I will analyze the fictional character Leslie Knope, from the television series Parks and Recreation. Parks and Recreation airs on NBC and was created by the producers of The Office using a similar mockumentary filming style. The show started in 2009 and is currently in its 5th season.
NBC descibes the show as an “ensemble comedy that follows mid-level bureaucrat Leslie Knope and her tireless efforts to make her Amercian town more fun.” Leslie is the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. She is “optimistic and over-achieving.”
An interesting element of this series is its play with gender stereotypes. Ron Swanson for example loves steak, whiskey, guns and hunting. He keeps to himself and hates small talk. Leslie Knope is everything a woman is not supposed to be at the workplace: she is highly emotional, irrational and takes everything personally. The coup de force of this show is that Leslie is an invaluable employee not despite of who she is. Her passionate spirit, commitment and almost maternal sense of responsibility come together and create a whole that makes sense. The show seems to say that perhaps men don’t need to be sensitive vegetarians and women don’t have to operate with rational detachment to be highly valuable.
Youtube is surprisingly stingy but season one to four are availabe on Netflix instant play.
OK.
In your analysis, you want to focus on Leslie (the female character).
Yes, I’ll focus on Leslie Knope.