GIRLS talk (the Lena Dunham thread)

also i know u have seen more eps because someone is trying to make u blog abt it, im v sry u have to go through that

all i want is due recognition of my suffering

i guess my issue with it (and i agree that the tone and effect were intentional) is that i found it horrific, and not so funny. again, tho, i'm not critiquing her skill or artistic vision. i'm just noting my own discomfort with it. it might just be too dark for me. (also, i don't think there's been a lot of discussion here about the 'not totally consensual' stuff, like her constantly asking him if he was using a condom and the lack of clarity about whether that was so. again, it might be true to life, but it's also really dark and unsettling and i don't think pointing out that it's unsettling is somehow unfair. it may be more unfair to try and downplay that.)

I think one useful approach might be to just be like Whoah, if this is normal or at least not that uncommon in the lives of some people who happen to be women of a certain age or w/e, maybe the world they move through is kinda different from mine, and then to think about reasons that might be so? Which is kinda back to horseshoe's comment that Dunham didn't put this meanness in the world.

Or is that too earnest for this thread? Sorry.

i prefer stories that go: here is a situation, here are some characters, read it yourself. i think authors don't have to spell the world out. but because people quite often seem to think that is their aim, it's braver writing, i think, when an author is prepared to show something ugly and not comment on it, or distance her/himself out of fear this will seem to be based on the writer and how s/he operates in the world, or fear s/he thinks this is a pefectly fine dynamic in the world.

agree

aaron sorkin said the increasing popularity of this style of low exposition storytelling was made possible by the tv on dvd explosion, which i thought was p interesting

If this is too upsetting, there's always Whitney, 2 Broke Girls, The New Girl, and Don't Trust The Bee.

how does this show compare to breaking bad that show's great

its prob not as good as breaking bad but ive only seen one ep so

lenas character should go into business selling opium tea

watched the pilot last night, I was expecting to love it or hate it but I'm still on the fence, I found it about 40% funny and 60% irritating

zosia mamet's character was like nails on chalkboard to me yeeesh

"all i'll need to finish my book is $1100 a month for the next 2 years"
"ha!!"
"I know, you're thinking, who can live in nyc on 1100 a month? I'm willing to get thrifty here"

ha yes that was a good one

the dad's (from Undeclared - which was better than Freaks & Geeks) reaction to the opium tea was pretty hilarious

i dont need to google it its like smoking banana peels lol

that last scene btw her and the parents was all pretty funny

peter scolari was never in undeclared, are you thinking of loudon wainwright?

there's this thing where in tv i always feel like ppl do less drug than irl and that was the same here but it definitely seemed like a realistic version of people being bad at drugs like when he asks his gf if its ok to have some opium T

haha the clingy soft bf reminded me of myself in an uncomfortable way

the awkward sex/ridiculous boyfriend - it didn't click for me, maybe it was that the boyfriend was too cartoonishly a dick and that the scene was neither funny nor dramatic?
Flat is a fine way to play things, IMO, but not when you're also writing really broad secondary characters there should be punchlines/payoffs or something.

peter scolari was never in undeclared, are you thinking of loudon wainwright?

there's this thing where in tv i always feel like ppl do less drug than irl and that was the same here but it definitely seemed like a realistic version of people being bad at drugs like when he asks his gf if its ok to have some opium T

― judith, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 12:39 PM (7 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah part of the dynamic i think is that they want to be all bohemian but are really kinda square

yeah these people are definitely like "young professionals," i can't really imagine how this world intersects with table's tbh

many young professionals are much better at drugs than that tbf

iirc table hates "middle class ppl problems"

i can't really imagine how this world intersects with table's tbh

― judith, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 12:42 PM (50 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

college, non profits, art openings

i feel bad that the episode is being asked to carry the weight of the world (it's unclear whether the mom is a prominent character to be developed or just a plot device at this point), but hey, the point of making TV is for people to watch and care

we're probably never seeing the parents again, right?

many young professionals are much better at drugs than that tbf

― lag∞n, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 5:43 PM (3 minutes ago)

her riot grrl body image tattoo solution reminds me so much of the lamp hipster/alt dichotomy and i feel like in a post occupy world these ppl hang out less and less

wait idk why i quoted that there.

oh i meant to c+p max

somewhat analogous to the sixties radical/hippie split <<just spitballin

can someone link to "the lamp hipster/alt dichotomy" ?

the actor who plays the sadsack boyfriend is gr8, i think.

where do i go to read this lamp hipster treatise?

lol xp

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?showall=true&bookmarkedmessageid=3410038&boardid=77&threadid=89067

there's a lot there but ok i think i get it

The truth is that Girls feels less like portrait of a generation than a napkin doodle of bougie urbane privilege. All consoling cupcakes and winking and parents-who-are-both-of-them-professors, it’s like the origin story for a new breed of Cathy, ack-ing her way through professional and personal malaise and urgently nudging you all, “Yeah, right? You too, right?!” Halfway through the first episode I expected Lena Dunham to use the phrase “go girl” in air quotes and then turn and wink at the camera like she’s Zack fucking Morris. It’s lousy.

http://maisonneuve.org/blog/2012/04/17/why-hbos-girls-unfunny-vacuum-pandering-privileged/

My wife said, "so this main girl is basically Liz Lemon if she got fired from her first comedy gig?".

that dude tweeted angrily about it for like 24 straight hours yday xp

what feels like the portrait of a generation

lol he actually went w/ack cathy

fuck that dude

To paraphrase something my girlfriend said—yes, I have a girlfriend, despite the fact that I’m an agent of the patriarchy who doesn’t like Girls—this show is lifestyle porn for the willfully miserable, indulgent escapism for people who think they need to be unhappy to be real.

wincing r/n

i like when he quotes his girlfriend so we know his opinion is valid

ha xpost

lol i haven't seen this show, what am i even doing

is she directing all the episodes or just writing?

wikipedia has her listed as director of the first three, solo writer of the first five and co-writer of the sixth and seventh show.

seventh episode seems sure to provoke commentary: "Welcome to Bushwick a.k.a. The Crackcident"