Formative Performances: Zooey Deschanel in “New Girl”

[Women’s History Month, Day 10]

I really like Zooey Deschanel and I don’t care who knows it. Haters gonna hate. I do understand why one might find Deschanel unappealing, or why one might have issues with her Manic Pixie Dream Girl-esque career choices and persona, but I like that she’s outspoken about feminism and unapologetic about her love for girly things.

(What’s funny is that my first glimpse of Deschanel was her performance in Elf, where she played the sarcastic and cynical “straight man” to Will Ferrell’s Manic Pixie Dream Guy, and I was honestly surprised to hear that she had a reputation for playing the quirky adorkable roles.)

Anyway, even though I’ve always liked Zooey D, I didn’t watch New Girl when it first aired because it just seemed like too much quirky crammed into one half hour. I liked her and wanted to keep liking her, so I avoided the show for the entire first season. At a friend’s recommendation, I started watching it, and while the first few episodes were much too quirky/adorkable, the writers soon took Jess down a couple of notches (and brought the male characters UP a couple of notches).

The following clip is not of great quality, but it’s an important reflection of why I like Zooey D’s work on New Girl. This speech is full of meta commentary on the show itself, where she addresses Lizzy Caplan (who is also awesome) and defends herself against criticisms that she’s not strong or smart just because she likes girly things. The speech as written is funny while also a little too meta, yet Deschanel saves it. She turns a meta moment into a strong character moment for Jess, making it easy for us to both root for her and understand why Julia might find her annoying. Good on you, Zooey. I knew there was a reason I always defend you.