Haters Back Off

Haters Back Off

Ethan Tollefson

“Haters Back Off!” is a Netflix Original starring the infamous youtube sensation Miranda Sings. It follows her fictional rise to fame in an incredibly comical fashion. Miranda fits the stereotype of the ugly girl: bad fashion sense, lipstick on her teeth, unkempt hair, homeschooled, and childish. “Haters Back Off!” attempts to show that Miranda is more than her looks and personality by showcasing her singing. Unfortunately, Miranda’s confidence is greater than her singing. This show treats Miranda as something to laugh at because she isn’t pretty, talented, or rich. She is the opposite of what society and pop culture pushes young women her age to be. As you can see in the adjacent picture, Miranda wears mismatched clothing, has a borderline creepy smile and wears white shoes that you might see a middle-aged man wearing with a solid color polo. The show does an impeccable job of presenting Miranda’s confidence. Through all of her failures, she refuses to give up on her plan to become famous. In one of the first episodes Miranda responds to her haters who have been posting hateful comments by saying, “You people are monsters! All of you! I've been reading your comments, and you all say MEAN, HORRIBLE THINGS! Look at this! "You have lipstick on your teech" I would never put lipstick there! It could get infected!” Her ability to fight back is something that is sometimes referenced in pop culture, but is rarely found. The fact that she is poor and a woman factors into her success immensely. Her “agent” is her unemployed Uncle Jim that lives with Miranda, her mother and sister. He has no experience in show business, yet assures Miranda that she will be famous one day. Since Miranda is a woman, she is shown as being very delicate and emotional at times. This causes her to have multiple breakdowns throughout the show. She chases after the hot guy in the church choir while ignoring her childhood friend’s love for her. Society tells us to go after the things (and usually the people) we want even when there might be someone who has been there for us the whole time. This also ties into how the women in this series are to be dependent on men in their life. Miranda is dependent on Uncle Jim to land her gigs and to make her famous. Miranda’s mom Bethany is dependent on her church preacher for both spiritual guidance and love. Bethany tries to make herself look weak by wearing a wrist brace for a made up condition. She believes that she is helpless just like society tells her she is. Miranda’s sister Emily is a struggling amateur artist that has trust issues due to their dad leaving when Emily was born. When their dad returns after years of being absent from their lives, he helps Emily with her art and then disappears again causing Emily to not trust anyone, especially men in her life. Society also can push women to be wary of men because of their lack of commitment which is perfectly demonstrated through Emily’s situation.

Works Cited
“Haters Back Off! (TV Series 2016–2017).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt5467814/.