Irrational exuberance: cuteness as affective bubble in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

ABSTRACT

There has been a palpable shift from the studiously unconscious cuteness of the “chick flick” to the semi-conscious cuteness of a strain of contemporary female-led quality comedy and this shift highlights a growing dissatisfaction with contemporary socio-economic and political conditions. More recent series, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015–2019) and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015-2019), feature female protagonists whose performances of cuteness expose many of the predicaments, challenges and issues facing the contemporary neoliberal female subject. These series use their dysfunctionally cute heroines to expose contradictions, hypocrisies and double standards in contemporary Western society. The defining trait of the female protagonists is a cuteness linked to overcoming traumatic past events. In this article I will be defining cuteness as a bulwark intrinsically linked to trauma and loss and as a ballast against threat. Both series studiously attempt to transform social abjection into a more palatable cuteness that enables the female lead. However, this cute performance extracts a heavy psychological toll, bringing societal demands into question. Cuteness works as a temporary coping mechanism but is not a viable solution for either female protagonist in the long-term.

KEYWORDS:

• Cuteness
• feminism
• television
• gender
• neoliberalism

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Diane Negra and Anthony McIntyre for their feedback and support that helped me finish this paper. I would also like to thank the committee and members of the Irish Association for American Studies for encouraging me throughout the revision process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Nicholson, Amy. “Who Killed the Romantic Comedy?” LA. Weekly,February27, 2014.

2. Morris, Wesley. 2019. “Rom-Coms Were Corny and Retrograde. Why Do I Miss Them so Much?” The New York Times Magazine, April 242,019.

3. The term was popularized by former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan in a 1996 speech addressing the burgeoning internet bubble in the stock market.

4. Rabin, Nathan. 2007. “The Bataan Death March of Whimsy Case File #1: Elizabethtown.” Www.theavclub.com, The A.V. Club, 25January

5. Cobb, Shelley and Diane Negra. 2017.”I Hate to be the Feminist Here” … Reading the Post-Epitaph Chick Flick. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cáit Neylon

Cáit Neylon is a graduate of the MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture at University College Dublin. Her paper “The Alterity of Cuteness in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” received an honorary mention for the WTM Riches Prize sponsored by the Irish Association for American Studies. She is based in Dublin, Ireland. E-mail: [email protected]