Warning: This post contains spoilers about the show!
As the semester draws to a close, I thought I’d have a little fun continuing our earlier discussion of the media and talk about one of my favorite politically themed TV shows. Throughout the semester, the consistent incorporation of media into our lectures and lessons has been one of my favorite parts of this class. I think that connecting concepts about electoral politics to popular media, particularly in the areas of parody and comedy, can really help drive home important points and make learning about these topics even more engaging. I have recently come to find that this value can stretch beyond soft news outlets like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (which is sadly in its final days as the star prepares to take over CBS’s late night talk show from David Letterman). When I started watching the TV show Parks and Recreation, a “mockumentary” sitcom tracking governmental wheeling and dealing in the rural community of Pawnee, Indiana, I had no idea that I’d be drawing parallels between the show and this course’s content throughout essentially every episode. My love for the leading lady Amy Poehler drew me to the show, but the enduring real world relevance of her incredible performance (and the show’s addictive plotlines and general hilariousness) kept me watching.
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Poehler plays Leslie Knope, an enthusiastic Parks and Recreation department employee with a pipe dream of becoming president one day, but her initial incompetence proves more than cringe-worthy. I nearly quit watching during the first season because of how horribly I felt women in government were being portrayed since such pop culture phenomena can be legitimately damaging in the real world (if you don’t believe me, watch the amazing documentary Miss Representation). However, Emily Nussbaum points out in her New Yorker review of Parks and Rec that Leslie’s bumbling during the show’s early episodes “[reflects] national anxieties about female political power,” where her “prim know-it-all whose ambitions were the butt of the joke.” In a nation where women are systematically underrepresented, reflected by the fact that if the current rate of female political gains continues, it will take over 500 years to achieve gender parity at all levels of government, these are salient issues that the show asks us to consider.
Thankfully, Leslie gets herself together, and as her character develops, she achieves personal and political success. However, her journey is not without its ups and downs, and she and peers often handle their sticky situations in a ridiculous and entertaining manner. Still, between the lines of each preposterous blunder and heartwarming moment lays real-life commentary about American political culture. Particularly, the show’s treatment of Leslie’s campaign for her local city council rings true to many aspects of modern campaigns. First, the show reflects the public’s failure to focus on the real issues of the campaign, such as the candidates’ experience, qualifications, and issue positions. Instead, they are swayed by sensational media coverage and get caught up scandal after scandal perpetuated by the local reporters. For example, the “gotcha” media relentlessly pursues Leslie in a “birther”-type scandal, claiming that she was not born in Pawnee, as she insists (it turns out that she never knew she was born one town over…). Check out the sensationalism embraced on the local talk show “Pawnee Today,” which even has it’s own “gotcha” dancers.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nz2ZC_60g8[/youtube]
The most damaging scandal takes the form of Leslie’s forbidden relationship with her boss, which goes public and substantially damages her standing in the polls. This event reflects the public’s obsession with candidates’ personal lives, as we discussed terms of Gary Hart and Bill Clinton. Thankfully, Leslie overcomes the scandal with Bill Clinton style tact and her own personal grace, along with a little help from her friends, to remain in the race.
Throughout the race, her well-funded primary opponent’s campaign capitalizes on such scandal making, doing their best to smear Leslie’s image. However, the final debate between the candidates becomes a turning point, just as in real world elections, when Leslie outsmarts and outperforms him, along with the rest of her absurd cast of opponents. She especially rocks the concluding statement (check it out below!).
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JhqMsxH9-g[/youtube]
Leslie narrowly wins the election by just twenty votes, and then encounters more real world obstacles as an elected official. As the only woman on the city council, Leslie finds herself blocked from taking meaningful action at every turn and falls victim to institutionalized sexism. She’s sexually harassed by her colleagues, blackmailed, manipulated, and publically ridiculed. But she persists; from personally performing community services she can’t get funded to filibustering on roller skates for hours on end to prevent unfair legislation that would restrict voting rights from passing.
Such obstacles particularly reflect one key issue in the American electoral system, where candidates can win by narrow margins in our first-past-the-post elections. When a candidate wins an election still without the support of many, many voters, she struggles to gain legitimacy for her regime and lacks the power to govern. She works hard for her community, but Leslie’s policies prove too progressive for a conservative small town, and she tragically loses a recall election and is removed from office. I’m not quite done with Season 6 on Netflix, so I’m not sure what happens next, but I have faith that the relentless Leslie will bounce back! (Also, stay tuned for the 7th and final season, coming this January on NBC!)
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Last, I think it’s important to note that the show has made enough of an impact to draw cameos from real politicians, including Senators John McCain, Barbara Boxer, and Olympia Snow, and even Vice President Joe Biden! Additionally, perhaps it even offers some vital political lessons, such as in championing Leslie’s ability to reach across the aisle and work with her staunch Libertarian boss Ron Swanson. For all its fun, Parks and Recreation confronts real issues in electoral politics in the context of small town America. And when these messages come to us with a laugh from our funny and inspiring fictional feminist hero, they can be a little easier to swallow, and make a real difference in educating, while entertaining, the voting public.
