I've mentioned numerous times before that all-encompassing titles irk me. Titles like Girls, Modern Family, Humboldt County, etc., that seem to purport to represent an idea, a place, or an entire group of people. These titles set themselves up for failure, because there's no way they can be everything to everyone. I came to Girls with this bias already in mind, and although brief moments of the show were enjoyable and fun, for the most part I found it excruciatingly insufferable.
To adequately discuss Girls, one must first have an understanding of Tiny Furniture. Now, I kind of liked Lena Dunham's film, although I hated almost every character. It was like they were insisting that "these are REAL characters, that's why they're stupid jerks to each other all the time", but just because real people are flawed doesn't mean that's ALL they are. I have a similar problem with Girls, but we'll get to that in a second. Tiny Furniture started out funny and relatable - English major, just out of college, forced to move in with her family - it pretty quickly turned frustratingly sad. Dunham's characters, who appear to be autobiographical to some degree, are pathetic. They struggle to maintain agency over their own lives, and when they finally attempt to assert themselves, they get in their own way. It's not very much fun to watch, especially because by the end of the episode, I actually like every single character less than I did at the beginning. Except the mom, because she (Leslie Ann Baker?) was great. Seriously, they're all awful, but all of this leads to the real problem with Girls.
PRIVILEGE. Ughhhhhhhhhh this show reeks of privilege. White privilege, rich privilege, upper class city dweller privilege, legacy privilege, New-York-Is-The-Best-City-On-Earth-Ugh-Woody-Allen privilege, just all the horrible East Coasty privileges you can think of rolled into one giant rat king. And then everybody just fucking COMPLAINS for the ENTIRE show. Boo fucking hoo, your parents have been supporting your life in The Most Expensive City Ever for TWO YEARS so you could work at an internship to advance your career except you were so used to being coddled and taken care of that you didn't think about maybe using the valuable experience you've gained to try to find a PAYING JOB even if it's not in your chosen field or whatever. Sorry, let me just stop and think about the look on my parents' faces if I told them I needed them to give me $1100 a month. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh, man. Good one, guys. I mean, yes, my parents have supported me and lent me money before, but, like 200 dollars to fix my car - like most people I know, they're not rich. Look, the truth is, Hannah and I have a few things in common. We're twentysomething English majors a few years out of college with an eventual goal to write for a living. The difference is I've been writing AND working for the past four years...just like everyone else. Yes, a lot of people get support from their parents these days, and yes, it's hard to find a good job, but to be so upset and surprised about being cut off from your parents like it's this great injustice is just horrendous.
This is gonna be a long post, I can already tell.
The biggest thing that I find confusing about Lena Dunham's New York is how unrelentingly WHITE it is. When I heard that this young female comedian was producing a show on HBO with Judd Apatow, I really WAS expecting "the voice of my generation". Instead what I got were a bunch of indistinguishable white assholes, being erudite and blithely un-self aware and basically just The Worst. Why is it so hard to make a show where people of different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds are portrayed in complex and funny ways (It's not, it's called Community, but you know what I mean.)? And why is it even harder to do when those people are specifically women? It confuses me because I live in a city, and THAT IS WHAT IT IS LIKE. You meet and interact with and are friends with people who are from everywhere and look like everything. I mean, unless you are terrible. But did you notice that the only black person in the entire episode with a speaking line was the CRAZY HOMELESS DUDE at the end? That's the apparent role of minorities in Girls - to brighten Hannah's spirits, in typical minstrel fashion. And don't you think that in a show titled Girls, you might find the perspectives of different kinds of young women? Instead we get Hannah (selfish, lazy, incompetent, self-loathing), Horrible Girlfriend (uncaring, dishonest, malicious), British (who basically just encompasses everything that is wrong with this Nike ad), Joyce Gaypants (Sex And The City Scion, but also just atrocious and irritating anytime she's not playing Joyce (and even sometimes when she is)), and Wide Eyes (silent, dumb, male accessory). They all seem to come from the same background and they all look pretty much the same and they don't really offer any perspective on anything.
What we haven't discussed is male privilege. There are only two types of men in LDNY: thoroughly emasculated and threateningly dominant. Hannah's father and Sad Boyfriend (sorry, I don't know any of their names) have lost their masculinity and subsequently their appeal to their partners. It's the controlling assholes, Mean Boss, Jewish Twig, and Repellent Fuck (I HATE that guy), that find success in life and with their respective Girls. I mean, let's look at Repellent Fuck for a second. He's not her boyfriend. He won't answer her texts. I'm not sure why Dunham decided to take the worst part of Tiny Furniture, her desire for douchetruck men who treat her like garbage, and put it into Girls, but it's just not fun at all to watch. He's gross ("My dad calls me doll" "I know"), demanding, detached, and clearly only interested in Hannah for as far as he can stick his dick in her. For her part, though, Hannah disgusts me in these scenes, when it's clear that she's not doing this for lust, desire, or pleasure, but simply because she hates herself so much.
Which brings us to the fat issue. Yes, Lena Dunham is not skinny. But she's not that fat, and she's pretty in the face (although would some goddamn eyeliner & lip tint kill some of these people? Real women wear makeup, you know) and it would just have been nice to see a larger woman with some confidence and not a character who makes you want to kill yourself she's so helpless and sad. Guess I'll just have to get on writing that pilot. Look, I get that the show is called Girls as a way to explain/laugh at the characters' immaturity and naivete. But I wish they could do that in a way that doesn't make me hate them! Horrible Girlfriend's sudden aversion to her perfectly adorable and sweet boyfriend isn't explained at all, British's (some might call it quirky, I call it) dumb, self-absorbed attitude does not help me empathize with her pregnancy, and they all look so much alike that it's hard to keep them straight (much less know their names). Dunham made the mistake of recycling aspects (and actors) from the characters in Tiny Furniture, so if you found them unbearable and supremely punchable then (Jewish Twig is so pretty in the face and so revoltingly Brooklyn hipster in the mouth), Girls' addition of a complete and utterly oblivious maceration of privilege will only make things worse.
Here's the thing: if Girls can't appeal to me, a white female twentysomething middle class English major who loves television, writing, Jewish boys, and Judd Apatow, than who is it going to appeal to? Who is this show made for? Is it just one more instance of New York's grimy, obnoxious circle jerk of people in New York being obsessed with the fact that they live in New York? Is it for hipsters who don't agree with the Occupy movement? Is it for closeted upper-class racists? Is it for people who don't think there are enough rich people complaining on television? Who is the audience here? I know there has been a lot of buzz around the show, but I don't think I can handle another episode. Maybe if there were just one character that I cared at all about, or if the funniest moment (when she collapses on the floor of her parents' hotel room) hadn't been the only one, or if the mere sight of Repellent Fuck didn't turn my stomach, I might keep with it. But there is far better television out there, and I have Game Of Thrones to catch up on. Most of all, I'm disappointed that Girls failed to provide a positive addition to the coalition of females in comedy.
Notes & Quotes
"I have work, and then I have a dinner thing, and then I am busy, trying to become WHO I AM"
"Because he has a vagina." This quote, mere minutes into the show, instantly let me know that Girls has absolutely nothing to do with providing a positive representation of women on television.
"It's a very friend-ish thing for us to do." Because no one here is actual friends. They're just people who take short breaks from despising each other to have empty yet fraught conversations.
"Get a job and start a blog!" Obviously that's how it's done these days.
"I work hard, and I deserve to sit by a lake" Agreed.
Image via TheGloss
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