I’m quickly becoming a fan of the new HBO show Girls. I had very low hopes and the first episode was a bit off-putting but I’m starting to really love it.
There are issues of course.
is still really close to
Groups of thin (whether Lena Dunham would describe herself that way), white, young, able-bodied ladies with enough money to dress…as they do.
But one of the big attacks on the show is that Lena Dunham’s character nominates herself as the voice of her generation. Something which she didn’t even mean seriously when she wrote it.
However, the reason the line got so much attention is that some people do feel like she is (perhaps not the voice of the entire generation, but) the voice of part of our generation. The white, middle class, educated part that’s still on their parents phone plan after graduating college. That by no means describes the entire generation but certainly a part of it.
What I like so much about the show is that Lena isn’t afraid to say the things that I’m thinking but would be chastised for saying.
To claim that Girls is the voice of our generation would be to claim that my entire generation is exactly like me. False.
What I find the funniest is the people who are offended by the ridiculously awkward portrayal of sex. Sex can be awkward. What exactly is so offensive about that fact? Life can be awkward. That is a fact to come to terms with, not a problem to be solved. And who are we helping by showing sex only as a magical never-awkward-ever thing? No one. All that does is make you feel like a failure when the sex that you have is awkward.
Rock it out sister-friend.
Female Gazing 