Saturday, 7 April 2012

Top TV Characters: Liz Lemon

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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