A new duo that could be likened to Amy Poehler and Tina Fey has emerged on Comedy Central, produced by the former actress.
The show follows two self proclaimed “Jewesses” Abbi Abrams and Ilana Wexler (played by creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer) and their shenanigans in New York City.
When explaining this show to people, I have called it the feminine/East Coast equivalent of “Workaholics.” But the only thing that makes it feminine is that the main characters are female and discuss feminist issues.
Why is this show so important? Especially for young women and girls?
Because it’s real. They aren’t done up, and wear clothes that they probably picked out of their personal closets. They discuss sexuality and bodily functions and love of food.
One could argue that HBO’s “Girls” is like this, with a main character with curves who talks about sex and eats food. But the difference is, the characters of “Broad City” are actually likeable.
The relationship of Abbi and Ilana is groundbreaking because they actually, genuinely love each other.
We are in a society where girl hate and sarcasm and deprecating humor is the norm and loving relationships are not exactly represented in the media. Married couples in comedies always act like they hate each other and girl friends stab each other in the back and it is not healthy for girls to grow up only with that.
But Abbi and Ilana are different. They argue, but what really stands out is how much Ilana loves Abbi.
There’s never an episode where Ilana does not tell Abbi how great she is, how beautiful she is, how much she loves her. Abbi, being less outwardly emotional, is not as vocal, but she still follows what Ilana does and wants to make her happy.
Another different aspect is the nature of how sexuality is discussed. There is no holding back with the girls’ sex life. They objectify guys by watching them play basketball talking about their penises. They take guys home from bars and use them for sex.
Ilana has a consistent hook-up who wants to take their relationship to another level, but she isn’t one to commit.
They are breaking the binary of male versus female. All of these traits could be seen as masculine, but Abbi and Ilana do them with grace.
Even though there are negatives, such as them being dependent on one another, being irresponsible, smoking pot and being unstable, that’s not for this article.
There should be more shows that humanize women, ones that show that are funny and not fragile.
“Broad City” is a revolution that we should all be a part of.