English 1102: Television and Feminism

Dr. Casey Alane Wilson • Georgia Institute of Technology

Tag: broad city

Part Of The Resistance: How Broad City Tackles The Current Political Climate

Broad City is a show known for its absurd sense of humor that plays well with its demographic of millennial viewers. But with this off-brand sense of humor, the show tends to not cover critical current events that happen around us. That changed when the fifth episode of Season 3, titled “2016,” aired in early 2016.

While Broad City is not usually known as a deep show that tackles current issues on a large scale, the creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer decided to chime in by creating an episode based on the 2016 election. This episode is pivotal for the show, not only for its cameo appearance of Hillary Clinton herself, but also because it signifies a tremendous shift of the tone and mood from what the show initially conveyed.

Hillary Clinton’s cameo appearance on Broad City

In “2016,” Ilana stumbles upon the HRC headquarters in New York when she picks up a job being a bike messenger. Ilana adores powerful feminist icons, and she holds Hillary Clinton to an almost deity-like stature, so she decides to quit and volunteer for the campaign. At the end of the episode, Hillary Clinton walks into the room to meet the girls, and Abbi and Ilana, for the lack of better words, lose their shit.

After this episode aired, there were speculations as to why Hillary chose this show to cameo on, but it does bring up a point that relates to Broad City’s unique demographic of young, female viewers. Maybe her cameo was to boost her exposure and likability among young voters, but maybe this appearance was a way for the creators to show their support for her campaign in the upcoming election. Besides the speculation, “2016” was a pivotal episode for the show, but it was not entirely intentional.

Many did not see Hillary losing the election, especially Abbi and Ilana, so when the show came back for a fourth season, Abbi’s and Ilana’s characters surprisingly matured from their pasts of being absurd yet optimistic about the future. This maturity and part-of-the-resistance tone is evident throughout the fourth season, especially in the second and eighth episodes. The second episode of Season 4 opens with Abbi and Ilana wearing the pink Women’s March hats as they guide women through protests to the Planned Parenthood clinic. The eighth episode has Ilana seeing a sex therapist because she cannot have sex ever since Trump became president.

Abbi and Ilana escorting women to Planned Parenthood

Ilana going to sex therapy

These examples highlight the hysteria around the 2016 election, and the results have created a polarized atmosphere where the young people are increasingly resisting and opposing the current administration. Therefore, it is key to note that Broad City has taken a step back from their comedic absurdity in order to shed light on the atmosphere of the country after the election, especially for their demographic of millennial viewers. The show as a result has become a beacon for the millennial psyche of resistance, which makes Abbi’s and Ilana’s characters much more relatable, real, and funnier than before.

A Friendship Between Two Broads

Broad City is objectively a unique comedy series, especially under the category of female-centered television shows. The uniqueness of the show stems from a variety of characteristics, but the show’s most defined characteristic is its implementation and representation of gender throughout each episode. Yes, Broad City is centered on the lives of two female millennial city-dwellers, Abbi and Ilana, but the show is much more than that.

Generally, the show includes a wide spread of gender throughout each episode, notably through male side characters as well as gender-fluid characters (RuPaul’s cameo in Season 4). Also, the show intersects gender with many other representational axes such as race, class, and sexual orientation. Ilana’s friend with benefits, Lincoln, is black, and her roommate is a gay Hispanic man named Jaime. Also, Ilana herself does engage sexually with both men and women, so the millennial, open-minded, unbiased representation of characters definitely shines through. Despite all these characteristics, the show does place a predominant focus on the women of the show, specifically the two female leads in Abbi and Ilana. The inclusion of the peripheral characters is mainly to bolster Abbi and Ilana’s story-lines, and the intent of the show is to portray a unique and non-stereotypical female experience.

Cast of Broad City, (left to right), Lincoln, Ilana, Jaime, Abbi

With the premiere episode of Season 4, titled “Sliding Doors,” the viewers are exposed to a more direct development of gender representation, particularly in the basis of female friendships. The opening episode is about the crazy story of how Abbi and Ilana met as young adults in New York. Ilana witnessed Abbi struggling to get into the subway, so she helped Abbi by swiping her in. However, they both missed the train, so they were basically stuck together. Although they met by chance, Abbi and Ilana do not take that for granted, and it was ultimately their decision to develop this new friendship. Television shows usually depict women as competitive or opposites of one another, and female friendships tend to be more one-sided. Broad City shatters this stereotype, however, by blossoming the friendship between Abbi and Ilana in a more authentic way in the Season 4 premiere. Abbi and Ilana recognize each other’s quirks upon first meeting, and they are willing to mutually interact and help each other out. For example, they both enjoy lighting one up from time to time, and their sense of humor plays off each other. This embracing of each other’s personality emulates a sense of relatability with the viewers that is otherwise lacking in other TV shows.

When Abbi and Ilana first met (“Sliding Doors”)

Therefore, the basis of female friendships plays into the representation of gender in Broad City because it helps to portray women in a different light. Without the stereotypes of envy and competitiveness being shown, female friendships like Abbi’s and Ilana’s are strong, embracing, and supportive of each other no matter what, making Broad City a much more refreshing show.  

Movin’ On Up

Broad City’s general brand of humor deals with the relatable yet wacky incidences of daily millennial life, and Abbi and Ilana are perfect portrayals of twenty-somethings trying to get ahead in life. While this brand of comedy accords with the general millennial, season four of Broad City takes a slight turn from wacky to mature. In episode 3 of season 4, titled “Just the Tips,” Abbi’s and Ilana’s characters progress from an innocent, early-20’s mindset to a more mature, late-20’s mindset.

“Just the Tips” reflects the general theme of season 4 in that Abbi and Ilana are not the same wacky, young semi-adults that they once were in earlier seasons. They are maturing into adult women, and they start to attain a sense of stability and maturity that is unlike themselves in earlier seasons. While there still is plenty of craziness that goes on, the protagonists are evidently growing up, and this episode reflects how in real life, people grow up, and they start to make more stable, mature decisions for themselves.

Season 4 of Broad City, spoofing Beyonce’s “Formation” 

In this episode, Ilana is enjoying the fruits of her new high-paying waitress job as she is able to afford daily things that were otherwise luxuries, such as a king-size bed. Abbi, interning at a graphic design firm, is coming to terms with her complicated relationship with Trey, her former boss, and she starts to realize that sex-only flings are not important anymore. While at a party, Abbi and Ilana confront these new lifestyle changes as Abbi is forced to think about her relationship while Ilana is forced to confront Lincoln, her former friends with benefits. Abbi realizes that she needs to invest more time in her well being, and Ilana moves on from the pain of leaving Lincoln as she talks with him face-to-face. Ilana even tells Lincoln that “I[Ilana] am much more mature than when you last saw me.” Both Abbi and Ilana acknowledge what they want, and they start to think for themselves as adults rather than young, innocent millennials. They face their past conflicts head on, and they do not shy away from improving their lives as adults in New York City.

Ilana enjoying her new disposable income

The theme of maturity and growing up in “Just the Tips” relates to the course of Broad City overall because the shift from the earlier seasons to season 4 resembles what happens in real life to most young people. In the earlier seasons, Abbi and Ilana are working dead-end jobs, and they engage in risky endeavors to unsuccessfully better their lives. However, in season 4, Abbi and Ilana are working at stable, worthwhile jobs, and they feel much more content. While there is still plenty of absurdity, Abbi and Ilana are clearly maturing into better versions of themselves. In the end, Broad City takes a more progressing turn as Abbi and Ilana “move on up” in their respective lives.

Ilana and Abbi leaving the party in “Just the Tips”

Writing about Writing

The writing in Broad City is always very strong and funny. Particularly, in season 3, episode 7, the writing simultaneously explores two directions for a night ending that are completely different as Abbi and Ilana leave the club without each other. Abbi goes through an epic and eventful night that she is not proud of. Meanwhile, Illana sleeps with Blake Griffin and has a night that is more comical as Griffin is shown to be the perfect person. The writing is impressive as the viewer feels for Abbi who was robbed and laughs as Griffin and Ilana interact in over the top ways. Few shows have writing that can elicit more than one emotion effectively. The Ilana and Griffin storyline seems to have come straight from a Female writer’s fantasy. There interactions begin with both bringing up that they need to stretch before physical exercises which they both decide is getting undressed. Griffin undresses, censored to the audience, and Ilana laughs for a very tense time as Griffin crosses his arm. Later revealed to the audience that Griffin is too big, the two get creative with yoga and other clearly non-sexual activities til both climax. Their pillow talk includes Griffin talking about how women’s basketball is better than men’s and saying that women make everything better. As good as the scene is, an individual writing that amuses me more.
As always the show makes multiple callbacks near the end of the episode, similar to the function of a callback in stand-up comedy, it reminds you of how smart the writers are. As impressive as they are funny, it reminds you all the places the episode took you and that you accepted that two regular people went on a ridiculous journey often spanning large areas of New York.
The writers articulate the purest forms of comedy in their writing for Hannibal Buress as Lincoln, a dentist with a mind that scopes and works like no other. There is not a scene he is in that does not bring me to laughter.

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Here is Blake Griffin swaddling Ilana Glaser because his member is too big for traditional goings on.

All In One Take

After watching the first season of Broad City, the episode that stands out the most for me in terms of its visual design is the eighth episode of season 1, titled “Destination: Wedding.” Right from the beginning, the episode opens with a long sequence of Abbi, Ilana, and some friends frantically running in formal wear down a New York street, late for Abbi’s friend’s wedding in Bridgeport, CT. The opening scene continues in one uninterrupted take, and the camera frames Abbi’s and Ilana’s exhausted faces with the skyscrapers of the city. Broad City usually employs long scenes in each episode because the scene flows more naturally, so the opening scene naturally sets the storyline, and we are drawn in with curiosity to see if the group will reach their destination. It is like we as the viewers are running alongside Abbi and Ilana, making the situation more personal even if we are not physically with them.

Opening scene of “Destination: Wedding”

Another example of these natural long takes occurs within the same episode when Abbi and Ilana board a sketchy bus to Bridgeport. Although Abbi is initially relieved to be on the bus, her relief fades as she observes sick passengers, live animals on the loose, and a tank of frozen fish. The camera takes the place of Abbi’s eyes as the viewer sees the monstrosities on the bus. This perspective camera movement is used in this episode because it elevates the comedy of Abbi’s disbelief without the necessity for dialogue. Instead of hearing Abbi bicker, we as viewers can see what she sees, and subsequently understand her disgust for being on the bus. Therefore, the inclusion of long takes in Broad City, especially in episode 8, helps to make a more natural, flowing, and comfortable scene where the viewers can easily recognize the humor and emotions of Abbi’s and Ilana’s characters.

While Broad City utilizes long, uninterrupted scenes to elevate its humor, the show also uses light to solidify the realistic nature of their situation. In episode 8, the opening scene and the bus scene are normally lit with daylight, implying a passage of time as well as a tone of familiarity with the situation. Abbi and Ilana are late to a friend’s wedding, a very relatable situation to most young people. Also, the color scheme of the show does not pop with certain colors to signify a certain mood. The colors of each scene are relatively neutral, even Abbi’s and Ilana’s dresses in episode 8, because the show is trying to make the lives of these women mimic reality, along with added humor and craziness.

Overall, Broad City has a visual design that plays into the understated yet wacky comedic situations of its two protagonists, Abbi Abrams and Ilana Wexler. Whether they are late for a wedding or having a seriously improvised conversation, the cinematography and direction of each scene exude the natural, realistic atmosphere of these two women’s lives. 

Broad City title card

A Broad Gender Overview in Broad City

Broad City is unique in that female representation exists at the forefront of each episode in Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, but there often are more male characters in any given episode. The male characters tend to provide obstacles or annoyance like Bevers or comedic relief in a show that is mostly comedy, Lincoln. Abbi and Ilana’s characters often have to work around the stubborn and problematic male characters, yet they still have a high degree of agency. Characters like Lincoln, Ilana’s friend with benefits, are strung along at the whims of whatever Ilana is pursuing. At one point Ilana says that they had been together five months; Lincoln corrects her that has been eighteen months. Lincoln, played by Hannibal Buress, is the only character in the show with such little agency, and he is the most prominent male character.
Gender is often connected to the class of the characters. Abbi and Ilana struggle to fund all of their escapades, and in one episode they clean a strange man’s house in their underwear to fund their Lil Wayne concert dreams. The man is shown to be creepy, but Ilana still has much of the agency and desire to do so as she had advertised her and Abbi online. Abbi usually has her agency limited for comedic effects: her dead end job, following Ilana’s impulsive lead, and living in an apartment with her roommate’s boyfriend that she hates. Still, there are moments where she has agency such as when she fakes needing to get AIDS test results to get off work.
Race has little influence on the show as Ilana’s boyfriend and her roommate both are successful dentists and drug dealers respectively despite being minority males. Ilana’s character is the primary queer character, and it is never shown to impede her or slow her down. It more often comes up as she tries to get Abbi to do small vaguely sexual things. And while the bosses on the show are male, they have little role in keeping Ilana and Abbi from cutting work, so the show appears to represent gender and other representational axes in a very fair and often funny way.

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Here is an example of Lincoln being held at the whims of whatever Ilana wants to do.

 

The Will Marchant Story: Abridged and Stuff

I’m Will Marchant, and I am a public policy major that will graduate in 2022. English courses tended to be my favorite classes in high school, and this is my first and sadly last English class at Georgia Tech. I imagine my ideal minor would be english or screenwriting related. My favorite form of communication is that of the individual or small group conversation. Currently, I am paid to speak with voters about a political candidate, and a good conversation with a voter makes my day. Similarly, making a few people laugh will do the same. When the group is larger however, I become nervous, especially when I am directly addressing a crowd or class. That is something I must improve with.
I imagine I have watched more TV than most of the class. This is not bragging. Trust me. This is not bragging. Atlanta, Ballers, Master of None, Opposite Sex, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Fleabag, House Hunters, Chopped, House of Cards, The West Wing, Veep, Silicon Valley, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Queer Eye, Ugly Delicious, F is for Family, Bojack Horseman, The Good Place, Big Mouth, Ozark, Last Chance U, Unbreakable with Kimmy Schmidt, The Office, Parks and Rec, Arrested Development, Workaholics, The IT Crowd, Mad Men, Luther, and anything with Anthony Bourdain all come to mind as shows I love. I notice some trends in what I have watched. Serious shows, unless they are really good, tend to not hold me in. There is no way I am going to watch another crime show, but I loved Luther. I love funny TV shows with smart writing, and I also like Stand Up which is on TV sometimes and meets the funny and smart writing criteria. I also do not know many people who have seen many of those, so if anyone wants to talk after class about any of them, I’d love digging up my thoughts on all of those shows. I also watched shows like 30 Rock and Red Dwarf when I was young, and those shows might have been the ones that turned me onto valuing funny people and funny shows as much as I do. I cannot laugh at plays or musicals, and I feel like enjoying such pure comedy so early could be blamed.
I have chosen to review Broad City because I have seen a few episodes, but I know it is meant to be better watched in order because of its clever writing. It stars some of the funniest people in TV as they play regular dysfunctional friends in NYC, which does not sound original but somehow is.

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This is Abbi Jacobson and Llana Glazer from the show Broad City.

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