On Zooey Deschanel:

I would like to preface this by saying that, yes, Zooey Deschanel is typecasted and a little vanilla and portrays a version of a child-like woman to mass audiences. I would also like to preface this by saying I have not seen her TV show and I do not own a TV, so I won’t be seeing it anytime soon. 

People seem to be annoyed with Zooey Deschanel and her floral prints and her singing, but think about the typecasts of other women in movies, television and the media in general. It has become clear to everyone with half of a brain that advertising and women’s roles in the media have gotten raunchier, less intelligent and more sexed-up than ever. Ali Lohan got a new alien face, Snookie is a celebrity and you can’t become the star of a big box office hit like Transformers or Spiderman without being able to fit into a size 0 and be … well … an actual model. 

Sure, Zooey Deschanel isn’t the perfect stereotype of a woman, but she does real things that real people do. She listens to records. She wears clothing that covers up most of her body. She’s silly. She may be so cute that it’s annoying, but I’ve never seen a Zooey Deschanel nip slip or sex tape. 

I know a number of women who are fighting to change our stereotype in the media that are at the same time bashing Zooey Deschanel for being too cutesy. We can’t expect people to change their opinions about tanned skin, women’s bodies on display and plastic surgery without having women in the media who embody the opposite. I honestly think Zooey Deschanel does a good job of that. 

We should be lifting up, celebrating and supporting female characters who can be strong and silly and in charge of their own lives. Sure, her roles portray her as just another indie girl, but the more indie girls and less unrealistic Barbie types there are out there, the better we will be.