teen idol of a generation with Lizzie McGuire, now stars in ‘How I Met Your Father’ on Disney+
When Ojete Calor coined the term mocatriz, he could perfectly well have thought of Hilary Duff (Houston, 1987). Because not yet 20 years old, in the early 2000s, she was already all those things: model, singer and actress. And she had her own novel. And she carried out humanitarian tasks in half the world. And her annual earnings exceeded 15 million dollars. And she had created her clothing and perfume lines. And there were six Barbie models inspired by her. And so we could continue to stretch this enumeration to the point of no return to end up saying that, above all else, she was Lizzie McGuire.
Because it was that insecure teenager, living halfway between the simplest comedy and the most intensely youthful drama, who catapulted Hilary Duff as pubescent icon of an entire generation when she and her parents were about to give up on her idea of being an actress. Thus was born the umpteenth Disney girl who over the years was disappearing from the spotlight – without excessive scandals beyond the brush with Lindsay Lohan or some eating disorders – until she became the mother of three children who today returns to the cameras.
And it just so happens that he does it in the sequel to another teen hit: how i met your mother. Because if years ago we discovered Ted Mosby’s tortuous path to find the mother -with an unhappy ending for the feat- of his children, Now it’s up to Sophie, a photographer who didn’t know her father, to look for love inhow i met your fatherwhich Disney + premieres this Wednesday, almost four months after its screening in the United States, with Hilary Duff as the protagonist.
- Being a mother and getting into the plot of the series, how would you explain to your children what flirting or flirting is at the moment?
- I have a nine year old son and I’m terrified that he doesn’t have social skills because of all the technology around him, like he’s losing his essence or human connection. I’m just holding on in the hope that she’ll learn to like me, to maintain eye contact, and to flirt. Because now it’s so easy to hide behind a screen that we don’t know how to have relationships in person. That’s why this series explores the world of dating apps, but also the fact of meeting in real life and hooking up with someone on the street.
- Leaving the sentimental, have we also lost the ability to relate to new friends for the same reason?
- We’ve absolutely lost it, just like with flirting and love, because there’s an intimidation and a lot of people hide behind their screen, write what they want and don’t feel like it makes an impact. That brings us to a deeply disturbing point. I think that technology, no matter how good it is for advancing certain things, is robbing us of a large part of our human essence, we are losing the ability to connect with each other or feel for each other.
From that, as happened with its predecessor, how i met your fatherfrom a group of friends trying to understand who they are and looking for the why in their life. The eternal search without answer of the human being throughout history. It is especially important to remind people, after two years of the pandemic, that being in a group, communicating, making eye contact, touching each other’s skin and hugging each other is imperative for our happiness. Human connection is the most important thing in this lifesays Chris Lowell, another of the protagonists of this sitcom, who lives in the old apartment of Ted, Marshall and Lilly.
I love this wonderful friendship and having that reflected on screen is so good for my soul that it reconnects me to make new friends. Because I am watching my friends on TV and I remember that I must continue to cultivate human interactioncompletes Tien Tran, another of the actresses that make up the main cast, of Vietnamese origin.
That is another novelty of this spin off: racial diversity with actors of Latin, Indian and Vietnamese descent as main characters compared to the gang of white boys and girls from the original. Our series is much more diverse than how i met your mother. Now, more than ever, you need to show a circle of friends that looks modern and be a small escape for many people, says Hilary Duff
- Is it still necessary to force oneself to expose that diversity?
- I can’t believe there are still arguments and complaints about it. The original series had a cast of six whites, but that is not the real way of our world and it will never be again. This is not a temporary thing, that is an overdue thought. I’m excited to have a second season to delve even more into diversity and also new sexuality. It’s great that our creators know the importance of showing what the world is like today.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism