GIRLS talk (the Lena Dunham thread)

"harvard grad makes good, what an inspiring story!"

Lollll

Elijah also had good lines
"I had just put a bid in on 16 acres"

I love how Elijah constantly spouts all this really weird shit that is amusing in its zaniness and then completely falls apart when you imagine Elijah as a character actually following through w/ these things off camera

Like I don't mean that as a critique, I just enjoy it. It's like there's a secret ~productive~ Elijah running around

Doesn't it seem odd how few characters there are on the show (any?) who aren't completely narcissistic and self-obsessed?

I can't think of one

Laird maybe

those are the defining traits for mid-20 yr olds so, no

it's funny, i didn't get on board with the show until i took it as a sloppy collection of moments that are tonally inconsistent and regularly undercut established character work that still manages to be amusing and occasionally cutting for 30 minutes, like they made a soap opera out of the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie. so it couldn't really go haywire or down the wrong road unless i stopped enjoying the actors.

ike they made a soap opera out of the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie.

holy. shit.

this is such a brilliant summary.

i also watch the show to learn new annoyed sounds from adam that i can make during my commute

stop fucking murdering buñuel you charlatans

Lena Duñuel

Watched a few episodes of S4 last night, I think the first scene I've actually enjoyed of this show was Dunham's takedown of her fellow MFAs.

croup otm

SO otm

rattlesnake cowgirl
heart for sale
whoa wow wonderful
song for marcus garvey
oaxaca blues
kokopeli shelly

that's top six right there

loooool

desi is the worst. so perfectly, punchably realized

Haha I know. As awful and overblown as these characters seem sometimes, I have met all of them (except Shosh! Who is the best anyway) to a tee in real life, and I still have a hard time believing they exist like that.

yeah like they are broad strokes caricatures but the tiny details are well-observed enough to make them seem somehow familiar

i'm a year behind, like Gaby Hoffmann as Adam's batshit mess sister

she's so good

Loved this week's abortion plotline and the Adam/Mimi-Rose relationship in general.

Desi is the magnificent worst. His misplaced snobbery about She & Him was perfect.

back to s3: Ray-Marnie ridiculous as a zipless fuck, let alone a couple for any length of time. Sub-Dawson's Creek.

tho it does recall Judy Tenuta's line "Did you ever start dating someone, instead of committing suicide?"

lol

ok, the second half of the third season got a LOT better. The biggest shocker was that Shoshanna bacame more than a cartoon (or a deeper one). She was great drunkenly ripping everyone to shreds in the Beach House ep, and then incredibly moving making her plea to Ray in the finale. Z Mamet has my respect.

she's kind of my favourite character in s4

definitely

and then incredibly moving making her plea to Ray in the finale.

agree that this was one of the few moments in this show that felt emotionally real, almost to a disturbing degree

Mixed feelings about Girls (and S4). Notably not enjoying this season (so far) as much as others; considering giving up on it.

Yet I do want to give Dunham credit for something I'm not sure has been much discussed. There's a lot of cartoonishness in Girls. But (in all seasons) the depiction of male/ female sexual relationships has a surprising complexity, nuance, even courage. (Much of the charge of the previous seasons is the unfolding complexity of Hannah's and Adam's relationship.)

E.g. abortion in last episode. No matter how one as tv watcher reacted to the early scene (whether you feel Adam is the asshole or Mimi-Rose is the asshole; the dress is blue-black or white-gold), the episode was fair to and acknowledged both deeply felt and authentic positions.

It's ironic because Dunham's IRL messiness (e.g. memoir-ed alleged Republican rapist or sister pebbles-- on which topics I haven't read ILX) provoked opposed extreme reactions. But while (I think) Dunham is probably IRL an asshole; her fiction is nuanced and complex and (even against certain politically correct supposed "SJW" "feminist" preconceptions) brave-- just in conveying a descriptive (not prescriptive) experience from both male and female perspectives.

NB not that it makes any difference but I'm an XX female.

PS If I had to pick a "side," I'd pick Mimi-Rose. But I was also completely empathetic to Adam's POV.

I think this is an admirable skill for an author/ creator (what Bakhtin calls polyphony).

lol everyone in this show is so batshit

mimi rose giving that laundromat woman the poem was so eyerollingly lol

Elijah again w the best lolz

this was one of the funniest episodes in a while for me. the taxi scenes (both ace and mimi's) were absorbing, and the whole laundromat conversation on artistry lol. it hits on a lot of things at once that people are thinking but not talking about. dunham's characters are like caricatures grounded in reality. ace is fucking absurd but you know (or at least can expect) he exists.

have I successfully avoided it somehow or does this show not generate as much thinkpiece-ry as it used to?

it's moment def seems to have passed (ceded ground to Broad City I guess?)

it's pretty boring / not very good / been on for four years / ratings are the lowest they've ever been / dunham isn't really writing the episodes anymore

http://headlineplanet.com/home/2015/02/18/ratings-girls-togetherness-hit-new-viewership-low-marks/

bummed that Looking is doing so poorly; that thing is a jewel

I think I am the only person watching Togetherness

Looking is worthless garbage though

I also watch Togetherness, sorry to see it's not going well.

I am watching togetherness but I can't say I like it very much. I was pretty shocked when it was announced it was coming back for another season.

I agree that Looking is p ridiculous

Togetherness does this thing where it undercuts what would otherwise be sappy with some fairly brutal emotional cruelty. the mushroom trip in this last episode had me cracking up tho

I think I am the only person watching Togetherness

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, March 3, 2015 2:13 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the last two have been really good. esp the first scene with seemingly homeless Mary Steenburgen chasing duplass Out Of The Woods.

manic pixie dream retiree

Looking is worthless garbage though
― gybe horses (Stevie D(eux))

seriously, i skipped the first season and picked it up this go round and it's quite good.
last episode was A++