The Comedy Channel series Broad City originated as a web series created by co-stars Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. Similarly to many television series that have recently experienced success, Broad City follows two female best friends in their twenties living in New York City. However, it differs to series like Girls by seeking out a niche audience and tapping into their online` viewing habits, therefore enjoying an extent of freedom in content. Broad City transgresses notions of gender in a number of ways, with its portrayal of women’s drug consumption (particularly cannabis) standing out as one of the most explorative directions.
This is not to imply that television doesn’t attempt to portray women smoking cannabis. The token bleary eyed, giggly girlfriend is a staple novelty character in a number of comedies. For example, in the sitcom That 70s Show the guys’ girlfriends are often included in the basement smoking circle- but in this circle is the only time they are seen smoking. Unlike the male characters, they don’t seem to smoke of their own accord, and only when they are in the company of their boyfriends.
Broad City represents the near opposite of this. In the episode ‘Pussy Weed’, Abbi decides to stop depending on her friend for marijuana and to start buying it for herself. This decision is sparked by Abbi’s realisation that her best friend, Ilana keeps weed in her vagina- or how she likes to call it, ‘vahina’, and ensues a comical pursuit of finding someone to purchase cannabis from as a way to become more adult and responsible. Cue scenes of Abbi rolling on the floor in a doctor’s office and setting off the fire alarm of a dentist’s bathroom from (not so inconspicuously) smoking a joint. The two women aren’t in their underwear, puffing on a joint in a sexy yet seductively innocent way. They are smoking marijuana of their own accord because they enjoy, in the same way and in the same environments that men are so commonly represented in.
In another episode, ‘In Heat’, the two best friends are on a pursuit to find an air conditioner, which somehow results in them getting stoned with a bunch of (male) college freshman in Ilana’s old dorm room. Though contrary to stereotype and common representation, the two women are the instigators of the activity and encourage the younger men to participate. A completely different reaction comes from the (female) instigators of this activity compared to if they were male. It is not uncommon to watch elder male characters on television hit on and provide drugs to younger women. Yet when women are depicted doing the same thing (if not in a more innocent respect) it is seen as unusual.
Broad City is rapidly gaining popularity not only because it is now being broadcast on the Comedy Channel, but because its appealing to an audience that has usually been unsatisfied with common representations of women in television. The women in Broad City are unfiltered, any not hesitant to break stereotype.
Visual Material Used:
JackieHydeCircle, n.d. photograph, viewed 12th August 2015,
<http://www.fanforum.com/f88/why-you-should-ship-62802139/>.
Broad City- Underage Bongs, video, Comedy Central, 15th January 2015, viewed 12th August 2015,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtdK_GYpzPk>.
