'Bob's Burgers' character Tina Belcher relatable to millennials

<p><em>PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANNONPATRICK17 FLICKR</em></p>

PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANNONPATRICK17 FLICKR

Popular Tina Belcher quotes:

"Mom, don't have a crap attack." 


Louise: "Tina, Jimmy Jr. just hired us to trick you into going to the dance with him. "

Tina: "He did? That's the sleaziest, sneakiest, most romantic thing anyone's ever done to me."


"Dear Diary: Tonight I'm sneaking off to the abandoned taffy factory to look for treasure. Also, if boys had uteruses, they'd be called duderuses."


"I am a smart, strong, sensual woman." 


"I'm no hero, I put my bra on one boob at a time, like everyone else."


Netflix has a long list of programs that will be coming in April. Among that list is the fifth season of the popular animated sitcom, "Bob’s Burgers."

The show follows Bob Belcher, his wife, Linda, and their three quirky kids, Tina, Gene and Louise, throughout their daily lives.

Fans have their respective favorites, but one Belcher in particular seems to have won the hearts of viewers everywhere. 

According to Google Trends, there are more searches for Tina than any other character on the show.

What makes Tina such a crowd pleaser? Loren Bouchard, the creator of the show, described her personality in an interview with NPR.

“Tina is a yearning character. She wants. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She's 13 and she's right in the beginning hot zone of puberty," Bouchard said, "and so she is very focused on boys and on a certain amount of fantasy life that involves her and kissing and boys' butts.”

She is relatable to millennials in many ways. She is addicted to coffee and is obsessed with the opposite sex, kissing, and butts.

Sophomore telecommunications major Madison Suhre said that many of these traits make Tina easy for millennials to relate to.

“She embraces who she is. She is a smart, strong, sensual woman and that’s what everyone should strive to be,” Suhre said.

Kristyn Weaver, a Ball State freshman feels she can identify with Tina.

"She says the most awkward things, and it makes the situation funny... I make things awkward at times, too. Sometimes I stop and think 'why did I say that?,'" she said. "Kids definitely get her humor. It's something older people may find sort of inappropriate."

Although she can be awkward and shy, Tina’s not afraid to go for what she wants.

“Tina isn’t shamed for her desires; her family is open and tolerant about it. She’s not your average teenage character; she’s awkward, but she knows what she wants and she goes for it,” Suhre said.

In an episode titled “Lindapendent Woman,” Tina meets a boy at a local grocery store that she develops a crush on. After talking for a while, she writes something on a slip of paper and says, “Here’s a bunch of numbers. They may look random, but they’re my phone number.”

In an article for Slate, Job Christian said, “Tina Belcher has become a folk hero for anxious young people—a generational subset, I suspect, who worry they’ll remain trapped forever in an extended, liminal adolescence.”

Although the fifth season of Bob’s Burgers will be added to Netflix April 1, episodes from the sixth season are airing on Fox on Sundays at 8:30 p.m.

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