TV Show Review: Girls

I’ve just finished watching the first two seasons of Girls. The show is unique not just in its subtle humor but I thought it was a proper representation of being in the early 20’s, especially in a big city like New York. It’s basically the poor and younger version of Sex and the City, which I personally think trumps SatC any day. Not that I’ve watched any of the shows, but I probably wouldn’t be able to relate to their high paying jobs and marital turmoil. 

Let's get to it: 

I can’t really call myself a feminist, or maybe I can. I just have this token stereotype that all feminists are angry women sans bras with a meticulously crafted spiel about women’s history and their humane rights. So I wouldn’t be the best person to comment on the feministic perspective of Girls. Some say it’s empowering, some say it isn’t.

You can write about strong women, you can write about weak women. You can write about women who cry and women who laugh and women who plot revenge and women who do absolutely nothing. There is no wrong or right way to write about a female character simply because any character with a personality is real and can resonate to a lot of people.

The characters in Girls are far from ideal. They aren’t Mulans or Margaret Thatchers. They are simply girls lost in their 20s, figuring out their lives. And for those who think that there aren’t enough ‘strong’ women to root for, then go fuck yourself. Are you only going to root for strong and independent women as opposed to women who break down and are fragile? Of course these women are self-absorbed and at times incredibly unlikeable. They’re in their 20’s, that a time of self-discovery and being selfish and figuring out life. So it makes sense that the characters are very me, me, me.

Jessa is by far my favorite character. She is free-spirited, crazy, and even though she doesn’t know who she really is or what she wants, she loves herself nonetheless. She lives the life many are afraid to live because it’s not solid. Her life has no set start and end, and that kind of arbitrary life scares most people. But not to Jessa. Sure, she’s impolite and makes a lot of rash decisions but she’s her. She knows that women can be strong and powerful but they don’t have to be that all the time. Women, just like any other human being, can break.

I don’t really like Hannah, who is ironically the main character and the creator/writer/director of the entire show. Am I the only one creeped out by the fact that she writes so many nude scenes for herself and a lot of sex scenes with extremely hot men, too? Just saying, but she’s the God in this TV show and it’s no surprise that she can make herself fuck A+ men.

But her personality is so…fickle. She is one thing and then another. Sure, that’s how it is with most women, but I’m not used to seeing that kind of ambivalent behavior from a written character. Maybe it’s a good thing that she’s not the typical ruined woman or the typical perfect woman in a show. She is nothing good and nothing bad. She is who she is and she captures the self-depreciation that girls have but usually aren’t portrayed on TV. Perhaps because that kind of complicated and real behavior is hard to translate on TV without scaring off the audience. Either way, this character is surprisingly refreshing to me, and I like the way I don’t like her. Also, there's finally a show that has an average-looking girl playing the lead role. Fuck you CW for basically bringing down my self-esteem with every show.

The characters of Marnie and Shoshanna are great too. I think all of the characters have some kind of depth to them. Some deeper than others, but they are humans with voices and baggage nonetheless. I hate how most shows resort to making their secondary characters into flat cardboard humans with no real backstory.

What I’m really iffy with is how unrealistic some of these things are. Alright, let’s face it, Lena Dunham is no Miranda Kerr. Lena is an average woman who I would pay no attention to if she were to walk in a room. I would look at her for a second and bounce back to something else as if she was a number on a mailbox. Some might call her ugly but I’m not going to go that far.

But on the show, she’s been landing incredibly gorgeous men. I’m going to sound like a complete bitch here but it’s very rare for a solid 10 guy to go out with a girl who is average or below and it’s just ridiculous to think that this kind of thing happens all the time.

Yeah, go ahead and kiss a hot ass man 5 minutes after you met him in his own goddamn living room, and he will want every fibre of your being and won’t think you’re repulsive and push you away. Sure, that happens in real life all the time. I think it just gives off the wrong perception for girls in general that they will get any guy that they kiss, and that guys will kiss them in any situation. Even in a graveyard.  

Also, this show is very sex-oriented and I don’t know about you but I don’t know anyone who has this kind of sex when they’re single. But hey, I live in a predominantly Muslim country so what does my prude brain know, eh? 

I give Girls a 9/10. I cried and I laughed, and most importantly, I felt connected to these characters. Not many shows feature girls sitting on toilets while talking to each other.