newgirl – English 1102: Television and Feminism

Tag: newgirl

Moving forward: Goodbye Coach -Topic 6

On November 12, 2018

Not every person we like gets to stay in our lives. Often, we have to leave behind a majority of our friends, family members, and acquaintances. The episode of New Girl titled “Clean Break”, really explores this concept. This episode focuses on the idea of leaving people behind, and whether you should try to take things that remind you of them.

One of the main characters and roommates, Coach, is moving away with his girlfriend May.

Coach and May

Coach explains to Jess that whenever he moves, he “makes a clean break”, and does not like to get sentimental. The episode starts off with Coach only wanting to take the essentials with him and leaving everything else behind. Coach then convinces the rest of his roommates to do the same thing and get rid of unnecessary things in their lives and clean up their rooms. Nick, who is basically a hoarder, is unable to and claims that everything he owns has significance. I really like this episode because it contrasts the different ways people deal with moving. Coach tries to be completely apathetic and only wants to pack essential items, whereas Nick hoards everything including candy wrappers.

I can really relate with Nick since I like to keep mementos from every milestone in my life and have a really hard time throwing away sentimental things.

Later, Coach who is adamant about leaving all memories behind, argues with Winston- another roommate- about what he should and shouldn’t pack. Winston insists that Couch keep a frying pan they bought when they were really drunk because it symbolizes their friendship and pancakes. However, Coach refuses to take it with him. But before Coach leaves, he accidentally hits his suitcase, and it is revealed that Coach took memories of his friends with him and that he wasn’t truly able to just pack the essentials.

When Coach leaves, a song played in the background, that solidifies this as one of my favorite episodes. The lyrics of the song goes “a year from now we’ll all be gone. All our friends will move away. And they’re going to better places. But our friends will be gone away”. This line from the song really impacts me because of all the people in life I left behind to be where I am right now.

This episode really resonates with me because I have moved so many times in my life. I have this desire to keep every friend I ever had in my life, however, that is just not realistic. At the end of the day, the people in your life change and evolve and most the people you love can’t stay by your side forever. You have to move on and meet new people, as hard as that may be.

The message of this episode

How Jess matches up to other Female Leads

By Navya Katragadda

On November 11, 2018

In Review Topic 6

While watching New Girl, I have thought heavily about other shows that have prevalent female leads. These shows include The Mindy Project, How to Get Away with Murder, Gossip Girl etc. This made me delve deeper into how different Jess is from the usual female lead. Usual female leads are characterized as very dominant and powerful characters in relation to the other characters in the show. But in this show, Jess is a female character who has a lot of personalities but is not an overwhelming and overly powerful character in comparison to the heavy male presence that this show has.

Jess being weird per usual

For example, when comparing Jess to a character like Annalease Keating, even though these two shoes are from different genres, Jess is much more light. But also, there is evidence that the type of character that the New Girl writers created for Jess is not as original as it seems. This is in reference to characters such as Mindy from the Mindy project. Mindy is characterized as someone who is quirky and weird in the best way. Her humor is the best part of her. Jess is somewhat the same way as the people grow to love her and appreciate her for who she is. Besides this, Jess is a unique character. She is very comfortable being weird and awkward, which is something that is usually looked down on for women. New Girl tries to fight against the stereotypes of women where Jess is completely different from Cece, who is the typical pretty girl we would see in television. As the characters grow to love Jess, especially paying attention to the men in the show, we can see that Jess is beautiful in her own way and in her own personality along with her quirks. This is what I love most about watching this show.

Gender Representation in New GIRL

By Navya Katragadda

On November 3, 2018

In Review Topic 5

In New Girl, the gender spread is pretty balanced, with quirky Jess as the lead and her beautiful, smart and supportive best friend Cece along with the three roommates that Jess fights with, lives with and learns with. The only two genders represented are female and male whereas there are many more genders that could be represented. Technically, the male characters have more representation but this is balanced out by the fact that Jess is the main character and that the spotlight is always on her. In terms of agency, Jess is mostly able to make her own choices but it is also important to consider the fact that Jess cannot usually act on her desires sometimes. This is shown by the fact that the other characters, both Cece and her male roommates have to sometimes push Jess to do things and stand up for herself. Nick seems to make decisions in a more low-key way contrary to characters like Schmidt. This show also does not really connect gender to race as much as other shows usually do. Race and gender representation do not really correlate in this show as the amount of representation a character has is usually not dependent on what race they are. Sometimes when watching an episode of this show, class and gender representation is sometimes a connection I make. Characters like Schmidt who obviously makes more money than his roommates sometimes has an attitude of superiority over his female and male counterparts.

Jess being a boss.

Also, since everyone in New Girl is heterosexual, there isn’t any discrepancy in the representation that every character gets as there lacks diversity in sexuality. Disability and Mental illness are also not addressed much in this show, as it usually tries to keep a very light mood throughout the episodes. Heavy issues aren’t discussed usually in this show. Overall, the gender representation is pretty balanced out of the episodes I have seen thus far.

Facing your kryptonite-Theme of New Girl (Topic 4)

By Anika Islam

On October 31, 2018

In Review Topic 4

The overarching theme of New Girl is about the importance of friendship and being true to one’s self and desires. For this blog, I am going to be only looking at the episode Kryptonite’s theme. This episode focused on one’s ability to overcome ones “Kryptonite”. Jess is unable to face her ex-boyfriend who is the equivalent of a human toilet paper. The episode centers around the fact that Jess is too afraid to get her things from her ex-boyfriend house.

Side note: I seriously hated Spencer, and I know the show purposefully makes him dislikable, but I genuinely don’t see how someone could be deluded-or desperate- enough to date him.

However, Jess is unable to see the flaws of her ex-boyfriend -Spencer- and is constantly being pushed over by him. Her ex-boyfriend mercilessly takes advantage of her and her possessions, using her even after the break-up.
But when Jess sees that her Spencer ignored her request to water the plants, she finally snaps. She realizes that she has the right to her own belongings and that now she has friends that will support her. Jess realizes that Spencer cheating on her was really a blessing in disguise because otherwise, she would have probably married that sorry excuse for a person.

Jess gets her things back including her TV!

She had to muster up the self-respect and confidence to stand up to someone she once idolized and loved.

I felt this episode’s theme was probably one of the most important because this is Jess truly matures as a person. She starts off being too afraid to even drive to Spencer’s house and finally has the confidence to yell “Suck it, Mr. Crabs” to a man she was once hopelessly in love with. I think a theme in this episode is also the fact that sometimes negative events in our life may actually improve our lives in the long run. Cheating on Jess may have been the best thing Spencer ever did for her because it allowed her to move on from that toxic relationship.

Jess getting ready to approach Spencer

Quite honestly, I really liked how this episode expressed the importance of facing your past and moving on from it. I felt that this episode contributed to the overall theme of the show because, in order for Jess to confront Spencer, she first had to find her self-respect and self-worth, and realize that she deserved to be treated better.

Seeing the real New Girl-Topic 3

By Anika Islam

On October 14, 2018

In Review Topic 3

Overall, New Girl utilizes a lot of bright and happy colors, this allows the show to maintain its light-hearted and humorous tone. The show is very aware of the fact that New Girl is supposed to be an escape from reality for many people and offer them good light-hearted laughs. The colors, especially ones around Jess, is incredibly fun and energetic. This is because, as a person, Jess is the most bubbly and energetic; she is always in a good mood even in Armageddon.

The lighting in the show is very bright during the happy times. However, there is a noticeable shift in both color and lighting during gloomier moods, the lighting is more dimly lit, and the colors are more browns and grays. Like for example, when Nick was contemplating moving in with Caroline the color scheme is very depressing and consists of a lot of beige and grays. The colors signify how the main characters feel, the colors tend to shift with the atmosphere of the room. In Nick’s case, he was feeling confused, upset, and lost.

In New Girl, the camera usually focuses on only the person talking. This is done so the audience focuses on only the person talking and doesn’t get distracted by the rest of the actors. When there is some major revelation or something bizarre happens, however, almost everyone is in the shot. This is so the audience can see everyone’s reaction.

The set for the show is also very quirky like the characters in the show, and it really does look like four young adults live there, adding to the realism of the show.

I appreciate that there isn’t any laugh-track, it makes the show more realistic. I feel like the soundtrack also complements the visual aspects of the show well. For example, during the sad moments of the show, the sad music creates an atmosphere where you feel what the characters are going through, and the moment is further enhanced by the music. The music also gives cues as to what the audience should feel at the moment.

Example of the bright color themes in New Girl

New Girl: Simple Cinematography Unlike the Normal Sitcom

By Navya Katragadda

On September 9, 2018

In Review Topic 3

While watching New Girl, the show takes on the generic format of a T.V. sitcom with quick shots where the camera will shift to the character speaking. Throughout the episode, specifically during the most recent episode, “Kryptonite”, the shots would consist of the characters talking to one another, and the camera would quickly shift to the face of another to highlight their reaction to the others. The reactions of characters to each other is the main basis of comedy for this show. The quick shots are important to the show because they keep the audience engaged. In fast-moving shows like New Girl, quick and dynamic shots are important because if the camera work is not crisp, the audience is likely to get bored.

In terms of lighting, the show is very well lit. The episodes are generally colorful as Jess has a very colorful personality and it’s enhanced by the background of the shots. Specifically, in this episode, about half of the episode is shot outside which is different from the previous episode, where most of the episode took place within the apartment where all the main characters live. The color scheme of this episode was still colorful but even when the characters were outside, the colors were still a bit subdued. I believe that the colors were subdued at times to fit the theme of the episode. The episode was about Jess getting over a breakup and finding herself again and it could represent Jess losing the happy part of herself for a guy for a period of time.

The directors of cinematography and visuals of New Girl do a great job of keeping the audience engaged without being overwhelming. This means that the cinematography is very simple

This shows how the camera shifts from one character to another

Usually, sitcoms have fake audience laughter in the background and more sound effects to enhance the show. This allows New Girl to be more simple and for the comedy to be more natural through the show. Watching New Girl has been great because it’s a simple, funny and unique T.V. show that always finds new ways to make me laugh!

Jess puts the girl in “New Girl”-Gender analysis (topic 5)

By Anika Islam

On September 8, 2018

In Review Topic 5

Gender plays a huge role in New Girl. Part of the show’s appeal is Jess’s dive into the world of men. The whole premise of New Girl relies on the fact that Jess is a girl living with three male roommates and the awkward interactions between the four.

This show allows the audience to the events that may ensue when males and females live under the same roof. Like, when Schmidt explains how he thought living with a girl would be the best thing ever, but it turned out to be terrible because all the bathroom shelves were always full, his towels always damp, and he never got to sleep with Jess.

Screenshot from New Girl-
How I feel when I realize midterms are next week for me

This show also explores the gender stereotypes in our society. For example, the idea that men only think about sex. This stereotype is clearly projected by Schmidt who constantly tries to get women to sleep with him. Another example is that in the first half of season one, all of Jess’s roommates watch over Jess and come to her rescue.

Another thing to note is that compared to the men, Jess is much more optimistic and has much more faith in humanity. Jess is described in the show as a sweet and naive girl who always tries to do the right thing. In episode eleven of the show, it’s mentioned that Jess is really girly and likes feminine things like ribbon hats and polka dots.

Another aspect of Jess being a girl is the age-old questions: can (attractive) men and women really have platonic friendships. Only this show takes it further to see if men and women can live in the same apartment without having romantic feelings for each other. The show constantly plays with the idea that men and women rarely interact with each other unless they want to sleep with each other.

Case and point: when the landlord only helped Jess fix the house because he thought Jess wanted to sleep with him.

Furthermore, the amount of character development and complexity is also influenced by gender. For instance, the only other female character of importance is Cece, yet there isn’t much to Cece besides the fact that she really attractive. Winston, Nick, and Schmidt get much more character development than Cece, who just remains flat. Literally, the whole purpose of Cece is to serve as a love interest for Schmidt and a female friend for Jess.

However, it should be mentioned that the show gives pretty equal representation to women and men, and portrays both genders’ point of view. Another key theme in this show is the romantic interest between Nick and Jess, and Schmidt and Cece.

Final note: for anyone who watched the show, why do you think Jess is made out to be such a quirky and, at times, unbearably embarrassing character?

Not Too Broad, Not Too Specific

By Faisal Chaudry

On September 4, 2018

In Intro Post

Hey, everyone! My name is Faisal Chaudry, and I am a Civil Engineering student from Marietta, Georgia. I anticipate graduating with the class of 2022, but you never know what might come up along the way.

I have taken advanced English courses in high school, like AP Language and AP Literature. ENGL 1102 is the only English course that I will be taking at university, and frankly, I am quite relieved. Although I do relatively well in English classes, I always find them to be my least favorite course. I can read and write well, but having required books to read is so demotivating for me. Also, writing essays has always been a constant annoyance of mine, especially timed writings.

looking at you, AP Lit teacher

Despite my general frustration with English, I am excited for ENGL 1102. Rather than writing long, worthless essays and reading extensive novels, I get to watch TV shows for homework!

when your hw is to binge s1 of The Good Place

I enjoy using visual and electronic communication because I express myself more through showing others how I feel or what I believe rather than just telling or writing about it. I struggle the most with oral communication because I am not a sociable person, so speaking confidently is not my strong suit. However, I hope to build my oral skills so that I can interact with my peers throughout this semester.

I am aware of the role television has in perpetuating feminism in the mainstream. I have three sisters who are TV fanatics, so I tend to know a great deal about female-driven TV shows and storylines because they will unsolicitedly tell me everything about what is happening. Therefore, I am somewhat familiar with shows like Jane the Virgin, The Bold Type, and New Girl (not saying I ever watched them).

As for me, I consider myself an aficionado of television. I do not frequently start new shows all the time, but when I do, I will binge it. No question about it. Shameless is one of my top shows right now, and I binged all eight seasons within a month. I also enjoy BBC miniseries, like Sherlock, Luther, and Peaky Blinders, because they have captivating characters and suspenseful story arcs that keep me hooked.

me when Season 9 of Shameless premieres on Sunday

I am choosing to review Broad City for these blog posts because it is a show that I would never typically watch. It seems like the quintessential millennial comedy- a dynamic duo of female twenty-somethings in New York City who get into wacky yet hilarious situations, usually to meet new people or get more money. I have heard countless rave reviews about this show, and I know that it has a uniquely quirky sense of humor that I believe is a refreshing step away from the conventional sitcom. I cannot wait to see what this series has in store for my late-night TV bingeing.

Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, creators of Broad City

New Girl: the show that proves death by second-hand embarrassment is real

By Anika Islam

On September 4, 2018

In Intro Post

My name is Anika, I am currently a biochem major, and I am hoping to graduate by 2022.

English 1102 is my first English class at Gatech, and I really enjoy writing creative short stories or answering hypothetical prompts. I really hope to improve my non-verbal communication skills, especially how I convey my facial expressions.

I am TV binger, and once I start a new show I race to finish it. That’s why, for the sake of my mental sanity, I try not to start new shows.

I took Ap euro and APUSH so I have some experience with the topic of feminism.

Our main character is Jess: the living definition of quirky. Although her heart is in the right place, she makes the very act of breathing awkward.

This promo poster features all the main characters of New Girl for season one

To exemplify, my favorite quote from the first episode is when Jess says “…but wouldn’t it be better to find a girl who you really care about to motorboat? Then maybe, if you’re super lucky, you might find a girl who’ll motorboat you right back”. To which Nick replied, “I don’t think she knows what motorboating is”.
To further prove Jess is the dictionary definition of awkward, we start the series with Jess being broken up with while she was naked. The new girl is at times far too much to handle for someone who suffers from second-hand embarrassment, like I do. Jess does things that at times makes you wonder how she has not yet died of embarrassment.

We first start the show with our Jess’s new roommates Nick, Schmidt, and Bill interviewing her. In the first episode, we find out that both Nick and Jess just recently broke up. The first episode acts as a comparison with how Jess and Nick both deal with breakups they didn’t want to happen. How well they handled it, or didn’t handle it, also displays how mentally unstable these two characters are. Jess is super depressed that Spencer broke up with her, and the movie Dirty Dancing basically became her replacement boyfriend. Winston, my favorite character and final roommate, is only introduced in the second episode.

I chose to review new girl because what really makes this show hilarious and loveable is the friendship dynamic between the roommates. The roommates always help each other out, meddle where they shouldn’t, and make each other insane, which not only drives the plot of the show, but also the emotions of the audience. Even at the end of the first episode, Coach, Schmidt, and Nick rescue Jess when her date ditched her. One of the biggest things to note about this show is the all the main characters are drastically different, yet you can’t help but like and root for all of them. Even when Jess is a weird pushover and Schmidt acts like the douchebag of the house; actually, the corporate douchebag.

Beginning Of The End

By Alex Mealey

On September 4, 2018

In Review Topic 1, Uncategorized

My name is Alex Mealey and I am an Aerospace Engineering Major from Orlando, Florida. I would like to graduate in 2022 but I wouldn’t be too upset if I were to graduate in 2023.

(me in 2023) “oh well”

I’ve been taking english classes since 6th grade and I’m both excited and sad to say this will be my final english class. In the past, english class have always been one of my lighter classes usually consisting of reading books, writing book reports, and writing off a prompt. It wasn’t until my junior year when I took IB HL English that I really began to appreciate what I was learning in English. In this class we spent our time working on our writing styles and analyzing the writing style’s found within articles, movie scripts, novels, blogs and other forms of media. This class challenged me since the grading was much tougher, however, this was the first time that I began to appreciate all of the applications for my english class.

Looking at the WOVEN aspects of communication I personally enjoy Oral communication the most. I love to talk in small groups as well as give speeches to large crowds. I feel more comfortable using my words on the spot than writing words on a paper. I think the written aspect of WOVEN would be my weakest mode simply because my writing isn’t very captivating. I hope to improve this through reading the works of good writers in this class.

When it comes to feminism in television my experience is limited to just watching TV with female characters. I am a pretty big TV fan though, with my favorite shows ranging from Psych to How I Met Your Mother all the way to Rick and Morty. Most of the TV I watch comes from platforms such as Netflix and Hulu since I don’t have the patience to wait for a week per episode. I’m very excited to expand my horizons by watching TV shows I wouldn’t typically pay attention to. For example, I already really enjoyed the good place.

“You like the good place too?! Holy shirt!”

Finally, for my TV show I have chosen to watch New Girl. New Girl is light hearted and comical, the kind of show I usually enjoy, however I’ve just never gotten around to it. I also have some high school friends who swore this show was hilarious so I’m giving it a try. The premise behind the show is that a newly single young woman, “Jess”, moves into an apartment with three also young men. The show follows the group as they struggle with relationships, and go on hilarious adventures.

Jess is truly an odd character

For updates on my experience with New Girl check out my twitter @MealeyAlex. Well this is it, my first blog post for my last English class… very bittersweet. Welcome to the beginning, beginning of the end (wow that sounds way more sinister that I thought it would but I kind of like it).

A Semi-Boring Introduction to my Boring Self

By Navya Katragadda

On September 3, 2018

In Intro Post

Hi! My name is Navya Katragadda and I am a first-year Biomedical Engineering major from Smyrna, Georgia. I expect to graduate in 2022 from Tech (hopefully). I have taken English courses consistently since Kindergarten which has been interesting since English was not my first language. In high school, Literature classes were always my favorite and to be exact, I have always loved reading and analyzing poetry. This is my first English class here at Tech and I couldn’t be more excited. I definitely prefer reading and writing as forms of communication over speaking up in class, which is something I struggle with. Since I prefer writing/electronic communication, I am very excited to use Twitter this semester. This semester in English 1102, I hope I can improve my speaking and use it more efficiently as a way of communicating with my classmates and professor.

Even before this class, I have always been an avid watcher of television. I have seen every show from an 80’s sitcom to a 2018 drama series. Watching TV and sharing opinions with my friends has always been something that I have enjoyed, especially in the past few years. Not only do I watch many American series’, I watch many shows in multiple languages, such as in Hindi, Spanish and Korean. Considering that I love television, I am very excited about this course.

The awkward hilarious female lead that I am very excited to see on screen (:

This semester, I have chosen to review New Girl. New Girl is about a young teacher who moves in with three single guys into an apartment and documents her adventures with love, life, and friendship. The show follows the relationships that form between characters and their unique personalities. I chose this show due to a few reasons. First, the main character is a woman and three of the other main characters are men. It seems to be an interesting watch as how the female is portrayed in relation to the male characters throughout the show. It also seems like a fun and comedic show so I am very excited to watch and continue to document my thoughts on the show throughout the semester!

English 1102: Television and Feminism

Dr. Casey Alane Wilson • Georgia Institute of Technology

Tag: newgirl

Moving forward: Goodbye Coach -Topic 6

How Jess matches up to other Female Leads

Gender Representation in New GIRL

Facing your kryptonite-Theme of New Girl (Topic 4)

Seeing the real New Girl-Topic 3

New Girl: Simple Cinematography Unlike the Normal Sitcom

Jess puts the girl in “New Girl”-Gender analysis (topic 5)

Not Too Broad, Not Too Specific

New Girl: the show that proves death by second-hand embarrassment is real

Beginning Of The End

A Semi-Boring Introduction to my Boring Self

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