Totally uncool confession here:
When I first watched HBO's Girls,
I hated it.
Hate's a strong word, you're right. But I certainly wasn't about to spend my precious hours of mental free time suffering through awkward sexual encounters and obnoxious entitled dilemmas.
Luckily though, as I'm wont to do with unfortunate first experiences, I returned.
(just ask my middle school crushes. Trust me. You do not want this girl as an admirer).
This is not so much a testament to the allure of the show itself, but to the stuff surrounding it.
Between the ceaseless hipster hype, the incessant Twitter explosions, the Academy Award nods, and the overall blogosphere obsession, suddenly, not only was I curious, but compelled.
Compelled to watch,
and if not to like,
at least to analyze.
Though, as usual, I'm not exactly pleased with the inability to think for myself that this anecdote reveals, I am glad that I did ultimately succumb to the indirect peer pressure - Because I think I'm infatuated.
"Infatuated", but strangely enough, I now can't quite tell whether it's with the show, or it's with the public's overwhelming infatuation with and reaction to the show.
What I mean to say is that, rarely,
save for this blog and a for couple of really fantastic friends,
have I found a community of people so ready and willing to discuss issues that affect me so deeply.
Emotional immaturity, strange ensembles (Is Hannah's neon mesh shirt more or less weird than this jacket?), extreme melodrama, professional feelings of inadequacy, job insecurity, character uncertainty, and the overall feeling of despair that accompanies the thousands of unrealized and seemingly unattainable dreams,
every Sunday at 10pm CT on HBO.
It's like confession, only in a voyeuristic and unreligious and absolutely not-the-same-thing-at-all kind of way.
Then, come Monday morning, all of us empathetic and insecure 20-somethings come out of the woodwork to criticize and commiserate with the issues and character decisions we so empathized with the night before.
So, if nothing else, it's just a little weekly dose of reassurance that I'm not as weird as I think I am (even if I do wear coats with balls hanging off of the hood) -
and as much as I love distinction,
I kind of like this too.
'Cause even if I don't love all of the characters all of the time,
it's nice having a soul sister.
it's nice having a soul sister.
Cheers.
photos by sheeds
my thoughts exactly! love her or hate her lena dunham is putting her work and herself, a lot of herself, out there for us to discuss and debate. she is inspiring conversation with her work, which is what her detractors don't seem to appreciate. even people who think the show is terrible and unrepresentative of 20 somethings are still talking about it. so it looks like lena's getting the last laugh and to that i say you go girl!
ReplyDeleteabigail
www.farandwildjewelry.blogspot.com
Love this look on you! So totally gorgeous! Hugs from Cali! xx The Golden Girls
ReplyDeleteI used to love the show and now i have mixed emotions. I think it's going a little too far out there to the point of being extremely unrealistic. I think the beauty of it before was that you could relate (and even then it was very peripheral) now it's gone off the deep end (for me at least).
ReplyDeleteCollections
Weird. I kind of feel the opposite. But I think it' s because I've changed what I'm focusing on. I could never, and still can't, relate to the drugs, sex and dog eat dog New York lifestyle (which is why I disliked it at first), but I can to the desperate sense of despair (what I hone in on now).
DeleteI get why the OCD stuff and the sort of psychotic nature of it all is off-putting, though. It is unusual.
As far as aesthetic, I just think it's refreshing to see a show where the star is average-looking. She shows the cellulite, she'll show a zit on her ass, she doesn't seemed too worried that her boobs aren't cantaloupe-like.
ReplyDeletePeople need to see normal people on TV. Girls need to see a girl who is confident with her body, even though it isn't the idealized "perfect" body.
Mad props to Lena.
ashley
www.thephotogramps.blogspot.com
#werd
DeleteI've never watched Girls... I also never watched Sex and the City. I know I'm as weird as I think I am, and over the years I've just come to accept it :) Maybe I need a jacket with balls hanging off the hood like yours, because honestly, I think it's pretty awesome.
ReplyDeletexox,
Cee
www.cocoandvera.com
When I first watched "Girls" it was one of those "wtf" moments. I don't like it at all, and I don't understand why there's so much hype about it. Yes, it's new and different from all the other shows, which doesn't make it quality tv. The characters are a pain in the ass, although many would say they represent normal people in their 20's, they don't. Yeah, I can relate to the poor lives, awkward sex and dead ends, but other than that, nope.
ReplyDeleteBuffy, on the other hand, is my number one tv show. It presents all of those problems on "Girls" but without the shallowness and two dimensional characters. I don't know, maybe I have to watch more episodes, to get it.
You look cute as a button with that hoodie ^_^
I still need to catch up on this show. I have only seen a few episodes... But I can sometimes totally relate ;)
ReplyDeleteXX,
Miranda