“Dear Congress, It’s Leslie again.”
Leslie Knope set herself apart
as a subtly revolutionary role model for women
“I win, we move in there.
I'll take the West Wing.
You take the East Wing.
You can be the first gentleman.”
Back in 2009, when Parks and Recreation started airing,
Leslie didn’t fall into one of the already established categories
for strong female characters on TV.
She was hard-working and successful without being cold or cutthroat,
endearingly quirky without being an eccentric oddball
a believer in female friendships and girly activities
without being a princess or a romance junkie.
In a nutshell, Leslie was a woman, written for real women.
She demonstrated how to turn traditionally feminine strengths --
like caring about things, paying attention to details,
putting relationships first and empowering other women --
into sources of power in the workplace and the world.
“If I seem too passionate, it's because I care.
If I come on strong, it's because I feel strongly.”
Over 7 seasons,
Leslie showed us what being a woman’s woman really means.
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“I-I-I guess some people object to powerful depictions of awesome ladies.”
It may be hard to remember now, but season one of Parks and Rec
had a very different feel than the rest of the series --
especially when it came to Leslie’s character.
“Let’s get started.”
[Loud bang]
“Ow” “Oh, I’m sorry.
Metal.”
She was a kind of oblivious Michael Scott type,
“Tom Haverford, boy genius.
Smooth like milk chocolate.”
“Pam Beasley.
Office hottie.”
who wasn’t well-liked or respected by her co-workers.
“From time to time when I think of an eloquent saying or a phrase,
I have Tom write it down.
He’s collecting them for my memoirs.”
“Here’s Leslie’s quote from Wednesday.”
She was less aspirational figure, and more of a punchline.
“I like your hairdo Leslie,” “Thank you Ron.”
“It’s just like my brother’s, he’s an officer in the Air Force.”
But it was never the show runners’ intention
to present Leslie as someone whom we shouldn’t take seriously.
So after they realized this is how she was coming across,
they started to frame her character differently,
Show creator Mike Schur has said that he didn’t change Leslie’s personality
so much as how other characters reacted to her.
Leslie remained just as dorky and excitable
from Season 1 to Season 2.
But because Leslie’s dorkiness
started to be treated with more affection,
we went from looking down on her for her over the top enthusiasm and intensity,
to admiring her for those same qualities.
“That was…
Kirk Gibson hobbling up to the plate
and hitting a homer off of Dennis Eckersley.
That was... [long pause]
that was Leslie Knope.
[surprised]”
Schur says that ultimately Leslie
“evolved into a character for whom there was no difference
in her private and public thoughts, motives, or feelings”
This is a big part of why the people around her
and the people watching came to be in awe of Leslie.
“If everyone in government were like you, then I would probably still work there.”
Essentially, she’s a really authentic person who puts it all out there --
she lives according to the principles she believes in.
“We need to remember what's important in life.
Friends, waffles, and work.
Or waffles, friends, work.
It doesn't matter.
But work is third.”
Meanwhile, her personal life also evolved.
“When Greg Daniels and I were originally conceiving the show,
one of the titles that we thought of for the show
was ‘The Education of Leslie Knope,’
and the idea was you would follow both her career education
and what she learned and how she got better at her job,
and then also her personal growth as a human.”
One of the first things we learn about Leslie
is that she’s hopelessly infatuated with Mark,
a guy she slept with once years before
“When you work closely with someone and you share similar interests
and you have a similar world view and you're passionate about the same things,
things can happen….”
“Leslie?
No… [long pause]
Oh my god… you know what?
Yeah we did, like five years ago…”
Her obliviousness when it comes to Mark’s lack of interest
seems like a set-up we’ve seen before,
that turns the obsessive woman into a joke.
“Oh!”
“You lied about being pregnant?”
“Right.
So?”
“You really don’t understand how that might make me kind of angry.”
“No.”
“We’re never getting back together.”
“[whining] Why not?!”
But after starting off fixated on a man
who’s just not that into her hardly knows she exists,
Leslie eventually ends up in a loving relationship
with someone who’s crazy about her
because of what makes her strong and unique.
“I’m in love with a woman from here.
A strange, passionate goodwill of a woman.”
Part of what attracts Ben to her
is seeing how committed and hardworking she is.
He willingly makes sacrifices for her career
because he cares about the impact she’s making on the world.
“Indiana native, supremely qualified,
and she wrote that she wanted to be governor
in her kindergarten dream journal.
Just makes sense.”
So Ben shows us what it really means to be a partner to a strong woman --
that’s it’s not about paying lip service,
but actively supporting them so they can what they want.
“Your victory speech, councilwoman Knope.”
“Someday,
when I’m more emotionally stable,
I want to read the concession speech you wrote for me.”
“I never wrote it.”
It’s interesting that improving Leslie’s romantic life
was so key to making us, the viewers,
respect her more,
but really this followed from the character’s internal changes --
the writing began to made her more grounded and aware.
And it’s telling that once Leslie became
more of a lovable heroine and a fearless leader,
the show also resonated more with viewers.
Clearly, what we really wanted to see,
was a woman who made it cool to be quirky and to care deeply about things,
one who wasn’t written off as merely a joke.
“I am big enough to admit that I am often inspired by myself.”
Leslie’s a working woman
who doesn’t cut herself off from her femininity.
Instead, she relies on traditionally feminine characteristics
and shows that they are extremely helpful in the workplace.
“The yearly budget and planning proposal for a city
is called the master plan.
[deep inhale]
[quick and excitedly] Isn’t that just so awesome you can’t stand it?
”
Leslie has ambition,
which is usually seen as a masculine characteristic.
“I'm gonna work until I'm 100 and then cut back to four days a week.
Oh, God.
I'm already so bored thinking about that one day off.”
But she embodies ambition in her own way --
by incorporating traditionally feminine qualities
like inclusivity,
working really hard without seeking credit,
and prioritizing relationships.
She doesn’t have a “go it alone” mentality --
“No one achieves anything alone.”
she actively mentors April, even against April’s will.
“I am so proud of you.
Now stand next to the screen
and think about all the strong female role models in your life.”
She includes the whole parks team in her passion projects
for their own good.
And her goal is always to help others, not just to achieve status.
“She’s kind of part girl scout, part pioneer...
she’s got a very suffragette spirit I think,
but zero game.”
But her dedication to her friendships
pays off in her professional life.
She wins the city council race against Bobby Newport in season four,
because while he has money and influence on his side,
these things can’t compete with the work Leslie’s friends put in for her.
“Ron, for the last six months, my friends have worked so hard.
Every five-minute coffee break at work, every night, every weekend,
every spare moment of their lives, they gave to me.”
Her earnestness and positivity -- two attributes more commonly
associated more with women --
keep her going when her job seems thankless.
“What I hear when I’m being yelled at is people caring really loudly at me.”
Parks and Rec gives us a heightened satire of our country’s general attitude toward
government.
“You know, when I first tell people that I work in the government,
they say, ‘Oh, the government.
The government stinks.’”
“I lost my optimism about government in two months.”
“I don’t really care for politics.”
“The government in a greedy piglet that suckles on a Taxpayer’s teet
Till they have sore, chapped nipples.”
Come to think of it,
this isn’t a political landscape we find *so* unfamiliar.
So the thoroughness and good intentions Leslie brings to politics
are really refreshing.
“Leslie Knope gets as many favors as she needs.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Because she's the kind of a person who uses favors to help other people.”
Leslie respects those she doesn’t agree with.
She and her boss, Ron, have totally opposing political views.
“I don't want this parks department to build any parks,
because I don't believe in government.
I think that all government is a waste of taxpayer money.”
But in spite of this,
they’re able to love each other as friends
“You’re a wonderful person.
Your friendship means a lot to me…”
and this is really impressive in today’s world,
where it often seems impossible to connect with people
on the other side of the aisle from us.
Leslie’s also defined by her attention to detail,
another trait commonly thought of as female.
“I’ve spent the last few months brainstorming, and I have some really great ideas,
that I’ve put in my idea binders.
I mean they’re color-coded for godssa-“
[interrupting] “Okay.”
Leslie’s invested in things
that other’s consider too small for their time
“We thought of the show as the comedy version of The West Wing,
where The West Wing was about the big, gigantic international crises,
and we thought the comedy version of that would be on a very small, local level,
in a small town, in a small department in that town.”
Nothing is too unimportant for Leslie, nothing is beneath her.
“I have time to spare!
I’m also volunteering at ‘Wheels for Meals on Wheels.’
We repair vans for Meals on Wheels.”
Meanwhile, our real-life politics
is too often not about solving the concrete problems in our lives
but all about the big flashy spectacle of the national stage.
Leslie brings as much energy to the seemingly insignificant tasks,
like fixing a swing.
“Well, there you have it, sir.
Another problem solved
by the hard work of dedicated public servants.”
As she does to major milestones in her career.
Because although she does have big aspirations,
she always feels like every small piece of what she’s doing
is meaningful.
And has to be done right.
Later she does start achieving at a much higher level.
The series finale led some fans to believe she eventually becomes president.
“And soon, a new, unknown challenge awaits me.
Which, to me, even now, is thrilling.”
And what makes this inspiring is that we know she hasn’t taken any shortcuts.
As a result, she skyrocketed from a humble starting point
where nobody ever expected anything great of her.
“I'm barely 34,
and I've already landed a Parks Department exploratory subcommittee.
I'm a rocket ship!”
So the lesson women can take from watching Leslie
is that we don’t have to play down our womanly traits,
or try to act more like a man to do well in our careers --
we should own our true qualities and make them our superpowers.
“April came to me with the idea to build a dog park in Pawnee.
I recognized her potential a long time ago
and she’s finally living up to it.
I mean, I am so proud of her I could cry.
And… [crying] here we go.”
Leslie embraces a feel-good feminism that’s bubbly and infectious.
“I'm a feminist, okay?
I would never, ever
go to a strip club.
I've gone on record that if I had to have a stripper's name,
it would be ‘Equality,’”
She’s a total fangirl when it comes to powerful women in government.
“Here is my wall of inspirational women.”
“Aaah.”
And her dedication to supporting other women
is a real source of joy and strength for her.
She even invents “Galentine’s Day” to turn this appreciation into a holiday
“Every February 13th, my lady friends and I
leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home
and we just come and kick it breakfast style.”
But really she celebrates female friendship every day of the year…
“You know my code -- hoes before bros,
uteruses before dudereses, ovaries before brovaries.”
Especially when it comes to her BFF, Ann.
Parks and Rec was actually devised as the story of Ann and Leslie’s friendship.
Ann is basically Leslie’s soulmate.
“Are you two a couple?”
“No, tragically we are both heterosexual.”
And no man can ever come between the two of them.
Leslie even gives Ann her blessing to date Mark.
“I think you should go on that date with Mark.”
And in the end, that relationship doesn’t last,
but Leslie and Ann are forever.
“Oh!
Ann’s here!
Ann.
[aggressively yelling] Ann is here!!”
And in addition to her positive relationships with other women,
Leslie surrounds herself with male allies
who actually care about women’s empowerment.
“I don’t consider myself an anything-ist.
But my life has been shaped by powerful women.”
So, overall, what does Leslie teach us about being a woman’s woman?
She inspires us to work steadily and and believe in ourselves
and our bright futures.
She encourages the nerdiness and earnestness inside us all.
“Oh my god…I’m feeling it.
I’m going to breakdance.
Wooooooooo- Heeeeeeyyyy!”
She teaches us that to succeed, you don’t have to harden yourself,
or throw anyone under the bus...
In fact, you can be the warmest,
most exuberantly loving person in the room.
“That promise- launched a friendship so grand
it takes 103 scrapbooks to capture it.”
She reminds us to value the other women in our lives.
And most of all she’s proof that living as your most authentic
self
is the secret to it all.
“I am a godess.
A glorious female warrior.”
This is Soledad O’Brian.
Soledad is an award winning journalist and news anchor,
who currently hosts the show, Matter of Fact.
And, she teaches a class on storytelling strategies
on Skillshare.
“The key is to try remember to try to tease-out someone’s humanity.
Not to put them in a box and go
‘This person’s good.
This person’s bad.’
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