Tina Fey never ceases to amaze me on how vulnerable she’s willing to be. In 30 Rock, she was the lovable but sometimes, unlikeable crumugeon. Her character went through seasons of being under appreciated in her career, exhausted, and kind of unhinged, resulting hilarious, yet slightly neurotic behavior.
In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, she played a similar character; a woman who finally said “I’ve had enough of this shit” in terms of her professional and personal life. Despite the fact she was in her 40s, and didn’t have experience in any kind of combat zone, she picked up and went to Afghanistan to cover the war, leaving behind a seemingly stable job and a serious relationship.
Which is why in Foxtrot, like I was occasionally with 30 Rock, I was so discouraged when they gave her a love interest. I was always able to at least understand why in 30 Rock, Liz Lemon needed to date the Dennises, the Floyds, and the Carols. I get why Don Draper needed to come on for a few episodes and show us how hilarious it is when hot guys are dumb – because they never had to be smart! Get it?!
Trust me, I got it.
But in Foxtrot, a film about a woman who faced such an intimidating – and let’s face it – scary, unknown terrain of war, and sexism and fear, why ANYONE thought Tina Fey’s character needed a love interest.
Even if that love interest was a very sexy Martin Freeman.
I.don’t.get.it.
When I first started watching Foxtrot, I was entranced by it.
“What’s that? What’s she doing?” I asked myself, furiously googling Kim Barker. “Can I do that, too?”
The woman was literally going to a war zone.
When I researched Kim Barker (referred to as Kim Baker in the film), I found that when it came to her career, the film didn’t stray too far from the truth. Kim Barker spent five years in the Middle East, way beyond what was expected of her. Kim Barker was an untrained, inexperienced journalist when it came to this specific brand of journalism. Kim Barker was a woman who looked at a heartbreaking, but very cold truth, and chose not to look away.
This woman is a fierce, brave individual that brought light to a forgotten war. She found herself in an unexpected place, both geographically and personally, and used her own intelligence and perserverence to find her way through it.
So again… why did her character need a love interest?
The film didn’t do well in terms of box office numbers, and a lot of media outlets blamed Fey. Which is ridiculous, because besides leading the film, Fey was also very much behind the decision to even make this a movie. She discovered Foxtrot, which was based of Barker’s novel, “The Taliban Shuffle”. She bought the rights to it – from you know, her own production studio.
But still, in a somewhat scathing article in The Wrap, a critic goes as far to say: “Tina Fey was outside her wheelhouse.”
I’m sorry, but… what?
I have loved Fey for so long. She’s a hard-working, kick-ass woman who has paved the way for creative, yet awkward young women and personally, has helped me embrace my own saltiness. As stated in Foxtrot, she “embraces the suck”. She embraces the suck that comes with being a woman, she embraces the suck that comes being overworked and under appreciated. She embraces the weight of the shittiness that is occasionally just life.
In this case, she embraced the suck of her character needing a love interest.
Tina Fey doesn’t need to be blamed for this movie. Tina Fey IS this movie. Tina Fey is the long, witty love letter to mothers, daughters and sisters who have wondered if their eccentricities and stubborness could serve them any possible use.
YES. They can. They can bring you anywhere – to a war zone, to a newsroom, but God, please for once, not into the muscular arms of some Scottish guy.
We’ve had enough of that.
Well, I haven’t — but other people. Other people have. Fucking enough of this.