GIRLS talk (the Lena Dunham thread)

Well, I should say, produces that fantasy. His own is something else.

On the first couple of episodes I really, really hated this show but gave it a chance and have really warmed to it and have caught up. UK'ing it so not got the second episode of Series 2 yet. Buuut what I like about it, even though the life experiences in this show are very different from mine is that that 20's year old superconfidence + superinsecurity thing = social fuck up is universal. At the same time I wouldn't defend the show too much as I realise the faults in it and I could easily despise it.

ok this episode is actually funny for a change.

youd be like really good @ bathing a pig

why dont you lay this thing down flip it and reverse it

im glad this show is finally funny again

I never realized until recently how much of making work for me was also based in making the people around me understand that I got it. Sometimes when I make things, it's because I want my parents to see that I know what a pain I've been. I just want them to see it and feel that I know. It's not necessarily even wanting them to know that I'm sorry—just that I'm in on it, so don't think I'm not. Or, for example, with a guy who I've slept with, I'll think, "You're going to see my movie and you're going to understand that I was out-thinking you the entire time and you didn't even know it." Of course, that's not how anybody perceives your work...I don't know if you've ever had that fantasy.

Why is self-awareness and a sense of irony about her selfishness this saving grace to her? It's as though she's not ashamed at all to have been selfish, even towards her parents, but it's being perceived as the unaware megalomaniac, who had lost perspective or was naive, that's horrifying. But perhaps she's aware that this attitude is also nagl, and there's self-awareness, and we're another layer in...

"Welcome to the LayerCupCake..."

Hmm. But then again, she has parents who decide it 'wouldn't be honest' to stay all the way through school plays that suck etc, who seem to have taught her this creative selfishness by example. I did enjoy that interview.

parents who decide it 'wouldn't be honest' to stay all the way through school plays that suck

this sounds awesome!!

haha of course marnie is from montclair

this was a great ep

is it just me or is this season really dark? Like in a lighting sense. Every indoor scene seems murky as hell

this seemed k soap opera-y & broadbrush, to me :/

like i feel like it can be really incisive & thoughtful about which moments of relationships & friendships are representative, are punctums, but so far this season it's just been like generic tv show shit, like don't tell hannah *people bristle under the weight of a shared secret*. also not to sound like donald glover reading the essay but nothing is really happening to the characters, apart from marnie losing her job i guess. i always want homer to be at work on the simpsons & i would be sorta into just dry & droll shit being chronicled on girls. all of this said the scene where hannah chased adam out of the apartment was really moving & tonally just really interesting to me, like probably operating on a louie-ish level of flexible emotional terrain.

Why is self-awareness and a sense of irony about her selfishness this saving grace to her? It's as though she's not ashamed at all to have been selfish, even towards her parents, but it's being perceived as the unaware megalomaniac, who had lost perspective or was naive, that's horrifying. But perhaps she's aware that this attitude is also nagl, and there's self-awareness, and we're another layer in...

because it's really valuable to recognise the messy layers of human experiences; that she can fuck up at the same time as knowing she is fucking up. that there's a conflict between action, impulse & judgement is really key in her work, i think, like she is pretty content framing her character, & characters in their twenties & elsewhere, as really misguided, either by being really trapped in her head or feeling confused by whatever outside stimulus battles with her predefined sense of self. it's a saving grace because people are iirc pretty regularly pretty selfish, but are also often well intentioned & torn between things & would do things differently & feel regularly like they act uncertainly. it is very satisfying to see this represented on screen the same way that it was nice for things like the sopranos to at least fracture GOOD GUY/BAD GUY narratives by being a lil more holistic. the weirdest criticism of s1 of this was when people talked about whether or not the characters were sympathetic, or suggested they wouldn't necessarily feel drawn to watching things in which nobody felt compelling; i can understand that as an aesthetic preference, like why do i want this extra depression in my life, but at a certain point it can almost be like insisting on happy endings or softer edges in your viewing material.

haha this ep

wonder what Booth Jonathan did to Laird

eli's license says he's from colorado which I assume is a ref to tiny furniture?? or has eli always been from colorado

The mesh shirt was killing me

Apparently the next ep is up on HBoGo and On Demand.

wonder what Booth Jonathan did to Laird

probably locked him in the tv chamber

yeah that's what I assumed

"Make your mark! MAKE YOUR MARK!"

"In urine?"

what was the thing she scrawled on the wall? something about show dogs?

"Raise show dogs" which Elijah protested was one of his

lool that's right

This episode grossed me out. I feel like everyone went from being a relatable fuck-up to just ick. Laird was the only redeeming thing about it.

^OTM

The bit where douchey artist guy is like "I'm the guy you're gonna have sex with." And then Marnie sitting in that horrible lame Robot Chicken thing, and then actually having sex with him...? Did she quit her job? And then the whole drug-taking plot, which seemed like a square fifteen-year-old's vision of the NY party scene. But mostly, Hannah is just incredibly unlikable. So fucking horrible to Laird (REALLY? He tells you that he got clean, and you keep pushing him to get you drugs? Yuck.). If I wanted to watch a show full of hateful jerks, I'd watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I stopped being able to take after Larry tried to dump his girlfriend cuz he didn't want to deal with her having cancer.

I hope they dial back the hatefulness a bit. It seems lazy...

Two months ago if you were to tell me that Donald Glover would play the most likable character on this show I would've rmde so hard.

idk Hannah's becoming more clearly a cruel person but I don't think it's supposed to be just a gag/thing to laugh at. Maybe I'm wrong and there's no arc to that at all but the show keeps circling around her self-involvement & defensiveness and stuff and I think it's going to land somewhere cathartic.

lol schwantz I started liking the show more once I thought of it like a 20-something Curb Yr Enthusiasm - like there are no good ppl in this, just diff levels of narcissistic awfulness

I thought this ep was really funny but maybe I have detachment issues :/

xp oh, def

I'm looking forward to season 3 when they make Danny DeVito a permanent cast member.

xxxp (@silby)I hope so too.

I feel like her self-involvement has been pointed out enough, and it's time for them to go somewhere with it. Perhaps I'm taking it too personally, as I found Hannah uncomfortably familiar, and I was like COME ON NOW someone that much like me can't be THAT callow & callous. Even as stupid, experience-seeking 24 year old, I would have been able to recognize the fact that the real story was in the my confounded expectations of the druggie dude. And yeah, the whole coke experience scanned as pretty inauthentic.

yeah I honestly legit felt sorry for the junkie guy

lena dunham making out with jon glaser is the best thing to happen on tv in 2013 so far

I'm disturbed that Marnie is the character I'd be most comfortable spending time with.

had been p pleased that jessa has barely been in this season but apparently shes in the next ep a lot

Omg that sex scene

n/m the jessa stuff in ep 4 is actually good. i really think the writing on this show has gotten way better this season fwiw

vg generally otm

Ok, episode 4 is a bit redemptive. Very little Hannah, for one thing.

I really hope Booth Johnathon gets told in the next episode. I was starting to like Marnie, but, just, no.

lena dunham's worst sin in making 'girls' is getting that icona pop song stuck in my head

wow this latest episode is realllly good

The advance one online is better than this week imo

that is the one i'm talking about! i wasn't sure why it was floating around in the middle of the week, but i watched it + it's def one of the best episodes of the series. is it a leak?

No, HBO released it to Go and On Demand early because of the Super Bowl on Sunday night.

Gotcha. In related news:

http://store.hbo.com/detail.php?p=433303&dm=true

Along with a new season, January 2013 brings an exciting partnership between Deborah Lippmann and HBO: a limited-edition set of four nail lacquers inspired by each of the GIRLS.
As always, Deborah’s nail colors are named after songs. With music being an emotional force of the show, the four shades are aptly named with song titles that symbolize each of the GIRLS’ distinct personalities. Independent, feminine, playful, sexy and of course complex - there is a color for every kind of mood. The collection is witty and empowering while celebrating the various dimensions of feminine identity.
Colors Include:
HANNAH: Hapless Hunter Green
MARNIE: Prim And Proper Pink
SHOSHANNA: Virtuous Vivid Violet
JESSA: Bohemian Burgundy

no vital center?! fuck that shit

hahah Wonderwall, what a bad song