Hate the Zooey Haters.

I don't think I knew that people hated on Zooey Deschanel so much until I completed our readings for the day. WHO HATES ZOOEY DESCHANEL?! I fell in love with this adorable little weirdo during her brief stint in Almost Famous, and perhaps that's where she started her journey into being as "indie" as she is oftentimes labeled. I just don't understand why people have such an issue with the fact that she IS indie, "adorkable," and seemingly innocent. I mean, to be totally honest, while she does fall into particular roles because she clearly fits the mold, from the few episodes of New Girl that I've seen, I think that she and Summer of 500 Days of Summer are practically polar opposites.

I remember watching the first episode of New Girl and thinking, "Wow. This should be interesting. Watching Zooey Deschanel in a role where she doesn't seem supremely confident." And that's one of the reasons that I kind of enjoy the show. In 500 Days of Summer, that seems to be Summer's problem -- she's so confident, but just doesn't necessarily buy into the idea of true love and thus ends of leaving poor Joseph Gordon Levitt heartbroken. It's interesting to see her flip the coin: Jess is quirky and childish, sure, but Deschanel pulls that off well too! I don't really buy into the idea that the show is "anti-feminist" to be totally honest and part of that might stem from the fact that I'm such a strong supporter of her as an actress in general, but what all of these articles seemed to hit on was that Jess seems to be "weak." She's not weak though, she's just girly, and it's refreshing to see a character like Jess on TV again. So what if she gets guidance from her three guy roommates? She's admittedly fallen flat on her face after having found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her (which seems pretty reasonable to me) and is simply picked up by her new friends. It seems pretty standard; no stereotypes seem to be reinforced in my opinion and Deschanel doesn't seem to play into some "damsel in distress" character. She can stand up for herself, just as Summer does, and when she needs to get down to business, she can be a bitch.

(I'm also just realizing that Zooey is in my two favorite movies after writing this post...hate the haters.)