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Lena Dunham: The disenchanted voice of our generation?
Other | Monday 4th March 2013 | Radka
Dunham happens to be the first author that managed to depict the struggles of ‘Y Generation’ in American TV series in a realistic light.
The writer, director, executive producer and actress- all of that is 26 years old New Yorker Lena Dunham. Depicted as a straight-forward by journalists, the young writer is fearless enough to make the series edgy, rough and characters (often) unlikable.
Dunham became more visible with a feature film Tiny Furniture (2010) that won South By Southwest Narrative Feature Film Award.
Girls and Tiny Furniture have quite a lot in common- apart from Jemima Kirke (who Dunham met at Oberlin College they both studied at) and Alex Karpovsky ,who star in both, it is Dunham’s signature style of story-telling.
Girls’ plot spins around lives of four ‘twenty-something ‘New Yorkers –Hanna Horvath (Lena Dunham), Marnie Michaels (Allison Williams), Jessa Johansson (Jemima Kirke) and Shoshanna Shapiro (Zosia Mamet).
The series were meant to be a follow-up for the cult series Sex and the City that became a major point of arguments between the fans.
In Sex and the City the heroines had everything sorted (careers, flats, finance) and the only incomplete aspect of their ‘almost perfect lives’ was their sex life and relationships. The sex adventures of thirty-something New Yorkers and their hunt for ‘the one’, perfect penis, and mighty careers were many times compared to a ‘Lifestyle Porn’, that the series became for their followers. In spite of initial conflict and struggle, the strong presence of happy endings was suggesting that you can really have it all-at the edge of forty.
On contrary with Sex and the City, when watching Girls you will be slapped with bitterness and imperfection of its every aspect. The overeducated girls, who would have been married house-wives in the same age forty years ago, seem to be confused about becoming adults and still trying figure out who they are (if they don’t postpone the process completely).
Despite being criticised for being way too niche, too white, too much over the top, sadly pathetic and from times try-hard, Girls series have something very unique to offer. These 2012 HBO series offer an in-depth analysis of one’s misery. Girls’ characters shall persuade you that it is not easy to be a young adult these days.
Surely, it seems to be a fault of ego, selfishness, indecisiveness and ‘want it all’ nature of main characters, but they as well reassure you that it is the society and circumstances that they throw themselves into, that make them struggle the most.
The second series of Girls premiered on January 13, 2013 and burst with rawness, more deprivation and psychological struggle and offer refreshing insights of these lost souls.
The series are a great source of a mighty buzz, because of its controversial character-nudity, sassiness and a lot of painful feelings.
If you fancy seeing a slow dance, shedding a tear during romantic scenes and happily-ever-after scenarios, then don’t even think about watching Girls.
I must admit, I was amused when analysing the sex-aspect of this series. The intercourse is usually animalistic, ferocious, rarely involves any feelings and usually lasts couple of minutes. Is it the way we handle our sex lives these days? Does Dunham just let the audience face the mirror?
The days when the society was looking for a G-spot, men were enthusiastic about butt-plugs and ladies were happy when ‘given’ an orgasm are irreversibly gone.
What we need absorb these days is drunken copulation, lost dignity and online-speed dating. If the love occurs in between, it is usually one-sided or it has an expiry date stuck on its forehead. Living in a massive mosaic of cultures like New York or London suggests a fast pace of life, abstract barriers between people and illegal temptations that help us to lose ourselves in a sweet escapism.
If we manage to stay true to ourselves and not to be sucked into the vicious circle of never-ending illusion called ‘living a great life’, we won.
Also I must say that Dunham portrays ‘getting lost in order to be discovered’ route quite believably.
I would not suggest giving it a go due to good critiques and couple of awards that Dunham’s Girls got so far, but I would highly recommend the series for the viewer who is tired of clichés and perfection we are being shown on the daily basis- through television and advertising.
The rating is 4 out of 5 as the first series of Girls were bit too cheesy/American/try-way-too-hard-to-be-cool for me.
@rad_polackova
