Have you ever watched a show and thought, “Wow, this is my life!”? Watch HBO’s newest series, Girls, and you’ll probably have that reaction.
To start, Lena Dunham is a genius and everything I ever aspire to be in life. She’s only 25, has a show on HBO, which she stars in, and in 2010, her feature film, Tiny Furniture, which she also starred in, won Best Narrative Feature at South by Southwest Music and Media Conference. She’s kind of a big deal.
Girls really is a perfect depiction of a 20-something-year-old girl, or at least the types of 20 year olds I know. It’s a version of Sex and the City that is entirely de-glamorized. It’s real and it’s relatable.
The show follows Hannah, who in the pilot is left to fend for herself when her parents let her know that she’s being financially cut off from them despite her being unemployed. Hannah pretty much is in a situation college grads don’t want to be after graduation. You know, stuck in a unpaid internship and still depending on mommy and daddy that is until they realize you’re much too old for that. Hannah is a former fat girl and according to her boyfriend/hook-up buddy she “isn’t that fat anymore” but she still has reservations about her body and struggles with her self-confidence as many of us do. I referred to her boyfriend as also her hook-up buddy because to Hannah, Adam might be her boyfriend, but to Adam, Hannah is probably just some girl that’s good looking enough to have sex with.
Another reason why you should watch Girls: the sex scenes are not steamy and dramatic like the majority of most Hollywood portrayals of sex. Sex isn’t always sexy, especially for Hannah. It’s awkward and uncomfortable and extremely entertaining to watch because it’s so funny and true to what a whole lot of relationships are probably like for ladies in their early 20s. In the first episode, Hannah struggles to come up with a way to communicate with Adam since he doesn’t ever answer her texts, except when he feels like having sex. Not good, Hannah, not good at all.
As to not give the entire pilot episode away, I’ll stop sharing details but you should really watch Girls after you’re done reading this because it’s amazing. If anything, it’ll make you feel happy about the fact that your life isn’t like Hannah’s. And if it is, then you’ll feel better about yourself because you’ll know you’re not alone in this game of life.
*Photo courtesy of the New York Times