I’m super excited that Girls’ season 3 premiere on January 12, it’s just a few days away and it’s going to be a double episode. I really need my weekly doze of Girls' humor again.
Just like one of my friends said, Girls is the worst TV show that I can’t stop watching! Well, that might be a bit harsh, I actually love it (a lot) but it does occasionally get on my nerves too.
Back in January 2013 HBO renewed the Girls TV series for a third season and the show continues to have that revolting intriguing quality about it.
It got a lot of positive reviews from critics who liked the humor, the unfiltered nature of the situations and its audacity. Girls is written and directed by Lena Dunham. She also stars in the series as one of the main characters.
After her 2010 movie, Tiny Furniture, where she played Aura, a version of herself, stuck in a post-college funk (her real mother, the visual artist Laurie Simmons, played her mother in the movie and her real sister, Grace, played her sister in the movie), received a lot of positive reviews, she got the opportunity to do an HBO pilot. And that’s how HBO’s Girls was born.
After her 2010 movie, Tiny Furniture, where she played Aura, a version of herself, stuck in a post-college funk (her real mother, the visual artist Laurie Simmons, played her mother in the movie and her real sister, Grace, played her sister in the movie), received a lot of positive reviews, she got the opportunity to do an HBO pilot. And that’s how HBO’s Girls was born.
One of Hannah's many funny quotes!
The first season created quite a stir - people loved it or loved to hate it, some even called it a cult show. At the same time it was criticized for not having any black characters. People were upset that in a neighborhood as Brooklyn, the most statistically diverse place in the U.S, the show included an all-white cast. Lena Dunham responded by promising that in the future she would “do better,” and that was not intentional because she was simply writing “people she knows.”
Another problem was the debate about its nepotism as the main actors have a privileged life even outside the TV show, many of them have famous parents in real life: aside Dunham’s pedigree as the daughter of feminist artist Laurie Simmons, Jemima Kirke is the daughter of Bad Company drummer, Simon Kirke, Allison Williams is the daughter of NBC Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams and Zosia Mamet is the daughter of playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director David Mamet and actress Lindsay Crouse.
I guess we can call Girls the poor version of “Sex and the City”, with unsuccessful, unglamorous, depressed, borderline crazy and terrible at life in general girls. Dunham herself admitted that Girlswas inspired by “Sex and the City” but reflects a part of the population that was not included in it or other TV shows like Gossip Girl: “There was this whole in between space that hadn't really been addressed". The funny things is that part that is poorly represented in TV shows and movies it's actually most of us!
Say that again! I might even have more than 3 or 4 really great folk albums in me!
I have to call out Judd Apatow, one of Dunham’s collaborators after he said that Girls would provide men with an insight into "realistic females". So just to clear the air: Dude, are you crazy?
Believe me, “realistic females” are not like that. Just a few examples on the top of my head - when I’m sad I don’t go to my girlfriend’s house and just because she is taking a bath, I decide to join her and cry like crazy in her bath tube…with her…naked!!! Oh no, that only happens in movies!
Or the fact that Hannah goes to visit her parents with her stuff in a black bin bag. Trust me, no sane person would ever do that as the constant bickering that you would get from your mother for shamming her in front of everybody (aka people in the airport, that she doesn’t even know), would put the fear of God into you and always prevent you to do so.
Never have I went on a drug binge just because I had a writer’s block, lack of inspiration and thought to myself: nothing like a bit of cocaine to sparkle my imagination! So please, spare me the supposedly groundbreaking portrayal of young women speech that the Girls TV show is supposed to do. The show is great but we have to admit it's based on a mix of crazy stuff and the occasional reality dose with a lot of funny in between and the "realistic females" are anything but down to earth.
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m older now and wiser, if I may say so myself, but I can’t relate to some of the things this girls are going through and I can’t even remember a time when I could. Not even in my early twenties was I so screwed up. And as a side note – I’m far from having things all figured up myself!
Maybe his appeal comes just from that, watching and realizing that you are not that broke. I repeat, the show is great, but that’s not because of its realism, not at all!
Maybe his appeal comes just from that, watching and realizing that you are not that broke. I repeat, the show is great, but that’s not because of its realism, not at all!
That's how you treat a girl! Take a cue from Adam!:))))
Adam and Hannah (Adam Driver and Lena Dunham) are weirdly great together, I really love this odd couple! It's comforting to see any weirdo has a match out there!
This is what I always say to anybody that has any complaint about me (especially my parents): I could be a drug addict. Do you realize how lucky you are?
Basically the show is all about a group of friends: self-involved aspiring writer Hannah, (Lena Dunham), beauty queen, uptight and dependable Marnie (Allison Williams), bohemian and chaotic Jessa (Jemima Kirke), girlish and naive Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and their messy life.
One can say these women never really dealt with real problems before and they are just whining about the fact that they have to be responsible for themselves and their own actions. The refreshing part is that we get to see life as a mix of many humiliations and rare triumphs which, let's be honest, it's in fact pretty accurate even if hard to admit. This is a totally new kind of escapism we have here!
One of the more relatable of Hannah's quotes - girls often feel that,
they just don't say it that clearly!:)))
The thing that this show really points out is the fact that these girls are, visually speaking, real persons and not the 1%. It really is a new approach when, in this industry obsessed with perfection and full of anorexic, Barbie type girls, a woman that doesn’t have a perfect body, shows it all without shame.
Lena Dunham puts her body, quite deliberately, in the spotlight. She is not shy about filming herself nude, in weird and unflattering positions. And even though these scenes shouldn’t shock, they do, and not because it’s the first movie where naked women are heavily featured, it’s because we live in a world were it’s acceptable only for women with perfect bodies to expose themselves like that.
I feel the same - I relay do think I may be the voice of my generation!:)))
Most of the show is inspired by Dunham's real-life experiences, like the fact that she was cut off financially by her parents, her struggle to become a writer and the whole making bad decisions process. Girls does have a lot of merit to it. Except the parts were they go overboard with the whole trying to figure out life, with good intentions but bad outcomes, it’s actually very relatable. I can definitely see myself better in this flawed anti-heroines than I ever could in all the too good to be true characters before. Also it’s easier to relate to some of this stories compared with many of the stories I’ve been seeing about what it means to be a young woman in today's world.
Lena looks nothing like the lead characters on TV and she is inspiringly unconcerned about showing her non perfect body for everyone to see. We get to see women that look less than glamorous most of the time, just like real human do. I also like the fact that the characters are flawed and even unlikable, because let’s face it, that’s how we are, we can’t be one dimensional, good or bad, all the time.
Some light breakfast small talk!
Just as a fun fact, Dunham not only gained world wide popularity and a Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical in 2013 for Girls, but she also received a $3.6 million book deal. That’s not half bad, right?
When it comes to the fashion I’m sure that, while watching Girls, you are constantly thinking: "What the f*** is Hannah wearing? And why would someone ever wear that?" Well, it’s not as bad as you may think because that’s the whole idea: her clothes are meant to be unflattering. Apparently it’s important for Dunham for the awkward look to exist: "Yeah. We will do a thing sometimes where we'll, like, all fit clothes with Spanx so that they're kinda, like, fit right. And then I'll remove the Spanx so they're kinda like rumpled up. Yeah, I think it's important. I think it's a part of who she is."
The show's unique looks are achieved by shopping at vintage boutiques in New York, including Brooklyn Flea and even Geminolawho is owned by the mother of Jemima Kirke.
The show's unique looks are achieved by shopping at vintage boutiques in New York, including Brooklyn Flea and even Geminolawho is owned by the mother of Jemima Kirke.
Just so you know, Girls is the kind of show that is highly addictive (don’t say I didn’t warn you!), you will either think: “How can a good TV show feel so bad?” or “How can a bad TV show feel so good?” The end result is you are going to be watching, with or against your better judgment. Girls it’s the kind of show that gets a reaction out of you – you’ll be anything but bored.
Towards the end, season 2 was getting a bit darker, but I just loved the romantic and hopeful end of the season and I’m looking forward to things getting happier in season 3! And according to the two trailers I've seen, released before Girl's season 3 premiere, things will get back to their hilarious, messy, neurotic self, just like we like them:
Who else is watching Girls? Do you like it? Why is that? Do you find it relatable?