as much of a favorite as talking, has also been an easy form of communication for me. Where I struggle is non verbal communication. It’s not that I’m unexpressive, rather that I express the wrong emotions. I hope to be able to improve on that skill this semester and diversify my communication skills. In terms of television, I can’t say that I’m an utter fanatic, but I have watched quite a bit. The main reason behind that is that my family often uses television and movies as a way to spend time together. Though it’s not very active, we experience the show together, and then have much to talk about after watching. Other than with my family, I really don’t watch much television. I did used to watch a few shows on my own, but that’s tapered off and reading has become my main form of media consumption. For my show, I have chosen Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a story about a mentally ill woman who drops everything in her life to follow a man she had a crush on 10 years ago to California. Despite the seemingly retrogressive premise, I chose this show because of its reputation of accurate portrayal of mental illness, as well as the fact that the main character is very unapologetically Jewish. I often find that most Jewish television characters are Jewish in a way that is palatable to Gentile audiences: Most references to their Judaism are framed as jokes, or in the form of common stereotypes that push at but don’t quite cross the line (references to bagels, bar/bat mitzvah parties, curly hair, Jewish mothers, etc.). I’m tired of watching Jewish characters that are meant for Gentiles to laugh at; I’m excited and ready to see a Jewish character that was meant for me to identify with.

happy oh my god GIF


Me about to watch a Jewish BAMF rule the screen

This is Real, This is Me, I’m So Excited to Learn About Feminism and TVVVV!!

Hey everyone!! My name is Carson Hulsey, my major is Literature, Media and Communication, and I plan on graduating in 2022.

I had the opportunity to take a photo with a real Oscar at Disney World in February.

This is my first English class at Georgia Tech and I’m very excited to delve into the material. I enjoy written communication because I have always been able to get my message across most effectively through the written mode. I started writing short stories when I was in Kindergarten and have enjoyed it ever since. I struggle with oral communication because I have always been least confident delivering my message using the oral mode. I have given many presentations throughout my academic career and I always get nervous and shaky when doing so. I definitely hope to improve my oral communication skills this semester by having more confidence in myself and practicing presentations.

I am unquestionably a TV addict. I don’t watch TV every single day necessarily, but I have watched it a bunch these last few years. I bought a ChromeCast about a year ago, which allows me to cast Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc. onto my TV. Since I bought a ChromeCast I have watched countless shows and YouTube videos. One of my favorite lazy past times is to dive into a new show. I watch a mix of comedic shows, like The Office and Workaholics, more serious shows, like Parts Unknown and The Crown, and shows in the middle, like Shameless.

I have chosen to review Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a CW series that revolves around a lawyer, Rebecca Bunch, who went to Harvard and Yale and works at an elite New York law firm. After a stressful day at work, Bunch runs into her first love, Josh Chan. He tells her that he’s moving to West Covina, California because New York wasn’t for him. Later, Bunch decides on a whim that she’s going to move to West Covina herself so she can find happiness as well. I chose to review this show because I have friends who’ve watched it and enjoyed it and because I’ve read positive reviews online. I have also heard that it’s a polarizing show that gives viewpoints that usually aren’t displayed on TV so I’m excited to see how those viewpoints are portrayed.

I believe that this semester is going to bring up many points that I have never explored and give me a new perspective on how television and feminism intertwine. I’m so excited to learn and grow with all of you this semester!

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Co-Creator and Star: Rachel Bloom

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