Lindsay Bluth Fünke
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| Lindsay Funke | |
|---|---|
 Portia de Rossi as Lindsay Bluth Fünke |
|
| Cause/reason | End of the series |
| Portrayed by | Portia de Rossi |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | George Bluth Sr. (adoptive father) Lucille Bluth (adoptive mother) GOB Bluth (adoptive brother) Michael Bluth (adoptive twin brother) Buster Bluth (adoptive half-brother/cousin) Hel-loh "Annyong" Bluth (adoptive brother) |
| Spouse(s) | Tobias Funke |
| Children | Maeby Funke (daughter) |
| Relatives | Oscar Bluth (adoptive uncle) George Michael Bluth (adoptive nephew) |
Lindsay Fünke (nee Bluth) is a fictional character on the television series Arrested Development. She is portrayed by Australian actress Portia de Rossi, who receives second billing in the opening credits.
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[edit] Biography
Lindsay Bluth Fünke (born 1965) is the adopted daughter of George Sr. and Lucille, although for most of her life she was unaware she was adopted.
Lindsay is married to Tobias Fünke. They have a teenage daughter, Maeby, who was possibly obtained through artificial means. Lindsay believes herself to be a dedicated activist. In reality, she is quite shallow and superficial, only supporting current trendy causes for the social status of holding extravagant charity drives from the Bluth Company money. She has helped bring attention to such "worthy" causes as "HOOP" (Hands Off Our Penises), an anti-circumcision organization; "Stop the Hunger"; "Neuterfest"; "TBA"; and "Save the Wetlands" (which she was surprised to discover does not mean drying them). She has worked to remove the Ten Commandments from City Hall (intending to donate them to a school) and has also spoken out on advocacy of more meat and fish in the schools, as well as speaking out against the consumption of both meat and fish.
Lindsay occasionally has a healthy relationship with her brother Michael, often offering an understanding and sympathetic ear to his problems, despite their mother's best efforts to divide them. Michael also seems to have higher expectations of her than his other siblings. In the pilot, when the family begins bickering over control and money after George Sr.'s arrest, Michael specifically lashes out at Lindsay, saying to her, "I expected this from them but you...you should know better."
Lindsay has had many fledgling and unsuccessful attempts at being an entrepreneur. She opened up a "Dip-A-Pet" business because she felt animals needed hair-coloring options, with disastrous results; she started "Mommy, What Will I Look Like" photo shop to provide parents with some idea of their child's forecast appearance, but she had to quit because too many parents were perturbed by what the computer's predictions made their children look like. She also had a fleeting interest in beads, but loses interest after Tobias' career as an author results in a temporary surge of money.
Despite her best efforts, Lindsay has not obtained perfect self-esteem (owing perhaps to her mother's constant insinuations of obesity). She has tried yoga, activism, and hair-care products (which are a small price to pay), but nothing has worked. Her husband seems acutely uninterested in her, and in fact might be a latent homosexual.
Lindsay is portrayed as trying to be promiscuous, often flirting and pursuing relationships with men other than her husband, usually with no success. However, she is often confused about their intentions toward her. She has become interested in and even dated characters such as Moses Taylor (who plays Detective Frank Wrench in the television series Wrench) and Tom Jane (star of Homeless Dad and Junk). In season three, Lindsay becomes interested in the family's new lawyer Bob Loblaw and becomes his daughter Hope's nanny to gain his interest. However, Bob is not able to respond to her obvious sexual advances and her revealing attire because he is representing Lindsay in her divorce from Tobias. He also believes that their relationship will reflect badly on him if it is made public.
Lindsay's daughter, Maeby, is a rebellious teenager who desperately wants her mother's attention, though only to anger her. Maeby is very often ignored by Lindsay despite her many efforts, including gaining interest in beauty pageants, leather, spreading rumors that Lindsay is a MTF transsexual, and hindering her mother's attempts at environmental activism.
In the last episode of Season 3, it was revealed that Lindsay was not actually Michael's twin sister, or even a Bluth at all. She was actually adopted at age 3 to spite Bluth rival Stan Sitwell, who was already in the process of adopting her at the time. She also discovers that she is 40 years old, three years older than she had previously believed herself to be. Feeling that her youthful allure has now escaped her, she becomes desperate to marry a successful man, and divulges to Michael that they are not biological siblings and reveals her wish to divorce Tobias and marry him. She believes that he will accept, after misinterpreting Michael's brotherly compliments over the years as a sexual interest. However, Michael rejects Lindsay's offer of marriage, saying that he is not that into older women. Lindsay later reveals to Lucille that she is still pursuing a relationship with Michael.
[edit] Concept and creation
Creator Mitchell Hurwitz came up with Lindsay as the family's liberal figure, but Lindsay is also meant to represent a liberal who benefitted from her politics more so than she sacrificed, due to the image she built.[1]
[edit] Portia de Rossi
Lindsay was portrayed by actress Portia de Rossi. Having previously appeared in Ally McBeal, she said that she was looking for a new series like it.[2] De Rossi was also attracted to Arrested Development for what she thought was a "fresh new perspective on comedy."[3] She played Lindsay as someone who "doesn't have much of a clue but... has a pretty good heart."[1] She explained her approach by saying that, "with Ally McBeal, we were very rehearsed and staged. But this is a lot looser."[4] Hurwitz felt that de Rossi made the character somewhat similar to Lucille.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Breaking Ground: Behind the Scenes of Arrested Development. In Arrested Development: Season One- Disc One, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc., 2004.
- ^ Frazier Moore, "Portia gets expressive: Uses her comedic face in Arrested Development," The Province, Vancouver, B.C.: January 4, 2004, pg. D.13.
- ^ Dana Gee, "Here's a sitcom that puts the fun back in funny," The Province, Vancouver, B.C.: November 2, 2003, pg. C.12.
- ^ Alison Cunningham, "Mane event: Portia de Rossi trusts her instincts- and great hair," National Post, August 6, 2005, pg. TO.41.
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