GIRLS talk (the Lena Dunham thread)

I just watched this, liked it, don't like to judge new shows based on the pilots so will carry on watching. To me the idea of parents paying... all your bills? everything? once you've left home is just totally, totally alien. You might go live with your parents once you've left college or maybe they'd help out with rent but pay for everything? I guess it's a bit more the norm in the US? Whatever.

How on earth is the Williams girl not related to Jennifer Carpenter?? I thought I was on a roll after watching Deadwood and noticing that Cy Tolliver and one of the whores have identical faces then finding out they're father & daughter IRL...

Not even remotely the norm.

im increasingly grossed out by the conflation of "degrading sex" and anal sex in this episode.

Yeah, not the norm at all. I'm an only child and was admittedly pretty spoiled but my parents would have laughed their asses off at the idea of supporting me totally after college. If I needed their help every now and they were happy to give it but they never would have just paid all my bills for me no questions asked. I do know a bunch of people who had this kind of arrangement but it's still def not the norm.

oops x-post

I should have said couple not bunch, I think.

i thought it was mean that they wouldn't even pay for her cell phone
i liked the creepy guy. not that i liked him but that he was truly hard to watch.

I just saw Ms Dunham in a bit as a nurse in Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce

(only knew from the credits)

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

― max, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 17:40 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm looking forward to feeling sadly deflated by the continued poor fortunes of this guy, he came on screen & i was all well what a nice young man!. there's a bit in an interview w/LD where she talks about like, 'the nice guy versus the tough guy' or whatever, which i can't really begin to imagine the dynamics of but which might be one of the more interesting aspects of the portrayal of guys on the show. poor lil dreamboat.

i want someone to plant small exploding morning kisses on my cheek

Her getting cut off by her parents is just a set-up for a future peripatetic premise, wherein she travels the country helping people while in search for a job and lifestyle that fit her, like a millennial "Highway to Heaven." Just you watch.

went ahead and made that iron man poster

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2obcx0WR61qzpiyuo1_500.jpg

im increasingly grossed out by the conflation of "degrading sex" and anal sex in this episode.

you should really rewatch this episode bc it's clear that you didn't understand the basic facts of what occurred in it

This in interesting and related: http://www.theawl.com/2012/04/women-writers-new-york

i don't read any articles with "writers" and "new york" in the URL

I confess ... can't read. *sniffs* I was hoping one of you would read that for me and tell me if it was interesting or related.

good news its a cat youtube

I thought this was pretty great. Loved how it subverted so many conventions of "friends in the city" TV series.

he was the only person who was enjoyably, watchably awful

― goole, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 11:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post

i don't get this though; he was the worst to watch!

― horseshoe, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 11:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think because he was the worst one as-written? and that actor played a little more broadly than the rest of the cast. "...nobody's fuuucking slaaaave" etc

Watched last night and have lots of thoughts about it which I'll try to express in a semi-comprehensible way.

*The tone of the show is strangely affectless. Not sure if that is a stylistic choice or the result of sub-par acting.

*This lead to me not having particularly strong feelings about any part. The parents didn't seem particularly mean and the sex scene with the shirtless guy wasn't nearly as painful as I had expected, after all it was basically Hannah's booty call.

*There was very little plot there: things happened and then other things happened. Not much of an arc for a sitcom.

*We know very little about the various main characters, who they are, why they hang out with each other. The one "innocent" friend only appeared for about 30 seconds.

*Was surprised by how closely their personality types match up with the SATC model.

*Really did not like the uptight "best friend" character. Felt her treatment of the "nice" boyfriend was way worse than his behavior, although his habit of randomly entering bathrooms was way more obnoxious than his wishy-washyness.

*The food scenes (spaghetti, cupcake) were clearly there for their humor content. I don't think they were supposed to be saying something about her body image or self-esteem. It seemed much more like here's a girl who likes herself a cupcake is darned well going to eat one in the bath just because she can.

*My favorite part was Hannah's opium induced freak out. I loved the fakeness and silliness of it.

The McDonald's contrarian was so perfect.

Felt her treatment of the "nice" boyfriend was way worse than his behavior

I think that was the point

no way that guy was a drip

i think it's a little of both, but it's definitely mean of the best friend to be repulsed by him and not end it. she's great, though.

I mean it was a good illustration of that time in a relationship when its failing and everything the other person does puts you off. In fact the nicer they are the more horrible you are to them

sure, but it made me wonder what it was about the best friend character we were supposed to find sympathetic. I don't get how she fits in to this show or why she is best friends with Hannah, who is a much more likeable and interesting person.

last night a female friend told me that this show is amazing.

ha everyone seemed like the villain characters in a romcom starring other people

well, I guesss I have to watch the pilot!

obvious sympathetic-ness is overrated

definitely

*The tone of the show is strangely affectless. Not sure if that is a stylistic choice or the result of sub-par acting.

column a, column b, etc.

That's part of why it reminded me of a female version of Cassavetes, in the way that the scenes have unusual rhythms. Also because Dunham looks so normal/nautral.

i think NRO would really like this show

why

justify your provocative statement!!!

bc i was thinking, if you were going to make a show that argues that pre-marital sex, living in NYC, getting humanities degree, etc were bad for the soul, would it look much different from the pilot?

NRO version of Girls would have flamboyant drug-addled girl hobos warming their hands over burn barrels, I think.

or have one of them admit that her reckless sexual lifestyle has resulted in an unintended pregnancy

already pretty inevitable that there'll be an abortion plotline, isn't it?

all casual drug-users are irresponsible idiots who think that opium tea can get them high

wait, didn't one already say she was knocked up?

lol yes, that was my point

if it were an NRO production, they'd spout empty liberal platitudes nonstop (while not so subtly revealing their hypocritical racism and narcissism), express sneering contempt for traditional virtues of every imaginable sort, and wind up swindled by savvy "ethnic" "street" characters for a punchline.

Going to lol if the first person of color shows up in The Crackcident

i'll be doing something, but it won't be lolling

i didn't say NRO could have made this show, just that they could find a lot to like about it

http://blaria.com/2012/04/18/girls/

(HS - I think you will like that ^)

a blog that is named for the fact that its creator considers herself "the black Daria"...

listen ignore that part - the piece is funny

what's wrong with being called "the black daria"??

i felt like this show struck a weird note. almost everything about the dialogue and characters was so off...i found myself being like "who EVER has conversations like this?" so many times, and also it is completely unbelievable to me that a bunch of rich young new yorkers are that naive about drugs!! come the fuck on that is their bread and butter. the only thing that was even a little compelling was lena dunham's character...but the only thing compelling is her depression/self-loathing. bleak show.