It is impossible to analyze a good television character without referring to its scaffolding, its structure, that is, the script and the interpreter. Or maybe you can, but only when the character is so good that it makes everything else invisible. We then think that the actress or actor is like that in real life -impossible for her to speak or move in any other way- and we also believe that the words that come out of her mouth -so convincing, so natural, so agile- cannot have been written.
When it happens, that fusion between text and body can give rise to an icon and the list of the best characters of the 21st century is full of them. Midge Maisel, ‘The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’, with her snappy talkativeness, her spotless outfits and her poignant sense of humor is one of them. To understand why, two other proper names must be highlighted.
The first is that of Amy Sherman-Palladino, the director, producer and screenwriter of the series that is doubly represented on this list through another of her creations, Lorelai Gilmore, from ‘Gilmore Girls’. Midge and Lorelai share quite a few personality traits and one of them is dialectical speed: if normally the scripts for a television series with 60-minute episodes have between 50 and 55 pages per episode, those of ‘The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’ have reached to reach 90.
Yes, Midge Maisel talks a lot and she talks very fast but what she says is very funny. So daring: a woman who makes jokes in a man’s world and who inspires us and gives us lessons from the New York of the 50s. She could have remained a stereotype, in fact she ticks all the boxes of the classic JAP (‘ Jewish American Princess’), the ‘Jewish American princess’ who has grown up surrounded by privilege.
many facets
But no, Miriam is many things (ex-wife and lover, ex-housewife, comedian, mother, friend…) and she is so in many ways and all of them are compatible: sometimes posh and frivolous, other times foul-mouthed; she is also romantic and affectionate and, of course, always well dressed. A woman who wants to show the world that she, in addition to being pretty, is fun. Perhaps that is why her jokes break the mold in her time and in ours:
«Men in general believe that they are the only ones who can use comedy to cover the holes in their souls. They go around repeating to everyone that women are not funny. Only men are funny. Comedy feeds on oppression, powerlessness, sadness and disappointment, abandonment and humiliation. Doesn’t all that describe a woman? With these premises, all women should be graceful.
Midge Maisel is also a character that we see grow, with a dramatic arc, and that is why the last season, the final one, has left such a good taste in our mouths. In the series pilot, Midge was onstage for the first time and, almost out of necessity, delivered a monologue about his failed marriage. In the last chapter, he was back in front of the microphone but already in a television studio. Thus, after a few disappointments and failed attempts, she was enshrined as the ‘wonderful’ Mrs. Maisel that deep down she had always been, but she had yet to be recognized by others.
The actress Rachel Brosnahan, the other proper name that goes hand in hand with Migde, has also undergone her own transformation. Her career was not tied to comedy (we saw her in ‘House of Cards’), so in that pilot she also had to do her first monologue and start to believe that she could be a funny actress. Six years later, her control of ‘timing’ and gestural humor is absolute.
Now Brosnahan, who has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for this role, has another challenge ahead of him: the only downside to playing a memorable character is getting it out of the way before the next project. And it is that it will be very difficult for us to forget Miriam Maisel.
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