GIRLS talk (the Lena Dunham thread)

the fact that all of her co-workers admitted they'd essentially given up their "serious" writing while at the GQ job

I didn't believe that. It made her decision too simple. Art or Mammon? Hmm, which shall it be? In reality people do both. I suppose I've never believed her memoir sounded good or necessary so I found her puritanical response especially hard to take.

And of course choosing Art means mooching off her parents and Adam's grandmother (who pays for the apartment iirc) so it's noxious to look down on paying gigs.

It is noxious but that doesn't mean it isn't a Thing That Happens In Brooklyn

In reality people do both.

In reality SOME people do both. A lot of people eventually give up on the Art in favour of Mammon, and that's fine.

And of course choosing Art means mooching off her parents and Adam's grandmother (who pays for the apartment iirc) so it's noxious to look down on paying gigs.

Agreed. But I've always thought the power of Girls - and why its so often misinterpreted by its critics - is that it's unafraid to present characters making mistakes and following bad advice and fucking up and generally being awful. It would be noxious for Hannah to look down on a paying gig, but she often does noxious things.

Also, I could barely stand to watch her interview Patti Lupone, as she was so awful at it. It was excruciating.

the anxiety that your corporate job will take up so much time/energy/effort that it prevents you from doing your dream creative stuff is a real anxiety. just because wallace stevens did it doesnt mean you will. sterling have you really never encountered this?

― max, Tuesday, February 25, 2014 9:21 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i agree its a common anxiety. i just also think it is a callow and misplaced anxiety and the show gave it too much creedence. again, characters that feel this way are reflective of how ppl actually feel. but its an artistic decision on the part of the show to make this one seem like a real issue that needs to be confronted while obv marnie's africa thing was just played for laughs, etc. hannah's character has been a grab-bag of anxieties. only some of them we're asked to really identify with.

like 龜 otm that its not a paying gig or not that stands between ppl pursuing creative endeavors, its whether they actually want to do these things, or just want to be a person who is the type of person that does these things, and landing yr first corporate gig can make _that_ question more pressing.

the anxiety that your corporate job will take up so much time/energy/effort that it prevents you from doing your dream creative stuff is a real anxiety. just because wallace stevens did it doesnt mean you will. sterling have you really never encountered this?

― max, Tuesday, February 25, 2014 9:21 AM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Totally.

I really identified with her in that scene and when she got home and was like I need to write for three hours Zzzzzzzzzzz because that's basically me every single night for the last 15 years.

I don't think the show is implying that it's the corporate gig's fault -- Hannah's anxiety is stems from the possibility that she might actually prefer a paycheck, free snacks and constant positive feedback to the risks of being a writer.

^^^ this. and i think hannah as much wants to be the sort of person who writes, as to write. i don't think the show necessarily suggests she's a great writer.

Also the scene where she marches into the editor's office giving these self-important reasons for quitting and the editor is just like "Ok, peace, can you send in the next interviewee?"

That scene was also excruciating. In a good way?

the anxiety that your corporate job will take up so much time/energy/effort that it prevents you from doing your dream creative stuff is a real anxiety. just because wallace stevens did it doesnt mean you will. sterling have you really never encountered this?

O to the T to the M

great episode

Marnie singing again, too good

love marn

the bathroom crying :(

and lol her hug with that stupid girl in the street was priceless

awkward. but awesome.

oh god that hug was so funny

^^^ this. and i think hannah as much wants to be the sort of person who writes, as to write. i don't think the show necessarily suggests she's a great writer.

― you are clinically deaf and should sell you iPod (stevie), Tuesday, February 25, 2014 10:02 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it's strongly implied that shes a vapid writer. Her deceased editor mostly liked her willingness to write in an uncomfortably revealing way about sex and drugs and stuff. Her writing was considered lurid more than anything else I think.

She's really good at the CQ job tho

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/misscrew/deardiarybook.jpg

This reads like an Onion article by a guy mansplaining how to fix Girls:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/02/27/girls-dunham-meta-entertainment-geekly/

pretty sure marnie's friend mispronounced "dgaf"

Kind of struck us recently that the Brooklyn they live in is oddly sanitized even for present-day Brooklyn. I mean you never seem to see working class or poor people or immigrants in neighborhoods that still have a fair number of working class and poor people and immigrants. It just seems odd to me -- even 25-year-olds who live in a "bubble" in Brooklyn still tend to at least see/encounter people from other walks of life or w/e. You also never see a homeless person, and there's never the slightest specter of unsafety anywhere.

so much to answer for

hurting otm. i saw this really scary guy in brooklyn recently. he was walking on the same street that i was walking on.

this is kind of my favorite season so far tbh

Yup

This is one of the most embarrassing things I have ever read (could not get through it):
http://www.bkmag.com/2014/03/03/a-man-among-girls-adam-driver/

I mean you never seem to see working class or poor people or immigrants in neighborhoods that still have a fair number of working class and poor people and immigrants

Woody Dunham

yeah actually the next thing we talked about was how Woody Allen movies are similar in that regard

I liked this last episode, but somehow they always pull the trick of making the show's cynicism and it's sentimentality seem cheap and hollow. of course the sisters fight over the ring, and of course they vow to spend more time together. a really aimless season so far.

http://oystermag.com/lena-dunham-x-archie-comics

Jughead afflicted with priapism, hijinks ensue

"I'm gonna leave the continent of Africa on this hamburger!"

featuring at least one more lead actress of color than the show apparently

never noticed how much marnie looks like/acts like/basically is veronica tbh

nah Veronica is much more unapologetically greedy/materialistic

you don't think marnie is greedy/materialistic? seems like a key character trait; her getting back with her boyfriend in a serious way when he had a big startup company comes to mind immediately.

she is, but she's in denial about it. Like, she would never admit that she loves money. Veronica would be all "HOORAY MONEY!"

It's not that she's materialistic, she's just somebody who cannot imagine her world not containing specific material things most people have to ~work~ for.

so it's not materialism if you're used to it?

I was kinda totally stunned @ Hannah's experience of actually earning money for the first time in her life and it taking her, what, 25 years before she went through the process of "I worked and then I got paid for my work and with this money I am to be self-sufficient"

In my twenties I, James Franco, worked at McDonald's.

I really liked Hannah's cousin

I liked this last episode, but somehow they always pull the trick of making the show's cynicism and it's sentimentality seem cheap and hollow. of course the sisters fight over the ring, and of course they vow to spend more time together. a really aimless season so far.

― ryan, Wednesday, March 5, 2014 1:36 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

This is true but I felt like these scenes at least had the grace to be well-written and acted, unlike the earlier episode about "Death" this season

I agree!

christ yeah the writing in this episode was A1.

just clocked that this episode's sole writer was the same guy who did the Jessa-and-her-Dad episode from Season 2.

Strawberries, champagne, a dildo which I already destroyed through overuse.