No, it’s not Just so we Have Permission to Fart…
‘I am essentially a middle-aged woman who likes making up weird snack combinations and galloping…’ And that is why we LOVE Miranda Hart. For here we have a lady – a true Glass House Girl – who puts food and fun first. Even before looks, even before men, even before conforming to society’s airbrushed ideal of a female; giving all of us girls permission to be who we really are. Yes, as role models go, Miranda is up there with the best of them. In fact there are so many amazing things this unassuming, comical Devonshire lass has done for us British girls (and boys), that I just had to write a blog to celebrate as many of them as possible.
Miranda makes the cringeworthy worthy
Now we are slightly more able to get away with adjusting our knickers in public. And why in the heck not? There’s nothing more uncomfortable than feigning comfort when your pants aren’t behaving… Getting our clothes trapped in car doors no longer leaves us looking quite as red as a beetroot as it would have. And now we can belch, burp and fart in front of our men and feel like equals. Yes, they will still tell us we are being ‘un-ladylike’ but if Miranda can do it, so can we. Because if our men; our sons, dads and brothers are allowed to do it (against the backdrop of a mild snigger), then why shouldn’t the female of the species without the dramatic jaw-dropping shock and horror? I am not saying it is the most pleasant of things to witness a human being pass wind… from either end, but like men, women too have to find a way to free themselves of excess gas eventually. Even the Queen! Miranda Hart breaks that taboo.
‘The embarrassment of a situation can, once you are over it, be the funniest time in your life. And I suppose a lot of my comedy comes from painful moments or experiences in life, and you just flip them on their head.’
Miranda gives us carte blanche to ‘food shovel’
And we have all felt that impossible uncontrollable urge to do that in a social context when a bowl of crisps or a box of chocolates is staring at us, teasing us, willing us at the table to dig in. Miranda’s child-like behaviour is pure liberation. She simply does what her female posse secretly wants to do, but would never in a million years dare to do. And that is one strong woman; a woman who doesn’t give a monkeys as to anybody else’s perception of her!
Miranda works with her best friend
How cool would that be! Haven’t we all talked and dreamed about that as kids? I know not so many moons ago that would have been my idea of a dream job – running a shop selling weird and wonderful paraphernalia with my Bestie, hiding from customers, playing tricks on customers, flirting with customers, closing the shop on a whim, belting out M People songs…
Miranda can turn to the camera for ‘HELP’
Wouldn’t you just love to have that kind of ally wandering around with you in everyday life? Of course, being Miss Pollyanna, I will tell you that you do… it’s called The Universe! But seeing Miranda doing this is in action is so much fun. It’s the body language, the eyes, the ‘what-the-hell-is-going-on-please-jump-into-the-telly-and-help-me stare!’ It just cracks me up every time. And we can relate to this in so many social situations. Like when we find ourselves in a room full of people who are totally not on our wavelength, when we are being chatted up by a guy who nowhere near floats our boat and he just won’t get the message, and when we are being hugged by someone who ‘hasn’t seen us in years… how are we doing?‘ but we cannot remember who on earth they are…
Miranda takes the mickey out of her mum and gets away with it
If we’re honest, there are times when we would all love to be able to do that! Sure, she gives as good as she gets and her mum douses her in critique too, but in itself, the fact that she can be blatantly honest to her mother about her stiff shirt collar making her look like a vampire, or her twinset and pearls having giving her an air of mutton dressed as lamb, is quite refreshing! I am stepping out of my character to say so, I know. But I think Miranda is something of a spiritual teacher to her mother, reflecting back all of her mother’s fears about the way the world could view her if she let down her guard for a second and didn’t appear as the uber ‘polished’ version of herself. And when all is said and done, they are a double act; the episode when they are sent in tandem to visit the psychiatrist being a classic case of Girl Power and mother and daughter camaraderie. Plus, what a cool mum it is who invites her daughter and her friends around for Christmas lunch and fires up the grand piano for a jolly singsong…
Miranda (the real Miranda) wrote the sitcom ‘Miranda’ herself
That’s what I call taking inspired action; a Wait! What? moment in the true sense of the word. Her reasoning, not that she needed one – if we want to write a sitcom, we should write a sitcom – was that nobody else would cast her as lead, so if she wanted that to happen, she’d have to pen the thing herself. I don’t think anybody could have done a better job!
Miranda (the real Miranda) is in a ‘What I Call’ movie with…
Jude Law. Yes, Jude Law! Spy recently premiered to rave reviews and to date has grossed over $95 million! Not bad for a girl who describes her childhood appearance like this: ‘…1970s hand-me-down… beige, brown and orange dungarees. That, combined with a perfectly round pudding-bowl haircut, made me look, on a good day, like a cross between Ann Widdecombe, one of the Flower Pot Men, and a monk.’
Miranda, you are magic! And from one Glass House Girl to another (although I am sure Lady Lolita and The Duchess would agree), thank you for the way you have brightened up our world… and keep doing what you are doing.
Share your favourite magic Miranda moments with me! Have you found yourself adopting any weird and wonderful Miranda-isms… other than fancying Gary…? And can you think of any other reasons why we want to be Miranda Hart?
