GIRLS talk (the Lena Dunham thread)

also table in the table, you are a treasure on these boards, never leave

anyway, did not get the bitter and cruel and angry vibe from this at all, enjoyed it for sure, found it recognizable and funny, definitely not perfect and is sort of 'problematic' for a number of reasons but would recommend

yeah this is a fun/funny show and I liked it. it also still just kinda tickles at my class warrior itch, but I guess a lot of stuff does that, including a lot of real life.

I'm not digging the whole 'it's so true and relatable' thing. I mean, the protagonist stole money from the housekeeper. In a way, this is a lot easier to deal with if you think of it as the female Eastbound & Down. Instead of joining the major leagues, this Kenny Powers is delusional about being the voice of a generation. I don't think they'll take it as broad as that though.

"mom was too mean, she should have been a stepmom, then it wouldve made sense"

while we'd still be dealing with monstrous caricatures, it would make a bit more sense for a woman to be screaming about how she deserves a lake house if maybe the girl lying half-conscious on the floor wasn't raised by her. either way, people are really just asking for some backstory to explain why the "tough love" dunham is getting seems so contemptuous.

it kind of reminds me of that new "bff" show in that the half-hour format might be a little limiting. it asks us to get emotionally involved with character reality while indulging in broad cliches to move things along. We've got the lead's eating and fucking in stark indie-vision, but everyone who affects her life is a parody of a person.

yeah the episode felt shockingly short at a half hour.

oh god it'd be a nightmare as a 60-minute show, better too little than too much

kind of amazed judd "146-minute theatrical cut" apatow settled for that, actually

oh the old james l bridges understood how TV works even after he started making mammoth dramedies

lovechild of james l. brooks and jeff bridges?

lol

I would have enjoyed it at an hour I think. a longer show would allow it to stretch out and escape nightmare territory maybe? modulate tone a bit?

people are really just asking for some backstory to explain why the "tough love" dunham is getting seems so contemptuous.

― da croupier, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 8:10 AM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

asking her to get a job, what nazis

i mean she was not actually half conscious, as the mom said 'youre getting played by an all time player here' was the whole point, the tea wasnt knocking her out, her desperation to not get cut off was

i think its weird a parent would announce half-way through the dinner she was cutting off her child immediately with a nagging "no more money". ymmv

a lil grace period prob wouldve been wise but obvs the situation was already pretty loaded

and you're really ignoring the "i deserve a lake house" meltdown

i realized like an hour after watching the show that the mother is the mom from freaks + geeks, right?

There sure are a lot of boys on the Girls thread.

and, uh, pretty much every other thread. it happens.

I know, I know. Still.

she wants to use her hard earned money to sit on her ass at the lake, her daughter is being a manipulative lil monster and her husband is falling for it for the millionth time so she melts down a lil bit, no one behaved v well but it still ranks p low on the scale of family disfunction

obvs aside, i just think some backstory would help explain just how the situation is "loaded" and just how sympathetic the mom's anger is (though i know plenty of people who were just glad to watch a spoiled 24-year-old get shit on, even if it was by the presumable spoiler)

will admit having the freaks & geeks mom in this role made it more wtf for me

There sure are a lot of boys on the Girls thread.

― wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:15 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh i thought this was the title of the show not an instruction on who should talk abt it, excuuuuse me

pretty sure the "backstory" is that her parents have been supporting her in nyc for two years while she writes her memoir

i mean i dunno none of that rang false to me

picked a nice restaurant to surprise cut her off in

x-post - I didn't say you can't talk about it! Talk away. I just think it's sort of interesting that afaict no women (who have actually watched it yet) have posted about the show. I'm not saying that's necessarily significant in any way but I did notice it. nb I am going to watch it. I just forgot to the other night.

I'm not digging the whole 'it's so true and relatable' thing. I mean, the protagonist stole money from the housekeeper. In a way, this is a lot easier to deal with if you think of it as the female Eastbound & Down. Instead of joining the major leagues, this Kenny Powers is delusional about being the voice of a generation. I don't think they'll take it as broad as that though.

― Popture, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 8:08 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i dunno. maybe we should make a distinction between "relatable" and "recognizable" and "sympathetic" -- i felt like all the characters were recognizable at almost all times, relatable less of the time, sympathetic even less

hope the mom becomes a full arch villain & is 100% preoccupied w/ her dream lakehouse

i just think some backstory would help explain just how the situation is "loaded" and just how sympathetic the mom's anger is

― da croupier, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:18 AM (53 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i thought some of their ingrained family patterns were p deftly displayed sans formal backstory, like the dads babying style of parenting is dominant in the family mom wants tuff luv as she feels like the girls development has beens stunted but cant pull it off, good storytelling!

x-post - I didn't say you can't talk about it! Talk away. I just think it's sort of interesting that afaict no women (who have actually watched it yet) have posted about the show. I'm not saying that's necessarily significant in any way but I did notice it. nb I am going to watch it. I just forgot to the other night.

― wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:22 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sounds like weve got a feminazi on our hands fellas

but dad's style wasn't dominant, they cut her off, left her behind in a hotel room with $20

the mom finally got her way was how i read it

ya

ok you've invented a backstory, good for you

if you look at her character in general and particularly how she reacted to getting cut off i think the show was trying to imply that shes k spoiled

like it was saying that, it doesnt need to be all spelled out, although im sure well get more infos in future episodes

two years is like a crazzzzy long time for your parents to be supporting you after college

like i could see where croup is coming if this was like a 6 months after college conversation

i do think cutting her off cold turkey was kinda unrealistic, like she needs time to find a paying job, give her a few months

if you look upthread, i called her spoiled. i just don't know if we're supposed to take the "all time player" shit at face value, and there seems to be some serious hate there beyond "my daughter, the stunted 24-year-old intern". honestly, any other actress in the role and I'd just take the mom was a cartoon plot device.

feels more like a convenient plot device than a thing that wouldve actually gone down like that

that's true

the mom obvs has some issues of her own, i mean her husband is a professor w/an earring, shes had a tough life, not that that justifies her callous behavior

well also they are setting her up to...move home? in a week

yep

maybe she could have gotten them to relent and support her for a few months but she actually asked for 1100 a month for two years or whatever, which I guess was the final straw for the mother

the overall family portrait was i think none of them are particularly strong people, theyre not horrible but just a bit adrift