THE JESTER
Liz Lemon (30 Rock) played by Tina Fey
“Look, Jack, I don't
have a lot of personal life experience, but if I have learned anything from my
Sims family... when a child doesn't see his father enough, he starts to jump up
and down, and then his mood level will drop until he pees himself.”
Another creation in a chain of “I Can Do No Wrong”, Tina Fey
struck gold again with her creation of Liz Lemon. Fey has written a character that
so many people are able to identify with somewhere. Be it her unhealthy
fixation with food, inability to maintain a relationship, awkward social
skills, and the list goes on.... But she just so well represents the underdog and
no matter how many times she tries and gets something wrong, we find ourselves
routing for her, week in and week out.
I think that, unlike so many other comedy characters (*cough*2brokegirls*cough*),
Liz Lemon also shows depth as a character; she isn’t just a cliché-d
stereotype. Whilst not being an optimist or a pessimist, she lies somewhere
between the two. And this is what so
great about all of Tina Fey’s creations; they are exaggerated, yet still exist
within reality. People aren't just one thing and that is it, they are complex and Fey realises this for all her characters. One of my favourite traits of Liz is her aforementioned love of
food. Some of the biggest laughs I have gotten from the show are from her songs
about food including such seminal classics as “Bring Me Some Ham”, “Night
Cheese” and “Cheesy Blasters” (see videos below).
Bring Me Some Ham
Night Cheese
Cheesy Blasters
The scene I feel best shows off both Tina Fey and Liz Lemon
is episode 14 of Season 2, entitles “Sandwich Day”. Upon finding out the
someone has eaten her sandwich, Lemon enters a psychotic state and threatens
all her writers with a pair of scissors. It really shows of Fey as an actress
as it is exaggerated comedy, with being over-the-top. It’s just a great moment
for character, actress and writer.
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