The Lady-Child

We read several articles on the state of gender roles on television, analyzing shows from Clarissa Explains It All to How to be a Gentleman. This article reminded me of another article from Entertainment Weekly, which noticed a new trend regarding women on television: the “lady-child,” or the female counterpart of the man-child. Melissa Maerz wrote that the lady-child is “the savvier counterpart to the man-boy, the overgrown teenager so often played by Adam Sandler or found in the movies of Judd Apatow… Because life’s a little unfair, the lady-child is usually much hotter than the man-boy, and much less likely to wear sweatpants.” The lady-child is also in a state of arrested development, often living with or financially dependent on her parents, witty or sarcastic to the point of alienation, and still looking for a ‘worthy’ career. The article name checks new series such as New Girl, Girls, and 2 Broke Girls—all of which were created by women. I am obsessed with the idea of the lady-child and what this new trope says about mediated representations of gender. I also think it is interesting that women have stolen this trope from male-centric movies. While I hope to do more research on this for my thesis, I love how much backlash these shows have received for their portrayals of lady-children. New Girl is regularly attacked because Zooey Deschanel is considered too infantile. Girls is particularly battered in the media—even James Franco wrote an article for the Huffington Post criticizing the series for its whiny, over-privileged, unrelatable characters. While this trope is more prevalent than ever, it’s clear that audiences are still uncomfortable with it, perhaps because it defies many traditional gender expectations. Women are supposed to be more refined and in control of their lives. Many second-wave feminist television characters fought hard for careers and equality, so to see women lying around while their parents support them deeply upsets some audiences. Whatever you think of this new trend, it doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20587537,00.html