Girls reviewed: Survivors of the 20th Century

One of the things I like to do whenever I start watching the first few episodes of a new TV series is to watch myself slowly getting attached. As long as I don't have a clue about who these new characters are, siding with them is like trying to find a dance routine to a song whose rhythm I haven't yet figured out.

There are a bunch of quirky shows out there these days, portraying even quirkier people, which makes it hard to get behind them, and to uncover the traces of their humanity.

The great thing about Girls is that the show found a quirky pitch to realistically portray what it is like to be a young woman, and painfully so. For me that is like hitting the bulls eye of quirk.

Although I don't always succeed in it, I always try to pinpoint the moment a story wins me over, whether it being a book, a film or a TV series. I consider it good practice to be aware of the moment I'm sold on something, and knee deep invested in characters. With Girls it only took two and a half episodes, which is pretty atypical compared to my usual slow-bonding habits.

Regardless of what you've heard about it, and albeit being referenced a couple of times, the show is nothing like Sex and the City, not even close to a "prequel" to the glamorous, occasionally funny but otherwise emotionally void series. In fact, Girls has as little to do with a "gay man's perspective on women" as speed metal does with chocolate. Girls is the show created, written, directed by and starring Lena Dunham, which is to say she carries a lot of weight. Maybe you've seen her around. She wrote and directed the indie drama Tiny Furniture, which may be considered an early remnant of what would later become Girls.

The show is about a group of twentysomethings living in the heart of New York, not exclusively girls, also the boys who surround them. Portraying the lives of young people, the series picks up on Generation Y's balancing act in regards to age, gender, job and vocation, and very successfully so.

Yes, it does get a little explicit and dirty at times, in the way you'd expect it from an HBO show. Nudity serves a purpose though, and every exposed body part leads to a new discovery about women, men, what they each have in common, and what it is that divides them.

Thus far each of the episodes reeks of personal experience, and while it is keenly observed and well written, the comedy comes from a dark place. It's rare to witness comedic dialogue that unerring without the writers having to aim for those quick puns.

The four main characters live in and share shitty little apartments, they struggle to survive each week at a time, getting by on badly paid jobs and unpaid internships. The pilot episode starts with Lena Dunham's character Hannah being cut off financially by her parents, and during the season we witness her struggles with the consequences of the umbilical cord being cut, financially as well as emotionally.

Talented leech that she is, she does find ways to survive, sponging off of her best friend Marnie for a little while. Marnie is the stuck-up type who strives to have a career. They're both friends with Shoshanna who lives in her own little world; she's the only one who hasn't graduated from college yet, and shares her place with wild child Jessa, who makes money as she goes, traveling around the world as an au pair and a nanny - obviously horrible choices for someone as irresponsible and flighty by nature - but she doesn't seem to realize it yet.

I don't exactly know why, but seeing the show made me think back to My So-Called Life, which was a teen series I loved when I was 17. I still like to revisit it from time to time, because it says something true about being a mid-nineties teenager.

Girls says something equally profound about the times that come thereafter, having outgrown the teenage phase post 2000, and being a blank slate in a world of adults and grown-up expectations.

The clip is taken from the infamous job interview scene and it exemplifies where the show hits the right notes. This is how Hannah blows a job interview, overstepping her boundaries, due to lack of experience. Well that, and cheekiness.




This is also what I like this series for - it finds non-judgmental ways to describe familiar feelings and scenarios, not from the perspective of someone who has long outgrown the phase and looks down upon these girls, and not from the perspective of someone in the middle of it either. Like a third eye, the point of view moves in and out, never siding too much with anyone.

Lena Dunham did find a unique way to tell her story - and who knows, she may really be the voice of her generation after all. Or - as she put it - at least a voice. Of a generation.

Activism, Part III

Dealing with problems in life, instead of climbing mountains wouldn't we all have more fun walking around them? In case you're wondering, today, this is not furious, but lazy old me speaking, the one who likes to occasionally complain about stuff, but doesn't actually leave the house when people are rallying round the flag. This is quite the departure for me. I don't know if you read my posts Activism, Part I and Part II. I still admire anyone who sets out to change the world. Sometimes though admiration turns into pity. And that's when you know you're old, and no longer a part of the solution. Eventually everyone stops trying to change the world, because life is too short to place it on hold.

I have to quote myself here. This is an excerpt from Activism, Part II, dated roughly one year ago:

Everyone knows that the way wealth is distributed amongst people is far from fair. Our personal financial state doesn't necessarily represent the things we earn, even less deserve. There is some obscene prosperity accumulated by a privileged few, in many places all over the world. In the USA, the top 20% of Americans owned 85% of the country's wealth and the bottom 80% of the population owned 15% (year 2007, source Congressional Budget Office). How does that not scream revolt in loud and bloody letters? How does that not make you want to kick in some doors?

The facts are still true. And while I understand the reasoning behind the propensity to outrage, nowadays I just as well relate to phlegm. Most of us start out as hyperactive fetuses, foolishly fighting an unjust system. Later on, we realize, there is no gain in fighting a set of rules that by default will make a few people very very rich. That's when some of us turn to the dark side, and decide to outsmart the system rather than abolishing it. How about doing what the rich do, if only to prove a point. That's what a society of hairy primate grabbing hands does to us...

And at a certain point then, BAM! Greed suddenly turns into a perfectly reasonable moral position. Because the innate feeling - the world is horrible I better look out for myself - comes so natural to us. Once that justification makes perfect sense to you, it's all over with you and "world" in terms of solidarity. Look at what happened to Walter White in Breaking Bad. Yes, he's a fictional character, but in terms of moral intentions, reality set the parameters for the narrative.

The powers that be keep us down and we buy into what they tell us. We'd rather believe that the rich worked long and hard for what they have. That they started from nothing, same as we did. That we, if we work long and hard, can be one of them some day. It's all a big bag of lies. They had a head start in being born with some privileges. They may have worked hard, and cheated even harder, but they didn't tell you about the selling of soul which has to be done as well. That's were the real money is buried. Because they have long passed "being wealthy" now, since it's all about being filthy rich. They know how to get it. They know where to take it, and who to take it from. And hide it. Another bonus this year, just for being 'you'! Congrats!

In hindsight it does sound childish of me to complain about the rules of Monopoly. It's an old game. Although we can't seem to change the rules, we can all choose to play another game anytime we want. There is checkers, there is parcheesi and rock-paper-scissors. Unfortunately we all want to win at the game with the big cash prize. The most important reason why we play is the jackpot filled with security. Or whatever you want to call the placebo feelgood thingy. Strong concept. Empty word.

We need to reach a certain point to realize that there is no life credit, no such a thing as security for any of us. I don't want to sound all grinch-y, but world economy, and ultimately personal health, these are the ones to spoil the game for all of us amateur gamblers. Those suckers don't care what the pool is, to them we're the stakes. And the steaks.

There is only one solution. Stop playing. Cut the ties to security. It's an illusion anyways. Be a proud owner of nothing but your bare existence. That's the thing that counts for all of us equally.

Problem is that if you're like me, and you enjoy the comfort of a roof over your head, warm water and food other than the one you find in a dumpster, you'll be having a hard time with that kind of resolve. I like my life. The idea of having less than I have now terrifies me. And much to my embarrassment, yes, there is still a part of me that wants to kill a queen to become one myself...

This makes me sick. So sick, in fact, I think vomiting could become a chronic problem for me. I proved myself wrong. There is some use in activism. I just don't think judging the guy next to us for his lifestyle choices is where it should begin - or end. We should take out the ones that cause the real damage. Let's go now, you take the banner, I'll get the axe. Let's head out and make a statement, red on white.