Yes I'm from Portland and yes I watch Portlandia. To quote Karen from 'Will and Grace', "It's funny 'cuz it's true!" I know some locals who think it's awful and no where near reality and portrays us in a ridiculous way but usually those people hail from the suburbs, don't spend much time in the city. What I'm trying to figure out is where I fit in. I don't think I do, actually, and I'm okay with that. I think what the show does really well is show how people here have made it abnormal to be normal. Not everyone, of course, but enough of the population that one would make a tv show out of it.
So many people here are determined to be an original individual but end up exactly like everyone else in their clique, practically clones of each other. People purposely hunting obscure subcultures, counter cultures, lack of culture, trying desperately to belong to any sort of culture except the one they were raised in or one that appears 'normal' to most of the world. And all these various cliques and groups are presented in this show and it's hilarious.
Then again perhaps I'm just fooling myself when I think I'm not a part of a cloned clique but here it's really not so normal to be like me: I have no tatoos, my navel ring has closed, I have a ring in that little front flap part of my ear but in Portland that's nothing. I don't hang out in coffee shops or bookstores, I don't read every bit of liberal online news that comes out, I don't consider myself a microbrew expert, I don't play in adult playground sports leagues, I'm not a graphic designer, I don't go to First Thursday but I'm not anti First Thursday, I don't like bacon ice cream but I'm not a vegan hippie, I don't own a pair of Toms, I don't make it a point to discuss every new band or every new indie film that comes out, I'm not a rich suburban teen who dresses like a Mad Max extra and comes downtown to panhandle...the list goes on. The only real Portlandia character I can relate to is the Battlestar Galactica loving couple (but then again I didn't go watch it every week at the Baghdad). And I'm okay with that, really.
I'm sure there's a whole city full of normal out there that I can relate to but in the meantime I'll have a ton of fun watching the show and relating it to the people I see in my downtown 'hoods where I live and work. And to the north and east where I shop, hang out, drink and people watch. I may never be fodder for the show but I'll keep watching and cracking up as I see actors I recognize playing parts based on the real characters I see every day.
Keep up the good work, Fred, Carrie, Sam, Kyle, etc.
