Lena Dunham Accidentally Interviews Herself, Instead Of Mindy Kaling
Gretchen Weiners interviewed Karen Smith for Regina George's latest Burn Book, and the result is just as cloying and unreadable as you might think. Rolling Stone shares an exclusive interview between BFFs/human centipedes Lena Dunham and Mindy Kaling, for Tavi Gevinson's Rookie Yearbook Two, a hard-copy offshoot of her teenage lifestyle website, Rookie.
Dunham, who was tasked with interviewing Kaling, spends much of the interview talking about herself, because why wouldn't you, when no one asked to interview you? Classic frenemy move. Some of her worst questions:
Let's start light: What would you like your legacy to be? For example, I hope...
How would you describe your fashion style? […] For example: "Lena Dunham...
What would you say is the hardest part about being a boss? I'd say...
Who are your role models? Besides you, I would list…
Do you get guilty? If so, what makes you feel guiltiest? I personally hate…
Can you tell the readers of Rookie what inspires you about other women? I love…
I find [some anecdote Dunham wanted to share, ending in interrogative punctuation mark, and read with a slight lilt, so as to denote a "question"]...
Dunham goes on in this vein—sharing stories about herself cleverly disguised as questions about Kaling. Out of eleven questions, only one doesn't use the word "I" and recount an insufferable from Dunham's trunk of personal anecdotes: "What do you think is the power of TV, and why do you love it?"
As much as I love Kaling and her brand of unapologetically girly comedy, her answers aren't much better than Dunham's questions. She talks about hating when people don't cite any role models younger than they are, but then only names Dunham as a younger role model, and no one else. She talks about feminism and wanting to only work with people who love women, but offers no explanation for the fact that out of two female writers on The Mindy Project's first season writing staff, she only brought back one. She references being tactile and affectionate with her staff, but it's not gone unnoticed that the majority of her guest stars are all male love interests for her character, and that aside from a recent uptick in mentions of writer Tracey Wigfield, the majority of Kaling's Instagram and Twitter missives are a veritable love-fest for the male coworkers she's closest to: Ike Barinholtz, Chris Messina, Adam Pally, and writers Charlie Grandy and Jeremy Bronson. There's no shame in being close to whomever you want for whichever reasons you personally choose, but Kaling uses this interview to preach one position, while very much practicing another. The Mindy Project has come into its own as a brilliant new comedy gem (ratings be damned), due to its full ensemble of cast and crew, not just a few players Kaling has publicly fixated upon.
If you love Mindy and Lena, regardless of its ineptitude, you're going to love this interview. If, like many, you think they're capable of so much more than they're putting out both professionally and publicly, take a Dramamine, because it's going to be a giggly, bumpy ride.