Leslie Knope, Heroine
On last night's episode of Parks & Recreation, something pretty exciting happened: Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) got to meet the man of her dreams: Joe Biden.
Though she's engaged and he's married and there's no reason to distrust either Leslie's or Joe's capacity for fidelity, it's probably a good thing this summit didn't take place a couple of weeks ago; if Leslie had stood in the presence of her hero before Ben (Adam Scott) proposed, she might have chosen to wait out the Bidens' marriage rather than potentially lock herself in with a man who, while okay, is no Joe Biden.
It was a wonderful moment -- not least because Biden is kind of a great comic performer! -- but because we know Leslie so well; we know what this means to her. Leslie has evolved considerably since the show's first season, fortunately; it would have been hard to root for that socially awkward wonk for very long. But by the time the second season arrived, Leslie changed, for the better.
While Leslie is still definitely a workaholic and, fundamentally, a dork, the show's producers (including Poehler herself, no doubt) have brought her more in line with the kinds of characters Poehler had played as a sketch performer, particularly on Saturday Night Live. Leslie's developed a streak of unearned confidence that causes her to get caught in traps she heedlessly sets for herself (trying to impress someone with an elegant dinner party even though she's hoarded her house past usefulness, for example), and we get emotionally invested, growing nervous about how she will triumph -- which she nearly always does, even if not in the way she would have predicted. Leslie is like a grown-up Kaitlin: her childlike enthusiasm is matched by her propensity to childlike rage. In defiance of the simple-minded notions screenwriters sometimes have about what a "strong woman" is (humorless, invulnerable), Poehler fearlessly plays Leslie as someone who can be a jerk sometimes, much as she was to April (Aubrey Plaza) last night. Leslie isn't perfect, but her imperfections are what make her real.
What I may love most about Leslie is that she is explicitly a feminist. There are lots of characters on TV who clearly are feminists but won't use the word, but Leslie does, proudly and frequently. Even more awesomely, the show has shown us that feminists can like men and that men can be fulfilled and happy in relationships with them; the reason I bawled at Ben giving Leslie that "Vote Knope" button was because he loved her enough to put her career fulfillment ahead of his own, and that almost never happens in pop culture. (When Coach did it for Mrs. Coach in the series finale of Friday Night Lights, I lost it all over again.) Poehler is a committed feminist, and produces a brilliant website called Smart Girls At The Party to encourage feminist values and ideals in the next generation of young women and for this she is not celebrated nearly enough. Poehler deserves a huge amount of credit for what I believe is her part in reshaping Leslie as a TV feminist who isn't a sour-faced, man-hating cliché.
Leslie is also a weekly reminder of the power of government and the meaningful work it can do. When Biden thanks Leslie for her commitment to public service, I actually find it moving: the last election cycle was such a discouraging bunch of bullshit denigrating the idea that government should serve people and help bring opportunity to all citizens that Parks & Recreation is actually kind of sneakily subversive for presenting the opposite side of the argument every week. Granted, most of Leslie's plans go awry, and dealing with the public stinks, but Leslie is almost never made to look foolish for her idealism. Instead, she's inspiring.
Most importantly, though, Leslie is a hilarious goof. May that never change.