The discussion about negative online comments has taken center stage in the media recently after a campaign to feature a woman on a Bank of England note has led to several high profile female writers receiving an increased amount of horrifying threats via Twitter. In the forthcoming September issue of Marie Claire, New Girl star Zooey Deschanel talks about her own experience with the less pleasant side of the Internet in an extract the magazine has released.
This is a subject that Deschanel has previously discussed and in a past interview with Glamour magazine Deschanel commented “I want to be a fucking feminist and wear a fucking Peter Pan collar. So fucking what?” This stems from criticism about Deschanel including being a so-called real life Manic Pixie Dream Girl (an archetype which has thankfully been declared dead – the article that Nathan Rabin coined the term in is great, everything that followed not so much) and how what she wears or how she talks diminishes the value of her work. I’ve been a big fan of Deschanel since I saw Almost Famous and I was surprised by the amount of vitriol that was dished out when New Girl debuted. It was understandable why Jess the character was receiving flack as there were some issues with how cartoony Jess was in these early episodes, but it was the overtly personal Deschanel laden barbs that were surprising.
In what could be viewed as a follow on from the Peter Pan collar remark, Deschanel says that criticism directed her way is often about how she looks or acts “Everything you’ve done doesn’t matter because you wore the wrong thing or you speak in a way that’s feminine or you identify yourself as feminine. And I just think that’s bullshit.” Deschanel believes negative comments can also stifle creativity as people might not want to put themselves out there out of fear of getting bashed online and this is part of the inspiration behind her site Hello Giggles. While I’m sure there will always be Deschanel detractors it’s also really great to see some with her status happily refer to herself as a feminist and provide a space online like this.
The cover story mentions a new look, which from the styling on the cover is serving up an Almost Famous aesthetic moving from 60s twee to 70s rocker. There’s a dash of the 90s with the plaid jacket showing that grunge is definitely sneaking its way back in this season with Hedi Slimane’s Saint Laurent fall collection. The signature bangs are still there after speculation (yes there was Zooey Deschanel bangs speculation) after the Met Gala that she was maybe growing them out.
New Girl returns Tuesday, September 17.
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