Girls (Season 1)

The first thing you should know about me regarding this show, is the fact that I didn’t like it after I watched its pilot while it just had aired. I was annoyed by Lena Dunham’s character Hanna and I only watched Girls to express some negative feedback regarding its Golden Globe win over Modern Family. After the season finale, I realized that the hate I have towards the show is more or less pointed at Lena Dunham and her character, and not so much at others. Plus, there was that one total fangirl moment that made me squeal and love this show a bit more than I was expecting in the beginning.

Needless to say, Modern Family is better than the drama revolving around these four different girls, mostly because they have stirred up the messes themselves. First we meet Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham), who wants to be a writer but is now faced with a challenge of looking for a real job after her parents cut her off. Like I said, the first time I saw Lena I was not impressed, I was slightly put off by her careless grooming ability and less lady like posture than I was used to. In the end, those feelings continued to be my main thought with the added effect of anger towards the conflicts she had in herself – which in some ways is understandable, girls are very complicated and Hanna is written to be the most complicated out of them all.

I do applaud Dunham of taking the low-rode and looking not at all presentable most of the time on screen but her character is conflicting with her physical appearance. She doesn’t wear make-up on a day to day basis and yet goes to a party with full on make-up – I would’ve preferred an overall decision to say no to make-up completely or a touch of mascara here and there during regular days. Plus, she is constantly aware of her weight and it becomes a crucial problem in the end of the season, yet, she wears clothes that essentially show off her problem areas. That annoyed me so much! If I’d be her, which I actually am and worse, I’d be wearing over sized everything! I wouldn’t wear any kinds of belts to show off the fat or what ever, but Hanna did, A LOT. In the end it became a cliché, it didn’t feel as if she was aware of it nor did she care and yet, she herself wrote it into a fundamental problem. If a girl hates her body, as she said she did, she will hide it and the fact that Hanna never actually did wear something to do so, pissed me off so much.

The frustration to identify with Hanna’s character, which would be actually really easy considering my own life, was softened by the two other characters I liked and some guest appearances. Soshanna Shapiro (Zosia Mamet) was hands down my favorite of the bunch and she didn’t have to do much to get to that place. She was a 20+ something virgin, a bit quirky and she was clearly an anti-social person that didn’t let that fact lead her fashion sense. Or at least that’s what it seemed as. Her hook-up with Skylar Astin’s character in episode 4 was my favorite moment of the whole season! Partly because I’m fangirling over Astin as we speak but also, it was hilarious and brilliant and I wished Dunham herself wrote those kinds of scenes for herself instead of watching her on-and-off boyfriend jerk off while talking “dirty” at him.

Second favorite of the show is Marnie Michaels (Allison Williams) because she is so pretty and down to earth grown-up. And trust me, Girls needs that girl who is more responsible than others by having a job and a “healthy” relationship. Though she is now broken up with her other half, I’m hoping Jorma Taccone’s second guest appearance will be even more exciting that his first one. Honestly, if we add Chris O’Dowd to the mix of the cast, the entire Girls show is amazing only thanks to the guest appearances by these awesome men (one just happens to be my fangirl crush) which is a bit sad. Never the less, I liked season 1 more than I wanted to but it’s safe to say that I need to see some progress of Hanna’s character because otherwise I’d be pretty mad. She might be a bit over weight but man, she is treating that story line unfairly from the perspective of a girl who has been struggling with weight most of her life. Shame on you Dunham!

While it’s refreshing to see a different kind of approach on love, sex and friendship compared to the infamous Sex and the City, I still feel disconnected from the characters. I’m calling it a cultural difference that is messing up the overall problem of identifying myself with these girls. That is kind of sad to be honest because I’d wish Girls was more universal and more opened to interpretation to people like me. Now coming back to the Golden Globe win, I’m not all hands down against it but I think it was more or less a political win for Dunham. I didn’t laugh as much as I do while watching Modern Family, I honestly just considered it to be more of a drama. And if you are familiar with my “Downfall of comedies” posts you’d understand why I don’t find weird and humiliating sex sequences and everything downgrading women to be funny. Despite of that, I will tune in on the second season to see where Dunham is going to take Hanna and to see more O’Dowd!