On Amy Schumer’s Satirical, It’s-Not-Our-Fault Feminism

Molly Lambert wrote a spot-on piece at Grantland about Inside Amy Schumer (right up there with Broad City for me in terms of Gifts From Heaven) and the tricky, sometimes risky precision required to simultaneously embrace and skewer the self-esteem hall of mirrors that Schumer often takes on. For example, this season’s opener:

As with lots of Schumer’s sketches, the end of it is the necessary and perfect thing; as in the sketch Emma posted awhile back, the intent is to simultaneously max out interpellation, love and something well short of hate. Lambert writes:

She treasures each morsel of validation, often in the form of dubiously backhanded compliments from douche-bag male suitors. She greets every sad crumb of acceptance as a gift from the heavens, a winningly clueless declaration of her worth. No matter how pathetic she is, she never thinks of herself that way. Her cockeyed optimism protects her from reality. She might just make it after all.

The way she treats other women in the show is just as interesting: you’re a shallow baby-talking asshole who should probably have her head blown off and I love you and it’s not your fault or mine either; the world has made us this way, give me some of that eyeliner, bitch. This is a recognizable girls-bathroom type of feminism to me and yet, as noted here, it’s pretty rare on television: “Schumer has a persona that is instantly recognizable, which makes you wonder why you’ve barely ever seen it onscreen before,” says Lambert, and I agree; here’s to more of this Schumer business. [Grantland]